by By Marisol Zacarias, Employer and Student Relations Coordinator, Agnes Scott College
In June, I attended the Employer Relations Summit in Tampa, FL thanks to the generous support provided by the SoACE Professional Development Scholarship. Given our department’s current resources, I would not have been able to attend the Summit without the scholarship support. The Employer Relations role at Agnes Scott College was a new addition to the campus community during the 2018 – 2019 academic year. Therefore, having the opportunity to participate in a professional development activity directly related to my role was a timely resource.
I’m a mid-career changer that has spent the past 15 years working at non-profit organizations. In transitioning to the world of higher education, I’ve learned many valuable lessons. However, there are rarely small group opportunities to reflect and share best practices across institutions. Each conversation at the Summit included perspectives from a diversity of school sizes and employer relations team models. There were organic opportunities to connect with other individuals and learn about their work. I am grateful to each of you that attended the Summit and shared your struggles. A community that can share and normalize the wins AND struggles is validating.
Hands-down my experience at the Summit was most fulfilling when I heard from others about their transition to Handshake. On July 1st our school transitioned to Handshake, after having used College Central Network the past 5 years. I found the presentation “Employer Relations 2.0: Streamlining Essential Processes to Boost Student Attendance, Employer Engagement, and Campus Awareness” to be the most valuable. Amanda Marshall and Pranam Parsanlal generously shared their tools for engaging faculty, students and employers on Handshake. They shared University of South Florida engagement numbers and growth over time. Quantitative data helps tell a story, and their data helped me accurately share with others the amount of time it can take to approve employers and jobs. In a small Career Development Office, learning from other schools helps us plan and project the time and effort needed to sustain Handshake activity over time. Equally valuable were the employer and staff guides that Pranam shared during the presentation. As soon as I got back to the office, I shared the guides with my team. It was a great reminder to me, that no matter how intuitive tasks may seem, everyone learns differently. Therefore, providing a good customer service experience needs to be coupled with detailed and quality resources for partners.
Since participating in the Summit, we have launched Handshake to 2nd – 4th year students. The last week of August we launched to all 1st year students. To be transparent, I submit support questions every day and I look at the “help center” multiple times a day. The more we can create spaces to share our work, the more we can learn from each other and help one another grow both personally, and professionally. I look forward to connecting with all of you in the future. I hope everyone has a terrific academic year!
