What’s Career Got to Do with It?Career Development and

RetentionEileen McGarry, Director of Career Services

Cyndy Watson, Assistant Director of Career Services

Start with Success and work backwards

“ Entertaining Connections” and “He Hit the Target” UA Student Success Stories

Common Themes critical to retention and success:

• Key motivators – majors, goals and priorities, academic affinity, mentors, networking

• External and internal engagement – part-time jobs, volunteering, interning, research projects, student organizations/leadership

Career Development & Retention:

Too many variables to say career intervention is the key to retention. We must look at the factors that influence persistence and student success and align programming and service Initiatives with those.

Used: NSSE High Impact Student Experiences and “What Matters to Student Success: A Review of Literature” Commissioned report National Symposium on Post Secondary Student Success – Spearheading a Dialogue – July 2006 Kuh, Kinzie, Buckley, Indiana Bloomington and Bridges – American Council on Education, Haych – Kentucky Council Post- Secondary Education

Student/Faculty Interaction matters most- inside and outside classroom – statistically significant to career

choice, interest and selection.Career Services’ response…

• Explicit academic partnerships – CS Career Coordinators – College Liaison assignments, student ambassadors

• CS Campus Team involving Advising Center Directors and SA leaders – quarterly

• Integration with transition courses and capstone where possible- developing new partnerships & presentations – examples… EDL 272 – co-instruct

High Quality Advising single most powerful

predictor of success in 4 year institutions (NSSE

2005)Career Services’ response…

• Career Services is partner in advising – Career Services Team, liaison models, referral systems, orientation and welcomes

• Partnership with CLAS/ Advising Center & parent programs – new student advising in Career Center

• 57% increase in unique counseling appointments with liaison model

• Outreach to 12,000 student through variety of integrated programs, student groups

Individual engagement is critical to student success through academic,

interpersonal, extracurricular offerings (Pascarella and Terenzini

2005, p. 602)Career Services response…

• Interpersonal engagement – career counseling, programs, workshops and employer events

• Major choice to career direction

• Partnership with CLAS during new student advising,

• Robust Web resources combined with services capturing 90% of Undergrads

• Open houses, welcomes, orientations and partner outreach: Rec Center, Bookstore and SUMC, Alumni, parents, Vets, transfer, DRC, Colleges

Building Engagement and Retention of Minority Students –

BEAMS Concept of Structural Diversity (ACE) AAUP – building a culture of

diversity and peer to peer interaction and influence.

Career Services response…

Diversity focused Career Fair and Employer/Student Mixer

The EDGE program for Internship Readiness/professional Development

Arizona Assurance, PASS, and TRIO partnerships on programming

Other programming for Out on the Job and referring company speakers to student club and organizations

Shift in pedagogy from faculty teaching to student learning and “talent development philosophy”

and High Impact Learning Experiences - NSSE

• High Impact Learning Experiences - NSSE• Service learning• Internships• UG research with faculty• Volunteerism and community projects• Study Abroad

> In the US 29% of seniors at public institutions do a culminating senior experience, compared with 42 percent of their private college and university counterparts.> Recent UA Student Survey 41% of students had a career related experience (comparable to national survey)

Showing regard for student’s unique interests and talents, social, personal, vocational (Socrcinelli 91)

• Career Services example of professional development and student learning outcomes: counseling interventions for resume writing and interviewing assistance > 97% of students reported strong positive outcomes related to

preparation and improved sense of effectiveness (FY 2012

surveys)

Career Service Influencers of Practical Competence– Educationally Purposeful

Experiences:

• Career- Related Experience (Internship/Co-op) – 1/3 of seniors associate with successful employment

• Volunteerism, community service

• Student leadership experiences – Student government – career relevancy ¼ of all gains by seniors

• Engagement in diversity experiences

Post college outcomes Research

• Employment

• Graduate or professional school

• Lifelong learning• GPA – Biggest predictor of success to degree completion and

modest impact on FT degree related employment post- graduation (Pascarella & Terrenzini 2005)

• Economic Benefits and Quality of Life:• Biggest impact on First Generation degree completers• College Major – impact on earnings slightly higher –

Engineering, science/Math, business, more significant for medicine and law

• What is Career services doing?UA Career Destinations Survey :

• Added ABOR questions and OIRPs partnership, • Added to Commencement RSVP • College Partnerships to brand survey• Results– increased survey response rates Reported job

offer acceptance up more than 14% compared to 2011 and 25% increase in accepted CRE offers

• UA Employer satisfaction survey – tells us quality of service and students; Preliminary summer 2012 survey

CLOSING THOUGHTS• Career work is everywhere, involves

everyone, and is an ongoing and integrated part of the educational process

• Use Career Stories as motivators, share success stories, opportunities

• CS will work to enhance interventions that matter. Open to your ideas

• Our reach is broad – almost all majors UG to Graduate served by CS

Student Success Indicators for

Retention• Goal attainment

• Satisfaction

• Professional development or personal development

• Student Learning Outcomes

• Post college outcomes

That’s What Career has to do with it!

Thank You!!