knowledge group

KG Spotlights - Technology KG

Spotlight on the Technology Knowledge Group

December 14, 2018 by 0 Comments

by Laura Kalb and Peter Thorsett, Technology KG Assistant Chair and Chair

The Technology Knowledge Group (Tech KG) is currently focused on helping SoACE members who have an interest in learning how to better use technology, marketing, and communications tools and resources. Many of our members balance technology and marketing in addition to their primary career services related functional area (such as career planning, employer relations, or experiential learning).

We typically host bi-monthly meetings via GoToMeeting so that members can get together and share ideas and explore these areas in a friendly environment. We also host webinars throughout the year on specific topics of interest to our membership. At the Annual Conference, you can find us at the KG introduction session, our annual membership meeting, and as hosts of special programming.

Over the past two years, we have offered all SoACE members the opportunity to participate in our Annual Summer Technology Boot Camp!  The Boot Camp is a free, two-day event featuring multiple, live webinars on a variety of topics. The sessions provide members with a great educational program, without all of the expenses associated with an in-person conference. (As an added bonus, they are all recorded and posted on the SoACE website in the member section, so you can watch them on-demand at any time!)

Joining the Tech KG gives you a place to explore new technologies and marketing ideas, connect with other SoACE members who share these responsibilities, and become a part of a community to share information and resources. Joining the Tech KG also gives you an opportunity to give back to SoACE by becoming a member of the leadership team. Currently, we have a team that includes an Assistant Chair, a Chair, and a Past Chair, as well as Coordinators for our Boot Camp, Emerging Technologies & Research, and Professional Development.

As Chair, and someone who has day to day responsibilities for marketing and communications functions in our office, I know that becoming a member of the Tech KG has given me a professional home within the Association and a team of colleagues I can reach out to with questions about challenges I am facing or to get ideas for approaching an issue in a new (to me!) way. It has also given me a chance to gain a better appreciation for my adopted profession of career services. While I have worked in higher education for more than 20 years, this is my first role within career services. The members of the Tech KG have not only made me feel welcome and connected, but have also been there to help me gain a deeper and richer appreciation for the work we do!

As Assistant Chair, I have been able to explore a part of the career services world that was outside of the scope of my first position in the field. I am introduced to new technologies, best practices, and challenges that allow me to provide insights to my office team and other colleagues in my local San Antonio area. The KG has given me the opportunity to constantly learn and build confidence in this profession, in addition to an incredible group of colleagues that answer my endless questions with a smile and work to make our profession great each day! My involvement in the KG ignited my passion for technology in higher education and provided me with the opportunity to serve as both a connector and leader. I leveraged the knowledge and skills I gained through the KG to serve as the assistant project manager for our transition to Handshake and add responsibilities involving technology to my promotion to an assistant director position.

We hope that you will consider joining the Tech KG and look forward to “seeing” you at one of our events in the near future! If we can answer any questions for you, please do not hesitate to contact either one of us directly.

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Laura Kalb
Assistant Chair, SoACE Tech KG
Assistant Director, Office of Career Services
Center for Experiential Learning and Career Success
Trinity University

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

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.

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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

 

KG Spotlights

Spotlight on the Employer Knowledge Group

November 27, 2018 by 0 Comments

by Wayne Hampton, Employer KG Chair

The Employer Knowledge Group consists of SoACE members working for employing organizations/businesses who are involved in college relations and recruitment. The Employer KG is a great opportunity not only for employers to network with other employers, but for career services professionals, especially those in employer relations, to also network with employers (and with each other!).  Earlier this fall, we hosted a conference call discussion on each employer’s recruitment plans for the fall.  If you’d like to hear more, click on the link below for an audio recording of our call: https://bluejeans.com/s/QaacD/

We are excited to continue this discussion at the annual conference when our KG will be hosting a breakout session entitled The Future of Career Fairs:  Employer and University Perspectives.  We’ll have two separate panels – a group of employers, representing different utilizations of Career Fairs; and a group of career services professionals, representing a variety of types of institutions.  We invite you not only to join us, but to submit your questions for either panel, even if you can’t join!  To submit a question, you can send it directly to wayne.hampton@disney.com, and we’ll include it in our list.

Even though our KG is geared towards employers, we have a number of career services professionals who join our calls as well.  So by joining our KG, you’ll get to hear both perspectives on a given topic, and be able to brainstorm with others recruiters or other career services professionals.  We definitely encourage ALL of our employer members in particular to not only join our KG, but to join our quarterly calls as well!

At the end of the year, I will be rolling off as the KG Chair and my fantastic Co-Chair, Rod Hooker from GM Financial, will be taking over as the KG Chair.  That means we’ll be looking for someone to step in as Co-Chair.  Let me know if you are interested!

In my job at Disney, I work remotely and over half of my team works remotely as well, so I’m already used to meeting virtually.  But leading this KG has helped me learn more about working with virtual groups.  It is certainly a challenge for virtual groups to stay connected, but as our students enter the workforce and more of them want flexible work arrangements, I think working in virtual groups will become a required skill.

Thanks to all of our amazing Employer KG members for a great fall, and we invite more of our SoACE members to join us! Simply click here to fill out the online membership form (must be logged in).