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Ring in the New Year by Starting to Close the Wage Gap

January 18, 2019 by 0 Comments

by Ashley Rizzotto & Chandler Lackey

For many years, it has been estimated that women earn an average of 77 cents to a dollar.  As seen by the data below, reported by the American Association of University Women (AAUW) last year, women of differing racial identities were paid differently, some as significantly low as 53%.

Source: https://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap

According to new studies released November 2018 by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, it was discovered that the wage gap is now reported as women earning 49 cent to every man’s dollar. This number comes when accounting for a variety of biases and roadblocks, incrementally impacted by the likelihood of women taking breaks in their career either to take care of ill relatives or children.  

Equity in payment is an important goal to strive for as we enter 2019. With the trends of how the rates have increased over the years, leaving it to increase on its own could take decades. Whether you engage socially by sharing this knowledge with others, politically on a local or global scale, the information and tools below are one small step forward when facing the dismantling and rebuilding of this long-standing financial practice.

Making A Difference As an Employee 

Many times, people are not negotiating for their worth, or even negotiating at all!

Know that every experience that you can connect to transferable skills, and every degree you earn can all increase your earning power if shared strategically. Don’t feel intimidated when a job doesn’t list a salary range, this could be a sign that there is a larger range that they can accommodate based on the research you conduct and the way you share your experience.

Know Your Worth:

Use glassdoor.com to research the average salary of your current (or future) role. You can search specifically based on your number of years of experience and your geographic location to get the most accurate average. Many employees upload their salary data and years of experience, so this is self-reported by people directly in those roles. Use this information during the negotiation conversation to make sure you are being compensated for your worth based on your research and experiences.

Connect the Dots:

Many people think there should be a divide between skills learned in their personal life as opposed to their professional one. One of your biggest strengths is being able to show how you can relate your day-to-day skills to those listed in the job description. Being able to confidently relay overlapping skills in an interview shows critical thinking and ambition to an employer and gives you an advantage over other candidates.

Start Small and End Big:

Trying to combat the wage gap as a whole might be challenging. If you aren’t comfortable taking on the beast in its entirety, start small on your local and state levels. Being an informed and engaged citizen is key to eradicating the wage gap. Doing research on your city or state’s current wage gap and how it compares in relation to others is a great way to broaden your perspective. Keep in mind that, as an engaged citizen, you have the power to promote change on every level through raising awareness, challenging policies, and creating structures for change in organizations and companies.

Making A Difference as an Employer

Along with the advice of starting small and ending big, employers can be in the position to use their research to create institutional change. Not just researching competitive rates around them, but learning what systems through Human Resources or unions where you can educate employees and advocate for progress sooner on the small scale of your organization. Every small efforts adds up.

Every person should be entitled to not only a livable wage, but a wage that promotes equity for skill, experience, and growth beyond any person’s gender identity.

Sources:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/28/study-for-every-dollar-a-man-earns-a-woman-earns-49-cents.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/23/5-practical-ways-to-fight-for-equal-pay.html

Ashley Rizzotto is a career advisor with the Office of Career Development at Nova Southeastern University since June 2017. Ashley works with undergraduate students, graduate students, and alumni to help them confidently pursue their career endeavors. Ashley is a proud native of Brooklyn, NY. She attended Stony Brook University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, with two minors: Health and Wellness, and Women and Gender Studies. She continued her education by earning a Masters of Education degree in Student Affairs Administration and Higher Education at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Prior to joining the Office of Career Development, Ashley has held roles in Career Services, Orientation Services, and Health and Wellness Education. These experiences, along with Ashley’s winding and bumpy career journey to find her own path inspires her daily in helping students discover the strengths that’ll set them up for success academically, socially, and professionally.

Chandler Lackey joined the Office of Career Development in July 2018 as a Graduate Assistant Career Advisor at Nova Southeastern University. He is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in College Student Affairs at Nova Southeastern University. He believes that having a strong and accurate plan is essential for creating a successful career path following graduation. Prior to attending NSU, Chandler was an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and French. In addition, he also brings a variety of leadership experience from previous roles held in Academic Advising, Fraternity and Sorority Life, and Orientation. Chandler is excited to be a part of the Shark family at NSU and looks forward to helping students realize their full potential. He is very passionate about assisting in creating a beneficial future for each individual student, one meeting at a time.

Hot Topics - Knowledge Group Updates - Technology KG

Annual SoACE Career Services Recruiting Platform Survey Results

November 30, 2018 by 0 Comments

The Technology Knowledge Group (KG) conducted its second annual career services recruiting platform survey during the summer of 2018. The annual survey is designed to capture the current state of the field and target areas for future programming. The KG conducted an association-wide survey of career centers and offices to identify the types of systems each of us uses as well as some of the common challenges we all face.

For 2018, a total of 83 individuals representing 59 institutions completed the survey; this is down from 2017 where 84 individuals from 74 institutions participated. There were 15 institutions that participated in both years. Like last year, duplicate entries were removed. While further research is needed to confirm why participation dropped, the authors believe that the emerging market leadership position held by Handshake as well as fatigue from ongoing transitions to new systems, may have depressed interest in participating.

Handshake emerged as the most widely implemented platform among reporting member institutions at 63% (n=37). Symplicity use fell to 14% from 19% last year and just 5% reported using Grad Leaders (vs 11% last year). Purple Briefcase saw an increase in adoption from 5% last year to 8% this year. A number of other systems were being used by our member schools as shown in Table 1 below.

Handshake also grew its lead significantly as the platform of choice for providing alumni services: rising 20 points from 36% in 2017 to 56% in 2018. As Table 1 also illustrates, platforms Grad Leaders and Symplicity saw a decline in use for delivering alumni services from 2017, while 12Twenty saw an increase in use during 2018.

Table 1

New on the survey this year was the question: “How long do alumni have access to use your recruiting platform?”  The results are summarized in Table 2 below and show that nearly 60% of schools indicated they provide services for a period of at least a year or more beyond graduation.

Table 2

The 2018 Survey continued the practice of collecting questions from participants about the platforms and the companies selling those platforms. This year’s questions indicated a shift away from issues related to purchasing new systems and their initial deployment toward learning how to maximize the investments that were made by career centers over the past two years. In reviewing these submissions, we identified the following themes:

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs – Participants singled out a particular concern that crossed all platforms: the increasing numbers of jobs that were not relevant for their students and alumni as well as jobs that tended to be “junky.” Many wanted to know what tools the platforms were developing to help students better identify and filter the opportunities available to them.

Internships – More career professionals asked questions about how the platforms managed internship and experiential learning programs. The desire for specific internship management modules was clearly evident as was the preference for customization capabilities to support the unique nature of internships, Cooperative Education, and experiential learning.

Increasing Adoption and Use – A number of questions around boosting the use of platforms by students and alumni also emerged and included wanting to know how to increase the frequency and efficiency of use and wanting to know what impact the platforms have had on student engagement with career service offices. There were also questions on how easy is it for students to learn how to use each platform.

Data and Reporting – Participants weren’t just interested in making sure students and alumni had access to better quality jobs, many were asking how the platforms could better connect job postings to first destination results. There were also a number of questions around the need for easier report building, data production, and integration with data elements from campus student information systems (SIS).

Security and Safety – While data security and integrity were certainly on participant’s minds in 2017, there seemed to be more questions in this area this year. Also new this year, there were questions about what the platform providers were doing to ensure student safety in the job search and application process.

 Platform Versatility – This was a theme in both 2017 and 2018 with participants asking questions about customizability of the platforms, ease of use, and system integration support (for example 2-way calendar synchronization for appointments). In addition, many questions revolved around the perception that the system developers don’t understand what career centers actually do, with several participants indicating that it would be a good idea for vendors to spend some time with career services professionals and build their knowledge of what happens on a daily basis in our offices.

Employer Relations Support – We collected questions related to best practices for keeping employer recruiter or human resources contacts current, as we did in 2017. There were also questions about the ability of the platforms to coordinate both employer and student initiatives all in one place. And there were questions on how the platforms could make it easier to collect hire information from employers (as well as students and alumni).

Overall, it appears that our membership’s use of recruiting platforms is moving out of a period of volatility, where many career services offices were switching systems, into a period of relative stability where offices are focused on getting the return on investment they were promised by vendors. The questions posed by participants also indicated that the need to identify, and share, best practices across the Association is beginning to emerge.

__________

Ashley Graham Phipps
Emerging Technologies Coordinator, SoACE Tech KG
Assistant Director, Employer Relations
Wake Forest University

Peter Thorsett
Chair, SoACE Tech KG
Director, Strategic Initiatives, Communications, & Research
Division of Community Engagement & Career Readiness
University of South Florida

 

Best Practices - Hot Topics

Four Unexpected Lessons from Learning about Assessment in a Career Center

August 24, 2018 by 0 Comments

by Emily Braught, M.Ed.

When I set out to find a practicum experience in assessment skills, I did so because I was genuinely curious about applying information to improve student affairs practice. The Center for Career and Professional Development at Clemson University, with its reputation for producing quality work and its high touch with students, felt like the perfect place. I thought I might learn some practical excel skills, different approaches to analysis, and gain a few trendy bullet points for my resume. I knew it was a topic I was interested in, but I did not expect to uncover a new passion area.

I learned almost everything I expected to, from analyzing data to presenting key findings to leadership in the department. Since I wasn’t in the career center for an extended period of time, my learning process was expedited. As a graduate student, many of my takeaways were centered on how I could apply the shortened practicum experience to starting a new role in a new office while maintaining a passion for assessment. And, having just started a new role in a new department, a lot of these lessons from my quick learning practice experience, have proven to be valuable reflection.

  • Assessment feels different in every department

When starting a new position, identifying the way assessment makes employees feel is incredibly important. Is assessment viewed as punitive in the office or is it viewed as an opportunity to recognize and celebrate fellow employees? Is data collected with purpose and then used in real-time to make adjustments to practice or is it collected as an afterthought and not used in decision making processes? Is it part of the daily function of the office or does it feel like a monthly or yearly chore? Identifying current employee’s feelings towards data collection and analysis can be incredibly important to implementing new assessment initiatives or joining in on existing projects. Finding out who drives assessment planning in the office and having a conversation about their perspective is a good start, but don’t forget about talking to those who are excited about assessment don’t hold an official assessment role or talking to those who are very hesitant about assessment and are expected to implement. Gathering multiple perspectives can also be a highly impactful way to build relationships and identify how you can positively contribute to your office assessment practices.

  • Assessment looks different in every department

Of course we know that people’s styles of data collection and information sharing is different depending on every department, division, and institution. In part, this is due to resources available and what divisional leaders may be looking for, but so much of an employee’s relationship with assessment is office culture dependent. These office culture differences could have a major impact on the skills, technology, and knowledge base you need to be successful. For example, data presentation might be fine on an excel spreadsheet with highlights in graphs in some departments, whereas other departments might want a summative report with all information present. Some departments might be looking for one sheet with key bullet points that need to be considered in decision making while others may be expecting as far as IRB approval for some of the more serious projects. No matter how big or small, identifying what kind of assessment presentation and facilitation expectations are present in the office is essential to success in the office. New professionals should consider ways they can gain practical skills in new systems earlier in their employment so that they are equipped with what they need to be successful when they are asked to share information or present on their personal findings.

  • Macro and Micro level assessment both have a place

Depending on the positions of the people you are working with, the type of information they are expecting to receive will be different. A director or higher level professional may be looking for bigger picture information that demonstrates overall success of all their programs. Total number of students interacted with, total number of hours, total numbers of students who attended the career fair all have their place. Smaller pieces of data, like how many students visit the career center on Mondays compared to Fridays in the fall semester can have just as much important to the overall functioning of the office and might have a huge impact on the professionals that work with individual programs or initiatives. New professionals have the responsibility to identify which pieces of macro and micro information are important for their success in the job and identifying new pieces of information.

  • The aggregate doesn’t always tell the whole story

Looking at massive spreadsheets of career attendance can be helpful, especially for those employees interested in the big picture data.  Disaggregating that information by different student populations, different colleges, and other classifications is even more helpful for identifying ways to improve. When starting a new position and integrating into a new office, spend time disaggregating data by different classifications. Figure out what which student populations are being focused on in the department, division, and institution so that you can share your data more meaningfully, or uncover new ways to support different student populations. This can help you help identify categories of students who may be falling through the cracks of your services. For new professionals, spending time with information such as this can give you a much more robust picture of the scope of your office and the students that you serve. It could also help you build stronger relationships or even employees in your office who work with specific programs or initiatives.

 

Spending a semester absorbing assessment practices of a career center has proven incredibly valuable to my overall success as a professional. Overall, whether or not assessment is a passion area for you, taking the time to learn an office’s culture around and perspective on assessment can be very useful to any professional starting a new role. I hope a few of these points stick with you as you reflect on your current role or as you pursue your next step!

__________

Emily Braught, M.Ed. currently serves as the Residence Coordinator for Academic Initiatives for Housing and Residence Life at Indiana University Purdue University – Indianapolis. Prior to this position at IUPUI, Emily spent two years as the Graduate Assistant for Residential Learning with University Housing at Clemson University, with an emphasis in assessment practices and student learning. While completing her Master of Education, Emily gained additional assessment experience in the Center for Career and Professional Development and the Calhoun Honors College.