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We didn’t just do this because we are so remarkably great.  

There are three key elements to our success. 

First, we had the leadership, vision, and direction from upper administration. I can not stress enough how fundamental this is. Without it, we would be just trying to promote by ourselves without anyone at our back. The president, provost, vice president for student engagement (i.e., student affairs), and senior vice president for student success (my boss) not only supported this but stated unequivocally that it is integral to the university’s mission. We did not get lip service. We got actual patronage. 

Second, we had strategic partners across disciplines who were our champions and partners in the co-curricular and extra-curricular initiatives across the university community. These partners enthusiastically adopted the learning outcomes and incorporated them into their programming. They truly help students realize that, indeed, everything they do makes them career ready.  

Third, yes, it is about money. I have to be honest with you. We are extraordinarily fortunate to be able to provide monetary incentives to faculty to incorporate career readiness in their coursework.  

Georgia State had gotten the eye of some serious donors. This is a result of the work we are doing to increase retention and progression rates and our student population. We eschew any excuses for our population of students which is majority minority, majority Pell-eligible, and highly first generation. In fact, we believe we prove all the traditional excuses about why students fail or succeed wrong. Georgia State admits every student who is qualified. We are very proud that we have closed the achievement gap. That is, all students, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic background, first generation, graduate at the same rate. We graduate more African Americans with bachelor degrees than all the HBCUs combined.  

With these impressive outcomes, we were the recipient of large grants from major corporations and foundations that were focused on college to career initiatives. In addition to other uses related to career readiness, these grants allowed us to provide incentives for faculty to re-orient their syllabus or develop new courses that focus on college to career. Last year, we awarded 15 grants to individual faculty across disciplines, and we awarded 10 grants to departments across colleges. One of the insidious goals of these awards was to motivate other faculty to see what could be done and do it too. It seems to be working as we now have more proposals than awards.  

Smaller grants can make an astonishing impact too. When we started our work on college to career, we happened to have a volunteer—a retired executive who just wanted to stay busy—who took a liking to what we are doing. Much to our surprised gratitude, he became our benefactor and established an endowed fund to support projects in the classroom related to college to career. Through this fund, we have been able to provide awards to faculty of up to $300 to cover expenses for career-related projects that can not be paid for through our state budget. That is things like food for students (I know! So basic, but no, we can’t use our operating funds for that!), resources for student projects, and expenses such as shuttle transportation for experiential learning field trips. We put out a simple call for proposals, and we could not believe the response! Let me tell you that $300 goes a long way. And, an added bonus is that we get some recognition from faculty! Interestingly, many of our faculty wanted honoraria and parking for speakers. Although we determined that it was not in the spirit of the grants to fund honoraria (the grants are for experiential learning), we still think that it is important for students to hear from experts in the field. And so, we set up a “swag” closet so that faculty can come and pick out tokens of appreciation for speakers, and we set up a parking account so that faculty can have their speakers park—a treacherous undertaking on our campus—free and easy.  

As I close this series, one of the main things that I want to share with you is that we learned that while the college-to-career initiative with faculty at the center was a complex, time-consuming, broad project, it is the small things that simply made it easy for faculty had the greatest impact. We all think we have to make these grand gestures and implement these sweeping changes. But it can be a lot of small interventions that make the big impact. Most important, it means that you too can figure out what would make a difference, and it does not have to cost a lot and it does not have to involve many staff.  

I have an attitude that my staff gets tired of hearing me yammer on about. I call it my “Netflix” approach. You know how people—probably you—have one or two things they absolutely have to have their Netflix subscription for? Looking at you all you “The Crown” and your opposite “Black Mirror” fans. Not everything on Netflix appeals to everyone, but it just takes that one thing for you to keep paying your monthly subscription. That is how I feel about career services in general and work with faculty specifically: everything we do does not have to reach every single person at the university, but at least one thing we do has to reach each person.  

Here’s to you.  May your work with faculty have an impact on your effectiveness.  And may your effectiveness show itself in the success of our future workforce.  

Takeaways:

• This is where champions make everything happen. You know how in a capital campaign, your development people already have half the money raised? Consider this your capital campaign. Get influencers ready to help you make your case, and to talk enthusiastically with faculty. 
• Determine the incentives that work for your faculty.
  • Money, of course, is best. Do you have supporters—alumni, employers, or university friends—who are receptive to the issue of career readiness? Confer with your development office to identify some potential donors. Put together a proposal that describes exactly what you will do with the money, i.e., provide summer support for faculty or grants to faculty to develop career readiness projects or whatever. And remember, a little money can make a serious impact.
  • If money is not a readily available option, determine some other compelling compensation.
  • Develop a method to determine which faculty projects to fund and/or compensate.
  • Think about some things that do not cost a lot and do not require a lot of time or staff involvement but that would make an impact.