SERVICE: Advising, Counseling, and Career Development - Career and Work Information Center (CWIC)
Current Situation:
The career services provided by Lane (Career Information Center, Job Placement Center, Federal Work-Study, Cooperative Education, Training and Development) have no organizational relationship and are without benefit of co-location. The Job Placement Center and Cooperative Education are distant from major student traffic areas. Cooperative Education offices are located throughout campus, but lack ìstorefrontî visibility.
The OSRL survey indicates that about one-third of respondents (thirty-four percent) used Laneís career information and career counseling services and eighty-five percent of those who used them found them helpful. The survey also indicates that students who use the services are more likely to be credit students. In input sessions, employees and students made suggestions about how all services could be integrated with an emphasis on-cross training and shared resources.
The Career Information Center is part of the Counseling Department. The Center offers materials and computer assisted programs to help students and individuals from the community make career decisions. The resources available include Job WORKS, Oregon Career Information System, SIGI PLUS, and Micro-Skills. Job WORKS helps students with resume preparation and offers information in other aspects of the job search process. The Oregon Career Information System (CIS) has a questionnaire that sorts occupations and generates a list of careers to explore and includes information about working conditions, hiring practices, ages, outlook in several areas of Oregon, and ways to prepare for employment. SIGI PLUS contains sections on career self-assessment, national career information, education and skill requirements of specific careers , and help with goal setting. Micro-SKILLS matches skills used in past achievements to occupations which also utilize those skills.
The Career Information Center is staffed by a .75 classified information specialist and three student peer advisors. Counselors and advisors are not readily accessible to the Career Information Center. The counselor FTE assigned to the Center is minimal (.10) and little career counseling for undeclared majors occurs at the Center.
The Job Placement Office is part of the Financial Aid Office and staffed by three individuals. The Center provides a free employment and referral service to current and former students. It also provides a job referral service for students eligible for the Federal Work Study Program. The Center also offers credit and non-credit workshops in resume writing, interview strategies, and job-finding skills, although on an inconsistent basis. The Center has recently been assigned the responsibility of placing part-time staff who want additional work assignments and developing an on-campus student employment program.
The OSRL survey indicates that ten percent of survey respondents have used the Job Placement Services and that 88% of those who used the service found it to be helpful.
The Federal Work-Study Office provides a referral service for students eligible for the Federal Work-Study program. Eligibility is determined by the Financial Aid Office as part of the financial aid awarding process. The Office annually places, on average, four hundred credit students in College departments and with non-profit agencies.
Cooperative Education is an academic department that provides on-the- job-training education with college credit for experience related to a studentís educational and career goals. Thirty-five coordinators are stationed in the campus programs they serve. Co-op Ed places an annual average of two thousand credit students in area businesses and organizations. Laneís student and employer follow-up consistently reports high student ratings for Cooperative Education services.
Training and Development (T & D) operates the Dislocated Worker Program and is a partner in administering the Welfare Reform Jobs Program. T & D offers short-term, high tech training and provides its own advising, career counseling and job placement services. T & D serves an annual average of five hundred students.
Each service operates independently with no obvious linkage between the types of services students can take advantage of. Also, limited resources restrict the ability of individual services to meet any increase in demand or to offer new services.
Desired Situation:
The Career Information Center, Job Placement Center, Federal Work-Study Program, Cooperative Education (Co-op Ed), and Training and Development are housed in the same physical location and pool their resources. Students can access multiple services that ensure job and career successes both during and after their attendance at Lane. Staff cross-training reinforces the interrelationships between the related services.
Proposed Solution:
Create a Career and Work Information Center (CWIC) Team that includes the Career Information Center, Job Placement Center, Federal Work-Study Program, and representatives from the Cooperative Education and Training and Development Programs. This arrangement will provide all services an opportunity to share resources and encourage cooperative rather than competitive service delivery. Most importantly, the services will be more accessible to students. The CWIC Team will provide a continuum of comprehensive career services including assistance with: the on and off campus job search; job placement; career planning; resume writing; interview strategies, and job search skills.
The CWIC Team will provide new services, such as:
Cross-training in technical and people skills are integral to the effective functioning of the CWIC Team. Beyond cross-training within these areas, the CWIC Team will participate in advising information training.
An advising team will be assigned to the CWIC and be located nearby. The team will be a resource for assisting students with undeclared majors. Although the advising team is not directly related organizationally, the team will:
The CWIC Team will be staffed as described in Exhibit 1. While all team members will be accountable for integrated and effective performance, responsibilities are outlined to indicate the skills and resources that will be available in the CWIC. All team members will participate in team meetings and cross-training activities.
Coaches from Redesign Team: Edna Grass, Carol Lynn Morse
Sponsor: Linda Fossen, Larry Warford
Due Date: June 1998
Performance Measures:
| Measurement | Tools for Measuring | Responsibility for Tracking Measurement |
| track and increase percent of students who use, and are highly satisfied with, CWIC | baseline = must be established follow-up = student survey |
Advising, Counseling, and Career Development Process Owner Manager |
Action Plan for Implementing Solution:
| Task | By Whom,/td> | By When | Resources Required |
| Identify and convene a planning group to review and refine plans, develop task assignments, and designate a leader | Linda Fossen, Larry Warford,Redesign Team Coaches,current CWIC Team depts. | ||
| Review plan and task assignments with managers of affected areas | Linda Fossen, CWIC Planning Group | ||
| Develop job description for CWIC Team Leader Manager | Linda Fossen, Implementation Team, current CWIC Team depts. | ||
| Develop organizational and procedural strategies for integrating work functions | CWIC Team | ||
| Link with services of Advising and Counseling Team in developing intervention procedures and strategies for undeclared majors | CWIC Team, Advising and Counseling Team Leader Manager | ||
| Develop job shadow sources, provide information for counselors for undeclared majors, and link to undeclared majors lists | Geri Myers, Advising and Counseling Team Leader Manager | ||
| Investigate how to locate an Oregon Employment Department kiosk at the CWIC | CWIC Team Leader Manager and Team | ||
| Develop CWIC WAN page | CWIC Team Leader Manager and Team | ||
| Assess hardware and software needs for the CWIC | CWIC Team Leader Manager and Team | ||
| Develop on-line scholarship information, including information about department-related scholarships | CWIC Team Leader Manager, Geri Meyers | ||
| Develop program for placing part-time Lane staff | CWIC Team Leader Manager, Joan Adams | ||
| Develop on-campus student job referral service | CWIC Team Leader Manager, Joan Adams | ||
| Plan a schedule for workshops in activities that will qualify for state FTE reimbursement and/or credit FTE generation | CWIC Team Leader Manager and Team, Undeclared Counselors | ||
| Plan strategies and training to integrate student associates in CWIC | CWIC Team Leader Manager and Team | ||
| Develop advertising and public relations strategies to promote CWIC services | CWIC Team Leader Manager and Team |
| Team Member | Responsibilities |
| All Team Members | |
| Team Leader Manager | |
| Career Information | |
| Job Placement |
|
| Federal Work-Study |
|
| Employment | |
| Cooperative Education | |
| Training and Development | |
| Student Peer Associates |
|