Career Services and the

Student Lifecycle

David Kozhuk

uConnect

May 28, 2015

My Story…

• UMass Amherst graduate sought to recruit

students at his alma mater

• Students disengaged from their career

center and overlooking great opportunities

• Founded uConnect to help students get

the most out of their career center

60% of 2013 graduates said they had never once used their school’s career center

-McKinsey & Co.

uConnect: Platform

uConnect: Cross Campus

Q: It’s clear that career services impacts student success, but how do they affect the student lifecycle?

Career Services and the

Student Lifecycle: RECRUITING

• Admissions officers are getting serious about promoting career services

• Bentley University is leading the conversation about millennials in the workplace

For the first time in history, career preparation was found to be the most important criteria considered by high school

students when selecting a college. -Eduventures

Career Services and the Student

Lifecycle: STUDENT SUCCESS

• Colleges are including career readiness as

part of their core curriculum

• Connecticut College’s funded internship

program has been a huge success

A survey of national employers found that less than 30% of recruiters found students to be adequately prepared

for the workforce.-AACU

Career Services and the

Student Lifecycle: ADVANCEMENT

• At the request of their alumni, schools are

providing dedicated professional and

career development resources

• The Alumni Career Services conference

has quadrupled in size in last two years

Students involved in career services while on campus are 10x likely to give back to their school as alumni

-Utah State University

Why So Few Resources?

• Despite pressure from the media and closer alignment with institutional goals, budgets in career centers actually decreased 1.8% from 2013 to 2014.

Q: Why aren’t schools dedicating

requisite resources to their career

center?

4 Trends in Career Services

1. Collaborations with faculty, advising and student groups creates institutionalization

2. Greater visibility and stronger leadership drives greater awareness

3. Tailored messaging and marketing brings down the barrier to entry for students

4. Personalized career services increases relevancy and student engagement

4 Ideas to Go Home With

1. Promote career services right on your

admissions website

2. Integrate career readiness into your core

curriculum

3. Empower your alumni to leverage their

alma mater to advance their careers

4. Provide students with a rich user

experience they will love