Month: November 2019

Assessment & Data Analytics KG - Hot Topics

Texas A&M’s Data Driven Decision Making & Chance to Win an Amazon Gift Card

November 22, 2019 by 0 Comments

By Cami Hernandez Merhar, Texas A&M University Career Center

Data is everywhere. But the consistent challenge with data is you need to be able to understand it, process it, extract value from it, visualize it, and then finally make actionable decisions from it. College-level career advising seems to be the least likely place you would find a mountain of data, but you would be surprised.

Recently, I volunteered to be a part of revamping our Career Center’s website, careercenter.tamu.edu. I had initially joined the revamp website committee from a content perspective, but as we sat in our initial meeting the discussion turned into a bigger conversation around how can we best serve our students through our website? How can we deliver value and meet the needs of our constituents effectively?

Ideas began to circulate. We all agreed that the biggest need was to update the content of the website, but from there it became trickier. We then began to ask ourselves which content should we prioritize? People had feelings on what should come first and what was most important but no one could agree on a direction.

It was at that moment that Abdullah, my colleague and the Chair of the Assessment and Data Analytics (ADA) KG, piped up and thought of a way to even the playing field: data. 

I immediately thought of an article about Peter Neupert, a successful CEO and a board member of various medical and technology companies, who had the extreme fortune of shadowing both Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. In the article he stated, “I learned quickly from those days that opinions don’t matter…Data matters.” 

We began looking at the top questions students had asked using our Chatbot data, which is a recent addition to the technological ecosystem. We’ve installed the Chatbot to our website in order to help students get to the information they want quickly. From there we also agreed to integrate a survey on our website after a student spent 2 minutes on our website, and now we’ve added Google Analytics to gain insight into our most visited pages, the different entry points into our website and how our users currently interact with our website. 

What did we find? Students overwhelmingly wanted information on how to create/improve their resumes/ cover letters, schedule appointments, find jobs, career fair dates, externship opportunities, and help with interviews. Some of the insights we gathered were not obvious and we realized that some of this information is not so easily accessible on our website. 

Currently, we’re still figuring out how these insights will translate to updates to the website, but we are far smarter and know exactly what our students want. 

Now we want to hear from you and reward you! As ADA Chairs we want to learn what tools and methods you’re utilizing in your office.

Take this quick survey and be automatically entered to win a $50 Amazon gift card!

WIN A $50 AMAZON GIFT CARD- fill out the Assessment & data Analytics Survey Now

Conference Updates

#SoACE19 Conference Keynote: Maren Greathouse

November 15, 2019 by 0 Comments

Maren Greathouse serves as Director of the Tyler Clementi Center, a research center examining the impact of bias, peer aggression, and campus climate on students holding marginalized and/or stigmatized identities. Ms. Greathouse oversees all strategic planning, research efforts, academic initiatives, external partnerships and operations. She was the founding Director of the LGBTQ and Intercultural Resource Center at Rutgers University-Newark and LGBT Student Development at Towson University. She holds a Masters of Science degree in Social Responsibility from St. Cloud State University, a program grounded in the study of social identity politics, structural oppression, and the social responsibility of individuals, organizations, governments and the private sector. She is currently pursuing a terminal degree in Higher Education with the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education. Her research interests include equity and diversity, student affairs praxis and class dynamics in higher education.

Maren is the featured speaker for the Interactive Session titled “Working While Queer: Common Challenges LGBTQ Students Face in their Career Development” on day 2 of #SoACE19. While the LGBTQ movement has made great strides over the last 50 years, it is still legal in 17 states to be fired because of your sexual orientation or gender identity.  This interactive session will explore some of the common concerns and challenges that LGBTQ-identified students experience in their career development and offer attendees guidance on how best to respond and mitigate barriers that limit professional opportunities for LGBTQ students.

You can register for the SoACE 2019 Conference here: https://www.soace.org/conference-registration- 

Member Spotlights

Member Spotlight: Jessica Campbell

November 8, 2019 by 0 Comments

Jessica Campbell serves as Director, Corporate and Employer Relations at the Rice Business Career Development Office.  Jessica has been at Rice University since 2011, and previously led the employer relations team at the Rice University Center for Career Development, before transitioning into the MBA career center in 2019. Prior to Rice, Jessica worked in career services at the University of Houston and at a non-profit.

Jessica has been an active member of SoACE since 2007, having served on various committees and chairing Employer Relations Knowledge Group and New Members Committee. Jessica is currently serving on the Conference Committee.  She’s also been actively involved in HACCC (Houston Area Consortium of Career Centers), where she previously served as President, Secretary, Texas Job Fair Chair and Professional Development Chair.  Jessica holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Houston.

How did you get into the Career Services profession?

Planned happenstance!  I visited career services during my time at the University of Houston and thought it was something I could see myself doing, even though I had no idea of the breadth of resources available to me at my career center at the time. I started my career after college in hotel sales and marketing, but after a few years, pivoted to try to get experience that would allow me to work in career services at a university. I joined a nonprofit as an Employment Counselor, which then allowed me to get my foot in the door in career services when an employer relations position opened up at my alma mater. I really thought I wanted to be an advisor/counselor, but ended up falling in love with the employer relations side of things.

Describe your SoACE Experience. How did you get involved and how has that experience influenced you? 

I first got involved in SoACE by volunteering for several years, and eventually chairing, the New Members Committee, where we planned the New Member Orientation at the conference. I also got involved in the Employer Relations Knowledge Group leadership team for several years, and also eventually chaired that KG, which was incredibly rewarding. I am currently chairing Local Arrangements on the Conference Committee, which is a ton of fun and includes helping plan the President’s Reception, physical activities, philanthropy, and the big evening event at the conference. I feel so grateful that I’ve been able to be involved in SoACE since the beginning of my time in career services in 2007. I always say that it is one of the best things I did as a new professional in the field. Going to the SoACE conference every year is like attending a family or class reunion. It’s amazing to have a network of professionals to lean on and learn from, who are also in the trenches and going through similar challenges.

What advice do you have for new professionals who aspire to get more involved in the profession?

Get involved!!! Join a KG and/or a committee, volunteer at the conference, submit a proposal to present at the conference, etc. It really is the best thing you can do to start to build your network and get to know people. Take advantage of the many resources and people available to you through SoACE and other professional organizations. There are a ton of great webinars and conference sessions and so many opportunities to learn from your peers!

What is your favorite quote?

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. —Aristotle

What has been your greatest accomplishment to date?

My greatest professional accomplishment to date has been creating an externship program for Rice undergraduates. I attended a roundtable discussion at the Chantilly, VA SoACE Conference (infamously known as SnoACE) that sparked this idea. I am kicking myself for not remembering who facilitated that discussion, as I would love to give them a shout out. We partnered with alumni affairs on this program and thought that if we had 25 students participate in the pilot, we would consider it a success. We ended up with 125+ students the first year and the program has continued to grow, so much so that we were able to create a new position to run the program. I’m so proud of the impact that this program has on students who are exploring career paths and completely in awe of where the incredible team at the Rice Center for Career Development (and especially Michelle Passo, who oversees the program) have this program. It’s so rewarding to know that this program is still going on, stronger than ever!

What are some of your hobbies when not working?

When I’m not working, I’m hanging out with our three dogs, watching sports (or reality tv) and cheering on the Rockets, Texans and Astros. My mom and her friends are also teaching me how to quilt, and I really enjoy attending the International Quilt Festival and various quilting retreats with them throughout the year. I can’t wait to create a t-shirt quilt with my incredible collection of Rice Career & Internship Expo t-shirts!