Career Development and Placement to Meet Society’s Needs

By Kevin Harrington (注1)
Graduate School of Education, Harvard University

ABSTRACT

Offices providing career development and placement services in American universities date back to the 1920's and earlier. These offices have been meeting society's needs by serving as the nexus between higher education and the professions. They have evolved from a traditional "placement" model (emphasis on matching students and employers) through a "career development" model (emphasis on counseling students to attain personal satisfaction in their careers) to a "career networking" model (emphasis on creating career networks and coaching students on how to best utilize them). Most American colleges and universities now combine elements of all three models. Cooperative education (internship or work study programs) is another significant facet of the employer/university partnership. Some universities have looked to the career office as an income generator, but generally they do not expect the office to be a profit center. Many see a strong career services office as a critical component of their alumni and corporate relations efforts. The Harvard Graduate School of Education's Career Services office has worked extremely closely with its Development and External Relations Office in offering career networking events both on and off campus.

INTRODUCTION

This paper will focus on the role of career development and placement offices in U.S. universities and colleges. It will provide a review of typical practices and underlying philosophies of these offices and how they have evolved over time, examine some new trends in the field, including the re-envisioning of the Career Center as an income center, the relationship between career services and an institution's external relations efforts, and the importance of career networking programs and services. "Networking" in this context refers to students meeting with alumni and others to learn more about opportunities in specific career fields and organizations. This networking model of career services will be illustrated by a discussion of the offerings at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

BACKGROUND

A short history of career development and placement associations may illustrate the long-term relationship between the employment and university communities in the United States. Job placement for graduates was initially a function of schools of education as colleges and universities sought to make appropriate appointments for teaching candidates graduating from their programs. In 1924, the first placement organization in the U.S. was established in Chicago, Illinois. Eleven of the first twelve members were women and they were primarily concerned with teacher placement. This organization (the National Association of Appointments Secretaries, which eventually became known as the American College Personnel Association) lessened its emphasis on placement issues. This led asgroupsof placement officers to meet at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and form the Eastern College Personnel Officers (ECPO). Their intent was to exchange information on common placement problems and practices. Eventually, these meetings and conferences began featuring speakers who had begun to conduct studies of the field.

The Great Depression of the 1930's created even more of a demand for vocational guidance, not only from students but from some faculty members as well. They began to realize that it was in their own best interest to see their students placed in appropriate jobs after graduation. During this period, ECPO opened its membership to employers and created a platform through which college placement personnel and employers who recruited college students could exchange ideas and discuss their mutual interests. This confluence of employers and colleges was energized further by the intensive recruiting activity following World War II. Additional regional placement associations began forming in other parts of the country.

Eight distinct regional placement associations had formed by the year 1957. In that year, the eight presidents of these association met and created the College Placement Council, a federation of the regional associations. The success of this organization (now called the National Association of Colleges and Employers, or NACE) and the sustained viability of the regional associations is an indication of the commitment to and importance of placement activities as a cooperative venture between employers and colleges. While NACE has primarily concerned itself with private sector corporate placement, another organization, the American Association for Employment in Education (formerly the Association for School, College, University Staffing) has been playing a similar role in the teacher and educator placement process since 1934.

MODELS OF CAREER SERVICES

Casella(注2) has outlined the evolution of three career center paradigms in the American university: placement, planning, and networking.

Placement. This is the original model for university career offices. It emphasized matching candidates with specific jobs and employers. Staff saw themselves primarily as employment specialists and served mostly graduating students who were entering the job market. Typical services provided by these offices included on-campus recruiting (offering space on campus to employers wishing to conduct job interviews of prospective candidates, and scheduling appointments over the course of a one or two day visit to the campus), job listings (posting jobs from employers in notebooks, on bulletin boards, and/or through a job listing publication), and credentials files (files containing letters of recommendations, copies of teaching licenses, and other materials supporting a candidate's application which can be copied by the placement office and mailed or released to prospective employers). This model developed and flourished in the strong post-World War II U.S. economy.

Planning. In the 1970's, and 80's career offices were influenced by the various "human potential" movements that arose from the advent of certain schools of humanistic and developmental psychology. Instead of simply facilitating the job matching process, career center staff began seeing themselves as career counselors charged with helping students examine their personal skills, interests, and values insgroupsto best evaluate career options that would bring maximum personal satisfaction. The traditional placement services were not abandoned in this model, but new services that were added included more one-to-one counseling, skills workshops, and self-assessment tools (such as the Strong Interest Inventory and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). Another change in this paradigm was the focus on all students, not just graduating seniors. Career development theory was incorporatedsintosthese efforts in the hopes of students taking a longer and better assessment of their goals so that they would be better prepared to make more rewarding decisions.

Networking. The 1990's saw a new paradigm emerge, one based on career networking. Most centers still provided campus recruiting, job listing services, and career counseling, but new energies were now directed towards forming and maintaining career networks and coaching students on how to best take advantage of them. Alumni became crucial to the networking concept. Many schools began asking alumni to serve as career advising volunteers for students and, in many cases, other alumni. A database of these volunteers is made available to students, either in hard copy in the career office, or through a pass-word protected secure web site. Students are coached by the career services staff on how to best approach and take advantage of these volunteers and are encouraged to contact them directly to set up an appointment. The networking model does not require the advisor to provide a job for the advisee; instead, the expectation is that the advisor will provide information that may give the advisee an advantage in seeking employment in that particular field. Some of the ways an advisor may be helpful include:
· pointing out job listing publications that the job seeker unfamiliar to the job seeker,
· directing him or her to employers in the field that may have job openings,
· providing feedback to the job seeker on his or her qualifications for certain types of jobs so that he doesn't waste time applying for jobs for which he is not qualified,
· providing feedback on the job seeker's resume,
· giving an insider's perspective on what skills and experiences employers seek in job candidates,
· provide names of other professionals in the field that the advisee may contact for additional leads and information.

College career counselors typically provide this kind of help as well. Given the wide range of job choices available to students, however, it is difficult for counselors to become expert on each and every one. So while they provide excellent advice on the basics of job search techniques (key to the placement model), and do a good job of helping students identify their personal skills and values (as seen in the planning model), they cannot be "masters of all trades" and advise students as competently as people actually working in their desired career fields.

An often told aphorism states "If you give a man a fish, he will eat today. If you teach a man to fish, he will eat for the rest of his life." If one were to draw an analogy to the career center paradigms, one might say that the placement model gives students a fish, while the planning model teaches them how to fish. To extend the analogy further, it could be argued that the networking model shows themswheresto find the fish.

The enormous, positive impact of the internet on delivering career services associated with all three paradigms cannot be overstated. Space doesn't allow a detailed examination of its applications, but many of the services discussed in this paper have been enhanced or replaced by internet applications. Job openings are now typically advertised on the internet. Many colleges have used internet-based software to manage the scheduling process for on-campus recruitment. Alumni advising networks are increasingly being made available on line. Finally, there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, or web sites offering career information and employer directories. An example of how one office has utilized these applications through its web site can be found at the home page of the Career Services Office at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (http://www.gse.harvard.edu/careers).

COOPERATIVE EDUCATION

The National Commission for Cooperative Education defines co-op (as it's often referred to) as "…a structured educational strategy integrating classroom studies with learning through productive work experiences in a field related to a student's academic or career goals. It provides progressive experiences in integrating theory and practice. Co-op is a partnership among students, educational institutions and employers, with specified responsibilities for each party." (注3) Formal co-op programs are in place at over four hundred and sixty U.S. colleges and universities, but almost all schools offer some kind of internship experience for students.

These programs benefit participants in many ways. Students are given a chance to explore career options while still in school and gain valuable experience and skills that will make them more attractive job candidates upon graduation. Co-op helps employers develop a well-trained labor pool and facilitates the recruiting and selection process for full-time staff. Universities are able to provide laboratory experiences for students to apply theoretical knowledge gained in the classroom to actual work situations. Students are then able to incorporate knowledge gained on the jobsintostheir continuing studies. Co-op also helps universities (particularly professional schools) align their curriculum with the demands of the workplace.

REVENUE GENERATION

Insgroupsto offset the budget cuts and freezes that were so prevalent in U.S. universities in the early 1990's, many career centers examined ways in which they could generate revenue. Generally speaking, students were exempt from fees, but employers were seen as appropriate sources of revenue. There remains, however, an ongoing debate about the appropriateness of charging any sort of fee for service. It became clear, however, that it is unrealistic to envision the career services office as an actual profit center. Fees charged by the career center are generally expected to defray costs only.

Some specific methods of generating income from university career centers include:

· Campus Recruitment Schedules. Some offices charge employers up to .00 to schedule an on-campus interview schedule with students ( a schedule typically includes interviews with 12-13 students in an 8-hour day). This is relatively rare, however, and seen mostly in highly selective professional schools that see a great demand for their graduates. Most colleges are seeking to increase the number of employers who visit their campuses and are reluctant to initiate fees which might discourage them from recruiting.

· Career Fairs. Most colleges charge some sort of fee for employers to attend a career fair through which they can meet a large number of prospective employees. Fees vary and may range from to , with highly selective professional schools charging the most. A recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers showed that the average fee charged by colleges for career fair participation was .

· Corporate Sponsorship. In some instances, corporations have made a sizable financial gift to a university or provided support in other ways (paying for computer equipment, furniture, construction, etc.) insgroupsto raise their profile at the institution. Recognition of these corporate sponsors may take the form of named scholarships for students, logos and ads in student publications, and in one instance the display of bronze plaques in the career center recognizing multiple corporate donors. There is at least one example of a university actually naming its career center after a major corporation. Georgetown University (in Washington, D.C.) has named its career office the "MBNA Career Education Center" (MBNA is a large credit card and finance corporation). One issue with this type of sponsorship, however, is the possibility of other employers feeling that they might not have the same access to students graduating from that university. This could result in a reduction in the breadth and diversity of career options for those students .

· Internet Job Listings. In recent years, there has been an emergence of private, for-profit companies that offer career management technology to colleges and employers to help them manage the recruiting process. The two largest currently in use are MonsterTrak (owned by Monster.Com) and eRecruiting (part of Experience.Com). These organizations charge employers fees to list jobs which can be accessed by students at their partner universities. Some schools have an arrangement by which a percentage of these fees is remitted to them by the company.

CAREER SERVICES AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS

"External Relations" refers to the division or unit of a university or school that is engaged activities beyond the campus. These activities are primarily devoted to (but not limited to) development (fundraising) efforts. Most external relations divisions have offices for Alumni Services and for Corporate Relations. Increasingly, U.S. universities are seeing the need for cooperation between these offices and the career development and placement function.

· Alumni Relations. Universities have recognized for some time that a satisfied alumni base can translate to an alumni base more willing to support their alma mater through donations. Alumni who have felt their career development has been positively influenced by their university experience are likely to be even more supportive. It is not enough, however, to simply appeal to alumni for donations each year during the university's annual fund drive. Alumni can make a tremendous contribution to the university by offering to serve as a career resource to current students and other alumni. They can do so by offering career advice to individual students, making career presentations on campus, or influencing their employer to become more involved with the university. The value of this latter relationship is expanded upon under the following item, "Corporate Relations."

· Corporate Relations. Corporate relations staff try to maximize the involvement of corporations with the university. Some specific ways they do this include soliciting support and funding for university research centers, endowed chairs and/or professorships, individual research projects, and major university campaigns (e.g., building funds, financial aid, scholarships, etc.). They also may invite corporate executives to sit on university boards, committees, and councils. By doing so, they are raising the corporation's vested interest in the success of the university. Given this type of involvement, it is a natural that corporate relations and career services offices are coordinating their efforts in meeting employer needs.

CAREER SERVICES IN ACTION AT THE HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

The Career Services Office at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE combines elements of the three paradigms (placement, planning, networking) discussed earlier in this paper. The office hosts on-campus recruitment visits from a variety of educational, non-profit, and private employers. Job listings are available in a password protected Internet site. Career counselors meet with students to assist in self-assessment and planning for their next career steps. Presentations on job search topics (resume writing, interview skills, networking strategies) are offered on a regular basis.

The most effective career programs offered at HGSE, however, are outgrowths of the networking paradigm

· Alumni Advising Network. Over 6,000 HGSE alumni who have volunteered to make themselves available to students and other alumni seeking career advice and information. The database is available over the network at a password site. Users can search the database for volunteers working for a specific employer, in a specific career field or occupation, and/or in a specific geographic location.

· Career Networking Breakfasts. Each year, the office sponsors a series of on-campus networking events on a variety of career fields of interest to HGSE students. Examples of career fields covered in separate events include higher education administration, non-profit careers, and careers in technology and education. Representatives (usually alumni) are invited to attend these events insgroupsto sit informally with students in small groups to exchange useful career information. These events provide a relaxed forum for students to speak informally with individuals working in their field of career interest. They receive advice on the best way to secure jobs in the respective fields and learn about opportunities that may exist elsewhere.
· Career Days (New York City, Washington, D.C.; and San Francisco). These annual programs give current HGSE students an opportunity to visit with alumni and others at a variety of work settings in the respective cities. The Career Services staff arranges the visits in advance over a three-day period when classes are not being held. They are generally one-hour long and held at the advisor's place of employment. They receive an overview of the organization hosting the visit and ample opportunity to ask questions. Again, the emphasis is on information sharing; the advisors are not necessarily recruiting at the time of their session. The students invariably, however, walk away with knowledge and information that leads to employment opportunities.
All three of the programs outlined above depend on the support and cooperation of HGSE's Office of External and Alumni Relations. They pay for half of the costs for the reception that is held each year in each city as part of the Career Days program. The career day session leaders and alumni living in the area are invited to this reception, along with the participating students. This provides for additional networking opportunities, for the alumni as well as the students. Alumni Relations has provided similar support for the Networking Breakfasts.
The Alumni Advising Network was developed cooperatively with the Alumni Relations office. Without their support, our outreach efforts to alumni to participate in this program would have been hindered. They are also instrumental in promoting the service through their own events, web site, and mailings.
By working together, the Career Services and Alumni Relations Office are providing relevant and valuable career resources to current students. Providing these resources fulfils two needs. First of all, they become a valuable asset in attracting the type of excellent students that our Admissions office is charged with recruiting. Graduate study is a sizable investment in time and money, and attracting the best students means not only providing them excellence in the classroom, but excellence in career services.
Secondly, by furthering the career development of graduates, the School is creating an alumni base, which is much more likely to support the School's various endeavors. Alumni who feel that that owe some of their career success to our services will likely support the School with financial donations, donations of time, and donations of other resources that make for a vital a relevant professional school.
CONCLUSIONS
By attending to the career development of its students, universities will produce graduates who will seek career options that most closely match their skills, values and interests. Graduates who are pursuing careers for which they are most ideally suited will become more productive employees. Employers who work closely with universities in providing accurate career information are more likely to attract employees best suited for their job opportunities.
Not all of the cooperative efforts between colleges and employers discussed in this paper necessarily create instant or highly tangible rewards for the institutions that enact them. As in any cooperative venture dependent upon relationship building, they develop over time. It is these relationships, however, that create a synergistic engine whose sum of its parts exceeds its individual components. This engine has been nurtured and fine tuned over time by the willingness of its stakeholders to articulate shared goals and work together to meet them. This engine can power the symbiotic relationship between educators and employers as they work together to meet society's needs.

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