UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO CAREER DEVELOPMENT CENTER STRATEGIC PLAN 2017-2020
Our mission is to support students in developing and achieving career goals that lead to meaningful lives.
EXPLORE
LEARN
CONNECT
Guiding students as they explore majors and define purposeful career paths.
Teaching students how to articulate their strengths.
Providing opportunities to build professional networks.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 1 2017
2018
2019
2020
Strategic Campus Collaborations Implement career readiness programs across campus.
As we face a new era at the University of San Diego, the Career Development Center will provide students and alumni with dedicated support that is grounded in tradition and values, propelled by a bold commitment to the “Culture of Care,” and delivered through innovative, customized and scalable programs and services. The University of San Diego’s “Culture of Care” positions student success at the heart of all we do. This commitment is seen from decision makers all over campus in their support of the Career Development Center. In 2014, the Board of Trustees approved a strategic plan that would lay the groundwork for a hallmark career center at USD. This new plan laid the foundation for an innovative team that would develop, deliver and expand highimpact programming and implement world-class technology to scale career services to all students and alumni. Over the last three years, our students have reaped the success of these innovative practices, including a unique student-focused staffing model that provides customized career support earlier and often, as well as new best-in-class technology and creative educational programming. In 2015, we welcomed Dr. James T. Harris III as USD’s fourth president, and in 2016, Envisioning 2024, a campuswide strategic planning process, was launched. “Student and Alumni Success” is the first principle outlined in the plan, and the Career Development Center team takes that charge as our own. The center will remain nimble and innovative while continuing to focus on intentional purpose, which always places our student and alumni success at the forefront of all we do. Our team met throughout the last semester to identify stakeholders, refine our mission and vision, conduct a SWOT analysis, and develop a forward-looking action plan to best drive the career development and professional outcomes of students and alumni, today and into the future.
1. Determine curriculum standards and included programs for career readiness programs (the College of Arts and Sciences Compass Program, the School of Business Passport Program, and the School of Engineering Connect Program), and continue the success of Passport while creating Compass and Connect. 2. Determine and communicate the division of work between the center’s staff members and campus partners to execute these programs. 3. Build out the back end of the portal or tracking system for Compass and Connect. 4. Educate faculty, administrators and student leaders on the value and logistics of Compass and Connect. 5. Develop a strategy to successfully implement Compass and Connect for Fall 2018. Create a strategic communication and marketing plan to educate campus partners on the Career Development Center. 1. Create and encourage use of consistent scripts and talking points for internal and external groups, including presentations, newsletters, social media and emails. 2. Develop a long-range content calendar to identify up to three main items to share with constituents on campus each semester or year for a cohesive message. 3. Update and increase visibility of presentation request form on websites and document process for responding. 4. Develop outreach campaign to encourage students to fully build out their Handshake profiles. Conduct ongoing assessment and determine capacity for campus collaborations and partnerships. 1. Compile interaction maps of campus partners to assess mutual awareness and engagement. 2. Based on these maps, identify on-campus groups and develop partnerships that will allow the center to achieve goals for student success. 3. Create policy and forms for student groups, faculty and staff that outline expectations for partnerships. 4. Elevate Handshake as a campuswide platform for student opportunities. 5. Develop and implement appreciation system to acknowledge faculty and staff for promoting the center’s initiatives. 6. Define roles, responsibilities and expectations of liaisons to different campus groups.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 2
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 3
Enhanced Student and Alumni Experience
Intentional Programming
Optimize experiential learning programs.
1. Determine the student populations participating in our events and workshops and, if necessary, develop a strategy for more equitable representation.
1. Determine the student populations participating in our experiential learning programming and, if necessary, develop a strategy for more equitable representation. 2. Evaluate student experience and student learning outcomes to improve our current experiential learning programs. 3. Expand professional mentorship opportunities and strengthen existing program. 4. Identify existing experiential learning opportunities from campus partners and determine how we potentially engage with them. 5. Develop workshops to help students maximize upcoming experiential learning opportunities, and to reflect on and effectively communicate learning from completed experiences. Communicate career information in a student-centered delivery model. 1. Write policy on disseminating career information to students more effectively. 2. Conduct benchmarking research on online and on-demand resources of other career centers. 3. Determine and build resources that best serve our students and office. 4. Reevaluate and organize resources on Handshake and the center’s website to ensure relevant and accessible support. 5. Develop a web-based personalized career plan to replace the four-year career plan.
Refine career programming for accessibility and impact.
2. Evaluate and redesign programs to increase access to nontraditional students. 3. Develop a process for evaluating new event proposals that prioritizes events planned with student organizations or other built-in audiences. Build collaborative process to design the center’s programs and events. 1. Establish a process to incorporate the expertise of various team members in planning and developing programs and events. 2. Build an internal calendar that includes employer timelines, student schedules, and prior staff commitments to inform program scheduling. 3. Create an event report including attendance, cost, outcomes, etc. to share with the center’s team when evaluating events and making program decisions.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 4
Integrated Technology Establish best practices for software selection and usage. 1. Conduct an audit of software systems currently used in the office to identify simplification opportunities and staff training objectives.
Assess and enhance the counseling experience.
2. Develop procedures for vetting vendors and onboarding new technology.
1. Evaluate current assessment practices for counseling to ensure alignment with appropriate measures.
3. Build process to maintain vendor relationships and evaluate product impact.
2. Build reports to identify student satisfaction and integrate that into decision-making with the counseling team. 3. Identify trends in career counseling to drive decisionmaking on service delivery. 4. Identify needed training or professional development to provide responsive and inclusive counseling. 5. Define services for graduate students and partnerships with USD’s graduate programs. 6. Conduct alumni needs assessment and implement strategy for outreach and services. 7. Develop policies to ensure that opportunities are accessible to all students.
Increase efficiency of the center’s operations through technology. 1. Analyze time-intensive tasks to identify opportunities for automation. 2. Identify office programs that could benefit from project management software. 3. Review, select and implement project management software that best fits office needs. 4. Transition Mentor Program to PeopleGrove online platform. 5. Evaluate and implement opportunities to improve staff communication through innovative technology. 6. Create a standardized organizational structure and policy for the shared drive.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 5
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 6
Employer and External Torero Relations
Optimization and Stewardship of Resources
Develop employer base to be representative of USD students’ interests.
Enable the center’s team members to become leaders in career development.
1. Conduct a gap analysis of student interests compared to current employer pool. 2. Solicit input from faculty on outcomes of the gap analysis.
1. Schedule each team member to participate in at least one conference or training per year to develop their areas of expertise to achieve performance plan goals.
3. Build on current outreach strategy to target underdeveloped employer areas.
2. Create process to share these findings with the rest of the team.
4. Foster partnerships with local companies and organizations to help the university achieve its goal of being an anchor institution.
3. Create process to support staff engagement in professional organizations to elevate USD’s visibility in the career development community.
Build a systematic way to track student internships with employers.
Align use of staff and financial resources with new strategic priorities.
1. Add internship information obtained from the First Destination Survey to the university career outcomes website and report, and make this information accessible and searchable for current students.
1. Develop a comprehensive policy and procedure manual for the office to guide decision-making.
2. Evaluate current School of Business internship tracking forms and expand to the College of Arts and Sciences and the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering in conjunction with new career readiness programs. 3. Develop a system to collect internship offers from various sources. Develop and activate the external Torero community.
2. Track and allocate financial resources and conduct costbenefit analyses to ensure spending aligns with data-driven center goals and priorities. 3. Optimize student employees to broaden staff capacity and encourage their growth and development. 4. Research and implement strategies to increase the diversity of the center’s staff to best serve our student population. 5. Conduct environmental analysis of organizational culture to enhance staff engagement, retention and satisfaction.
1. Develop a process to identify USD alumni who are potential employer and mentor connections. 2. Develop a process to engage and leverage alumni and parent relationships to advance the center’s programs and events. 3. Formalize roles and responsibilities with on-campus departments that interact with external Torero communities.
Career Development Center 5998 Alcalá Park • Manchester 101 • San Diego, CA 92110 (619) 260-4654 • careers@sandiego.edu • sandiego.edu/careers