College Career Centers Combine High-Touch/High-Tech Services to Provide Career and Job-Search Related Services

BETHLEHEM, PA—When it comes to getting career and job-search related assistance, most college students have a variety of services available to them through their campus career centers, according to a new study published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).
Interestingly, although today’s graduates generally are perceived as very comfortable with just about anything deemed “high tech,” many of the most widely offered services are “high touch,” including many that are designed to provide face-to-face contact between students and potential employers.

Nearly all of the career centers responding to NACE’s study said they offer career counseling by appointment (98 percent), and more than nine out of 10 offer career fairs, on-campus interviews, assistance with locating an internship, and workshops. (See Figure 1.)
“Our studies show that ‘high-touch’ services are effective and beneficial for both students and employers,” says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director.
“For example, results of our most recent student survey found that students who used high-touch services of the career center—including on-campus interviews and career fairs—were more successful at getting jobs before graduation than those who passed up such services. Similarly, employers consistently rate their internship programs and on-campus interviews as their most effective methods for recruiting and hiring new college graduates,” she says.
At the same time, however, most career centers complement their high-touch programs with high tech: Nearly all respondents reported they have a web site (98.8 percent), and more than 95 percent offer some type of online job posting system to help students identify job openings.
“College career centers are trying to provide the most effective mix of high touch and high tech to help students and employers,” Mackes says. “As technology is dynamic and always evolving, this requires career centers to stay on top of advancements and to gauge their audience’s readiness to accept a new technology.”

* Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2006-07 Career Services Benchmark Survey for Four-Year Colleges and Universities

About NACE’s 2006-07 Career Services Benchmark Survey for Four-Year Colleges and Universities: Conducted from July 9 through September 10, 2007, the survey was sent to 1,504 four-year colleges and universities nationwide that hold membership in NACE; 609, or 40.5 percent, responded. By size of student enrollment, 9.2 percent represent school with 1,000 or fewer students; 28.1 percent are schools with student enrollments of 1,001 to 2,500; 21.9 percent have 2,501 to 5,000 students; 16.2 percent have 5,001 to 10,000 students; 14.5 percent are schools with student enrollments of 10,001 to 20,000 students; and 10.2 percent represent schools with more than 20,000 students.
Article Courtesy of NACE. About NACE: Since 1956, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has been the leading source of information about the employment of college graduates. NACE maintains a virtual press room for the media at www.naceweb.org/press/. NACE is headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.