Connecting Futures: Career Services' Innovative Strategies for Student-Alumni-Employer Engagement

Introduction

The career services department is part of the university's Student Affairs directorate which provides students with guidance and various opportunities concerning their professional life both within and outside of college. Some of the services provided by the client include internship and job listing, career guidance, training on interview skills and resume writing, mentoring alumni, and helping students with entry-level salary calculations. These functions make them one of the most essential departments in colleges. Notably, they are motivated by their desire to aid students in identifying a career path that will promote a happy and successful future. The primary goals of career services include educating alumni and students concerning career development, support in vocational exploration, and enhancing decision-making. However, they face obstacles such as poor communication with students and alumni, inadequate recruiters, and unrealistic student expectations. Career services can utilize Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to communicate with students, alumni, or potential recruiters.

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Background and Research

Goals

Career services have various goals that are focused on enhancing students' and alumni professional development. They aid them in the pursuit, identification, and integration of professional and personal career goals. The primary goal of the department is to connect alumni and students to educational opportunities such as internships and employment directly. They also focus on informing constituents concerning job market trends, career options, and workplace paradigms. Lastly, they facilitate students in accessing educational loans.

Obstacles

Notably, the department faces obstacles that derail the achievement of its goals. The primary obstacle is poor communication, which hinders career services efforts to reach constituents while informing them of career and professional development opportunities. Despite the department being indispensable in students' and alumni's professional lives, most of them do not access the services because of a lack of awareness. Conventionally, students and alumni are supposed to visit the career centers to identify existing opportunities; however, due to their busy schedules, some lack to identify existing opportunities they can leverage.

Audience

The department's audience comprises students, alumni, and potential employers. The department communicates to students and alumni concerning available career opportunities, while it focuses on creating an effective network with employers.

Channels

Social Media

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are some of the channels that the department can utilize to reach its audience. Currently, because of the digital revolution caused by technological development, social media has become an effective communication channel that organizations can leverage for their growth. Notably, almost every millennial including students and alumni is at least on one social media platform. According to the Pew Research Center (2020), by 2011, about 72% of US citizens used social media to connect and interact with others, share information, engage in news events, and entertain themselves. The number grew from 5% in 2005 and is expected to increase in the future. The largest demographic on social media comprises of young adults, who form the primary audience for Career Services.

Career services can invest in using social media to reach their audience from different parts of the world. Notably, it can utilize Facebook as its primary social media advertising platform According to Pew Research Center Facebook (69%) is the most widely used social media platform followed by Instagram (35%) and then Twitter (22%). Social media is the most effective means to communicate to the audience since it has a wide coverage and information can be shared with interested persons.

Emails

The department can use emails to communicate to its audience either through direct mail or sponsored ads. Career services staff can compose formal emails and send them to specific students and alumni informing them of available opportunities. Emails are effective because they target individual audiences and create a sense of urgency. The channel is also effective since it allows the department to not only inform the audience about opportunities but may also outline specific requirements. However, emails may be less effective compared to social media since most people access their emails late.

Texting

Texting includes sending a personalized message to an audience informing them of career opportunities. The department can use it to create a sense of urgency since text messages are easily accessible because most people spend time with their phones. However, some students change phone numbers frequently without informing the departments, breaking the communication.

Creative Concepts

Creative 1: Social Media

For a Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram ad, the department can use a visual poster with an image of a graduate or student in a work setting. The poster must be captivating to capture the attention of students and alumni. Within the poster, they can include details of available opportunities and provide a link adjacent to the poster, which will direct students to its application portal.

Creative Piece 2: Email

The department can send a formal email comprising details concerning an internship or employment opportunity. The mail can include a captivating visual image with an embedded link just below the text. The image would capture the audience's attention allowing them to click on the link, which would direct them to the career service portal.

Creative Piece 3: Text Message

A simple text message informing the audience of an employment or internship opportunity can be sent. The text should create urgency by using text such as "You have an urgent message in your mail" or "Congratulations! You have earned a position at…" The text should observe moderate use of capitalization and punctuation marks.

Conclusion

The career services department performs vital roles such as connecting students and alumni to job and internship opportunities, providing guidance on loan applications, and connecting with employers. However, it faces challenges such as broken or ineffective communication that hinders its effort to reach the audience. Notably, it can overcome the challenge by using channels such as social media platforms, emails, and texts. Additionally, it should heavily invest in interactive Facebook and Instagram ads because they have wide coverage, efficient in reaching its audience.

References

Pew Research Center. (2020). Social media fact sheet. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/