Join a SoACE Knowledge Group

SoACE Knowledge Groups (KGs) offer members the opportunity to learn about and contribute to different facets that guide our profession. By joining a Knowledge Group, you have access to a specialized forum that addresses current challenges, trends, and questions you face in your work. Learn from the experiences and best practices of your colleagues, find content specific resources and tools, and network with other professionals in the field through SoACE Knowledge Groups. Each KG has it’s very own Slack Channel to continue discussion and share resources.

Below is information on each KG. SoACE Members are always welcome to join KGs by logging into your SoACE account and submitting this form.

Administration:  Directors and administrative staff who have management responsibilities including strategic planning, budgeting, staffing, research, outcomes, legal issues, etc. Chair: Tiffany Johnson from Arkansas State University tijohnson@astate.edu 

Assessment and Data Analytics:  Members who utilize various forms of data/surveys to track student/employee success, improve services and other means of assessing program effectivenessChair: Abdullah Abdul Kuder from Texas A&M University abdul25792@exchange.tamu.edu  

Career Advising/Counseling:  Members who counsel and advise students and alumni on various stages of career development from choosing career/major to job search strategies. Chair: Nadirah Pippen from UNC Wilmington pippenn@uncw.edu  

Employer:  Members working for employing organizations/businesses involved in college relations and recruitment. Chair: Jessenia Morales from Enterprise Holdings Jessenia.C.Morales@ehi.com 

Employer Relations:  Members working for institutions of higher education who develop and sustain employer partnerships, coordinate on campus recruitment and employer involvement, etc. Chair: Dia Buchanan from University of Mississippi dia@career.olemiss.edu 

Experiential Education:  Members who are involved in aspects of experiential education and student employment. Chair: Wesley Dickens from Ole Miss wdickens@bus.olemiss.edu 

Small Colleges and Universities:Members working for institutions of higher education who’s enrollment is less than 6500 students. Chair: Heather Wheeler from Texas A&M University heather.wheeler@tamuct.edu 

Technology:  Members who design, implement, coordinate, update, and/or facilitate technological support for programs, social media and services. Chair: Laura Kalb from Trinity University lkalb@trinity.edu 

 

Find more information on SoACE Knowledge Groups here: https://www.soace.org/knowledge-groups

Annual SoACE Career Services Recruiting Platform Survey Results

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

 

Slack: Your SoACE and KG Connection

by Alicia Smyth, Director, Communications & Marketing, SoACE Board

It’s no secret that one of the greatest benefits that SoACE has to offer are the Knowledge Groups. There are eight in all: Administration, Assessment & Data Analytics, Career Advising/Counseling, Employers, Employer Relations, Experiential Education, Small Colleges & Universities, and Technology. There is a KG for pretty much everyone (be sure to read Erica Lake’s post from last week to learn about the KGs and how to join, if you don’t already know)!

For years, SoACE used MemberClicks’ Circles as a means for KG leaders to communicate with members. The Circles offered a lot of nice features but because members had to go to the SoACE website and log in to access them and there was no mobile app, very few people used them. Last year, a task force (Charlie Wilder, Alex Anderson, Corinne Earle, Ashley Motley, and Mark Colvenbach) set out to explore alternate options that would make it easier for members to communicate with one another in order to to ask questions, engage in conversations, and collaborate. Their solution? Slack.

If you’ve never used Slack, it can be a little intimidating at first because the terminology isn’t completely familiar (e.g., hashtags are channels and channels are groups). But the more you play with it, the more you will love it. Especially the sheer convenience of it. There is an app for your phone and a desktop version as well. You can opt to get notifications or not. It helps reduce the number of emails going back and forth between people while keeping them informed. Personally, what I love most about Slack is that it is bringing members together in ways that don’t usually happen outside of the conference. It allows people to get to know other members before they ever meet them in person so that by the time the conference does come around, they feel like old friends.

I have seen it used for quick questions, to share resources and best practices, to ask and receive favors (thank you for the Handshake sticker, Sara Johnson!), to stay in the loop, to brainstorm, and to get and give help, among other things. SoACE members can belong to one KG channel or all the KG channels, though it really is best to stick with those that are the most interesting and/or relevant to you so you are more likely to use Slack.

But what is Slack?. Slack is a “cloud-based application that connects teams of workers, allowing them to collaborate in real-time on projects and share documents, images, videos, and other data necessary to do their job.” It is most certainly all that, but there is also an element of fun to it, especially if you decide to join the #random channel (hint: animated gifs).

Kristin Walker, Chair of the Assessment & Data Analytics KG, uses Slack frequently to communicate with members. When asked why she has taken to using Slack, Kristin responded, “Slack is a great way to ‘ask your colleagues.’ When you’re sitting in a meeting or alone at your desk and thought ‘I wonder what others are doing?,’ Slack is a great way to ask the question and get quick answers, ideas, and feedback. For example – someone in the Assessment & Data Analytics group asked, ‘What technologies are people using to measure student learning outcomes in real time?’ Folks were able to respond and get a brief dialogue going. It’s like your own consulting group or listserv without adding emails to your inbox because someone replied to the WHOLE listserv. It’s also great for sharing upcoming professional development opportunities within SoACE and outside of SoACE. Easy to give folks a link to learn more if they are interested.”

Charlie Wilder added, “I am so glad that the KGs are now on Slack, because, just as Kristin says, it’s like having instant access to so many experts across the region. Something I can add: since implementing Slack with SoACE, we’ve started using it in my office. It’s been so helpful for streamlining communication, reducing emails (especially those times when you wonder if you should reply with a quick “thanks”). We’ve started a meeting agenda channel where we can all suggest items for the coming week’s agenda while making everyone aware of them at the same time. We are getting more accomplished with less effort!”

Ashley Motley also uses Slack for both work and SoACE. She shared, “My favorite way to use Slack is during an event. On a smaller scale, the Experiential Education KG has Slacked our channel for feedback on a webinar immediately after it happened. Specifically, we asked if participants could share something they learned. On a larger scale, during our All-University Career Fair we use Slack to ask event questions among our staff. Specifically, our IT crew provides updates on the number of students we’ve checked in so far, staff at the fair location can communicate with staff in our office if employer questions about next day interviews, and we can provide quick customer service to employers calling the office with questions about the fair because our office reception staff communicates those questions on Slack. This year, because of that level of communication, I was able to seamlessly add in three employers that would have otherwise been frustrated to miss the fair. It’s a really effective tool that allows you to communicate in real time.”

Check out these articles regarding the benefits of Slack and some of the super cool things it can do to enhance your SoACE experience (not to mention your productivity):

If you haven’t received an invite to join SoACE’s Slack workspace yet, make sure that you are a member of a Knowledge Group: https://www.soace.org/about-kgs. Once you join at least one KG, you will receive an invite and from there, can get in on the conversations (and fun). If you have any questions about using Slack, feel free to reach out to me.

We look forward to seeing you on Slack!