Innovative Ways to Engage Students and Employers: the ... · and Employers: the Atlantic Canadian Experience Christine Frigault, Mount Saint Vincent University Patricia Poirier, Memorial

Innovative Ways to Engage Students and Employers: the Atlantic

Canadian ExperienceChristine Frigault, Mount Saint Vincent University

Patricia Poirier, Memorial University

Brendan Hagerty, Memorial University

What will you learn today?

• How to engage and connect students and employers in innovative ways

• How to provide professional development and networking opportunities at the same time

• How to build a co-curricular recognition program that fits your campus

Memorial University

• Career Development and Experiential Learning, Memorial University offer various events for students and employers that are both engaging and skill building.

• Examples: Dining Etiquette, Career Day, and Toast to Hire Learning.

Dining Etiquette

Overview

• On-campus event hosted by Career Development and Alumni Affairs, Memorial University

• Students and alumni have the opportunity to attend a fine dining experience and learn important skills from our etiquette coach

Dining Etiquette cont.

How Employers Can Get Involved

• Each table is hosted by an employer from the community

• Employers can sponsor a table and invite students and alumni of their choice to join them

• Employers have the opportunity to network with 40-50 individuals from various disciplines

Dining Etiquette cont.

Anticipated Student Learning

• Collaboration

• Effective communication

• Demonstrating professionalism

• Managing career development

• Relating knowledge to daily life

• Connecting knowledge to other knowledge, ideas, and experiences

Career Day

Overview

• A full day of professional development for new graduates

• Individuals present on various topics such as resume writing, job search, the changing workforce, job opportunities, and the advantages of social media

Career Day cont.

Employer Participation

• Employers can present on one of the various topics, or a topic of their choice

• Employers can sponsor lunch or a prize and highlight their organization

• Employers can present job opportunities to new graduates from various disciplines

Career Day cont.

Anticipated Student Learning

• Constructing knowledge

• Managing career development

• Relating knowledge to daily life

• Understanding knowledge from a range of topics

• Reflective thinking

Toast to Hire Learning

Overview

• Off-campus breakfast event hosted by Career Development and Experiential Learning and the Division of Co-operative Education, Memorial University

• Employers are invited to enjoy breakfast while they discuss recruitment issues with a panel of 8-10 students from a variety of disciplines

Toast to Hire Learning cont.

Employer Participation

• All you need to do is be there! This event is held annually around November and employers are invited to come enjoy breakfast free of charge

• Employers can have questions prepared to ask the student panel around recruitment, and what their generation looks for in a career

• This is a very interactive event and beneficial to both students and employers

Toast to Hire Learning cont.

Anticipated Student Learning

• Collaboration

• Communicating effectively

• Critical thinking

• Demonstrating professionalism

• Managing career development

• Pursuing goals

• Reflective thinking

Co-Curricular Record

• Memorial’s CCR is an official document recognizing and verifying students’ out of class learning through campus involvement.

• Memorial’s co-curricular record recognizes student engagement in qualifying campus activities, and is a companion piece to the academic transcript, as well as the resume.

• Learning from the earlier mentioned events can be showcased on the co-curricular record, as well as volunteering, on-campus work experience, and other non-academic programming.

Co-Curricular Record cont.Example:

Mount Saint Vincent University

• The Mount Career Planning Services, in partnership with other campus departments, offers the following:

- Speed Mentoring

- Career Week

- Job Finding Club

Speed Mentoring

• Offered in partnership with Alumnae Relations, University Advancement

• Students move in teams from computer station to computer station to chat with alumnae via skype about their careers

• Students are required to come up with various questions to ask alumnae and are provided training to help them with this

• Students have the opportunity to network with alumnae from around the world

Speed Mentoring

Anticipated Student Learning

• Build career knowledge

• Interpersonal and communication skills

• Develop professional relationships

• Gain interviewing skills

• Gain networking skills

Career Week

• Career Planning Services participates in Business & Tourism Dept. Career Weeks

• Offered twice during the academic year (Fall and Spring)

• Career Planning Services provides professional development workshops in conjunction with employer presenters

• Employer panels on field specific topics (Careers in Management, Marketing, Accounting)

Career Week

Anticipated Student Learning

• Gain networking skills

• Build career knowledge

• Interpersonal and communication skills

• Develop professional relationships

Job Finding Club

• Offered at the end of the academic year to graduating students

• Covers career decision making, job search skills, networking, resume and cover letter preparation and interview skills

• 2011/12 offering will start in September with bi-weekly meetings to promote job search skills early in the final year of study (pilot with Business & Tourism Dept.)

• Employers will be able to participate as guest speakers or on a panel

Job Finding Club

Anticipated Student Learning

• Self-awareness

• Goal setting

• Build career knowledge

• Interpersonal and team work skills

• Written and oral communication skills

Co-Curricular Recognition Program

• The Mount started a Co-Curricular Recognition Program in September 2010 which recognizes the following on a Co-Curricular Record:

- Volunteer work

- Leadership

- Awards

- Student club/society involvement

- Varsity athletics

- Professional development

Co-Curricular Recognition Program

• The activities and events we have outlined today would be recognized as Professional Development activities on the Co-Curricular Record

• All activities must first be approved and properly validated according to the program guidelines: available at www.msvu.ca/ccrp

• Students are encouraged to use their Co-Curricular Record to demonstrate to employers the activities they have participated in that complement their academics

• Students may choose to add their Co-Curricular Record to a portfolio, or to submit it directly to employers when applying for jobs

Co-Curricular Record

Co-Curricular Recognition Program

• Implementing the program took over a year at the Mount

• Introduced to senior administration as an initiative of the campus Retention Committee

• Program rationale directly tied into the campus strategic plan

• Challenges: Where would the program be housed? How would we store the data and produce the document with limited budget?

Co-Curricular Recognition Program

• Career Planning Services chaired a cross-campus committee with many voices (including Student’s Union)

• In-house system used by the Registrar’s office provided the answer re: how to store/organize the data

• Activities needed to be clearly non-academic in nature to be approved

• A small budget was provided by the university to run the program out of Career Planning Services

• Shared support staff and a student assistant perform majority of administrative duties

• Student career assistants promote the program to students• Committee attended Dean’s meetings with Dept. Chairs to

introduce the program to faculty

Co-Curricular Recognition Program

• As of May 2011, we have close to 10% of undergraduate students participating with plans to increase participation in future years

• The program continues to evolve and administrative processes are still being improved upon

• Cross-campus committee is still in place as the program continues to grow

Discussion

Educators: • What types of activities does your campus offer that bring students and

employers together outside of career fairs? • Do you have new ideas after today’s presentation? What partnerships

might facilitate these ideas? • Does your campus offer a Co-Curricular Record? If so, what career related

events does it recognize? If not, what are the challenges to implementing such a program on your campus? Ideas to overcome these?

Employers:• Have you participated in the types of campus events we have discussed

today? • What is the value to you in participating in these activities?• Do you have new ideas of how you would like to be involved on

campuses?• Do you take Co-Curricular Records into account when reviewing

candidates? If so, how? If not, why not?