STRATEGIC PLAN 2019 - 2022

ABOUT US

Penn Career Services was founded in 1926 and is the centralized career resourcecenter for Penn undergraduate students, graduate and professional students inAnnenberg School for Communication, Arts and Sciences, Graduate School ofEducation, Engineering, Nursing, Perelman School of Medicine (master's and PhD),School of Engineering and Applied Science, Social Policy and Practice, WeitzmanSchool of Design, and Wharton School doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows, andalumni. In total, the office serves approximately 21,000 current students and post-docs annually, in addition to alumni.

OUR VALUES

Inclusion

InnovationCollaboration

2

STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

During the 2018-2019 academic year, Penn Career Services came undernew leadership and opted to conduct a thorough review of currentservices and operations.  As part of this review, three well-respected andprominent career services practitioners were invited to Penn to conduct amulti-day external review. The reviewers met with nearly 100 individualsincluding faculty, staff, students and employers to gain a comprehensiveview of the Career Services office and its place in the larger Penncommunity.    As a follow-up to the external review, the Career Servicesstaff met several times collectively to discuss the committee’srecommendations, held several focus groups with students during Spring2019, and participated in a full-day strategic planning retreat led by anoutside facilitator to discuss future steps and goals. This Strategic Plan isan outcome of these efforts.

STRENGTHS

OPPORTUNITIES

Career Services staff members are highly committed, well-versed in providing career-related resources, innovative and eager to stay abreast of new technologies andtrends. The office is collaborative and has built strong relationships with many differentoffices and schools throughout Penn. Penn students are professional, extremely intelligent, and have diverse academicbackgrounds and career interests making them highly sought after by bothemployers and graduate / professional schools.

Career Services has traditionally devoted much of its focus to students in the lateryears of their academic programs; there exists an opportunity to improve visibilityand increase career exploration activities with students earlier during their time atPenn. The highly visible campus presence of employers in the finance, consulting andtechnology industries has resulted in a perception by some students that PennCareer Services is only helpful to students interested in these fields. An opportunityexists to better communicate the many ways that the office can help ALL students,regardless of field. Recruiting methodologies are changing rapidly with employers physically visitingcollege campuses less frequently. Career Services must continue to exploreinnovative ways to capitalize on technology to connect Penn students with a broadrange of employers and graduate programs.

3

THE SIX PILLARS OF THE PLAN

1 Develop a Clear Brandand Comprehensive

Communication Strategy

2 Strengthen Collaborationswith Campus Partners

3Create Culture of Early

Career Engagement andExploration to Help

Students Achieve Success

4.

Expand Employer, Alumniand Parent Engagement toFacilitate Greater Career

Exploration and Connections

5 Provide Customized andInclusive Service to All

Penn Students

6 Capitalize on Operationaland Revenue Opportunities

4

GOALS

DEVELOP A CLEAR BRAND AND COMPREHENSIVECOMMUNICATION STRATEGY

1Reinforces that staff have expertise across abroad range of industries, job functions,and graduate and professional programsand can help students at all degree levelsinterested in all career options

Teaches life-long career management skillsand empowers students to self-managetheir careers

Communicates that there are manydifferent ways to connect with employerson and off campus

Incorporates a Career Services "tag line"

Develop a brand that conveys the followingelements:

2Develop branded but flexible templatesand style guides for newsletters,PowerPoints, and other communicationtools so messages are clearly recognizableas being from Penn Career Services

Develop brand guidelines to provide moreuniformity across marketing materials,but allow for flexibility

 

3Design new website that targets specificstudent populations (i.e. first-gen andinternational students), topic areas (i.e.resume writing), and industries (i.e. media,journalism & entertainment)

Incorporate visualization tools to allow forinteractive exploration of survey data

Include student narratives to showcase themany career paths available to Pennstudents

Develop a user-friendly website whichallows for a high degree of personalization

4Incorporate career wellness in all officeinitiatives and collaborate with PennWellness Partners

Review office physical space to ensuresupportive and welcoming environment

Include career wellness in brand as animportant part of overall wellness

5Ensure that the extensive data collected forsurveys is easily accessible for review throughinteractive data available on website

Develop student narratives annually for usein marketing materials, developmentmaterials, and website

Utilize Career Services' extensive data to tellthe Penn Story

6Form internal social media committee toensure that engaging and relevant content isregularly posted on social media platformsincluding Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, andto keep abreast of social media trends

Continue to strengthen and expand digitaland social media efforts

7Encourage staff to share their expertise bypresenting at professional conferences andmeetings and contributing to professionalpublications; track these contributionsannually and take on leadership roles inprofessional organizations to contribute tothe broader career development field

Encourage staff to embrace opportunities tohighlight their expertise

5

PILLAR ONE:

GOALS

1Develop list of high priority campuspartners and assign staff members toliaison roles for regular communicationand periodic meetings

Strive for increase of workshops andprograms to be co-sponsored with otheroffices and groups

Create a staff liaison model tostrengthen connections andrelationships across campus andimprove communication channels

2Invite campus partners including facultyto annual open house and/or trainingevent to improve familiarity withservices available to students

Develop a "Campus Career Champions"program to acknowledge and recognizecampus partners who contribute to thecareer development of Penn students inmeaningful ways

Ensure that campus partners arefamiliar with all Career Servicesresources available to their students

 

3Provide training and access to the newwebsite to encourage collaboration

Invite selected campus partners tosubmit regular industry or affinitygroup focused content for the website

STRENGTHEN COLLABORATIONSWITH CAMPUS PARTNERS

PILLAR TWO:

6

GOALS

CREATE CULTURE OF EARLY CAREERENGAGEMENT AND EXPLORATION TO HELP

STUDENTS ACHIEVE SUCCESS

1Recruit and train students for Peer CareerAdvisor Program to launch in Fall 2019

Develop tracking and assessment tools for PeerCareer Advisor Program to help build andstrengthen over time

Establish and implement a Peer Career Advisorprogram to accommodate students' expresseddesire to receive career guidance from peersand help broaden office's ability to connectwith students in a variety of settings

2Connect with Residential Life staff to exploreopportunities for collaboration

Develop standardized, easy to presentworkshops for Peer Career Advisors to presentin residence halls

Capitalize on Penn's new two-year residentialrequirement by increasing number ofworkshops and other events held in residencehalls  

     

3Develop marketing materials to familiarize students with availableresources

Track student usage of platforms including Handshake,CareerExplorer, a redesigned and interactive website, and careerinformation resources such as Vault to determine actual usage

Introduce new online educational resources created by CareerServices and made available on Canvas or similar platforms andtrack usage over time

Make available and encourage use of self-service platforms thatallow for independent early career exploration from students atall academic levels

     

    

       

4Explore and implement possible models such as cohortprogramming, design thinking and flipped classroomapproaches to content

Develop outcomes-focused, interactive skill labs toreinforce/develop career competencies among students

Create interactive, dynamic programming providing theopportunity for students to actively participate in careerdeveloping activities, leveraging peer learning opportunitieswith Career Services staff serving as guides

5 Encourage early career engagement by meeting studentswhere they are, physically and virtually (for example, holdingwalk-ins in academic buildings, creating and maintainingsocial media accounts, etc.)

PILLAR THREE:

7

EXPAND EMPLOYER, ALUMNI AND PARENT ENGAGEMENT TOFACILITATE GREATER CAREER EXPLORATION AND CONNECTIONS

GOALS

1Align advisors with industries for outreach to employers and careercommunity coverage

Set annual targets for outreach for various industries for eachadvisor

Develop Career Advisor industry liaison model to better targetemployers and develop career expertise

2Ensure regular communication with the Office of Parent Outreachand Development/Penn Parents and the Development & AlumniRelations Office

Develop programming for alumni to return to campus duringHomecoming Weekend and Alumni Weekend to capitalize onalumni networks

Plan programming for Family Weekend engaging Penn parentswith ways that they can connect with Penn students formentoring (externship) opportunities and to hire for internship orpost-graduate employment

Conduct outreach to alumni and parents to strengthen existingand build new networks across a broad range of industries toincrease mentorship/networking experiences and the numberof internship and job opportunities available to our students

3Explore tools to track employer engagement

Develop and implement a more robust system fortracking employer outreach and engagement

4Develop enhanced, well-designed online andelectronic marketing pieces outlining howemployers can connect with Penn students;including a biannual newsletter

Enhance current communication strategieswithin our branding guidelines to conductoutreach to employers

5Complete market research on best practicesamong peer institutions

Develop a streamlined and cohesive employerpartnership / sponsorship program tofacilitate relationships and employer drivenrevenue to support office operations

6 Possible technologies might include virtual

employer panels or virtual career fairs

Explore and implement viable newtechnologies to connect students withemployers in new and innovative ways

PILLAR FOUR:

8

GOALS

PILLAR FIVE: PROVIDE CUSTOMIZED AND INCLUSIVE SERVICE TO ALL PENN STUDENTS

1Utilize results to determine if additional outreach isneeded to specific student populations

Collaborate with relevant campus partners toextend reach to affinity groups

Conduct an analysis of student usage to determineif there are differences in how specific studentpopulations engage with Penn Career Services

2Of particular interest are outcomes for firstgeneration students and international students inline with Penn Compact 2020

Track first-destination outcomes for specificstudent populations to better understand trends inpost-graduate outcomes

3 Host events and walk-ins in locations outside of CareerServices and in collaboration with campus partners(schools, academic departments, affinity groups, etc.) toincrease accessibility to and familiarity with the CareerServices office

4Community pages should include those for athletes,DACA and Undocumented Students, First Generation andLow Income Students, LGBTQ+ Students, OnlineStudents, Students of Color, Students with Disabilities,and Veterans

Re-envision specialized community pages on website tomore effectively provide targeted information tospecific populations

5Schedule at least one staff training per year on relatedtopic(s) and encourage and celebrate staff participation inprograms such as I CARE training and the SALTConference

Hold at least one focus group per year with a specificstudent population to gather feedback to inform efforts

Provide ongoing staff training to ensure that staff arewell-prepared to work with a diverse student body andunderstand specific concerns of individual students (i.e.:international students, first-generation students, LGBTstudents, etc.)

9

PILLAR SIX: CAPITALIZE ON OPERATIONAL AND REVENUE

OPPORTUNITIES1

Create marketing materials (blog posts, socialmedia, flyers, student success stories, etc.) toshowcase student experiences made availablethrough these funds to highlight their impact

Explore fundraising opportunities for theSummer Funding Program for studentspursuing unpaid or low-paid internship orresearch positions

2As recommended by the comprehensive reviewprocess, positions deemed to have the strongestneed/impact are an additional career advisor toserve graduate students, an employerdevelopment/employer events coordinator, anda marketing/communications professional

Continue to explore adding new staff positionsas funding allows

 

3If funding allows, enlarge and renovate theCareer Services conference room toaccommodate additional students forworkshops, update technology to more easilyallow video connections for programs withalumni and employers not physically able to visitcampus, and a room configuration that moreeasily fosters interactive and collaborativeengagement

Upgrade furniture in Career Services library tobetter accommodate students waiting to meetwith Peer Career Advisors

Ensure office facilities are welcoming and highlyfunctional

GOALS

10