Technology: Shaping and Moving the Profession Forward

In commemoration of NACE’s 50th anniversary, this article takes a look at technology developments that have improved NACE members’ ability to perform their daily work, as well as the association’s ability to connect with and serve its members.

Innovations in technology have been and will continue to be an integral part of the forward progression of the career services and HR/staffing profession as well as the association. Could those who published the first issues of School and College Placement in black and white have envisioned the colorful magazine that the NACE Journal has become? Telephone technology now enables NACE committees and task forces to hold conference calls, saving time and the cost of bringing people together from all over the country. Those attending the first programs offered by NACE probably would have been skeptical if told that the association eventually would offer virtual seminars that members could attend without leaving their offices.

Timeline: NACE’s Technological Advances Over the Years

1969: Graduate Resume Accumulation and Distribution (GRAD) System—an electronic data processing system created by CPC to improve alumni placement activities, later updated to GRAD II. 1980s and 1990s: Offered legal telebriefings with Rochelle Kaplan, the association’s legal counsel, and programming for members via video conferencing. 1995: JobWeb, the virtual office of NACE on the Internet, launched—NACE’s first steps toward establishing an Internet presence. 1999: CareerPlanIt launched—a NACE web site emphasizing early and effective career planning for college freshman, sophomores, and juniors; included articles on such topics as seeking career advice on campus, researching majors and careers, and acquiring experience through internships and co-op programs. 2000: NACEWeb launched—offering a wealth of resources with 24/7 accessibility to NACE members. JobWeb is revamped to focus specifically on job-search techniques for graduating students, as an online complement to the Job Choices magazines. Listservs, programs that automatically send messages to multiple e-mail addresses on a mailing list, are offered to NACE members. Listserv topics include global issues, two-year college interests, recruitment of the college-educated work force, and technology. 2001: NACE embraces electronic service and delivery of its products and services through virtual seminars, Spotlight Online (e-mail newsletter), and other virtual communications. 2002: NACE partners with member schools and DirectEmployers Association to launch NACElink—a national, web-based system for recruiting college students and alumni. 2003: NACE offers new electronic category of membership for individuals at member organizations anywhere. 2006: NACElink Network developed—the result of an alliance among NACE, DirectEmployers Association, and Symplicity Corporation— supplementing the NACElink recruiting system with web-based recruiting and career services automation tools serving the needs of colleges, employers, and job candidates.

“In 1979, we had a new technology called a word processor,” says Michael Shepelak, director of human resources for the Americas for SWIFT in Manassas, Virginia. SWIFT supplies standardized messaging services and interface software to 7,800 financial institutions in more than 200 countries.

Shepelak, who has worked in HR/staffing for 25 years, says that word processing enabled recruiters to automate letters they sent to candidates. “Everything [before] was paper and snail mail,” he remembers. “Then, fax machines were used to send resumes and paper.”

A department secretary was uncertain about using the word processor at first, Shepelak says. But after he showed her how much faster it was to type letters on the word processor, she learned how to use it.

“It’s hard to imagine how we operated without word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet software,” says Marcia Harris, director of university career services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), who has been in the field for 30 years.

Kate Brooks, director of liberal arts career services at the University of Texas at Austin, says when she started in career services 20 years ago, technology was in use, but sparingly.

“We were part of a counseling center and we had one computer, which all the staff shared,” she recalls. “We used it primarily for keeping client notes, word processing, and storing data.” Now, she says, every staff member has his or her own PC.

Even those slightly newer to the profession have seen changes in the way technology is used. Caroline Ceniza-Levine has been in the HR/staffing field for nine years, the last four with Time Inc., which publishes more than 150 popular consumer magazines worldwide. She says her job has been made more efficient by a more widespread use of e-mail.

“For permanent hires, we still send a hard copy offer letter,” she says. “But for interns, I can send their letters by e-mail.”

“For NACE and its members, technology has dramatically expanded the opportunities for collaboration,” wrote Denise Dwight Smith, president of the NACE Board of Governors, and Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director, in the Summer 1999 issue of the Journal, introducing CareerPlanIt, a web site created to augment the efforts of professionals in the field who counsel and recruit interns.1

The Career PlanIt web site content has since been incorporated into NACE’s JobWeb site (used to provide materials for new college graduate job seekers and for the professionals who counsel and recruit them), but NACE continued to use technical tools in many ways to deliver products and services to its members. (See “Timeline: NACE’s Technological Advances Over the Years” )

In 1998, NACE Board members began communicating via a listserv between biannual meetings. Eventually, NACE introduced listservs dedicated to its members’ varied interests, including global issues, two-year college topics, recruitment of the college-educated work force, and technology. 2

Also in 1998, NACE began sending broadcast e-mails to its members, updating them on developments in the field and the association. In 1999, NACE published Spotlight Extra, an online newsletter featuring pertinent news items, polls on hot topics, legal advisories, technology updates, and so on. Later, the membership directory, previously a print-only publication, also was offered online, ultimately becoming an online-only feature.

Harris points to online technology as being the most important of recent advances. “E-mail and the Internet have made huge differences in our ability to communicate important information quickly and easily,” she says.

NACE members also have embraced new technology as it has been developed and adapted programs and ideas specific to their needs and the needs of their constituents.

For example, UNC-CH career services developed a voice-response job hotline for students and a web-based alumni connection tool, both of which won NACE awards for innovative programming. “This year, we developed a web-based resume creation tool, which won the NACE/Chevron Award,” Harris says.

“Like almost every career office, we revamped our student registration and campus interview management system, and now use NACElink technology for these functions,” Harris continues. “I’ll admit that I’m a ‘technology junkie,’ in terms of always wanting to be a few steps ahead in using the latest technology to better our operations and service to students and employers.”