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Campus Career Council: Engaging Career Development at a Campus Level
Description:
As a large, metropolitan university, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) has more than 15,800 students. While UNO has more than 2,000 faculty and staff supporting each student, there are only four full-time career professionals dedicated to career development at the institution. These staff members are a part of the Academic and Career Development Center (ACDC) and the CBA Career Center (CBACC). Both offices connect on a regular basis to discuss the career programs and offerings on campus, but due to the low ratio of career development staff to students (about 4,000:1), it is difficult to connect with all students. More so, we recognize that career conversations are not confined to the walls and zoom rooms of career staff, but routinely occur between students and faculty/staff without our involvement. We see this as a great asset to our university and our students, but we also recognize that as career development professionals it is our duty to ensure all UNO employees are informed about NACE standards and updates, recruiting trends, and employer expectations in the workplace in order for campus partners to have meaningful career conversations with students. To scale university career conversations, ACDC and CBACC staff sought to bring and empower UNO faculty and staff into the career development conversation on campus. This led to the creation of the Campus Career Council (CCC) where faculty and staff were invited to participate in regular career conversations through meetings, discussion and professional development opportunities. To hold ourselves accountable, we then decided to develop a strategic initiative between our offices to ensure the progression of the CCC and career development at UNO. To guarantee that a variety of disciplines were represented on this council, the team recruited various career advising stakeholders across campus using a variety of methods. To ensure the early success of the CCC, our team established a mission, vision, and goals prior to our introductory meeting and shared this information in recruiting materials. This created buy-in from participants before the initial meeting and allowed for a more organic conversation during the meeting. A web page highlighting the council's meeting schedule, goals, and meeting notes was created so those that could not attend meetings could still be in the know. Additionally, a direct email address was created, allowing the council to disseminate information and meeting invitations more easily. During the first semester of the CCC, we have been able to recruit more than 70 UNO employees to be a CCC member, a number that far exceeds the four full-time career professionals on campus. The meetings have included discussions across disciplines and position levels and have included guests from the community, including campus recruiters. In addition to receiving high praise from and generating excitement among many campus partners and administration in the creation of this campus wide initiative, the council has established buy in from the larger campus community, making career development a more prominent conversation at UNO. In this session, participants will learn to evaluate their campus career climate, identify career development advocates, and create buy in from campus partners. We will also be sharing the UNO CCC framework to aid in development of similar models at their institution.
Audience:
Career Services
Level:
Intermediate
Track:
Coaching & Advising
Type:
Traditional
Main Speaker:
Laura Sansoni, UNO College of Business Administration, CBA Career Center
Additional Speakers:
Sam Zietner, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Academic and Career Development Center