Wendy Winter-Searcy,

Arapahoe Community College Career and Transfer Center

Judy Brobst,

Colorado State University Career Center

PLANNING THE NEXT TRANSITION: CAREER SERVICES

MEETING THE NEEDS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS

• 45% of all college students start at a community college

• 90% of all entering community college students intend to transfer, yet the national transfer rate was only 29% (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center)

• Many of our students are working while in school

WHY OFFER CAREER SERVICES

• Development of career pathways

• Persistence related to goal-orientation

• Training on workplace employability skills

• Connect with employer networks

PROCESS OF ADVISING*

• Explore life goals

• Explore vocational goals

• Program choice

• Course choice

• Scheduling courses

Components of career services

“Updating Academic Advising for the 21st Century, Terry O’BanionCommunity College Times, 11/21/12

COMMUNITY COLLEGE CAREER SERVICES

• Different models of delivering service

• Independent department

• Integrated with Advising

• Integrated with Crisis Counseling

• Integrated with Faculty

• Most often part of Student Services division

• Varying levels of funding and institutional support

ACC CAREER AND TRANSFER CENTER MISSION

• The Career and Transfer Center exists to provide developmentally appropriate career and educational assistance for students, including:

• self-discovery

• career exploration

• workplace skills and experiential learning

• transitions to either continuing education (transfer) or the workplace (employment)

SERVICES OFFERED

• Career counseling

• Individual appointments for career exploration and assessment

• Transfer services

• Connections to four-year universities and searchable transfer agreement database

• Employment services

• Job search skill development as well as a job database

• Groups, workshops, and class presentations

• Events

• Career and transfer fairs, as well as industry panels

HIGHLIGHTS• Groups – Career Explorer

• Workshops – You’re Graduating, Now What?

• Classroom Presentations

• Examples:

• AAA 109 – Advanced Academic Achievement – goal setting

• MAT 090 and MAT 120 – integrate math problems in careers and evaluate labor market information

• PSY 102 – personality theories

4-YEAR MODEL OF CAREER SERVICES

• Central location and/or specialized offices

• Counselors work in conjunction with academic advising

• May be combined with academic advising

• Referral service to other on and off campus resources

• Often collaborate with retention/diversity offices

FIRST POINT OF CONTACT• Often a first point of contact for Transfer Students

• Will refer to Transfer Office for complete service delivery

• Will ask about transfer credits, what courses should I take

• Will refer to academic advising and TransferU through registrar’s page

ON CAMPUS

• For most students they have 2 years to get the plan implemented and/or organize a plan and start to execute it

• Connect with Career Services early

• Through academic advising

• Through visit day

• Through orientation

• Through retention offices

• Through diversity offices

• Through faculty members

CAREER SERVICES FOCUS• Developmental – still deciding on a major/change major/what will I

do with a major

• Experiential Learning – internships/co-ops/volunteer opportunities

• They have 1 maybe 2 summers to complete summer opportunity

• Graduate school

• For some they have 1 year before they start the application process

• Job Search

LEADERSHIP

• How to articulate leadership

• How can they develop if they don’t have

• Student clubs and organizations

• Working while attending school

• Participating in sports

• Organizations outside of school that they participate in

• President’s Leadership Program

WHEN TO USE SERVICES

• Sooner rather than later

• Career Services can help a Transfer student feel connected to the University

• Career Services can help a Transfer student find resources

• Career Services can be a “one stop shop”

FOR DISCUSSION

• What are the career services needs on your campus?

• What works and what doesn’t in career services?

• Who are your campus partners?

• How do you help students transfer successfully?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME TODAY!

• Wendy Winter-Searcy, Career and Transfer Center Coordinator

• Arapahoe Community College

• Wendy.winter-searcy@arapahoe.edu, 303-797-5809

• Judy Brobst, Career Center Liaison, College of Natural Sciences

• Colorado State University

• Judy.brobst@colostate.edu, 970-491-1190