7 minute read
NEO colleges prepare graduates for ‘real world’ jobs, careers
By LAURI GROSS
Last year, when a Case Western Reserve University senior was set to graduate, he had solid internship experience under his belt and a couple of good job offers in his desired fields of marketing and data analysis. But still, Drew Poppleton knew the student wasn’t that excited about his job offers. As the director of post-graduate planning and experiential education at the university, Drew had come to know the student well. “I knew he was the announcer for some sports on campus and I knew he was a big sports fan,” Drew recalls. Drew happened to also have connections at the Guardians. “The Guardians’ strategy team needed someone to do data analysis and strategy,” Drew says. “They don’t normally hire at the entry level but I reached out to this student, who said this would be his dream job.” After what was described as a rigorous hiring process, Drew says, “The student is now with the Guardians and is very happy.”
While not every new college grad can land their dream job with a professional sports team, they are in fact likely to find that their campus career center is indeed there to help them along their path to achieving their potential.
Drew cited an alumni career mobility survey that Case Western Reserve did this year. It tracks students five to 10 years after graduation. “It’s notable that the survey showed 94 percent of our grads five to 10 years out said they are satisfied with their career so far. That makes us happy. They are not just making money but they are satisfied.”
Other area universities also offer solid career help for their students. Brittany Wampler, director, career development & exploration at Cleveland State University says CSU’s Career Center “is a comprehensive preparation center for all students – undergraduate, graduate, and alumni – to help students best leverage CSU and their education to achieve their own career goals. We provide forward-thinking programming, career coaching support on anything from resume writing to job/internship search strategy, and more. We also connect meaningfully with faculty and staff in the institution and employers in Cleveland and the region to help them best connect to potential hires: our talented students.”
Rhonda Y. Butler, director of career services and employer relations coordinator at Lakeland Community College says, “Lakeland employs a staff of counselors in our academic advising center who work with students first to determine their program of study. Lakeland’s Career Services Department then works with students to solidify their career interests through job-shadowing experiences, paid internships, classroom presentations on resume writing, interview techniques, job search, etc. Special events and workshops are also offered for students, such as Life After Lakeland. This workshop, sponsored by the Lakeland Business Management Department, provides networking opportunities with Lakeland alumni and other area professionals. In addition, some courses feature service-learning opportunities for students.”
In addition to helping students with career prep, colleges work to ensure that their students are prepared to fill vacancies that actually exist. Working with employers is key here.
Brittany at Cleveland State says, “Our work is centered around meeting students where they are and helping to teach them the tools they need to achieve their goals, finding employers that meet the students values and goals, and learning key skills in negotiation so they feel they are getting their best salary for their first role post-graduation.”
Handshake is an online recruiting platform that universities and employers use to streamline and simplify the recruiting process. “All colleges and universities in the greater Cleveland area are Handshake schools,” Brittany says. “Employers can post positions to all schools in the area and we strive to teach students how to leverage both Handshake for applications and LinkedIn for networking and research about companies where they are applying. There are so many tools that students can utilize to brush up on their resume, ensure they are writing a strong cover letter, as well as practice interview. More than that, we also help students with the technology and are there for students throughout the process with our amazing career coaches ready to help students; preparing for what comes after graduation is a team effort and we view our role as being there for our students in any way we can to ease their process.”
Drew says that Case Western Reserve also uses Handshake to post career fairs and even on-campus jobs. “Students can chat with each other and employers and practice their interviewing skills,” he explains. “There’s even an AI component to evaluate their mannerisms, how many times they say ‘uh’ etc. Employers might send an invite to do an online interview with pre-recorded questions and the student records themselves responding to questions. Then, after that initial screening, maybe they’re invited to an actual one-on-one meeting which could be in-person or virtual. On the employer side, we also we see a demand for in-person recruiting events.”
Drew adds, “We organize our programing around interest areas,” referring to career categories such as arts and culture; business; engineering, technology and science; entrepreneurship; healthcare; public service; and one called exploratory (focusing on exploration and decision making). “Alumna and employers and others come talk to students about career paths and opportunities at their companies and networking,” he explains. “My staff is organized around these interest areas and they are specialized so if a student is interested in Wall Street and they meet one-on-one with my staff member, they know that person is knowledgeable about the field and has connections and is up to date on trends.”
As for what fields are attracting today’s grads, Rhonda at Lakeland says, “Lakeland students seem most attracted to occupations in the healthcare industry. They are interested in clinical fields such as nursing, medical assisting and dental hygiene, as well as non-clinical fields such as health information management technology and medical coding. Contributing factors include the vast and ever-growing number of health care facilities in Northeast Ohio and the region’s aging population. There is a growing need for professionals in health care. Each facility is competing for talent. Thus, the rates of pay, benefit structures, and hiring incentives such as signing bonuses and leave structures are extremely lucrative.”
“One of the best parts about Cleveland State,” Brittany says, “is that there is something for everyone to study and we support every industry in Cleveland from healthcare to engineering, public service and non-profit work, IT and business career pathways. Our successful students head into every pocket of industry in the city; on average, 80 percent of our graduates stay in the Cleveland area. This is the single largest group of alumni in Ohio that stay close following graduation and drive our economy.”
Drew at Case Western Reserve says, “When you look at the top industries, you see engineering, research, healthcare, and information technology. We have a sizable pre-med and pre-health population but even students who don’t want to necessarily be a direct-care person, may want to go into that industry. One of the effects of the pandemic is a heightened awareness of how many issues there are in healthcare. This generation of students is values-driven and they want their work to be meaningful and they want to solve big problems for society. Even a data analyst or a software engineer wants their work to apply to issues that matter.”
