Getting a job. It's the hypothetical end goal of completing college and getting a degree. Yet the situation is bleak for today's college grads: unemployment and underemployment for young college-educated workers is consistently worse than the nation's average, and a recent survey suggested that a full 66% of hiring managers believed college graduates just aren't prepared for a job in the so-called "real world".
Here at the University of Cincinnati we have several offices dedicated to preparing students for the workforce. They are:
The effectiveness of these departments has long been a topic of interest among students. Particularly in CEAS, where students frequently interact with ProPEL (the co-op office) and are required to take 2 professional development classes (one with ProPEL and one with CDC), there are plenty of ideas for improvement.
A couple of weeks ago I was invited to participate in a discussion with ProPEL faculty and leadership along with students from other UC colleges. We talked about a variety of things, ranging from co-op advising and courses to new internet tools and sustainability. Here are a few highlights:
These are all great things to hear, but I'm also just very excited to see that ProPEL is looking for student feedback in order to improve their services. A continuing conversation between students and the department is key in order to make sure UC's career services stay relevant and responsive to future students' needs.
I'm hopeful that we will be able to have a similar conversation with the leadership of the Career Development Center, the second major player in UC career services. Unlike ProPEL, which is mostly a resource for co-op students, the CDC is a resource for all UC students regardless of program. The division in the responsibilities of each office can be confusing for students, and it results in redundancies that extend into many services. CEAS students in particular have a lot of concerns about the Professional Development II course taught by the CDC, because there is significant time spent on topics already covered in Professional Development I taught by ProPEL - such as building a resume.
I'm looking forward to starting a dialogue with both ProPEL and CDC in which we can hammer out some of the redundancies and improve career services for all UC students.
Here at the University of Cincinnati we have several offices dedicated to preparing students for the workforce. They are:
- Division of Professional Practice and Experiential Learning (hereafter referred to as ProPEL because wow that's a really long name to type out)
- Career Development Center (CDC)
- College-specific career service offices (Lindner Career Services, Blue Ash Career Services, etc.)
The effectiveness of these departments has long been a topic of interest among students. Particularly in CEAS, where students frequently interact with ProPEL (the co-op office) and are required to take 2 professional development classes (one with ProPEL and one with CDC), there are plenty of ideas for improvement.
A couple of weeks ago I was invited to participate in a discussion with ProPEL faculty and leadership along with students from other UC colleges. We talked about a variety of things, ranging from co-op advising and courses to new internet tools and sustainability. Here are a few highlights:
- Potential changes to Intro to Co-op curriculum (less resumes, more job skills?)
- Resume template standardization between faculty
- Making advisers more accessible, especially responding to emails
- PAL is being upgraded to PAL 2.0 to make student & employer reporting easier
- ProPEL will be going paper-free in the next few years (no more printing your evaluations!)
These are all great things to hear, but I'm also just very excited to see that ProPEL is looking for student feedback in order to improve their services. A continuing conversation between students and the department is key in order to make sure UC's career services stay relevant and responsive to future students' needs.
I'm hopeful that we will be able to have a similar conversation with the leadership of the Career Development Center, the second major player in UC career services. Unlike ProPEL, which is mostly a resource for co-op students, the CDC is a resource for all UC students regardless of program. The division in the responsibilities of each office can be confusing for students, and it results in redundancies that extend into many services. CEAS students in particular have a lot of concerns about the Professional Development II course taught by the CDC, because there is significant time spent on topics already covered in Professional Development I taught by ProPEL - such as building a resume.
I'm looking forward to starting a dialogue with both ProPEL and CDC in which we can hammer out some of the redundancies and improve career services for all UC students.