Our committee reviewed numerous options drawn from other institutions and our own experience for how to proceed and present them as questions at this point, in anticipation of the arrival of a new Dean of Career Services over the summer. Below are some of the important considerations we have uncovered in our research in the topic. Which are emphasized and how we as alumni and in particular, the Alumni Council can assist will be determined by the new Dean.
2016/2017 initiatives consist of general ways of getting alumni into existing databases with the idea of providing a strong foundation for any new initiatives.
Constituencies in Considering Employment for Kenyon
- Current students, especially Juniors and Seniors
- Recent grads (as mentors as well as beneficiaries)
- Other alumni (currently engaged and not)Prospective students
- CDO
- Current and recent grad parents
- The Institution: Kenyon
- Faculty departments heads, advisors, etc.
- Employment themes & Issues
- Liberal Arts – Employment
- Students not focused on employment, have many other social, academic and outside interests
- Time and timing issues
Questions
- To what extent and in what ways does it make sense to broaden student focus while at Kenyon to include more time for post Kenyon employment?
- In what ways can alumni engage students? (Internships, externships, stories of career experience (individual/classes/videos/video conferences, by academic interest/social interest/profession, general career advice).
- What ways might there by to increase student commitment to their future? What can they or we learn from those who had no alternative but to be employed? Might stories of student’s employment journeys be useful?
- What ways can we as alumni help reframe the employment conversation to make it more approachable/normalize being uncertain about career/direction?
- What can we learn from interest and affinity groups who have facilitated or provided employment for their members? Are these groups learning from each other? From similar groups outside Kenyon?
- Are there groups, such as international students, who may benefit disproportionally from extra efforts on their behalf?
- In what ways can we and to what extent can we, as alumni, facilitate/provide temporary or fulltime employment?
- KFEC: Where can we learn from how they engage alumni? Where are our efforts complementary to theirs? How can we work together?
Ideas
- Include some appeal for career volunteers or re-focus of career volunteers in the student fundraising calls made to alumni.
- Would a career advisory committee (students, faculty, alumni, parents, others?) be useful to the CDO as a way of engaging its constituencies and fleshing out ideas? Or focus group? Could be virtual or live. Run by CDO? By AC on behalf of CDO?
- Push for alumni, parents, professor contacts to provide internships/externships
- Engage students before senior year
- Make some career focus curricular or required
- Some students seem to buy into LinkedIn. How can this be encouraged or leveraged?
- Video conferences with industry/career/mentoring themes could be done over lunch and could provide lunch for students as an inducement.
- Alumni could come to Gambier for a career day (Saturday?) with multiple 45 minute presentations on a selected group of industries/professions/interests (e.g., environment) and an opportunity to further engage with alumni at lunch/drinks/dinner.
- Interest may be stimulated in programs by having them available through a competitive application process as a way of developing commitment.