Known as one of the most prestigious universities in the United States, Yale University has a lot to be proud of. As part of the Ivy League institutions, Yale ranks consistently as one of the top higher education institutions worldwide. Located in New Haven, Connecticut, Yale College (Yale’s undergraduate branch) is home to 6,200 undergraduate students with over 60 percent receiving financial assistance. Supporting its undergraduates, the Arts & Sciences Graduate students, and Postdoctoral trainees on their post-Yale career journeys is Yale’s Office of Career Strategy (OCS) which has been using Symplicity CSM since 2013.
As the Director of Strategic Initiatives and Public Service Careers, Robyn Acampora says that Symplicity is “soup to nuts” and became a “gamechanger” to the institution’s entire career services operations. Yale has not only fully customized its CSM system to be Yale-branded but has gained valuable insight and data to support its student operations.
Using Data to Expand Student Support
Prior to implementing CSM, Yale College was conducting surveys and gathering data on its students through the Office of Institutional Research which was not centralized. “When OCS was able to sign on with Symplicity and start to collect our own survey data, it was a major catalyst to changing our office’s efficiency and functionality,” Acampora told Symplicity. The data that Acampora and her team now manage within their office enables them to share their students’ narratives and explain the impact of OCS’ services. The data collected through Symplicity has enabled Yale to create the Common Good and Creative Careers cohort, providing dedicated support for students entering these career paths, which Acampora oversees. “It was established because the First Destination Survey data revealed that around 40 percent of our students were consistently going into Common Good Careers which showed us that dedicated support in this area was needed,” Acampora said.
Using the survey module within Symplicity, Yale is able to better identify and track what industries students are applying to, what employers they are going to, the demographic of the student, and more. OCS’ First Destination Survey, sent through Symplicity, typically has an 85 percent completion rate and the data from this survey, and the Summer Activities Survey, is used for one of OCS’ most popular resources, the Peer Networking Lists. With the thorough details OCS is able to collect through these surveys, they have created lists available only to Yale students showcasing what other Yalies have done over their summers and after graduation.
"The 2013 Symplicity is very different than the Symplicity of 2023. It’s not a career management system that has stayed the same. They listen to client feedback and have made major enhancements as they continue to grow."
Robyn Acampora
Director of Strategic Initiatives and Public Service Careers, Yale University
Students can easily filter by major, class year, location, industry, function and more to find recent graduates or fellow students who have successfully interned or received a post-graduate offer and who are willing to share their data. Not only is that data collected through the survey module, but the Peer lists are accessible through Symplicity’s document library module. The data and surveys within Symplicity also help Yale plan for the months and years ahead to see the number of employers coming to campus, what types of employers, and ensure there is a diversity of the employers to build programming for the students and their needs.
Expanding Student Support through Data-Driven Initiatives
In addition to the creation of the Common Good and Creative Careers cohort with data from Symplicity, Yale’s Summer Experience Award was also created. Using the survey module within CSM, OCS included a question in their Summer Activities Survey asking the reasons why students did or did not accept an internship and if it was for financial reasons. Through analyzing the data, Yale saw that many students who received financial aid needed additional funding for unpaid internships. As a direct correlation of the data Acampora and her colleagues saw in CSM, Yale addressed this need by creating this award. Available to all students on financial aid, this award provides supplemental funding for U.S. or International-based summer work experience with NGO’s, nonprofits, government agencies, arts apprenticeships, and research/laboratory work.
This award’s directive came from Yale College’s Dean and was requested to launch in six weeks’ time with a way to manage and track; no small feat. Yet, Yale turned to Symplicity to help launch the award process within CSM’s Experiential Learning module without hesitation. “It is really important that we could trust Symplcity to turn things around so quickly… The fact that they were able to walk us through so many nuances from the experiential learning module was really impressive,” said Acampora. “Because the experiential learning module is so customizable and can be used in so many different facets, it helped us tremendously. Working with our client manager, we created the award application within the EL module.” By dabbling into the functionalities of the CSM EL module, Acampora and her team are even interested in potentially expanding in the future to using the EL module outside of this award.
"It is really important that we could trust Symplcity to turn things around so quickly… The fact that they were able to walk us through so many nuances from the experiential learning module was really impressive. Because the experiential learning module is so customizable and can be used in so many different facets, it helped us tremendously. Working with our client manager, we created the award application within the EL module."
Robyn Acampora
Director of Strategic Initiatives and Public Service Careers, Yale University
A Consistent and Growing Partnership
Yale’s Office of Career Strategy continues to stay with Symplicity, not only because of the customization, but because of the true partnership. No matter what issues OCS is having, a steady support team to troubleshoot anything is key. “In these days where it seems so many companies lack customer service, it’s assuring to know that I can just pick up the phone at any time during the day and get someone to help. And if they can't help you, they will put in a ticket and find someone who can,” Acampora said. “Symplicity wants feedback and isn’t static either. The 2013 Symplicity is very different than the Symplicity of 2023. It’s not a career management system that has stayed the same. They listen to client feedback and have made major enhancements as they continue to grow.”
