Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

College Career Centers Are Challenged in Preparing Students for Work

The skills gap is getting wider.

According to the Job Preparedness Indicator research conducted by the Career Advisory Board in late 2011, only 14 percent of hiring managers felt that job candidates had the requisite skills to fill open positions.

At the Career Advisory Board, which is presented by DeVry University, our mission is to help job seekers and careerists advance, so we decided to go to the front lines and assess what career counselors thought about this.  This summer, we worked with the National Association of Colleges and Employers, an organization that connects career services professionals with HR professionals, to conduct a series of phone interviews and a formal survey with college career center directors.

In this research initiative, we explored some of the challenges directors face in their mission to help students land and succeed in jobs.  These obstacles include working with administrations that don’t understand the value of the career center, being understaffed, and assisting diverse students. 

As a result of their current circumstances, career centers have had difficulty ensuring that graduating students are “marketplace ready.”  Indeed, less than 25 percent of directors felt that most of their students had the tools and skills necessary to find a job.

Here, we delve deeper into the directors’ most pressing concerns and share topline thoughts on how we can collaborate to narrow the skills gap.

College Administrations Underestimate the Career Center’s Value

Overall, college career centers have a perception problem.  Many administrations view them purely as immediate “placement centers” and marginalize their role in shaping America’s future talent pool.  Unfortunately, this attitude negatively impacts student perception, and they may not use the career center as expeditiously as a result.

In our conversations, many of the directors claimed that although administrators are generally supportive of their efforts, this support is overshadowed by bureaucratic processes, budget cuts, and a lack of appreciation for the full range of available student services (assessment, employer matching, resume help, interview coaching, job fairs and educational programming – to name a few!).  Our formal survey especially echoed directors’ financial concerns: nearly thirty-two percent felt that their administrations were not particularly helpful with respect to funding support for the career center.

Unfortunately, without strong and well-funded career centers, schools’ hard-won and well-educated students will become percentages in the growing nationwide problem of youth unemployment. 

Directors must develop a value proposition of “total career preparation” and proactively market the breadth of center activities to school administrators.  They should aim to get a seat at the table in discussions around school mission and overall leadership strategy. 

Using benchmarking data from the schools who are most successful in transitioning students from college to career, directors must advocate best practices and lobby for an earlier and more forceful introduction to students (for example, implementing a mandatory career services module for freshman orientation and/or making 1-3 career center visits a graduation requirement).  Only this type of integration will ensure a solid understand of the essential steps to launch a meaningful career, and sufficiently motivate students to undertake them.

Career Services Centers Are Understaffed

When asked about their greatest need with respect to helping students, 42 percent of the directors said more staff.  Several had experienced budget cuts that made it difficult to support existing programs – let alone launch new ones.  Extra personnel in the career center would make it possible to provide more one-on-one student counseling and follow-up, expand educational programming, and enhance marketing efforts. 

Hopefully, greater visibility within the administration will result in the strengthening of career center ranks.  Career centers can also work with third-parties to offer free online and on-campus career readiness bootcamps and mentoring initiatives, and connect with local industry via meet-and-greets with students.

Private sector organizations can use their recruiting dollars to sponsor relevant software licenses for assessments, mock interviews, and other tools.   And finally, if career centers must do more with less, they should develop scripts for typical conversations like the initial student consultation and handouts for frequently requested information such as occupational research resources.

Meeting the Career Needs of Diverse Students Is Difficult

An incredible 85 percent of directors feel that they are not as effective in helping diverse populations such as adult students, international students, disabled students, minority students, and veteran students land jobs and prepare for successful careers.

One idea for directors to facilitate the advising and hiring of diverse students is to form programs that pair current students with similar alumni who are currently employed.  Such mentorships would provide insights that are unique and expressly relevant to a particular student group.

In order to better customize the approach for each student group, career centers need to create systems that will efficiently track students’ progress through the career center, and the services that are being used.  This will provide critical data with respect to what is working – and not working – for each group. 

The skills gap is a complex issue, and certainly career center directors and their staff can’t solve it by themselves, or overnight.  Nevertheless, they are a critical piece of the puzzle, and with some targeted effort, improving student career readiness is absolutely within reach.

Going Back to School as an Adult (Part II)

Once you’ve decided on the type of program, scour the Internet and reference books for the schools that offer what you need and make a list of your top choices.  Every institution on your short list should be accredited, which means that it has been independently evaluated and has met standards of quality set by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. 

Long-term, formal degree programs should be vetted by interviews with current faculty members or students before you apply.  What should you ask in these conversations?  The website MsMoney.com provides these sample questions for those considering business school:

• What are the backgrounds/qualifications of the faculty?
• What is the student-to-faculty ratio?  How accessible are faculty members?
• What percentage of applicants is accepted?  What is their background?
• What is a standard course load?  How long do students typically take to graduate?
• What is the condition of the physical facilities (classrooms, libraries, etc.)?
• Is the curriculum targeted at a particular industry or purpose (high tech, entrepreneurship, manufacturing, etc.), and, if so, does the academic emphasis fit your interests?
• What job placement resources are available?  Which companies recruit on campus?
• What percentage of students is placed in jobs?

Higher education is indeed expensive, but the situation is not as bad as you might think.  The website Back2College.com and the College Board recently reported that 65 percent of students at four year schools pay tuition of under $9K a year, and 56 percent pay between $3K and $6K.  Additionally, 62 percent of full-time students receive grants.  Aid in the form of grants and tax benefits averaged about $2.2K per student at two year public schools, over $3.1K at public four year schools, and $9K at private four year schools.

You can calculate the approximate costs for obtaining an additional degree by inputting the schools you’re interested in and the number of years you’ll be attending on the Princeton Review, CNN Money, and Yahoo! Finance websites. 

Scared by the number?  If you plan to keep working while you’re in school, your company may have a tuition assistance program of which you can take advantage.  You can also use online scholarship search services such as www.finaid.org and www.scholarships.com, visit your bank of choice to learn about low-interest loans, and work with your accountant to leverage education tax credits such as the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. 

Don’t assume that you won’t qualify for financial aid, as many sources are offered regardless of financial need or credit history.  Most federal and state aid programs don't have age limits, and if you’re a single parent, you may be automatically eligible.  As soon as you make the decision to return to school, submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to see what assistance Uncle Sam can provide!

Going Back to School as an Adult (Part I)

You may have heard the term “professional student,” and people who enjoy school often pursue additional education without a clear goal in mind.  However, if you’re planning to use your desire to learn as a jumping off point to a new career, you should first perform a cost/benefit analysis to determine how a degree program will help you break in. 

Check out the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook to see what education is needed for your chosen path, and then map out a plan for how you’ll use the training and degree to facilitate it.  When you return to school after a few years in the workforce, it might not be as easy as it was when you were 18, for now you might be balancing a spouse, children, work, community responsibilities, or even the care of elderly parents or grandparents.  You should determine, upfront, if it’s realistic to fit school into your life at this time.

Depending on your anticipated career trajectory, different educational options may be open to you, including:

• Master’s Degree (MA or MS.): earned after the BA or BS; involves writing a thesis at the conclusion of approximately two years of coursework in a particular discipline.
• Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D.) or Education (Ed.D.):  usually earned after the master’s degree with a number of years of advanced, graduate level seminar work and a doctoral thesis based on original research.
• Juris Doctor (JD.): earned after the completion of a three year law school program.
• Doctor of Medicine (MD.): earned after the completion of a four year medical school program and typically followed by a period of clinical training in the form of an internship and/or residency.

As a result of your research, you may learn that returning to school for a formal degree is unnecessary.  Instead, you might consider short-term training workshops in your new field, a certificate or vocational program offered through a local community college or university extension program, or a retraining program through a career center or outplacement service that focuses on the acquisition of a specific group of skills.  

If becoming a full-time student isn’t conducive to your lifestyle, many educational institutions accommodate part-time schedules in which classes are held in the evenings and on the weekends.  The only drawback is that it will usually take you twice the amount of time to finish the program. 

Impressions from DeVry University's Career Conference

I arrived in New York City last week for what would become one of the most exciting events of my career as a business and workplace author and speaker.  On August 19th, DeVry University brought together 10 influential members of the online media, as well as a panel of career experts from the academic, corporate, and think-tank sides, to discuss the challenges job seekers face in the current economic climate and strategies they can utilize to build successful careers in the twenty-first century.

After a brief networking breakfast, we launched the morning with some remarks – grounded in research – about the fastest growing fields in the U.S: healthcare management and technology, accounting, and information security.  I shared with the audience what the careers entail as well as action steps people can take to transition into them.  I explored how additional education at a flexible, online/offline university like DeVry can facilitate a career change in a way that is manageable for the average busy American.

We then proceeded to the highlight of the morning – a panel discussion led by DeVry’s Michelle Mercutio, the National Associate Dean for Career Services.  Through an engaging discussion with the audience, panel members Lindsay Lindstrom of Microsoft, Erica Orange of Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc (leading futurist firm), Kathleen Frawley of DeVry, and I touched on a diverse range of career-related topics from “on the side” entrepreneurship and mid-career internships to generational differences and the new language of technology. 

After the panel reluctantly concluded, audience members filmed one-on-one interviews with panelists, viewed a smartphone career assessment and an online course demonstration, and networked with one another.  The event was so inspiring that the attendees agreed to meet as a group on a regular basis to continue the discussion. 

When I was speaking to audience members prior to the event, few were aware of just how far DeVry has come in recent years.  They certainly left with the perception that DeVry is a thought-leader in career and workplace education that is front and center in helping people of all ages find and succeed in their dream careers. 

 

Nonfiction and Fiction Writing - Worlds Apart

One of my role models is Cory Doctorow.  Cory's the co-editor of Boing Boing and the author of Little Brother, a teen sci fi adventure set in San Francisco in the near future. 

I love Cory because like me, he has about ten jobs, and I admire him because he's made a successful transition from nonfiction to fiction writing.  You heard it here - this year I'm hoping to publish my YA (young adult) novel, Doubtful Sound.  The book is in editing right now, and here are some things I've learned about how writing fiction for teens is different from writing career advice for the over twenty set:

Good fiction writing does not happen on command:  When I'm on deadline for a Wall Street Journal piece, I just sit down and write.  It doesn't matter if I'm not in the mood, I produce anyway, and I'm fortunate in that the quality does not suffer.   For my fiction to be any good, however, I have to feel inspired, and such a feeling is often difficult to pin down.  If I had to earn a living every week based on how many decent fiction paragraphs I could churn out, I would probably starve.

Good fiction writing is an art form:  To write my journalism articles, and even my nonfiction books, I follow a strict process that begins with research, continues with interviewing and draft writing, and finishes with one - maybe two - edits.  When my editors provide feedback, it's usually in the form of nips and tucks.  Novel writing, on the the other hand, involves mixing a pallet of characters, settings, and plot lines.  Sometimes you get lucky and you come across something brilliant, and sometimes it all goes horribly wrong.  And the editing is often done by chainsaw. 

An objective style will kill you:  My nonfiction editors balk when I insert too much of myself in my material, even when it's an opinion piece.  My job is to be a non partisan distributor of information, and I am to do that job as parsimoniously as possible.  As a fiction writer, though, I am expected to possess an artistic style that is unlike anyone else on the planet, and to feel comfortable expressing that style fully.  A removed, unrelatable author and/or narrator is the kiss of death.  This takes some getting used to, and I'm still working at it. 

Immersion helps:  I write nonfiction pieces on so many different careers and aspects of the business world that if I were to go onsite and experience each and every one for myself, I would never get anything done.  I rely instead on the accounts and experiences of others to make my material true to life.  As a writer of YA fiction, I can't get away with this.  In order to accurately portray the lives of teens in the early 2000s, I need to be among them.  For this reason, I workshopped my novel at a private school in Chicago among 60 eighth graders.  What I lost in time, I more than made up for in authenticity.

Maybe it's different for everyone who writes both nonfiction and fiction, but for me, the latter is much, much, more difficult.  Fiction writing is more creative, but you shouldn't be fooled.  The effort and strategy that go into every strong novel are immense and sometimes overwhelming.  I am humbled to think that someday my book can stand alongside the novels of authors who make it look easy.

Students Need Personal Branding Too

Those of you who are current students need to be concerned about your image beyond how you portray yourself in interviews.  Here are some statistics to illustrate how your world has changed:

• 45% of companies conduct background checks on social networks (Careerbuilder 2009)
• 10% of college admissions officers conduct background checks on social networks (Kaplan 2009)
• Hiring is down 7% for the 2010 graduating class (NACE, September 2009)
• 63% of job-hunting college grads aren’t cleaning up their social network profiles (CollegeGrad.com, September 2009)
• 71% of college admissions officers receive friend requests from applicants (Kaplan, September 2009)
• Employers receiving 49 graduate applications for each vacancy (Association of Graduate Recruiters, July 2009)
• 59% of college grads send out 30 or more resumes as part of their job search (CollegeGrad.com, May 2009)

These developments can be scary, so to address them my friend Dan Schawbel has just launched Student Branding Blog, which is an offshoot of his successful Personal Branding Blog that will deliver career and personal branding advice for high school, college and graduate students.  The blog, with the support of experienced college career counselors and recent graduates, will help students capitalize on their own unique abilities. If you’re a current student, I highly recommend checking it out!

Applying to Graduate School? Stop and Think.

This week in METRO:

Here’s a story I hear all the time.  A recent grad laments her difficult job search.  Apparently, when HR reps see the MBA on her resume, they put her in the pile of those seeking a management position.  Unfortunately, because this grad's prior positions were administrative and customer-service oriented, hiring managers don't think she has the practical experience to qualify for such a position.

There are lots of graduate school alumni in similar situations.  After spending a huge chunk of change on an advanced degree, they find that they are no more marketable in their chosen field than they were before they started school.  The only difference now is that their job search is more urgent because they are deeply in debt. 

To me, this phenomenon speaks to the danger of going back to school without a great deal of advance consideration.  So many people make this decision because the economy is bad and they’re scared to be on the job market right now.  Others choose a graduate program because they aren't sure where they want to go with their careers.  In reality, though, all of these folks should first be doing a cost/benefit analysis to determine what such a program is going to bring them in terms of increased job prospects and financial compensation.  

It also helps to do enough research to know that you actually like the field you’re going to school to pursue.  I've talked to lots of people who earn a Ph.D., JD, or MBA only to end doing something else entirely.

Graduate school is not something you should do just for the heck of it.  Rather, you should first determine in concrete terms why you need the advanced degree to move ahead in your career of choice, and then map out a plan for how you'll use the training and degree to facilitate the level of success you’d like to achieve.

5 Tips for Turning Your Internship Around

Are you doing an internship this summer and worried you haven't accomplished anything yet?  Here are five tips for making the most of that last month.  Good luck!

1.   Create and accomplish goals:  Set specific and attainable goals with your supervisor at the beginning of the internship.  Make sure you achieve what you set out to do, and when possible, go above and beyond what’s expected of you.

2.   Remember you’re there to learn:  Look around and listen.  Pay attention to more experienced colleagues and ask for feedback on your performance.  Even if your work is mostly administrative, volunteer for assignments where you can observe projects in action.

3.   Be social: Network with as many colleagues as you can.  Go out for drinks with the group or attend the summer party.  Ask around about the possibility of a permanent position when you finish school.

4.   Show your appreciation:  Always show that you’re grateful for the internship opportunity, even if you feel overworked and taken advantage of at times.  When it’s time to go, thank everyone who helped you during your internship.  A card or present for your supervisor is a nice touch, as is an e-mail to your group detailing what you learned and achieved. 

5.  Follow up:  Want to turn your internship into a full time job?  Once you’re out the door, keep in touch with your contacts regularly to ensure that you’re still fresh in their minds as they make their hiring decisions. 

 

They Don't Teach Corporate in College - Your Questions Answered!

As many of you know, I published a new edition of my first book, They Don't Teach Corporate in College - A Twenty-Something's Guide to the Business World in April.  Since then, you guys have asked a lot of terrific questions, which I've answered in this video.  In this edition, I cover:

1) How can I negotiate an offer for my first job in a difficult market?
2) Does it matter what I major in in college, and what do you think about going to grad school?
3) How can I have a strong corporate persona without being fake, and how should I act around my work friends compared to personal friends?

What’s a Master’s Degree Worth?

Liz Pulliam Weston provided these words of wisdom regarding the value of graduate degrees on the New York Times' Room for Debate blog last week.  Recession or no recession, it looks like Liz agrees with me that you should consider the return on investment before impulsively deciding to go back to school.

“Graduate school has traditionally been a great place to wait out recessions while honing your skills for a better job. But sometimes, the payoff doesn’t justify the cost.

In some fields, such as business or engineering, a graduate degree typically boosted income by more than enough to justify the cost. In others — the liberal arts and social sciences, in particular — master’s degrees didn’t appear to produce much if any earnings advantage.

Advanced education has many other, non-economic benefits, of course. But if you’re borrowing to pay for your schooling — as 60 percent of graduate students do, accumulating an average $37,000 in student loan debt, according to the 2003-2004 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study — you want to make sure you can pay those student loan bills when they come due.

Otherwise, you could quite literally spend the rest of your life scraping to pay off your debt. Student loans typically can’t be erased in bankruptcy court, and student lenders have extraordinary powers to pursue borrowers, up to and including taking a portion of their Social Security retirement checks.

Those in the worst shape are often the ones who took on private student loans, which have fewer consumer protections than federal student loans and which come with higher, variable rates. The prevalence of so many strapped borrowers is why I recommend students borrow no more for their educations, in total, than they expect to make the first year out of school.

This rule of thumb won’t work for everyone — heaven knows, you may be the rare literature M.A. who writes a best-selling novel and pays off her debt with one check — but it’s a good starting point for anyone considering strapping herself to more education bills.”

I’m so glad that Liz has done the research to back up this point of view.  Too many of us feel that a master’s degree is essential, when really it’s a nice-to-have that shouldn’t necessarily be your priority at this point in time.