Course Objectives

CS201 - Institutional Best Practices to Maximize Graduate Employment Outcomes

Derived from the feedback of over 100 institutions, empirical research, and case studies, course participants are presented with specific strategies and best practices that promote graduate employment. This course is for all education professionals seeking to understand the institutional practices that maximize graduate employment outcomes. Because employment outcomes are as much a function of institutional behaviors as they are of student behaviors, this course is based in systems thinking, which challenges participants to examine the interdependent relationship among institutional infrastructure, student career-readiness, and graduate employment rates.


Module 1: Understanding the Big Picture

  • Criticize the traditional placement model relative to the needs of the 21st century market.
  • Describe multiple benefits of measuring graduate employment.
  • Identify barriers nontraditional students face for completion.
  • Evaluate various roles and responsibilities within the institution and their relationship to institutional effectiveness.
  • Describe barriers to employment faced by students.
  • Identify different constituent groups served by the career center and the roles in which career center staff serve.

Module 2: Making Relationships Your Differentiator

  • Describe how the quality of constituent relationships contributes to graduate employment outcomes.
  • Define working alliance
  • Utilize strategies to improve working alliances with students.
  • Utilize strategies to improve employer partnerships.
  • Develop community relations strategies to address student needs.
  • Evaluate institutional opportunities for improved partnership.

Module 3: Designing a Career Culture

  • Describe how enrollment management influences employment rates.
  • Identify challenges to teaching professional and employability skills.
  • Describe the benefits of a core career curriculum.
  • Utilize best practice intervention activities with students.
  • Apply a framework for aligning intervention strategies with student needs.

Module 4: Programmatic Intervention Strategies

  • Evaluate a variety of experiential learning opportunities.
  • Design a variety of events to improve graduate employment outcomes.
  • Apply a framework for designing effective career development programs.
  • Justify the need for continuing education.
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