Career Services Detailed Assessment Report - University of West Alabama
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Career Services
Detailed Assessment Report
2016-2017
Mission / Purpose
The UWA Office of Career Services strives to provide guidance and resources to students and alumni
to support their career development and attainment of career-related goals. Career Services will
provide information and resources to help students engage in self-awareness, career exploration and
job search preparation. The office seeks continuing partnerships with faculty and staff to enhance
opportunities to educate students on the career development process. Career Services also seeks to
maintain partnerships with employers and develop partnerships with new employers seeking to hire
college students and graduates and to aid in connecting students and employers.
I. Goals and Outcomes/Objectives, with Any Related Measures, Targets,
Findings, and Action Plans
A. Goal: Address the educational, social, and cultural needs of the overall student body.
Address the major educational, social, and cultural needs of the overall student body.
1. Objective: Provide information about career planning to students
Students will receive information about career planning (self-assessment, interest and
occupational identification, experiential education, and career planning resources).
a. Measure: Speak to classes containing freshmen
Career Services staff will speak to classes containing freshmen to provide them with
career planning information and resources. A count of the number of classes and a copy
of the Career Services calendar will provide evidence for this measure.
1. Achievement Target:
Will speak to or provide direct information on Career Services recommended for
freshmen to a minimum of 18 classes.
2. Findings (2016-2017) - Target: Met
Career Services staff provided career information ranging from resume preparation,
interviewing and services offered to students including assessments, resume critiques,
employer events, workshops, registration with Career Services and more to 20 classes
containing freshmen. Classes included UWA 101, Speech and Career Exploration.
b. Measure: Students will take Career Assessments
Students will take Career Assessments including the Strong Interest Inventory, Ability
Explorer and other informative assessments deemed helpful to students seeking help with
career decision-making. (Interpretive report provided through Counseling/Coaching
sessions and Career Exploration classes) to learn about occupations best suited for them
based on their interests. SkillsOne Administrative website for (The Strong), inventory of
other paper assessments and Career Services calendar with appointment listings will
provide evidence for this measure.
1. Achievement Target:
A minimum of fifty students will complete career assessments/interpretations during
the academic year.
2. Findings (2016-2017) - Target: Met
Page 1 of 8Office had a significantly higher number than expected since staff worked with
Business, Education and Biology classes using the following assessments: Strong,
MBTI and Keirsey Temperament Sorter. 183 students completed assessments and
received interpretation of results from Career Services staff.
c. Measure: Career Services Workshops
Offer and provide workshops or group sessions on topics related to career planning and
the job search including resume writing, interviewing, dressing for success, soft skills and
dining etiquette. Career Services calendar and quarterly reports provides evidence of this
measure. With C2C funding, will specifically offer a Boot Camp for Seniors during
Spring semester.
1. Achievement Target:
Will provide 10 or more workshops/group presentations covering topics such as
resume writing, interviewing, dressing for success, dining etiquette (if funding is
available) and possible other topics related to career development and planning to
students. With C2C funding, will provide a Boot Camp for Seniors utilizing employers
to help students with soft skill identification and awareness, job search preparation and
opportunities.
2. Findings (2016-2017) - Target: Met
Career Services provided a total of 38 workshops/group presentations covering all the
topics listed and other topics including Medical School Admissions with guests from
ACOM, What to Do With Your Major and Skills Needed for Employment Success.
d. Measure: Connect students with graduation/professional schools
UWA will continue to participate in the Alabama Connection Statewide Graduate &
Professional School Fair during the fall by advertising and encouraging students to attend.
Career Services will also work with selected colleges to encourage graduate programs
participate in events and the Career Expo will include a limited number of graduate and
professional programs.
1. Achievement Target:
Provide students with information on The Alabama Connection which takes place
during first full week of October (Monday - Wednesday) and specifically encourage
students planning to attend graduate/professional school to attend the event on
Tuesday, 10/4 at Stillman College. Also, the Career Services director will continue to
serve as Database Manager for the AL Connection team. Career Services will also
invite some graduate/professional programs to campus during the Career Expo and
will continue to assist in bringing graduate/professional schools to the NSM
Undergraduate Research Symposium and COB Accounting & Finance Day as long as
these colleges desire this assistance.
2. Findings (2016-2017) - Target: Met
Office provided students with information on the Alabama Connection, but are only
aware that one student from UWA attended. Fortunately, this event will take place on
the UWA Campus during Fall 2017. Through three events, Career Services brought 12
graduate programs to campus (through Career Expo, Hire A Tiger Boot Camp and
Accounting & Finance Day) along with 2 Professional CPA organizations.
e. Measure: Social Media
Continue to promote Facebook page to students and to post information and opportunities
through the Career Services Facebook page and use Twitter to share job search tips and
job openings.
Page 2 of 81. Achievement Target:
Will post weekly to keep students and alumni informed of events and job openings.
2. Findings (2016-2017) - Target: Met
Since hiring the Employer Relations Specialist, Career Services has not only a
Facebook page, but also Twitter and Instagram. We have posted weekly in these social
media sites to inform students and alumni of job openings and career services events.
We also printed post cards with our social media and registration sites listed and
handed out at events. Through the CPI grant, we plan to hire an Integrated Marketing
Communications student part time (Fall 2017) to help with promoting our sites more
to students and will keep this position as long as grant funds are available.
f. Measure: Provide intensive assistance to freshmen
C2C Project (grant funded): Select a diverse group of freshmen for an intensive career
coaching/learning program requiring their commitment throughout the fall and spring
semesters. A checklist of activities and record of each student’s participation will be
maintained to measure effectiveness. Other students who show interest in this program
will also be able to participate without expectations and incentives provided to the
"group" participants. The C2C Project is a career pathways initiative through the UNCF
funded by a Lily Endowment to help more students to better develop their career paths
during college leading them to be more career ready upon graduation thus leading to a
higher percentage of students getting jobs in their fields of study. We will apply for an
Implementation Grant, which if awarded, we will be notified in November 2016 and
awarded in February 2017.
1. Achievement Target:
Will solicit freshmen from UWA 101 classes to apply for this C2C Project program
and will select 30 students based on applications while seeking a diverse group by
major, race and gender. The activities of this program will continue through the Spring
2017 as long as the C2C Implementation Grant is funded.
2. Findings (2016-2017) - Target: Met
After consulting with the Career Pathways Initiative Team who oversees the funding
for the C2C Project, office learned that staff could not select a cohort of students as
part of the C2C project. Instead, staff must provide services that any student can gain
from or participate in. Staff initially saw this as an experimental program that we could
use on a larger scale going forward, but plans changed after consulting with the CPI
team.
3. Action Plan:
Increase freshman career awareness
Career Services helped to develop career planning student learning outcomes and
assignments for Freshman Seminar classes to ensure more freshman are aware of the
need for career planning throughout college. Career Services staff will be available to
advise UWA 101 instructors in this area as needed.
Established in Cycle: 2016-2017
Implementation Status: In-Progress
Priority: High
Relationships (Measure | Outcome/Objective):
Measure: Provide intensive assistance to freshmen | Outcome/Objective: Provide
information about career planning to students
Implementation Description: UWA 101 will incorporate the career planning
activities beginning Fall 2017 and CS Staff will help to advise as needed. This activity
and outcomes will be reported in C2C reports.
Responsible Person/Group: Career Services is responsible for providing
Page 3 of 8information and advice to UWA 101 instructors and the C2C Executive Director for
Academic Innovation and Workforce Development. UWA
2. Objective: Employment opportunities enhanced
Student learning of employers and employment opportunities will be enhanced
a. Measure: Employers will recruit on campus
Employers will participate in on-campus recruiting. Career Services will actively
maintain relationships with employers and organizations that support employers in the
UWA region (e.g. Chambers of Commerce) to encourage ongoing and new recruiting
activities on campus.
1. Achievement Target:
Eighty employers and ten graduate schools will register to participate in on-campus
recruiting activities.
2. Findings (2016-2017) - Target: Met
Career Services recruiting events yielded 99 employers registering to participate and
12 graduate schools registering to participate to interact directly with students.
b. Measure: Increase student registrations and resume post
Increase the number of students registering with UWA Career Services at
www.collegecentral.com/uwa enabling Career Services or some of the Employers in the
system to contact them. Also, increase the number of students who post a resume and/or
portfolio. The job board is available at our site also. Evidence for student numbers will be
available through the online system and Career Services quarterly reports.
1. Achievement Target:
300 students will register with Career Services online system during the academic year
and 100 will post resumes and/or portfolios.
2. Findings (2016-2017) - Target: Partially Met
This year, office had 234 students register with Career Services, which is an increase
over last year and 45 students posted resumes of which 23 were approved by staff and
1 portfolio was posted.
3. Action Plan:
Increase student registrations
Career Services staff are evaluating a new registration and office management system
to offer more incentives for students to register with Career Services and to help them
manage their own career activities. Also, the current system allows staff to review and
approve resumes prior to making them available to employers in the system, but we
cannot critique and send the critique to students in the system. We can provide a short
amount of feedback in an existing message. As a result, we send students 2 emails
including the critique. Many students who initially post a resume do not make the
corrections and re-post it. We are, however, critiquing significantly more resumes than
this shows but via email instead of through our registration system. As far as
increasing registrations, we have hired a part time Integrated Marketing
Communications student with CPI grant funds to help with Career Services
promotions including registering with Career Services. Even with our current system,
we can investigate bulk uploads of students into the system.
Established in Cycle: 2016-2017
Implementation Status: Planned
Priority: High
Relationships (Measure | Outcome/Objective):
Page 4 of 8Measure: Increase student registrations and resume post | Outcome/Objective:
Employment opportunities enhanced
Implementation Description: Increased promotions will begin in September 2017
and extend through May 2018 Evaluation and potential purchase of new registration
system will take place during this academic year
Projected Completion Date: 06/28/2018
Responsible Person/Group: Career Services Staff
c. Measure: Resume advice
Students will receive resume advice and/or critiques. CS Calendar
1. Achievement Target:
Two hundred students will receive resume advice and/or critiques.
2. Findings (2016-2017) - Target: Met
Career Services staff provided resume advice and/or critiques to 246 students.
II. Other Plans for Improvement
A. Promote alternative methods of connecting employers to students
Continue to learn about maximizing use of LinkedIn and other resources through webinars,
conferences, professional journals & publications.
Established in Cycle: 2011-2012
Implementation Status: In-Progress
Priority: High
Implementation Description: Individual counseling and group presentations
Projected Completion Date: 08/27/2014
Responsible Person/Group: Career Services
B. Encourage mentorships among alumni to assist students with careers
Work with alumni office to identify potential alumni mentors to connect with students
seeking career planning guidance.
Established in Cycle: 2012-2013
Implementation Status: In-Progress
Priority: Medium
Implementation Description: Explore alumni resources for mentor identification and
contact mentors to connect students for information, job shadowing, and job search tips.
Projected Completion Date: 06/29/2013
Implementation Notes:
5/16/2017 The software used for the First Destination Surveys that Career Services conducts
of graduating students allows the development of a database of respondents. This database
will contain employment and/or graduate school information of the graduates to help with the
development of a mentoring program in the future.
C. Hire Employer Relations Representative (full time)
The Employer Relations Representative will help Career Services to better develop
relationships with employers in our state, region and nation and to identify hiring
opportunities for students and alumni. The ER Representative will primarily identify
internship and entry level opportunities for students and will encourage employers to post
more job openings and to recruit on campus. The office is seeing an increase in requests for
internships among international students adding to the necessity for an ER Representative.
Established in Cycle: 2012-2013
Implementation Status: Finished
Priority: High
Page 5 of 8Implementation Description: Hire a professional with a Bachelor's degree in Business or
related area. Must possess evidence of excellent communication, interpersonal, computer (use
of Excel) skills and initiative. Experience in Career Services, Human Resources or College
Recruiting preferred.
Projected Completion Date: 04/29/2015
Responsible Person/Group: Tammy White/Career Services
Additional Resources Requested: Annual Salary of $45,000 plus benefits package of
$17,100; Additional travel and professional membership costs of $1,500
Budget Amount Requested: $0.00 (recurring)
Implementation Notes:
5/22/2017 Allie Ellis Mills was hired in this position with Career Pathway Initiative
"Implementation grant" funds through May 2022.
D. Plan a job search workshop
Offer a Job Search Workshop to target graduating students. The workshop will cover
interview tips, resume writing and the job search. Incorporate employability training into this
workshop that will be offered during the 2015-16 academic year.
Established in Cycle: 2014-2015
Implementation Status: In-Progress
Priority: Medium
Implementation Description: Plan and advertise workshop
E. Increase employer contacts and on-campus recruitment
This is contingent on hiring an Employer Relations Manager. Increase the number of
employers coming to campus by 30% during the first full year of their employment and the
number of job postings by 50%. This accomplishment would generate more recruiting
opportunities, interviews and expected hires among upcoming and recent graduates.
Established in Cycle: 2015-2016
Implementation Status: In-Progress
Priority: High
Implementation Description: Employer Relations Manager will contact employers via
telephone, at professional meetings and by scheduling appointments and visiting with
employers.
Projected Completion Date: 01/26/2016
Responsible Person/Group: Career Services
Additional Resources Requested: Initially the amount requested for hiring the ERM will
suffice
F. Increase freshman career awareness
Career Services helped to develop career planning student learning outcomes and assignments
for Freshman Seminar classes to ensure more freshman are aware of the need for career
planning throughout college. Career Services staff will be available to advise UWA 101
instructors in this area as needed.
Established in Cycle: 2016-2017
Implementation Status: In-Progress
Priority: High
Relationships (Measure | Outcome/Objective):
Measure: Provide intensive assistance to freshmen | Outcome/Objective: Provide
information about career planning to students
Implementation Description: UWA 101 will incorporate the career planning activities
beginning Fall 2017 and CS Staff will help to advise as needed. This activity and outcomes
will be reported in C2C reports.
Responsible Person/Group: Career Services is responsible for providing information and
advice to UWA 101 instructors and the C2C Executive Director for Academic Innovation and
Workforce Development. UWA
Page 6 of 8G. Increase student registrations
Career Services staff are evaluating a new registration and office management system to offer
more incentives for students to register with Career Services and to help them manage their
own career activities. Also, the current system allows staff to review and approve resumes
prior to making them available to employers in the system, but office cannot critique and send
the critique to students in the system. Staff can provide a short amount of feedback in an
existing message. As a result, staff sends students 2 emails including the critique. Many
students who initially post a resume do not make the corrections and re-post it. Staff is,
however, critiquing significantly more resumes than this shows but via email instead of
through the registration system. As far as increasing registrations, staff has hired a part time
Integrated Marketing Communications student with CPI grant funds to help with Career
Services promotions including registering with Career Services. Even with the current system,
staff can investigate bulk uploads of students into the system.
Established in Cycle: 2016-2017
Implementation Status: Planned
Priority: High
Relationships (Measure | Outcome/Objective):
Measure: Increase student registrations and resume post | Outcome/Objective: Employment
opportunities enhanced
Implementation Description: Increased promotions will begin in September 2017 and
extend through May 2018. Evaluation and potential purchase of new registration system will
take place during this academic year.
Projected Completion Date: 06/28/2018
Responsible Person/Group: Career Services Staff
III. Analysis Questions and Analysis Answers
A. What specific strengths did your assessments show? (Strengths)
1. Career Services was successful in increasing the number of events that connected UWA
students to employers, and the office had more employers on campus. These events were the
Career Expo, Education Interview Day, Accounting & Finance Day, Hire A Tiger Boot
Camp, 2 Birmingham Business Alliance Events, and individual recruiting sessions. In some
of these events, students also had an opportunity to learn from employer panels, participate in
practice interviews with employers and participate in a competitive presentation process that
was judged by employers. 2. An increase in students completing interest and/or personality
assessments occurred partially as a result of faculty incorporating this career development
activity into the class room. Career staff worked with faculty from Colleges of Business &
Technology, Natural Sciences and Mathematics and Education to administer assessments and
provide interpretive sessions. Fortunately, the CPI Planning Grant helped us to purchase
assessments to meet the demand this year.
B. What specific weaknesses or challenges did your assessments show? (Weaknesses)
Students are participating in Career Services events and services, including resume critiques,
workshops, recruiting events, mock interviews, individual counseling sessions; however, we
are missing getting students to register in our online system, post the resumes we critiqued
and use our job board. We have many jobs posted on the job board, but do not have many
students viewing the jobs. Marketing this service of our office and its benefits needs to
improve.
C. What plans were implemented?
1. Staff spoke to more classes containing freshmen than projected. 2. Office increased the
number of employers by 19 over the projection for the year and brought in 12
graduate/professional schools. Both of these activities helps students with the next step after
Page 7 of 8the Bachelor's degree. 3. Office had 3 times as many students complete career assessments
than projected. 4. Office saw approximately 25% increase in projections of students receiving
resume critiques. 5. Office held more than 3 times the number of workshops projected and
worked with students throughout the university.
D. What plans were not implemented?
Staff did not reach the goal on the number of student registrations, but office did see an
increase over last year.
E. How will assessment results be used for continuous improvement?
Staff will continue to build on the strengths and work to improve upon the weaknesses while
also determining possible new measurements of success and tools to maximize the mission of
Career Services on campus.
IV. Annual Report Section Responses
A. Key Achievements
1. The university received a $1.25 million grant to implement a Career Pathways Initiative on
campus. Through the grant, Career Services hired a Full Time Employer Relations Director to
help with increased recruiting opportunities, workshops, surveys and other office activities. A
part-time Research Assistant was also hired to increase job board listings, research industries,
update databases and assist with the First Destination Survey. 2. The grant also has provided
funds to purchase Qualtrics Software (a university-wide license) to help with conducting the
First Destination (Graduation) Survey (FDS). With the increased staffing, Career Services is
managing the survey (which also includes a follow-up survey to each class) and use of social
media. The results will be reported to the National Association of Colleges & Employers
(NACE) as part of their National FDS which is reported to policy makers. The Final Report
for each graduating class at UWA will be provided to administration as well.
B. Staff Achievements
1. Tammy White co-wrote the Career Pathways Initiative Grant, which the university was
awarded. From May 2016 - May 2022, the university will receive $1.3 million dollars to help
students better succeed in obtaining employment and will better help the university to track
graduates and stay informed of post-graduation data. 2. Allie Mills was voted as College
Board Member for the Alabama Association of Colleges and Employers (AACE) for the
2017-18 year and will oversee membership of the organization. 3. Career Services developed
and hosted our first Boot Camp for Seniors during the spring and we submitted our Hire A
Tiger Boot Camp program to AACE and received a 2017 Achievement Award. 4. Tammy
White received a Do Something That Matters award through the Office of Sponsored
Programs during the spring banquet.
C. Public/Community Service
1. Career Services staff helped the Division of Economic Development and Outreach (DEDO)
with helping to prepare CNA students for the job search. Activities included providing
resume advice, critiquing resumes and providing practice interviews. The office also helped
advise DEDO on some of the activities for their summer Career Exploration Camp and
provided a Career Readiness Workshop at the Housing Authority Office in Greene County
during the fall. 2. Career Services staff assisted Upward Bound students during the summer
by leading them through an Etiquette Dinner.
Page 8 of 8Planning and Assessment Approval
Department or Division: Career Services
Chair or Director: Ms. Tammy White
Dean or Vice President: Ms. Tammy White
ra.c:.c::aa
Goals are broad statements describing what the unit wants to
accomplish. Goals relate to both the unit's mission and the
University's mission. The goal(s) is stated as the University goal(s) a
unit is attempting to meet.
NO
Outcomes/Objectives
Outcomes and objectives are statements that describe in some detail
what the unit plans to accomplish. Outcomes/objectives are
associated with all applicable goals, strategic plans, standards, and
institutional priorities.
NO
Objectives are active-verb descriptions of specific points or tasks the
unit will accomplish or reach. Outcomes are active-verb descriptions
of a desired end result related to student learning and the unit's
mission.
NO
Measures
Measures are statements to judge success in achieving the stated
outcome or objective. Measures contain information on the type of
evidence and assessment tool that a unit will use to verify if stated
outcome/objective has been met.
NO
Achievement Targets
Achievement targets are the thresholds that the measures must meet
for the unit to determine that it has been successful in meeting its
specified outcomes/objectives. Achievement targets are measurable
statements.
NOFindings
Findings are indications whether an outcome/objective was met or
not. Findings are put into the system under each achievement target.
Findings include an interpretation ofresults, possible uses of results,
reflection on problems encountered, indicated
improvements/changes and strengths or weakness. NO
Action Plans
Action plans are detailed plans created by the unit to meet an
outcome/objective that was only partially met or not met or to make
improvement to those outcomes/objectives that were met but still
need some strengthening. The plan includes a projected completion
date, implementation description, responsible person(s)/group, NO
resources required, and budget amount (if applicable).
Action plans created in previous cycles have been updated with
implementation notes.
YES
NO
Annual Report
The Annual Report section contains information on key
achievements, faculty and/or staff achievements, and
community/public.
NO
~
Analysis Report
The unit has reflected on and created narratives for each of the
following areas: specific strengths and progress made on
outcomes/objectives, specific weaknesses or challenges, plans that
were and were not implemented, and how assessment results will be
used for continuous improvement. NO
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