If you lead career management services in higher education, we need to talk. As a consultant to colleges and universities who want to enhance their career management services, I stay very current on the latest thoughts, trends, issues and challenges leaders face. In turn, I offer workable solutions to career center leadership through Meridian University Solutions, a division of the larger Meridian Resources, Inc. career management firm. For the last five years, my colleagues and I have helped our clients respond to student and administrative demands for enhancing career management services in tight times. We have implemented solutions, evaluated results, and received fine reviews. We are always looking for new ways to support career management leadership in shouldering their growing responsibility to the universities and students they serve.
The challenges are complex, the solutions multi-faceted, and the stakeholders are many. I invite you to exchange with me so that we can share what works, encourage each other along the way, and ultimately create “wins” for our stakeholders. This blog is intended to generate a lively, relevant forum to discuss our mutual goal of advancing career and professional development in higher education.
It is fitting that we begin with reference to findings of the Global Career Brainstorming Day: Trends for the Now, the New and the Next in Careers published February 15, 2012 by the Career Thought Leaders Consortium. It addresses current trends, latest practices, and “just over the horizon” ideas in career management from the perspectives of career professionals throughout the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom. This is a must read for all who lead career management centers in higher education.
I read between the lines to discover the unique opportunities available to those of us who champion lifelong career management in higher education. One opportunity found in these pages is the importance of our serving as thought leaders to our highest level decision makers on the growing importance of career management services in higher education. We have the capability of favorably impacting recruitment, retention, alumni affairs, and development; every phase of the students’ interface with their institution. But we have to tell our story and educate our leaders. How are you shaping the vision of your institutional leaders?
Contributing Author: Susan Bennett
Meridian Resources University Solutions Blog 