Connecticut College saw a need to provide more comprehensive career services offerings for students. They wanted to implement a team advisor approach to career counseling, which required a tool that would connect all career services staff members to the same database. It was also important that the school combined all job and internship opportunities for students in one place so that the process of searching and applying for jobs could be as easy for students as possible.
“If an advisor has entered notes, I can read notes that other advisors have put in so that we are on the same page with each student.”
Cheryl A. Banker,
Senior Associate Director/Career Advisor
Situation
Connecticut College, a private four-year liberal arts school, recognized the importance of updating their career services offerings to ensure their students are provided with a comprehensive toolset for career success. Staff decided they wanted to begin implementing a more hands-on approach to career services in which students are coached by career advisors and advisors in other areas of the college have access to each student’s journey. In order to successfully execute this, the school needed a way to get all advisors and other key stakeholders connected to the same database in order to easily share information and resources.
Furthermore, staff wanted to provide students with a “one-stop shop” for sorting through potential job and internship opportunities. They wanted students to be able to access all job and internship postings from one place to make it faster, easier and simpler for students to find and view openings.
Solution
Connecticut College chose CSM in order to connect all career services staff to the same resource, allowing them to view the same information in one shared database. This was critical to simplifying the career advising process for everyone while enhancing efficiency and promoting teamwork.
In addition to this, staff were able to customize information forms in order to collect necessary data that was difficult to track before. The school can now run reports based on the data that has been collected in the information forms, shedding new insight on the areas that need to be analyzed the most.
All career services staff members were also trained to use CSM’s Notes feature in order to update and view the entire lifecycle of each student’s academic journey.
Success
Now, career services staff can see everything relevant that a student has done, from obtaining a volunteer position to getting help from the Academic Resource Center or meeting with a dean. Advisors can read notes that other advisors have left in each student’s record, ensuring that all team members are up-to-date on what that student’s needs may be. This new level of shared visibility among team members provides for students a significantly improved career advising experience.
CamelLink, the school’s integrated job board, now allows students to apply to opportunities from various offices all around campus.
“Connecticut College is developing and in the process of implementing a team advisor approach for students, and CSM allows all advisors to see what is going on, where.”
