Career services, just like education as a whole, are constantly having to evolve and modernize. Departments across the country are looking for new software, applications, and strategies that will allow them to provide efficient, valuable support for students.
As you build out your career services tech stack, are you doing so with a plan? Or are you firefighting? If you do the latter, you may find yourself with redundant technologies and systems that don’t work well together.
Years ago, most of these systems were built in-house on each college campus, but now the marketplace is being flooded with third-party applications. Here’s what you need to know to get started:
The main piece of software you need, the foundation of your pyramid, is career services management software. Originally, these were ad-hoc systems created for students to find internships, jobs, and other opportunities.
Now, third-party platforms are robust and customizable for the needs of your institution. This newer software functions as both an internal and external tool for career services departments. On the one hand, these platforms will help your department with operational efficiency tasks, such as appointment scheduling, school network management, and even customer relations management.
For your students, it’s an interface that allows them to connect with you, search for opportunities, and further plan their career next steps.
These tools can take on various forms and platforms, but essentially this is whatever your students need to properly strategize and plan their careers.
Students need to think about these things to properly prepare for their careers, so your tech stack needs to align with that necessity. Find tools that can knock out many of these areas in one easy-to-use platform, like PathwayU.
The data portion of career services is becoming more and more important as students want to see clear and concrete value in their education. The cost of education continues to rise, and students see college as an investment. They see a successful career as a return on that investment. Can you demonstrate that you are an efficient pathway to that successful career?
Furthermore, can you demonstrate to your institution that you drive value in many different ways? Because you do. Now, you’ve got to document it. This data goes beyond job offers and first-year salaries. It should be insightful, actionable data that show how you affect every aspect of your student’s journey.
All of this data should be oriented around the career outcomes of your students. How are you helping these students through their career journeys? Once you have that data, it will help you attract new students and create even better tools and strategies.
The last of your perfect career services pyramid is a way to tell everyone about the rest of your tech stack. You’ve put together a great foundation, tools to sit on top of it, and data to show how well you’re doing. Now, you’ve got to tell everyone.
People need to know about changes, events, updates, workshops, and everything else you’re doing. Furthermore, you want the ability to create targeting messaging for every situation. Now that Gen Z is entering college, you’ll need to keep up from a marketing and communications standpoint.
These younger students are well-versed in the digital landscape, and it’ll take a bit more to capture their attention. You need robust marketing to attract new students and maintain the attention of current ones.
Lastly, great marketing can increase the efficacy of your tech stack as a whole. You can increase buy-in by simply getting the word out. The more people that know about your technology, the more value it can create. For more information on how to market your career services technology, check out our guide.
If you start with the needs of your students and create a comprehensive tech stack around that, you’ll be well on your way to evolving your career services in a scalable, sustainable way. Just think of the pyramid.
Build from the ground up and keep an eye on the future. Students are only going to get better at navigating the technological landscape. You need to improve alongside them to offer the best career services and support for your students.
For more information on upgrading your career services technology, please visit pathwayu.com!