Proposal

Student success measures include an increased emphasis on early career exploration to help new students quickly determine majors and graduate on time.  Reflection upon—and exploration of—career goals and personal aspirations are also critical components of this planning process. Thus, the tools and resources provided by FAU’s Career Development Center (CDC) are integral to this process. Parallel to Flight Plan implementation, the CDC has launched (April 2014) a web-based tool called “Major KnOWLedge” which provides a portal to resources with which students can assess their interests, explore career options and employment information, and identify FAU degree programs that are good matches with their plans and preferences. This tool has been made available to all FAU students. Completion rates for the Major KnOWLedge tool will be a key metric for FAU’s student success initiative.  Therefore we are asking to enhance this tool by contracting a vendor (Kuder Journey) to seamless imbed this tool into the admission process, MyFAU and Starfish.  With this enhancement results can be customized to FAU majors and integrate into MyFAU with a single sign-on (SSO) as well as communicate with Star Fish to share students’ results with academic advisors and career counselors.

 Whether it’s planning a career, making a career change, or keeping a career on track, Kuder® Journey™ adapts to support postsecondary students and adults as they navigate transitions. A flexible and scalable online career planning system, Journey responds to individual needs and addresses educational and career goals while providing accountability and real-time results. Major Knowledge is a program that will be imbedded in the admission process and be completed by all students who apply to FAU. The Major Knowledge tool matches students’ interest with FAU majors. Major Knowledge will give students an opportunity to explore career paths and major they might have never considered. This tool is your their step in becoming informed about their future and reducing the chances of being undeclared.

 The Kuder Journey system’s scientifically validated career assessments measure interests, skills, and work values. It takes 9-12 minutes or less to complete the interest inventory and results are mapped to national career clusters. Results can be customized to FAU majors and integrate into MyFAU with a single sign-on (SSO) as well as communicate with Star Fish to share students’ results with academic advisors and career counselors.

Notable findings are that students whose majors were congruent with their interests had higher GPAs.Specifically, if the students’ majors matched any one of their top three ranked Kuder Career

Search with Person Match (KCS).interest clusters, GPA was significantly higher. The secondary focus of this study was to determine if there were differences in cumulative GPA for those students who took the KCS (despite levels of congruence) versus those who did not take it. For incoming freshmen, those who took the KCS had higher cumulative GPAs in their third semester (.136 higher than students who did not take the KCS). For transfer students, those who took the KCS had slightly lower GPAs in their third semester (.078 difference). Findings indicate that taking the KCS is most effective when it informs or affirms university major choices. This study was conducted at a large research university within the greater Miami area by Dr. Jerry Trusty from The Pennsylvania State University in June 2014 (Outcome study is attached to this fee proposal).

 FAU Career Center-Partner Campuses Narrative

The FAU Career Center Partner Campuses (Davie, Jupiter) provide students access to career services consistent with those offered by the Boca Raton campus.  We are requesting needed technology resources and upgrades to improve our office’s ability to serve students and to raise awareness of FAU Career Centers on all campuses.

Two name badge printing machines to allow students to print name badges at career fairs and events with employers.  Name badges will help students present themselves more professionally.  

Two laptop computers with a webcam feature (with cases) (none of our existing desktop/laptop computers have built-in webcams).  With our staff frequently traveling between campuses, the laptops with webcams will give us Skype access so we can meet remotely with students/colleagues/employers regardless of location.  The laptops will also be used for student registration at career fairs. 

Three external web cams-one for the Career Counselor’s office in Davie, one for Jupiter, and a third for a student computer on the Davie campus located behind the Secretary’s desk.  A second computer monitor is needed in the Career Counselor’s office on the Davie Campus.   These web cams will give our Career Counselor, Secretary, and Student computer web chat capability, enabling them to meet with students and/or staff for meetings via Skype.

 Three new Ipads and three Ipad cases (our current Ipad has no case).  The Ipads will be used for working with students away from the office, marketing tables, student events, and can be used for administering student and employer evaluations before/after career events.

An additional computer monitor in Career Counselor’s Office (LA 107) will make it easier for the Career Counselor to show students various web-based resources during meetings or in house workshops.

One replacement computer printer is needed in the Career Counselor’s office (LA 107) to replace an outdated printer that breaks frequently. 

This technology proposal will help the Career Center partner campuses fulfill these important goals of the FAU Strategic Plan:

 Goal 1: Boldness---The Career Center works closely with students regarding all aspects of individual career development.  One of our key functions is to elevate the levels of student success beyond graduation.  We teach students skills to find and secure internships, as well as securing employment or planning for graduate school.  

 Benefit to university: The FAU Career Center Partner Campus operation serves over 8,100 total students.  We had over 2,225 total points of contact during the 2014-15 fiscal year, which includes same day advising, individual appointments, career events, workshops, classroom presentations and orientations/open houses.  The CDC Partner Campuses are a high profile operation and play an integral part in the personal and professional success of FAU’s students and community.

Employer Relations Narrative:

The purpose of this project is to create a skype interview suite, which would involve transforming an existing interview room into the skype interview suite.  

 The FAU Career Center, arranges and executes on campus interviews for all active students and alumni.  We currently have seven rooms designated as interview rooms for our On-campus Interview Program.  In the 2014-2015 academic year 688 students/alumni were interviews through the On-campus Interview Program, an increase of 54% over the previous year.  A designated Skype Interview Suite would allow the CDC to increase its campus interview program.

 The Skype Interview Suite will allow students and alumni to widen their geographic job search and interview with companies without having to incur additional costs and time for traveling.  The Skype Interview Suite will allow students and alumni to interview globally. 

 This designated Skype Interview Suite will offer students a quiet and private area to conduct their interview.

 Career Education Team Narrative:

The FAU Career Center’s Career Education Team is looking to receive funding for 10 Windows Surface Pro 3 Bundles (w/keyboard and case), 10 cordless keyboards and mice, 1 camera with photo and video capabilities, 2 laptops with camera capabilities, 2 laptop cases to enhance the quality of services provided to students in and out of the office. Students are seen during Same-Day Career Advising, individual appointments, on location and hours spent at Get Wise in Glades Park Towers and Indian River Towers.

One of FAU Career Center’s primary functions is to assist students from freshman year through Ph.D. with their career planning needs. Last year, there were over 20,000 points of contact including students served during Same-Day Career Advising, individual appointments, on location around campus and at Get Wise. Having the Surface Pro technology will allow for Career Advisors and Career Counselors to proactively assist students in accessing online career development resources such as Major Knowledge, What Can I Do With This Major, OwlCareerLink database and internship information during Same-Day Career Advising. The wireless keyboards will offer Career Counselors and Advisors the same ease of access to our online resources when working with students during individual appointments in their respective offices. It will also afford students the opportunity to fill out their OwlCareerLink profiles, enhance their LinkedIn accounts, and edit their resumes, cover letters and graduate school applications in person.   

Two Career Counselors represent the FAU Career Center at Get Wise, an after-hours “one-stop shop” for career and academic assistance every Monday - Thursday from 4-9 p.m. in two freshman residence halls (Glades Park Towers and Indian River Towers). Career Advising at Get Wise has experienced growth from its pilot semester, Spring 2015, serving 47 students in 17 weeks to 61 students in 10 weeks so far in Fall 2015.

During drop-in Career Advising at Get Wise, a laptop is often utilized to allow students to access online career development resources such as Major Knowledge, What Can I Do With This Major, the OwlCareerLink database, and internship information. It is also important for Career Counselors to have access to the Career Development Center’s shared drive while at Get Wise for a variety of reasons. Various resources for students are stored in the shared drive and can be accessed during appointments or workshops, Career Counselors can access the shared drive to work on Career Development Center projects and goals when not meeting with students, and accurate data can be collected regarding the services provided. Camera capabilities are necessary on the laptops due to Skype appointments and for Career Counselors to interface with their supervisor if necessary. Due to the importance and sensitivity of such technology, laptop cases are also being requested.

Currently, Get Wise Career Counselors check out shared FAU Career Center laptops to bring with them to the after-hours center. The counselors sometimes do not have access to the laptops if they are needed for other Career Development Center events including Career Fairs, Part-time Job and Internship Fair, Graduate School Fair, etc. During these times, Career Counselors can be limited in the services they can provide to students in the freshman residence halls, therefore potentially losing buy-in from the student and lowering the chances of having a follow-up appointment. Considering that one-third of the students who engage with Career Counselors at Get Wise are freshman getting help with choosing a major, having access to the technology needed to properly serve these students clearly aligns with the Student Affairs’ Strategic Planning Goal of integrating the BOG metrics into divisional programs and services.

Marketing Narrative:
The FAU Career Center has many success stories and helps students and alumni with job placement, yet the center is not sharing the success stories with the community. By having the correct equipment we can take pictures and record student testimonials to share with others. By being able to visually share what the Career Development Center offers to students, and alumni, it will help engage other students throughout the process. The Career Development is the leader in internships and in the 2014-2015 academic year, 1,676 internship positions were posted in Owl CareerLink. By being able to market these positions in innovative ways this will help with the 2015-2016 strategic plan for the race to excellence by investing significantly to on-campus internships and providing meaningful employment on campus to provide work experience. Additionally this can help achieve high numbers of students employed in well-paying jobs after graduation because by having better tools to capture student and employment opportunities, we will be better equipped to market opportunities for students to interact with employers and professional opportunities.  

The Career Development Center staff is currently using personal cell phones or iPads to take and record pictures and videos. While this is working, these devices do not deliver the same quality that is needed to market events or tell the story of successful students. With having the correct equipment we can produce a better quality brand and represent the University in a professional manner. The Career Development Center posts actively on different social media platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter) with posts to thousands of students and alumni. Facebook posts have gotten over 20,000 clicks and LinkedIn posts through the main FAU page reaches more than 87,000 users. We have plans to create short video clips to increase student engagement with the Career Development Center and to capture all of the center’s activity. The Career Development Center needs the proper equipment in order to properly market the centers.

N/A. Online program.

FAU Career Center Partner Campuses

Davie Campus room LA 109 and 107.  LA 109 is the entire office suite, LA 107 is Katie Silva, Career Counselor’s office).

Employer Relations Team

Skype interview room, SU 220

Career Education Team
FAU Career Center

Marketing

FAU Career Center

See attached documents

FAU Career Center Partner Campuses

GradLeaders (formerly CSO) Cardswipe module for sign in purposes in Davie and Jupiter Campuses.

FAU Career Center Partner Campuses
Equipment is warranted

Broward/Jupiter campus technical staff and/or FAU Career Center technical staff.