CAREER OPERATIONS AND STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

Multiple career services critical enablers ensure students have access to effective career resources, provide data-driven decision-making assistance to the department and campus career partners, and provide the administrative foundation necessary to meet a variety of critical goals based on defined core values, presented opportunities, strategic vision, and the diverse needs of populations served.

• The CES leadership team is better able to analyze the effect of departmental programs due to the development of an engagement application and dashboard to assess student participation in high-impact CES activities (RICC, RTIPS, FIGS, advising, and events) and subsequent usage of CES online career resources (Handshake, Resume Writing, Student-Alumni Career Connect, and Traitify).

• CES completed a website redesign and transitioned to the Rutgers Core Component Library (RCCL), including creating, building, editing, and updating content for over 175 web pages. The content of the printed Career and Internship Guide was converted to the new CES website. CES also launched a customized and updated “Find your Career Community” career inventory to help students explore their career interests as they relate to our CES career interest communities.

• Data collection for career events was improved by the development of a customized event evaluation management system and a new email process to contact attendees. This increased the attendee response rate from 30% to 50%.

• The post-graduation survey reached a knowledge and response rate of 69% and 45% respectively. The data collection process for the survey was improved since the start of the pandemic with front office student interns completing over 3,600 follow-up phone calls to recent graduates to assess career outcomes.

• CES hosted the annual Winter Campus Partner Breakfast: Building a Campus Career Ecosystem Together (virtual event) with over 100 participants. Attendees reviewed the upcoming strategic plan and engaged in breakout sessions where participants shared ideas and benchmarked with campus partners.

• Interns responded to over 6,500 CES Career Technology Help Desk requests with an overall 90% satisfaction rate and 94% of users stating they would refer the CES help desk to a friend.

• Leadership and the newly created “Office Avengers” partnered to foster a positive work environment for staff. Staff were surveyed quarterly to assess their sense of belonging and encouraged to share feedback on ideas for facilitating meaningful professional and staff development.

Ideas implemented include new MS Teams communication channels, staff wellness workshops, office beautification day, updated staff work-life balance manual, and team engagement activities.

• A matching algorithm application was developed to create preferred applicant and employer matches for the Rutgers Summer Service Internship and Internship for a Day initiatives. Over 900 student and employer matches were made to support these programs. Significant marketing initiatives and support with student payments were also provided to support the Rutgers Summer Service Internship initiative.

• CES minimized the harm fraudulent employers attempt to inflict on the Rutgers community by proactively sending email messages to new Handshake users weekly educating them on how to protect themselves. Over 16,000 new Handshake users were contacted with important information on how to avoid fraudulent employers, with a 56% message open rate.

• CES continues to increase in-person engagement with the Rutgers community as it recovers from the pandemic. Over 1,350 inperson connections were made with students, alumni, campus partners, and the community by participating in Admitted Students Open House, Rutgers Day, and the CES Open House. The signature #Rutgersworks Free Tuition Career Challenge also facilitated engagement with CES resources for 1,411 students.

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80 of current students have engaged with CES this year

6,511 users served by our career technology help desk and 94% would refer the help desk to a friend

1,350 in-person connections made through the Admitted Students Open House, Rutgers Day, and the CES Open House