As a career center employee, you know your career center offers some amazing things. But are your students aware of the extent of services you offer? In order to help them invest time and effort into their professional futures, you definitely need to be at the forefront of student’s minds (this means, before they hit senior year!). Here are some ways to do that:
Engage them. Students love free stuff, and universities and programming groups usually provide plenty of events in order to promote and give away stuff. Make some magnets or clips with the career center’s information on them. Start a giveaway for students who sign up for something. Anything to get them to come to your table — then you’ll have the opportunity to converse with them.
Be extremely accessible. Today’s students will look up your center to see if you’re on Facebook, Twitter, etc. You should be — it’s an easy way to keep in touch with students in an environment that they’re used to. Offer frequently asked questions on your profiles and website. Ask questions of your students — what are they struggling with? What do they need advice on? You’ll be surprised how many feel more comfortable asking via the Internet. In the same sense, make sure you keep up with the profiles you create. Students won’t see the value in a Facebook page that never gets looked at by the creator.
Challenge them. With tech-savvy, intelligent students, they may not need to know basic information that they can find online. Challenge their knowledge by providing relevant and useful content that they may not have heard about. Also, provide as many in-person seminars and workshops as you can where you can really chat with your students.
After the students know about you, continue to reach out to them. A lot of students may feel like they don’t need to visit the career center unless it’s required for a course. But you know that many students will struggle to find a job once they’ve left college and may need your advice. Being able to motivate them comes after getting them through your door.
