Report on NACE Conference May 2005

In mid May I was fortunate to be able to accept an invitation from the US National Association of Colleges and Employers to attend their conference as NAGCAS President. Below is a report on the highlights from the NACE Conference held in the United States in May. Key points include:

• Innovative ways to deliver careers services
• Marketing of careers services programs

Joanne Tyler
President, NAGCAS
Director, Student Career Services

Delivering Careers Services

I was left with an impression of clever approaches to marketing and delivering careers education to students. This ranged from catchy titles (Resumania, not Resume Writing Workshop) through to innovative approaches to engaging students such as cashing in on the reality craze, and delivering job seeking skills training through the Career Center of the University of Michigan.

The aging workforce is hitting traditional careers services as much as anywhere else, and the innovators are realising that the approaches that might have worked for them when students twenty or thirty years ago are no connect.

This leads to a focus on obtaining student input very early on the development and review of services … and in their provision. Students are often part of service delivery – trained to check resumes and provide basic services in a student-engaging manner!

The University of Toledo is pioneering Gen Y career games like the Eclipse Crossword and the Armoured Penguin. They are also developing careers education game shows through free to air software. These ideas are being collated into a book by Ellen Nagy to be published in August.

The Learning Commons movement is hitting careers services. Some are creating a café environment. Others are cashing in on the speed dating craze with speed interviewing competitions, the prize being an interview with a genuine employer.

Innovative organizations can provide a complete on-line careers library (to avoid duplication of effort across universities), online interview feedback relevant to e-portfolios (see Perfect Interviews) increasingly are looking at ways of interfacing candidate tracking systems with university databases ... privacy legislation being seemingly less stringent in the USA.

The University of Northern Colorado evaluated their first year career planning subject via a pre and post test on Career Decidedness found a positive over all effect, but no impact on retention between the first and second year of courses. This approached was aimed at demonstrating the value of the course.

Marketing Careers Services

Top issues confronting careers services were building on and publicising their perceived value. This encompasses demonstrating and validating the value of careers services, measuring results and strengthening image. Balancing high tech and high tech approaches to service provision also rated highly. Employers faced similar issues: quantifying results of university interactions; branding; and identifying talent prior to final year. There is widespread interest in international internship programs.

The US does not have an equivalent of AUQA, at least in terms of careers services. Rather universities are grouped into self-regulating regions, and NACE has a key role in auditing the effectiveness of careers services.

University insurers are active in setting up guidelines for the management of experiential learning programs. This includes allocation of responsibility across employers, universities and students.

September 11 continues to impact on the labour market and the economy. Anecdotally, downsizing has impacted on domestic travel as much as has terrorism, and industries related to travel continue to be affected. Labour market uncertainty means that many employees are unwilling to be away from their workplaces for more than a short break. Decreased confidence continues to impact on areas of the graduate labour market.