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The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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The Annual Report 2004-2005

The 2004-05 year was a productive year for The Career Center (TCC). The staff moved forward with the implementation of several initiatives that had begun the previous year. The Career Resource Center was renovated taking on a more retail look and special initiatives were implemented to improve customer service. The marketing plan meant a new logo, coordinated advertising and promotion, and a consistent look that branded the Center to the university community. The year was marked by significant technological development, including an electronic check-in and scheduling system, creation of interactive career development modules for University 101, and a restructured website. Two staff retreats united the staff with a discussion of learning outcomes, review of TCC strengths, goals, and accomplishments, and creation of goals for the future. Customer service, collaboration, and technological advances have become paramount in the operations of the Center. The Career Center is continuously seeking improved services, programs, and partnerships to achieve excellence in the field.

Major Accomplishments

• Reconfigured Career Resource Center to be more user-friendly with small gathering areas and a retail look.
• Revised and expanded Counselor-on-Call program serving 2,205 students during the year. Used Graduate students for most of the hours of COC and expanded coverage to 30 hours (10-4) per week.
• Implemented strategic and comprehensive marketing plan that included a consistent image, new logo, and new advertising initiatives, resulting in greater awareness of The Career Center. New efforts included sandwich boards outside TCC on Wright Street, MTD bus advertising, prize wheel at large gatherings, new giveaways with TCC logo, own email distribution lists, and advertising on campus-wide calendar for all new students.
• Implemented I-Connect system (partnering with seven other career offices) and successfully converted data from old system, resulting in increased usage by students and employers and development of a “hub” for the University of Illinois that improved service to employers.
• Increased on-line registrations for TCC programs including outreach presentations, Finding a Major that Fits, Linking Majors to Careers, Health-Graduate School Fair, and Non-Profit and Government Career Fair (including on-line payment for both fairs).
• Enhanced internship awareness and initiatives by posting internship positions on I-Connect, developing a manual for employers on how to create quality internships, and promoting the value of experiential education.
• Revised and updated all job descriptions of academic professionals and support staff in The Career Center to reflect accurate job duties, changes in responsibilities, and a focus on customer service.
• Designed and structured framework and template for new TCC website (to be unveiled August 2005) based upon analysis of current website and accessibility benchmarks.
• Enhanced outreach to residence halls by conducting focus groups with residence hall personnel and developing manageable strategies for interacting with students; programs included “Bulletin Board in a Bag” for RA’s, and a “game wheel” at Late Night events in the Residence Halls.
• Developed internal budget process that requires staff to budget for their areas of responsibility and provide quarterly reports for accountability.
• Conducted two electronic satisfaction surveys during the year with clients of The Career Center; one focused on recipients of résumé critiques (fall) and the second with counseling/advising clients (spring).
• Evaluated handouts in Career Resource Center, removing many that were redundant/outdated and focusing on consistency and relevant information.
• Reviewed, purchased, and catalogued over 100 new books for the Career Resource Center.
• Advocated for several Arcade Building enhancements including new awnings, wireless capabilities, refinished floor, and new handicap accessible door at Wright Street entry.
• Developed several new initiatives and co-sponsored events with the Alumni Center after researching peer institutions regarding their collaborations with alumni associations.
• Placed 50 students through the Externship Program and created an internal mentoring program that helped externs with contacting assigned alumnae and enhancing externship success.
• Developed new workshop for pre-health students called Anatomy of a Pre-Health Student to assist freshmen and sophomores with basic strategies and information for successful application to professional health programs; designed to provide group information to aid with strain on individual health advising appointments.
• Created parent webpage for the new I-Start portal for new students and parents.
• Worked with Career Services Council in sponsoring campus-wide event for faculty/staff and students featuring Rich Feller, a nationally-recognized career trends speaker.
• Initiated the following new programs or services:
• Thinking Past Your Major program with LAS General Advising
• I-Connect Orientation workshop
• Negotiation and Researching Employers workshops
• Finding a Major that Fits and Moving from Majors to Careers workshops
• Phone mock interviews
• TCC Open House
• Conducted successful search for new Assistant Director/Coordinator of Freshman Outreach after resignation of former Assistant Director in May.
• Co-planned and implemented second LAS-TCC Summit with the keynote program focused on enhancing the Liberal Arts and Sciences degree for career success, provided by Margaret Schrock and Julian Parrott
• Extensive outreach to other campus units: Graduate College Career Services, Alumni Association, Office of Minority Student Affairs, DRES, International Student Services, Leadership Center, Cultural Centers, Cultural Academic Studies Centers, Housing, and other Student Affairs offices.
• Conducted two full-day staff retreats to identify learning outcomes, strengths, accomplishments, and strategic goals as well as build a team culture.
• Continued to fully utilize Student Advisory Committee with increased student involvement, consistent attendance, and substantial input into TCC goals and operations.

Goal Achievement

For 2004-2005 The Career Center established strategic goals with an outlined work plan. Following is a brief description of what was achieved for each goal. The full listing of Strategic Goals for The Career Center is located in Appendix A with an indication of what was accomplished and what is in progress.

Provide exceptional customer service to all of The Career Center's constituencies.

Enhanced customer service was realized with improved reception processes, better information resources, and staff development programs focused on customer service. An electronic check-in and calendaring system was developed during the year with the check- in system going live July 2005 and the calendaring system scheduled to go live January 2006. This system will greatly improve our customer service. A paraprofessional program will be piloted in 2005-06 to extend the existing Outreach Team. Website information will be better integrated with library resources when the new TCC website is launched August 2005. Graduate Assistants staffed Counselor on Call and provided improved résumé critique services after extensive training and mentoring by professional staff.

Utilize technological innovations that improve service and promote work efficiency.

A new software career management system (I-Connect) was implemented in collaboration with seven other career services offices and included a hub, or single gateway, to career services at UIUC, an important benefit to employers. Web-based surveys were conducted to assess outcomes, satisfaction, and needs. All TCC presentations were converted to PowerPoint and are portable to outreach locations. Workshops can be requested on-line and on-line registration is available for all regularly scheduled TCC workshops and fairs.

Reconfigure Career Center Library space/facility to match student preferences.

The Career Resource Center (new name) was renovated and reconfigured to be more inviting, comfortable, contemporary, and accommodating. Small gathering areas were created, more computers were added, and resources are better displayed with improved organization. Student traffic in the Resource Center has increased significantly.

Implement a comprehensive marketing plan and unveil recognizable image.

An identifiable logo is now used on all communication/promotional materials of The Career Center. New flyer/handout templates create a consistent image for the Center. Marketing efforts were developed for the residence halls in order to impact more first-year students. A new internal process for requesting advertising and publicity materials meant significant cost savings for TCC. Advance planning with partnering units including Leadership Center, Graduate College Career Services, and other career services offices, to calendar events has been effective and improved efficiency.

Improve evaluation and outcome assessment for The Career Center.

The Career Center staff and Advisory Committee worked during the year to establish learning outcomes to guide the work of the Center. The Center established affective, behavioral, and cognitive outcomes that will be used with counselor interventions and notes this coming year. The electronic data collection system to be launched in 2005-06 will permit measurement of the outcomes within the counseling sessions. Two web-based surveys evaluated satisfaction and outcomes of résumé critiques and counseling/advising. Web based surveys were also used for the Non-Profit Career Fair, the Externship Program, and the Allerton Conference for important feedback from participants.

Collaborate with other services and programs at the university.

Collaboration continues to be a thrust of The Career Center. Several collaborative efforts this year were with the academic cultural studies programs, particularly the African-American Research and Studies Program. The Career Corners at the cultural centers and DRES continue to be excellent partnerships. Several programs were jointly sponsored and presented with the Graduate College Career Services, Alumni Association, International Student Services, Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and the Department of Education and Rehabilitation Services. A Summit II was held with LAS Advising; Margaret Schrock and Julian Parrott were the keynote speakers talking about the "hidden curriculum." Special programs were initiated with Housing as The Career Center targeted new students in the residence halls.

Collaboration with other career services offices (CSO's) continued to be an emphasis of The Career Center. A campus-wide event featuring Rich Feller, a nationally known speaker, was offered by CSO offices comprising the Career Services Council. The Career Services Council made its annual field trip to Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, the first time the trip went to an employer site rather than another university. Finally, eight of the career services offices are using the same career management vendor with a common hub or gateway for employers, called I-Connect. This collaboration will be significant in our service to employers and students.

Develop an enhanced experiential education or internship program.

All internship positions that come to The Career Center are now posted on the I-Connect system, encouraging younger students to register for the system and use its resources. An employer manual was developed that guides an employer in developing quality internship experiences. Work will continue this coming year on assessing internship resources on campus and developing a strategic plan to enhance experiential education.

Promote professional development among all staff.

The Career Center continued a very successful staff development program that provided variety and relevant content. For the first time NACE Virtual Seminars were offered and were generally well received. A sample of the variety of programs is provided below:

• Building a Customer Service Environment (Sue Stewart, T4B)
• Out of the Closet: Into the Workplace (Jane Reid, Curt McKay, and Anita Hund)
• Applying Counseling Psychology and Career Coaching to Liberal Arts Students (NACE Virtual Seminar presented by Kate S. Brooks, University of Texas at Austin)
• Developing and Maintaining Effective Relationships with Faculty to Market and Deliver Career Services (NACE Virtual Seminar presented by Jeff Nardo)
• Beyond Academic Accommodations, Identifying and Supporting the Career Development Needs of Students with Disabilities - Internship Panel (4 DRES students) co-sponsored with DRES
• Motorola & the Accommodation Process for Employees with Disabilities (Kevin Foster, Senior HR Manager, Rena Taylor-Reedy and Steve Slesnick, HR, Motorola).
• The Newly Revised Strong and Using the MBTI & Strong for Career Counseling (Kerri Kearney, Character of Excellence)

Performance reviews were completed for all staff using a collaborative approach for review and goal setting. Several staff served in leadership roles in regional and national organizations.

New applications of technology

This year has been one of development of new technologies: Schedule Q (electronic check-in, data collection, and calendaring), EPICS (interactive career development modules for University 101), and a new TCC website (with the latest accessible web design). All three of these programs will be launched in 2005-06 and are cutting edge for the career services field. In addition, a new development for LEO is the ability to electronically submit letters to cooperating schools; this also will be expanded to additional schools in the future. I-Connect was implemented, partnering with seven other career offices, resulting in increased usage by students and employers, and development of a "hub" for enhanced service to employers. All internship announcements are now posted to I-Connect so that students may access and search 24/7. Wireless internet equipment was installed in the Arcade Student Services building. Satisfaction surveys for services and fairs were conducted via the Internet. A newly revised Strong Interest Inventory is being used by counselors; students complete all assessments on-line before their interpretation with the counselor. Increasingly, students are requesting information from counselors via email-counselors reported 4,169 email responses to students. Finally, many of the forms used in the office are available electronically and used on an as-needed basis rather than printing large quantities.

Collaborative initiatives were addressed in the goal accomplishment section.

Discontinuation of programs, services, and practices

Several workshops were discontinued: I-Connect Orientation sessions (low attendance) and Guide to Choosing Majors and Careers (replaced with two 1-hour sessions which students prefer). Programs discontinued include our MonsterTrak association, TCC information programs at the cultural centers, and the Graduate School series which had limited attendance and much of the information is available on-line. Many flyers, brochures, and pamphlets are no longer displayed in the Career Resource Center due to their availability on the Internet and infringement of copyright laws. Handbooks are no longer printed because they become dated so quickly and the information is displayed on our website.

Outstanding achievements and recognitions

Judith Martinez received the first-ever Diversity Founders Award from the Midwest Association of Colleges and Employers. Greg Hatch became the 7th recipient of the Dave Bechtel Career Educator of the Year Award, given annually at the Allerton Conference. Gail Rooney was elected Vice-President of Development, and Guy Davis and Judith Martinez were elected to the Assembly for the Midwest Association of Colleges and Employers. Karen Paulsen is serving on the National Planning Committee for the 17th National Association of Advisors for Health Professions (NAAHP) National Meeting, as Regional Director of AED Pre-Health Honorary, and is a board member and communications chair for the Central Association of Advisors for Health Professions (CAAHP). Keri Pipkins served on the planning committee for the biannual CAAHP conference and presented a program twice at the conference.

Major challenges, significant trends, and emergent issues

A major challenge facing The Career Center is its capacity to serve the many students seeking services, especially counseling/advising appointments. With many of the new initiatives and marketing strategies (and even more this coming year with EPICS), the Center has created greater demand than it may be able to serve. A growing interest in the health professions and increased enrollment in the Biological Sciences means more demand for our health professions counseling. Human resources will need to be added in order to serve students requesting services. A request will be presented to the Fee Committee to add an additional counselor. Another challenge is the conversion to so many technology tools—this has stretched staff as they learn to efficiently use the tools and struggle with considerable change in a short amount of time. This will be a transition year as we function in a highly technological environment and adapt to many changes in our daily operations. In addition, high tech means we need to focus on “high touch” in order to provide the personal and individual attention needed for career and professional exploration and decision making. Staff have been challenged to provide personalized attention to students within the context of our technology initiatives. Balancing of high tech and high touch is imperative. As an office, we also need to consider what we can no longer do or what services or programs are not primary contributors to our mission and learning outcomes—it is always difficult to “let go” of some of our traditional services and programs. We will address this challenge during the next year.

Trends or issues in career services continue to be how we offer “high tech” and “high touch”—this is being debated around the country. There is also considerable discussion regarding the use of technology in the job search including students’ reliance on on-line job boards, use of email in the job search, and electronic résumés. Changes in the economy impact our work in terms of the availability of jobs, job benefits (healthcare costs), retirement projections, and job location (off-shoring of jobs, working electronically, etc). Globalization of the economy will continue to be important in the preparation of young people for the workforce.

Employers still emphasize the communication, technology, problem solving, teamwork, and interpersonal skills for their entry-level positions. It is imperative that we challenge our students and academic curriculums to develop these skills. Increasingly, employers underscore “ethics” as a key characteristic for new hires; thus students need to articulate an understanding of ethical behavior and demonstrate their practice of ethical action. Finally, internships or experiential activities are critical in the hiring of new graduates. Consistently, employers tell us that their primary source for hiring new graduates is through internships. Data indicates that 60% of the students that had jobs upon graduation indicated they had internships. Work experience seems to be a critical bridge in a student’s transition from academics to the world of full-time work. A strong emphasis by both employers and professional school admissions is towards experiential education, job shadowing, service learning, and leadership skills.

Service Highlights 2004-05

• 5,974 in-person counseling and advising contacts, compared to 4,133 last year, and over 4,500 email and phone advising contacts this year, for a total of 10, 478 student contacts compared to 8,155 last year
• 379 interpretations of career exploration assessment instruments (SII, Strong & Skills, MBTI) were conducted compared to 377 in 2003-04 and 230 in 2002-03
• 4,169 email advising contacts and 335 phone advising sessions were reported by counselors
• 670 individuals requested on-line access to Discover, an on-line career exploration service
• 15,489 people attended 361 speaking engagements, workshops, fairs, and outreach events compared to 15,136 last year; average attendance per event was 42.9
• Outreach Team members (undergraduate students) conducted a record 139 presentations on job search tools with a total of 2,581 attendees; the Outreach Team held résumé critiquing hours at the Cultural Centers, Undergraduate Library, and Weston Exploration Hall, serving 342 students
• 2,628 student credential mailings to graduate and medical schools through the web based LEO (Letters of Evaluation On-line) system (2,263 last year)
• 1,631 students registered for I-Connect compared to 575 on last year’s system; 583 jobs and 96 internships were posted on I-Connect (only 178 jobs last year); and 569 interviews were recorded (220 last year)
• 66,264 issues of The Career Center’s two Electronic Newsletters to 4,971 subscribers
• 15,973 estimated walk-in patrons using TCC annually; 14,427 estimated phone calls or over 58 phone calls per day
• 1,876,328 hits to The Career Center website, 228,748 visits to the site and 98,958 unique visitors for an average of 8,247 unique visitors per month
• 4,321,858 hits to the Career Services Council website; 253,630 visits and 99,978 unique visitors for an average of 8,332 unique visitors per month
• 257,767 sets of company information printed from Career Search, an employer research database; 2,529 searches through The Career Center’s access and 11,069 searches for the entire Illinois system users
• 1,154 (34%) of the counseling clients were students of color; 10% African-American; 18% Asian-American; 6% Latino/a; another 167 (5%) were International students
• 54% of counseling clients were underclass students (freshmen, sophomores, or juniors) and 34% were seniors; the most served majors were Biological Sciences (20%), General Curriculum (15%), Engineering (9%), Psychology (8%), Library Science (8%), Social Sciences (7%), ACES, Applied Life Studies, Social Work, and LAS Chemical Sciences each had 5%, and Business (4%)
• 22% of counseling clients were referred by friends, 21% by academic advisors, 15% walked by and learned of our services, and 8% learned about us from the web

Charts and graphs displaying details of The Career Center's service and demographics of clients may be found in Appendix B (Counseling Contacts) and C (Workshops/Programs). Two electronic satisfaction surveys were conducted this year, one in the fall to evaluate our résumé critique service and another in the spring to assess satisfaction with our counseling appointments (summaries in Appendix D). Electronic and web-based services, including I-Connect recruiting data, are summarized in Appendix E.

Special Programs, Events, and Committees.

The Career Center conducts several special programs and events including the Mock Interview Program, the Externship Program, Weston Exploration and First Year Student Outreach, special pre-health services and programs, Graduate School and Health Professions School Fairs, Non-Profit and Government Career Fair (with Graduate College Career Services), Allerton Big10/11+ Career Services Conference, and the Robert P. Larsen Career Development Research Grant. Finally, The Career Center Advisory Committee and Career Services Council had a productive year. Brief summaries of several programs and committee activities at The Career Center are available in Appendix F.

Goals for 2005-06

Exceptional customer service and implementation of technological innovations to improve service will be the key goals of The Career Center for 2005-06. Two technologically advanced systems to be fully implemented this year include Schedule Q (electronic check-in, data collection, and scheduling) and EPICS (interactive, web-based modules for University 101). Revamping of the website with cutting edge technology for accessibility and improved organization/content will also be a goal to enhance our services 24/7; usability studies with students will also be conducted. Marketing initiatives with consistent messages and branding continues to be a target for our work so that no student can say, “I wish I had known you were here earlier.” Learning outcomes developed this past year will become operational and assessed in the evaluation of our work and programs. All programs and services will be evaluated in regards to their contribution to our mission and learning outcomes. Continued expansion of internship and experiential education will be an objective of the Center. Collaboration will be the hallmark of our work as we continue our already existing partnerships and reach out to others. Finally, professional development among staff will be a priority both with in-house programs and using external resources at the university and around the country.

With the new technology advances and a superb staff, The Career Center is emerging as a cutting edge career services office in the country. It will be recognized as a career center of excellence.

Appendix A

The Career Center goals for 2004-2005 are in bold with the related Student Affairs Opportunity from A Powerful Purpose printed under the goal. Specific goals within the broader goals are delineated with bullets.

The Career Center 2004-2005 Goals

Provide exceptional customer service to all of The Career Center's constituencies through improved reception processes, enhanced information resources, and staff development programs focused on customer service.

Related to Student Affairs Opportunity: (1)Strive to anticipate and respond to the changing needs of students while recognizing the increased accountability demands on higher education AND (2) foster opportunities for students to have places on campus where they feel comfortable and at home while also facilitating greater interaction, integration, and understanding among students across different backgrounds.

• Investigate and develop an electronic counseling appointment system that will simplify the appointment process for students and provide better information to counselors [In Progress]
• Research and develop an electronic student profile data system that interfaces with the University’s student information system and provides immediate access for follow-up action with students and evaluation of service/program usage [Completed]
• Develop a plan (including selection, training, and responsibilities) for a Paraprofessional Program to begin Fall 2005 that bridges the current Student Outreach Program and a TCC Intern Program [In Progress]
• Integrate career information in the library with information on the website in a strategic and user-friendly manner [Completed]
• Enhance initial reception and assistance for students by re-engineering and simplifying processes and operations [Completed]
• Continue to expand electronic career information resources and accessibility in the Center and on the website [In Progress]
• Develop and implement graduate assistant training, including year-long mentoring, for counselor-on-call and résumé critique responsibilities [Completed]
• Promote customer service through staff development programs for TCC Center staff [Completed]

Develop and utilize technological innovations that improve service and promote work efficiency.

Related to Student Affairs Opportunity: (1) Strive to anticipate and respond to the changing needs of students while recognizing the increased accountability demands on higher education AND (2) create opportunities for students to develop intellectually and personally through face-to-face interactions with staff, faculty, and peers while implementing technological advances for efficient and effective service delivery.

• Develop an integrated electronic counseling appointment system and student information data system as described in #1 and #2 above [In Progress]
• Implement a new software career management system (I-Connect) for TCC that includes a hub (or single gateway) for 10 career services offices on campus [Completed]
• Utilize web-based surveys to assess student needs and satisfaction with services and programs [Completed]
• Develop a “question & answer” section on TCC website for students and faculty/staff [In Progress]
• Implement a web-based template for Career Services Offices across campus to change their office and employer information on Career Services Council website [In Progress]
• Convert TCC presentations/workshops to PowerPoint so that they are portable to outreach locations [Completed]
• Develop on-line registration and payment for Health and Graduate School Fair, Non-profit and Government Fair, and Allerton Conference [Completed]
• Develop on-line request form for faculty, staff, and student organizations to request programs and workshops [Completed]
• Provide students using I-Connect with messages regarding standards of ethical behavior in the job search [Completed]

Reconfigure Career Library space/facility and enhance delivery of career information resources in library and on website to match student preferences.

Related to Student Affairs Opportunity: (1) Strive to anticipate and respond to the changing needs of students while recognizing the increased accountability demands on higher education AND (2) create opportunities for students to develop intellectually and personally through face-to-face interactions with staff, faculty, and peers while implementing technological advances for efficient and effective service delivery.

• Rearrange space in The Career Center library to make it more inviting and comfortable for student usage (use the “retail” approach including lounge chairs and better signage) [Completed]
• Integrate and utilize the skills and knowledge of new Library Information Specialist to better match information resources and delivery with student preferences [Completed]
• Improve display and organization of materials/resources in Library to meet student needs [Completed]
• Increase number of computers and improve placement of computers to enhance usage and visibility [Completed]
• Explore adding an electronic marquee in library for promotion of events and programs to campus community [Completed-not doing]
• Develop an integrated identity for The Career Center with print and website resources [Completed]

Implement a comprehensive marketing plan and unveil a recognizable TCC identity to the campus community

Related to Student Affairs Opportunity: Strive to anticipate and respond to the changing needs of students while recognizing the increased accountability demands on higher education.

• Implement strategic marketing plan (completed Summer 2004) to all students and underrepresented populations [In Progress]
• Create an identifiable logo or “brand” to be used on all communication materials and the website of The Career Center [Completed]
• Develop new TCC promotional materials and flyer/handout templates for a consistent image of the Center [Completed]
• Utilize a variety of mediums to promote TCC and career services [Completed]
• Institute an office process for requesting publicity and workshop materials [Completed]
• Establish a yearly calendar of events for TCC and partner units that enhances collaboration and facilitates efficient promotion of services and programs [Completed]
• Design “passive advertising” campaign that creates “top of mind awareness” among students and the university community [In Progress]
• Enhance marketing efforts in residence halls that is targeted to first-year students and emphasizes career management and planning [Completed]

Improve evaluation and outcome assessment for The Career Center.

Related to Student Affairs Opportunity: Strive to anticipate and respond to the changing needs of students while recognizing the increased accountability demands on higher education.

• Develop recommendations to improve TCC assessment, evaluation, and data collection using the audit of current assessments and collection procedures conducted by a TCC working group in the spring [In Progress]
• Develop an electronic data collection system that interfaces with the University’s student information system to improve evaluation of services and programs [Completed]
• Utilize web-based surveys to assess student needs and satisfaction with services and programs [Completed]
• Delineate with staff the desired outcomes of The Career Center to be measured and design assessment strategies [Completed]

Collaborate with other services and programs at the university

Related to Student Affairs Opportunity: (1)Strive to anticipate and respond to the changing needs of students while recognizing the increased accountability demands on higher education AND (2) foster opportunities for students to have places on campus where they feel comfortable and at home while also facilitating greater interaction, integration, and understanding among students across different backgrounds.

• Partner with Graduate College Career Services to efficiently use resources and optimize services to all graduate and undergraduate students [Completed]
• Work with Office of Minority Student Affairs in order to enhance career services and connections with underrepresented populations [Completed]
• Offer health profession preparation programs to the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students (MAPS) [Completed]
• Collaborate with Leadership Center to develop joint programs that enhance leadership skills, graduate school admissions, and employability of students [Completed]
• Continue to support career corners at the African American Cultural Programs, La Casa Cultural Latina, OMSA-East, and Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services [Completed]
• Extend outreach services to other cultural centers, Asian-American Cultural Center and Native American Center [In Progress]
• Develop relationships with cultural academic studies programs in order to strengthen career services to students in the programs, including Afro-American Studies and Research Program, Latina/Latino Studies Program, Asian American Studies, and the Native American House [Completed]
• Work with Department of Rehabilitation Services to enhance our connections with students with disabilities [Completed]
• Implement outreach and marketing program with the Housing Department that serves larger numbers of housing students (especially first-year students) in addition to Weston Exploration Hall students [Completed]
• Develop regular connections (“sharing” sessions, meetings, staff development, etc) with LAS General Curriculum Advisors to improve referral between offices and sharing of resources and information for best service to students [Completed]
• Develop relationship with registered student organizations and offer services/programs to student organizations [In Progress]
• Work collaboratively with International Student Services to better serve International students [Completed]
• Collaborate with International Student Affairs to offer “Job Search Strategies for International Students” [Completed]
• Collaborate with Department of Intercollegiate Athletics to offer services to athletes [In Progress]
• Create connections with Counseling Psychology Department to enhance practicum opportunities, research options, and partnerships with outside constituencies promoting career development [In Progress]
• Continue collaboration with other career services offices to offer campus-wide events that serve a wide-range of students and constituencies [Completed]
• Collaborate with the Alumni Office to better use alumni for program presentations and mentorship [Completed]

Develop an enhanced experiential education or internship program that is educational for students and employers

Related to Student Affairs Opportunity: (1) Strive to anticipate and respond to the changing needs of students while recognizing the increased accountability demands on higher education AND (2) create opportunities for students to develop intellectually and personally through face-to-face interactions with staff, faculty, and peers while implementing technological advances for efficient and effective service delivery.

• Create a strategic plan for The Career Center that strengthens its service to students regarding the value of internships, strategies for finding internships, and transferability of skills to post-graduation employment [In Progress]
• Develop an action plan for TCC that educates employers about the value of internships and how to develop a quality internship program [In Progress]
• Post internship positions with the career management system (I-Connect) for student and faculty/staff accessibility on the web [Completed]
• Assess the campus climate for internship development, determine resources on campus, and research benchmark activities for experiential education [In Progress]

Promote professional development among all staff

Related to Student Affairs Opportunity: Continue to recruit, train, and retain a highly competent and diverse Student Affairs staff, creatively addressing human resource issues.

• Support academic professional and clerical support staff for enrollment in skill development and knowledge enhancement professional development programs [Completed]
• Integrate and train new Library Information Specialist in The Career Center [Completed]
• Conduct collaborative annual performance reviews with academic professional and support staff that clearly delineate goals, accomplishments, and areas for improvement [Completed]
• Encourage participation in state, regional, and national associations, especially in leadership roles [Completed]

Appendix B

Counseling Contacts	2004-2005	2003-04	2002-03
Scheduled Counseling Appointments	2,071	2,283	2,252
Counselor Scheduled Appointments	199	233	513
Counselor on Call Assistance	2,205	502	170
Walk-In Assistance (résumé Review/Health Profession Advising)	1,499	1,052	1,052
Weston Advising	0	92	72
E-mail Advising	4,169	3,805	4,118
Phone Advising	335	217	675
Total	10,478	8,155	8,852
Assessment (SII, MBTI) Interpretations	379	377	230

	Appointment				Walk-Ins
Month	Career Development	Health Professions	Counselor Scheduled	Counselor On-Call	résumé Review	Health Professions
July	66	44	9	42	36	12
Aug.	80	43	6	193	26	14
Sep.	160	105	33	445	189	12
Oct.	148	96	22	322	216	41
Nov.	117	78	15	189	96	44
Dec.	66	34	9	101	50	3
Jan.	89	59	9	155	120	13
Feb.	142	69	30	260	190	12
Mar.	132	73	34	224	139	21
Apr.	139	73	20	222	101	35
May	66	65	4	31	26	40
June	67	60	8	21	30	33
Annual	1,272	799	199	2,205	1,219	280
04-05	2,270			2,205	1,499
Annual	1,464	819	204	502	854	198
03-04	2,487			502	1,052
Annual	1,490	762		170	926	146
02-03	2,252			170	1,072

Student Telephone Traffic to The Career Center

Month	Avg. Student Visits/day	Days of School	Projected Traffic	Avg. Phone Calls/day	Days of Work	Projected Phone Calls
July	47	21	987	64	21	1,344
Aug.	83	10	830	48	22	1,056
Sep.	135	21	2,835	92	21	1,932
Oct.	93	21	1,953	76	21	1,596
Nov.	48	17	816	46	20	920
Dec.	69	13	897	55	18	990
Jan.	55	10	550	88	19	1,672
Feb.	98	20	1,960	60	20	1,200
Mar.	95	18	1,710	49	23	1,127
Apr.	77	21	1,617	59	21	1,239
May	52	21	1,092	35	21	735
June	33	22	726	28	22	616
Total 04-05	Avg: 74/day	215 days	15,973	Avg: 57/day	249 days	14,427
Total 03-04	Avg: 51/day	218 days	12,217.5	Avg: 61/day	253 days	15,433.5
Total 02-03	Avg: 72/day	202 days	14,603	Avg: 55/day	252.5 days	13,876.5

Appendix C

The Career Center Programs and Workshops by Type of Presentation

Classification of Programs	2004-2005		2003-2004		2002-2003
	Events	Attendance	Events	Attendance	Events	Attendance
Orientation and Information Programs (including First Year Impact)	54	1,876	30	876	46	1,359
Summer Orientation programs (parent and student)	41	3,067	46	3,866	42	1,914
OMSA Orientation in TCC Library	*	*	21	436	40	1,056
Weston Hall Exploration /Residence Halls Programs	5	326	5	32	13	309
Graduate and Professional School (including health) seminars and workshops	19	504	23	710	18	310
Job Search related seminars and workshops (including internships)	94	1,223	84	1,614	75	954
Career choice/planning seminars and workshops	23	315	24	262	31	358
Internship/Externship/Experiential Education Seminars & Workshops*	13	151	8	238	*	*
Staff/Student Training/Professional presentations (including staff development)	25	521	24	399	30	954
Conferences, fairs, campus-wide events	20	4,859	17	5,131	20	5,277
Requested presentations by clubs, classes, residences, departments	55	2,168	52	1,538	62	1,911
Organizations, committees, advisorship activities and events	6	112	1	12	39	575
Miscellaneous	5	367	4	22	11	277
Totals	361	15,489	339	15,136	427	15,254

* Totals included in Orientation and Information Programs

The Career Center Programs and Workshops by Type of Presenter

Presenter Type	2004-2005		2003-2004		2002-2003
	Events	Attendance	Events	Attendance	Events	Attendance
Academic Professionals	203	12,718	208	12,961	258	12,489
Graduate Assistants	19	190	31	458	37	520
Outreach Presenters	139	2,581	100	1,717	93	1,189
Totals	361	15,489	339	15,136	387	14,198
Average Attendance Per Event	42.9		44.6		36.7

The Career Center Programs and Workshops by Month

Programs by Month	2004-2005		2003-2004		2002-2003
	Events	Attendance	Events	Attendance	Events	Attendance
July	18	1,096	12	388	16	393
August	15	1,677	10	1,321	24	2,157
September	78	2,814	72	2,976	74	2,794
October	43	2,540	43	2,585	70	2,672
November	37	916	18	311	48	1,206
December	3	43	3	178	12	424
January	21	545	13	440	12	210
February	41	836	33	839	42	700
March	39	1,279	40	1,223	25	1,073
April	36	991	30	741	31	767
May	5	206	4	82	7	325
June	25	2,546	61	4,052	31	1,600
Totals	361	15,489	339	15,136	392	14,321

Appendix D

Results of the résumé Critique Survey

This is the first time TCC has surveyed students who have used the in-house résumé critique service. Previously these students were included with students using the scheduled appointments in counseling satisfaction surveys conducted 1999 to 2004. The primary objectives of this survey were to: 1) to assess the satisfaction level of students with the drop-in résumé critique service offered at TCC Resource Center, 2) to assess outcomes of utilizing this service and 3) to gather student input on scheduling, additional drop-in services and other suggestions to aid future planning. This survey done on the web using Survey Monkey, surveyed students using résumé critique service during the first half of FYI 2004-05.

Procedure

On December 2, 2004, 509 emails were sent to students referring them to the survey URL. An email reminder was sent December 8. Of these, 55 were undeliverable; 129 were returned completed which yielded a return rate of 28.4%. The sample of students covered drop-in dates of July 7 to November 11, 2004. Respondents included 13.2% Freshman, 14.7% Sophomores, 24% Juniors, 35.7% Seniors, 10.1% Grad students and 2.3% other.

Key Findings

Top reasons students came for a résumé critique were: applying for an internship (31.8%), applying for a full time job (30.2%), attending a job fair (22.5%), and applying for an on-campus job (20.9%).

Over half (62.8%) came to TCC only once to get their résumé critiqued. 35.7% came only for the critique and no other times during the semester. 23.3% came one other time and 25.6% reported coming 2-3 additional times.

The quality of interaction between students and résumé critiquers received very high satisfaction ratings. Overall students reported satisfaction with the process of scheduling their résumé critique. 84% thought having their résumé critiqued was a positive experience and 86% said they would return for further résumé assistance.

Over half (62%) of the students reported that they were referred to additional resources. Handouts were the most frequent (52.4%), followed by an additional critique (35.4%) and the résumé workshop (34.1%).

The students reported positive outcomes from having their résumé critiqued. The following outcomes received a high percentage of Yes and Yes, Very Much ratings:

• 76% Changed their résumé
• 75% Were more confident their résumé effectively communicated their qualifications
• 76% Tailored their résumé to a particular objective
• 78% Could determine what was important to include on their résumé
• 76% Could effectively use action words
• 82% Will be able to revise their résumé in the future

Students indicated that the best time to offer résumé critiques was 2-4 pm (63.6%), closely followed by 5-7 pm (55.8%). Early afternoon was the third choice (32.6%).

Students (63%) indicated they were very likely or likely to use an additional cover letter critique service.

Most (34 responses) indicated they leaned about the résumé critique service from fellow students. The web (23 responses) and walking by or into TCC (23) came in second. Ten reported they learned about it from flyers, 10 from TCC workshops and 8 from the DI. Others mentioned 4 or more times included FYI (6), RAs (5), Advisors (5), Externship Program (4), and Quad Day (4).

Students' suggestions for advertising suggested both methods and locations. Nineteen suggested using the DI and 11 suggested the use of email and flyers. In addition 6 suggested posters or signs (a new response different from typical "flyers" response). Four brought up student organizations. Students suggested several creative places at which to advertise: 7 suggested in classes, 5 each suggested libraries, Illini Union, and res halls. Other suggested locations included: departments, MTD buses, TCC window, places that offer or post campus jobs and next to job fair ads. Although the web was a key way students reported they found out, only 4 suggested it as a means of advertising.

When asked what they found most helpful in a résumé critique, several responses revolved around themes of "one to one" and "face to face" interaction, the value of a "second opinion," help to use action words and write better descriptions and help to target a résumé .

Many of the suggested improvements revolved around shortening the wait time to see a critiquer. These included: adding more or having multiple critiquers, having more hours when critiques are offered, or allowing students to select a specific time rather than doing a first come first serve method. Other suggestions included: providing more résumé samples or examples; critiquers with more knowledge of technical, specific and multiple fields, and lengthening critiques.

Demographics

Most (45.7%) of the students using résumé critiques were from the College of LAS. Engineering (17.1%) were the second highest users, followed by ACES (10.1%), and Business (9.3%).

Most were female (63.6%).

Most respondents indicated they were Caucasian (61.2%). Followed by Asian American (13.8%), Latino/a (10.3%), African American (8.6%), International Student (7.8%) and Native American (.9%).

Results of the Counseling Survey

This is the second year The Career Center used Survey Monkey to gather satisfaction ratings of students who have used career counseling services. The first counseling survey utilizing Survey Monkey was Spring 2004. Satisfaction surveys were conducted in 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02 by other means. However, this is the first year that students who had scheduled appointments were surveyed separately from students who had résumé critiques. This survey was sent only to students who had scheduled career counseling appointments. The three primary objectives for all surveys were: 1) to assess the satisfaction level of students with their career counseling experience; 2) to gather feedback on the use and effectiveness of resources available at The Career Center; and 3) to determine how students received information about the Center and how they would like to get information in the future. This year we added a fourth objective: 4) to gather self-reported outcomes of counseling appointments.

Procedure

On April 29, 801 emails were sent to students referring them to the survey URL. Due to a technical problem, the survey was resent May 5, 2005. An email reminder was sent May 9th. Of those sent, 53 were undeliverable; 191 were completed which yielded a return rate of 25.5%. The sample of students covered appointment dates of January 5, 2005 - April 27, 2005. In the spring 22.5% freshmen, 23.6% sophomores, 25.7% juniors, 20.9% seniors and 3.7% graduate students responded to the survey.

Because we kept last year's modifications, students continued to supply information in three general areas. First, students self-reported what topic(s) they discussed with their career counselor. Second, students were asked about the number of appointments they had and the number of times they visited TCC. Third, students were asked to provide demographic information. The 2005 survey was essentially the same as the 2004 survey with the exception of adding four outcome questions. This will allow comparison between the two spring semesters. The question about how they heard about TCC was left off the 2005 survey.

Observations

Overall, the counselors got high satisfaction ratings. The following are based on the percentage of students reporting Yes, Very Much or Yes to the questions.

• 95% thought the counselor paid attention to their questions and concerns
• 90% felt comfortable discussing their concerns with the counselor
• 90% considered their counselor competent and knowledgeable
• 86% thought the information and recommendations they received addressed their concerns
• 88% would recommend the counselor to others

All of these were up from last spring's results.

The use of resources (library, workshops, interest inventories and web-based career resources) to which counselors, referred students were reported as follows:

• Career Resource Center - 64%
• Interest Inventories - 32%
• Workshops - 35%
• Web based resources - 68%

All except workshops, showed an increase in referrals. The career resource center (64%) increased the most from library (55%) in 2004. Of those who used these resources, students gave highest Yes, Very Much and Yes ratings to interest inventories (86.4%) and web-based resources (83.6%) to be the most helpful. Followed by workshops (73.5%) and Career Resources Center (69.6%).

Overall, the scheduling process got high ratings. Based on the percentage of students reporting Yes, Very Much or Yes to the questions.

• 86% of students indicated scheduling was easy and efficient.
• 97% of students indicated reception staff were courteous and helpful

The first item remained the same from last spring. But the second jumped from 85% to 97

Students indicated the following outcomes from their career counseling experience based on the percentage reporting Yes, Very Much or Yes to the question.

• 69% followed through on counselors' referrals and recommendations.
• 65% experienced an increase of confidence and felt better able to manage their career development as a result of talking with a career counselor
• 70% felt more hopeful about their future.
• 74% took positive action related to their career development
• 74% knew what their next step needed to be.
• 82% had a better understanding of resources and how to use them.

Overall, students indicated a positive experience at their appointments

• 89% rated their career counseling experience as positive.
• 94% would return to The Career Center for further assistance.

Thirty eight of the 45 students who responded to how they would want to be informed in the future about TCC events and resources stated email. Some even mentioned specific instructions in regard to theses emails. Other methods mentioned include: web site (3), news letter (1), letter (1), DI ad (1), and campus mail (1).

Over half (58.6%) of the students reported having only one appointment with a career counselor during the spring semester. However, 38% reported visiting TCC 2-3 times during the semester.

Almost twice as many females (66.5%) as males (33.5%) reported seeing a career counselor. Not surprisingly, most of the students (72.3%) were in the college of LAS. Of those who completed the survey, 65.5% self reported as Caucasian, 14.1% as Asian American, 5.6% as Latino/a and 7.9% as African American. Caucasians and African Americans showed a slight increase, while Asian and Latino/a showed a decrease.

Appendix E

Web and Electronic Services

The Career Center is responsible for maintaining two websites: The Career Center and the Career Services Council. Using "Web Trends" software we are able to determine the number of hits, page views, visits, and unique visitors to the websites. During the past year, 98,958 unique individuals visited The Career Center website, an average of 8,246 per month. There were 228,748 visits and over 1.8 million hits

The Career Services Council website had similar activity. There were 99,978 unique visitors with 25,363 visits. Total hits were 4.3 million. The site is used by students and employers to access the many career services offices on campus.

Career Search

Career Search is a database of over 1.5 million potential employers in the United States. Career services offices at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Chicago and Springfield, and the Alumni Career Center in Chicago collaborate to participate in the web-based program. Together the three campuses and the Alumni Career Center share the cost and purchase 15 "seats." In its third year, Career Search adjusted its program and usage declined somewhat. It is hoped that better marketing and training will increase usage next year. In 2004-2005, 11,069 searches were conducted by Illinois constituents. The Career Center had 2,529 clients conduct searches with 257,767 sets of company information.

Month	Total searches in Illinois' system		Company contacts printed in Illinois' system		The Career Center's searches		Company contacts printed by The Career Center
	2004-05	2003-04	2004-05	2003-04	2004-05	2003-04	2004-05	2003-04
Jul	795	1,150	85,361	119,791	109	250	7,225	26,046
Aug	703	676	61,861	53,446	115	178	13,622	9,517
Sep	813	1,091	78,905	123,504	171	157	30,436	14,844
Oct	635	1,459	68,559	168,174	105	188	6,574	18,294
Nov	453	1,028	78,587	148,450	50	160	28,765	17,219
Dec	412	780	77,786	44,634	57	115	5,657	7,984
Jan	492	1,380	110,260	110,650	125	223	25,893	24,926
Feb	523	1,622	74,463	136,298	158	332	23,326	36,635
Mar	493	1,491	104,683	120,301	152	297	25,896	36,675
Apr	1,295	1,474	165,565	99,404	377	210	30,145	27,042
May	1,681	1,495	107,048	115,800	417	203	25,268	18,577
Jun	2,774	1,503	156,905	97,622	693	191	34,960	15,388
Total	11,069	15,149	1,169,983	1,338,074	2,529	2,504	257,767	253,147

Letters of Evaluation Online (LEO)

Letters of Evaluation Online (LEO) continues to receive national recognition as a user-friendly and technologically advanced system. The number of students that opened folders for health schools increased slightly from the previous year (369 to 373), and the number of folders opened for graduate schools increased (177 to 183). The number of folders duplicated and distributed increased considerably (from 2,263 to 2,628). This significant increase in activity may be attributed to a new policy at Northwestern University Medical School. Northwestern now offers automatic secondaries to all those who apply whereas in the past only invited candidates were offered secondaries. Many schools are beginning to move to automatic secondaries for the fall 2005. As the applicant pool increases each year in all professions, we also see a stronger interest in students applying to dentistry.

Letters of Evaluation (LEO) Activity

	2004-05	2003-04	2002-03
Student folders opened
for graduate school	183	177	215
for health school	373	369	311
Totals	556	546	526
Folders duplicated/distributed
for graduate school application	431	471	551
for health school application	2,197	1,792	1,647
Totals	2,628	2,263	2,198

Letters of Recommendation for Students Received

	2004-05	2003-04	2002-03
Written by:
Science faculty	783	732	597
Non-Science faculty	615	609	629
T.A. with science faculty	102	65	81
T.A. with non-science faculty	80	71	58
Science T.A.	12	13	7
Non-science T.A.	26	11	19
Academic Advisor	54	42	54
Student Affairs professional	44	29	24
Employer	166	178	186
Other	305	217	210
Totals	2,187	1967	1865
Written on:
Recommendation form only	82	88	103
Letterhead only	52	20	46
Form and letter attached	2,064	1,893	1,716
Totals	2,198	2,001	1,865

Electronic Newsletters

Electronic newsletter circulation is another important service of The Career Center, especially in providing timely information to key constituents. The Health Careers Weekly is our most popular newsletter and is filled each week with significant information and key dates for the pre-health school students. It had 1,851 subscribers and with 24 issues advised nearly 44,424 times this year. The TCC Freshmen Press included 3,120 subscribers, 7 issues, and reached participants 21,840 times. In addition, I-Connect sent 172, 957 emails to candidates registered on the system (about employment opportunities or career fair information) and 2,420 emails to employers on the system.

The Career Center's Electronic Newsletter "circulation"

Electronic Newsletter	Issues	Subscribers	Reach
Health Careers Weekly	24	1,851	44,424
TCC Freshman Press	7	3,120	21,840
Totals 2004-2005	31	4,971	46,247

I-Connect Communication with Students and Employers (number of e-mails)

	Fall 2004	Spring 2005	Total
Student	14,012	158,945	172,957
Employer	916	1,504	2,420
Total	14,928	160,449	175,377

I-Connect - Recruiting System

During the first year of I-Connect, our on-line job posting/recruiting system, 1,631 students registered compared to 575 last year, and 251 employers participated. The total number of jobs posted was 583 (178 last year) and internship listings numbered 96 (none last year). There were 569 total interviews recorded with I-Connect.

I-Connect (on-line recruiting system)

	2004-05	2003-04
Students Registered	1,631	575
Employer Participants	251	208
Interview Schedules	67	13
Number of Interviews	569	220
Total Number of Jobs	583	178
Total Number of Internships	96	*
Employer logins	1,597	1,356

Students using I-Connect by Classification for 2004-2005

Freshman	63
Sophomores	122
Juniors	416
Seniors	559
Graduates	120
Alumni	168
No classification listed	183
Total	1,631

Actuarial Science Conference 2005 (used I-Connect)

Number of students	128
Companies Attended	25
Number of Schedules	41
Number of Interviews	539

Résumé Book Participation by Students - 2004-05

Actuarial Sciences—Full-time	65
Actuarial Sciences—Internship	101
Communications/Advertising/Public Relations	145
Computer/Information Technology	50
Environmental/Research/Science	58
Financial Services	152
Government/Public Services	123
Graphic Arts/Design	26
Hotel/Restaurant	64
Human Resources	132
Law Enforcement	26
Management	151
Not-for-Profit/Social Science	94
Sales/Marketing	162
Internship--General	178
Internship—Business	148
Internship—Government/Public Service	105
Internship—Not-for-Profit	80
Total résumés	1,860
Total # of Students Posting résumés	710

Appendix F

Counselor on Call Program

This year marked the first year of the expanded version of the Counselor on Call program. The expanded version included the use of graduate students for most of the hours of COC coverage and the expansion of coverage to 30 hours (10 am -4 pm) per week. The focus of the program was to provide all students entering the Career Resource Center with prompt, concise, accurate information. This was to be done while providing a warm and friendly environment. Through these efforts the front desk is freed up to provide better service to students and their needs. Counselors find that students are better utilizing the 45 minutes of their appointments than in the past.

Highlights of the 2004-2005 COC Program

• 2,205 students were seen in COC, 1708 (343%) more than last year.
• Topics most often asked about were résumés and cover letters (360), followed by occupations (222) and internships (216).
• Overall response from the Graduate students who served as Counselors on Call were very positive in terms of the program meeting its goal of serving students' needs.

Recommendation for the 2005-2006 COC Program

• Take steps to improve the training over the course of the academic year.
• Identify down times and make better use of COC time during those periods.

Walk-in Résumé Critiques in The Career Center and in satellite locations

Part of the duties of graduate assistants this year was to help cover the Walk-In résumé Critique service in the Career Resource Center. The graduate students conducted 777 résumé critiques out of the 1219 completed this year. Outreach Team members conducted 342 résumé critiques in the undergraduate library and at the career corners (DRES, African-American Cultural Center, La Casa, and OMSA East). An on-line satisfaction survey was conducted in the fall regarding résumé critiques in the Career Center and results were positive; results may be found in Appendix D.

Highlights of the 2004-2005 R résumé Critique Program

• 1,219 résumé critiques were done in The Career Center this year compared to 854 last year.
• 342 résumé critiques were conducted off-site compared to 298 last year.

Recommendations for the 2005-2006 Walk-In Résumé Critique Program

• Walk-in cover letter critiques will be an added component this next year.

Outreach Team

Outreach Team members conducted 139 presentations during the year with 2,581 attendees. There were presentations held at The Career Center and in outreach locations as well as programs with First Year Impact and Learning Communities classes. Greater attendance was found in the outreach sites. The most popular program was Winning Résumés presentations with Successful Interviewing in second place.

Special additions to the Outreach Team program included utilization of a laptop/LCD projector for PowerPoint presentations, updating of several of the presentations with new materials, icebreakers, and more interactive exercises, reminder and thank you emails to presentation attendees, and use of post-presentation evaluations for presenters.

The Outreach Team program used several new methods for recruiting members and received 102 applications in the spring. An information session was held for 43 students selected for interviews. Interviews resulted in 20 new Outreach Team members being selected to join 6 returning team members. The program has become highly selective and attracts quality student leaders.

Mock Interview Program

The Mock Interview Program in its 10th year is open to any student on campus and seeks to help students improve their interviewing skills by participating in a videotaped mock interview with trained interviewers from the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations. Individuals seeking full-time, part-time, summer or intern positions benefited from this program as well as students preparing for graduate or medical school interviews. This year 436 students (271/job, 144/medical, 21/ graduate) utilized the program. This was an increase of 42 over the previous year.

Highlights of the 2004-2005 Mock Interview Program

• Phone mock interviews were added to our list of services.
• A representative of the Graduate College Career Services Office attended the fall volunteer training.

Recommendations for 2005-2006 Mock Interview Program

• Work with the GA to change the forms and training to incorporate the changes brought by "Schedule Q".

University of Illinois Externship Program

This year was the eleventh year of the University of Illinois Externship Program that offers an opportunity to bring together University of Illinois alumni, from various career fields, with UIUC students in the workplace. This year 50 students were selected to gain insight and experience in their field of interest and to offer sponsors a chance to guide future professionals through a job-shadowing experience. Students go through an application/interview process in the fall and then shadow their sponsors during spring break.

Highlights of the 2004-2005 Externship Program

• Forty-nine students gained career contacts and exposure in such varying fields as accounting, law, banking, advertising, newspaper publishing, television, medicine, publishing, consulting, politics, public service, athletics, technology, architecture and more.
• A mentoring program was initiated utilizing past externs to assist new externs in contacting their sponsors and preparing for a successful externship.
• Began an annual process of updating forms to gather better information to evaluate students and pick better externs to represent UIUC.
• Results of the on-line survey indicated that 89% of the students and 75% of the sponsors felt that the overall success of the program was "Very Good to Excellent." It also showed that 97% of the students and 89% of the sponsors felt the program's overall success was "Very Good to Good."

Recommendations for the 2005-2006 Externship Program

• Continue the process of improving evaluation forms (application, interview, evaluation of experience by student/sponsor/mentor) to create a better overall program.
• Continue to find ways to utilize former externs to help new externs and reduce load on Extern Coordinators.
• Explore ways to increase funding so that more Externs can be accepted into the program.

Guide to Choosing Majors and Careers, Finding a Major that Fits, and Moving from Major to Career

Guide to Choosing Majors and Careers was presented 9 times in Fall 2004 and had a total of 83 students who attended. Freshman were the predominant participants representing over half (55%) of all participants. General Curriculum was the most represented major (62.6%). Participants were predominantly female (60%).

In the spring Guide to Choosing Majors and Careers was replaced by two new workshops - Finding a Major that Fits and Moving from Major to Career. In its first semester Finding a Major that Fits was very popular and successful. It was offered six times in-house during the semester and one time at Weston. Twenty-six attended the first workshop; over the semester, 111 students attended in-house workshops, 4 attended the Weston workshop for a total of 115 students attending this new workshop. 94.5% of participants of in-house workshops were freshmen and sophomores - our target audience! Forty five (40.5%) indicated they learned about this workshop from academic advisors. Moving from Major to Career had fewer participants. A total of 21 students attended the four workshops held this semester. The participants spanned all four years of undergraduates as well as one graduate student attended. For both of these workshops, the on-line registration has worked very well and both received very good evaluations from participants.

Highlights:

• Developed two one-hour workshops to replace the two-hour Guide to Choosing Majors & Careers.
• High attendance and good evaluations of the new workshop, Finding a Major that Fits
• On-line registration working well

Recommendations:

• Find ways to increase attendance of Moving from Major to Career. Watch attendance and evaluate the future of this workshop.

Graduate School and Health Professions School Fair

This year 135 programs registered to attend the Health and Graduate School Fairs (64 programs on Health School Day and 71 programs on Graduate School Day) held on October 27 and 28, 2004. Each program paid $100 per table per day with a $10 late fee for payments received after the event. Four programs failed to show on Graduate School Day, bringing the total attendance to 131. Invitations were sent to 659 health and graduate school programs around the country in early August. The invitations directed representatives to the website for the Health and Graduate School Fair where they could register online for the event. The website for the fair also included directions and links to maps, a link to the list of hotels at the Champaign County Visitors Bureau, and contact information.

Approximately 1,312 students attended the event over the two day period (756 on Health School Day and 556 on Graduate School Day), and over 40 students volunteered to assist in running the event. Overall the event was the most successful Health and Graduate School Fair in recent years. Attendance increased by nearly 300 people for Health Day and stayed relatively the same on graduate school day. The increase in attendance is likely due both to the increased advertising efforts and to the decision to change the day of the fair.

Feedback from representatives was outstanding. Suggestions included shortening the fair to 3-4 hours, providing information on how we advertised in their packets, and talking with the Union about temperature control (it was too cold). Overall the representatives agreed that the fair was well-organized, very well-attended, and that The Career Center's staff and student volunteers were professional, courteous and helpful. Student feedback was positive. Students continue to suggest that we have more schools from outside of Illinois, more "top tier" schools, and more schools in specific disciplines. There is still a small population of students that come the wrong day (i.e. a pre-PT student came on graduate school day) and ask that we better publicize which day schools will be there. Positive comments included everything from "very good" to "well-organized" to "way cool", the most descriptive positive comment was, "This was very helpful [and] informative and I now know where I want to take my future. I found a great opportunity especially for me!"

Non-Profit and Government Career Fair

The 8th Annual Non-Profit and Government Career Fair was held on Monday, March 14th, 2005 in rooms A, B, and C in the Illini Union. The purpose of this fair is to allow students of all majors and levels to become aware of the variety of organizations, positions (full-time, part-time, internships, summer job and volunteer positions) and career paths that are available with non-profit and government agencies and organizations. The 50 agencies/organizations that attended this event (53 registered) had the opportunity to meet with 639 students.

Highlights of the 2005 Non-Profit and Government Career Fair:

• Increase of almost 20 agencies over the previous year.
• New marketing techniques and new on-line registration helped to reduce costs for an almost break even event.
• Created a web site for the career fair that was used by both agencies and students.
• Two workshops were co-sponsored (one about careers in non-profits and the other related to government careers) with the Graduate College Career Services Office before the Fair.
• Survey results of the fair revealed that 50% of the students (60 students replied) and over 60% of the agencies indicated that the fair met their expectations.

Recommendations for 2006 Fair

• Increase number of agencies on email list to reduce marketing and registration costs.
• Survey universities about the possibility of adding graduate schools (non-profit certification, non-profit management, public policy) to attend event.
• Analyze the results of the survey with special focus on meeting expectations of participants.

Allerton Big10/11 PLUS Career Services Conference

The 26th annual meeting of Big Ten schools (and other universities with similar missions) was held on June 2nd and 3rd at Allerton Park in Monticello. This program provides career service professionals with the opportunity to benchmark, share ideas, and begin planning for the next academic year. Almost 75 professionals from 14 schools participated in this year's conference. While UIUC hosted and planned this year's conference, next year's conference will be held at Michigan State University.

Highlights of the 2005 Allerton Conference

• Results of the on-line survey revealed that 74% found the format to be "Very Appropriate" and 94% found it to be "Suitably Appropriate to Very Appropriate." It also showed that 62.5% found the content of the discussion sessions "Met Most Expectations" while 89.6% found the content to "Exceed or Meet Most Expectations."
• Greg Hatch was the 7th recipient of the Dave Bechtel Career Educator of the Year Award.

Recommendations for Allerton Conference

• The 2006 Allerton Conference will be held on the campus of Michigan State University. TCC staff has already begun to work with MSU personnel.
• There are some issues related to the on-line registration that need to be dealt with before the 2007 Allerton Conference.

Robert P. Larsen Career Development Research Grant

This is the third year that TCC has awarded Robert P. Larsen Career Development Research Grants. This year's recipients were: Hsin-Ya Liao, Xuhua Qin and Gregory Hoffeditz. Hsin-Ya Liao, graduate student in the Department of Educational Psychology, was awarded $1,000 to work on developing a set of public-domain basic interest scales that will be available to researchers to develop new models and assessment strategies. Xuhua Qin, a current graduate student in the Department of Educational Psychology, was awarded $705 to explore family influence on Asian-Americans' career choices by examining intergenerational conflict and acculturation as moderators of interest and career choice. Gregory Hoffeditz, a graduate student in the Department of Human Resources Education, was awarded $500 to explore the relationship between individual characteristics and mental preparedness for career transition in military retirement.

Highlights

• The advertising and awarding process is becoming standardized and feeling more comfortable.
• This grant is becoming a way to strengthen ties with Educational Psychology.

Residence Hall and First-Year Student Outreach

This past year a formal proposal was prepared to increase collaboration between The Career Center and University Residence Housing (URH). In recent years The Career Center has had a formal relationship with Weston Exploration Hall due to the hall's theme of self- and career-exploration. TCC staff provided one-on-one counseling for Weston residents, as well as coordinated workshops that focused on choosing a major, searching for internships, and information about the resources available at The Career Center. The proposal was precipitated by the fact that approximately 85% of UIUC first-year students reside in the residence halls. In the fall, Kaletra Dispennett met with Area Coordinators to discuss an overview of the proposal and to receive their feedback as to how this relationship could be most positive. Action steps were determined and prioritized. Two activities were implemented: creating and providing bulletin boards for each of the Resident Advisors and conducting "Late Night Games" in each of the Late Night locations. Both were well received by students and the housing staff. Late Nights are held in lounges within four of the residence halls and serve after-dinner snacks to residents of the halls. Using a game wheel with descriptions of giveaway prizes (with TCC logo), trivia questions were asked of participating students and when the question was answered correctly, the student won a chance to spin the prize wheel and receive a prize. The game was an interactive and fun way for students to learn about The Career Center and a great opportunity for staff to be present in the residence halls. Continuation of the programs is highly recommended.

Other first-year student outreach efforts conducted during the academic year were:

• Met with First-Year Impact and ED PSYCH 220 classes
• Spoke to LAS Learning Community classes

Efforts will be extended during 2005-06 to develop stronger relationships with URH staff and students by sharing more information and visiting the facilities of each office, and to establish procedures for URH staff to request Career Center programs.

Health Careers Services and Programs

Interest in pursuing a health career by students from the University of Illinois continues to grow, no different than what is heard from our colleagues at other institutions. In order to be informed, as well being the informant, health professions advisors strive to attend national and regional meetings, serve on committees, visit schools, host guests, and provide outreach to our students.

The annual Optometry Dean's Night was attended by three Optometry Admissions Deans and 18 students. Using a new panel format, similar to Pharmacy School Information Night, the program took the focus off of individual schools and directed it more towards preparation in general. The event was held at The Career Center both to save money and to showcase our space. Interest in optometry seems to be waning slightly in recent years, as the popularity of pharmacy continues to remain high. The Associate Director for Student Affairs at UI College of Pharmacy visited TCC seven times and saw an average of 25 (range 12-48) students per visit. The Pharmacy School Information Night included representatives from SIU, Purdue, and Midwestern University and was attended by 44 students. Dental School Information night was held in October with 32 attendees and the Illinois Dental Deans meeting included 38 participants. Two trips were taken to Dental Schools, one in the fall to UIC College of Dentistry and one in the spring to SIU Dental School. Finally, TCC hosted the UIC Rural Medicine program in the spring, specifically targeting UIUC students who are good candidates for this specialized program.

The largest event for TCC staff was the biennial Illinois Medical Deans Meeting hosting 8 admission officers, 8 medical students and 450 students attending from over 20 local undergraduate institutions. Working with Pamela Meadows, Northwestern University, TCC staff arranged for rooms and set up in the Illini Union, speakers, luncheon requests, and reservations. Karen Paulsen served as the "official host," opening the seminar and days activities, and moderating the medical students' panel. The Medical Deans meeting will return to UIUC in fall 2007.

The Central Association of Advisors for the Health Professions meeting was held in Indianapolis this year. The CAAHP/NAAHP continues to be the number one resource for health professions advisors. The organizations have nurtured strong relationships with admissions directors and the national associations of health professional schools (i.e. Association of American Medical Colleges, etc). The information presented at these conferences is invaluable to successful health professions advising. This year Keri Pipkins served on the planning committee for the CAAHP Conference and presented a program twice. Karen Paulsen conducted an orientation for new advisors at the CAAHP conference.

Karen Paulsen serves on The UIC College of Medicine Committee on Admissions, giving her an "up close" view of the application, screening and interviewing process for the College. In particular, she serves on the Screeners Committee so twice monthly she reviews 10-20 applicant packets to be screened for invitation to interview. She also served on the Interview team which interviewed twice, once in the fall and again in the spring.

Finally, Keri Pipkins worked closely this year with the Minority Association for Pre-Health Students and invited the group to the Career Resource Center for a talk on TCC Resources and preparation for health programs. She also presented to the Pre-Pharmacy Club, Pre-PAC (Physician Assistant Club-also inviting the group to TCC), and three classes in the College of ALS (Kinesiology and Community Health/Speech and Hearing Science). Keri presented six Anatomy of a Successful Pre-health Student workshops, which have been well-received by students and staff. She and Karen also presented Health Updates sessions for Staff Development.

Marketing and Publicity

This year was our first effort in trying to implement a more focused marketing effort based on results of data gathering and planning from last year. Three primary marketing goals were established:

• Create a more consistent image or brand identity
• Raise awareness of our facility and services throughout the campus community (primarily focusing on freshman and parents)
• Utilize more underused and creative marketing outlets

Consistency was the keyword when it came to TCC marketing efforts this year. Our logo was developed with a consistent color and design for our publications and website. A regular presence was established in the DI with weekly and monthly event ads. Brochures will be converted to a more consistent template. Promotional flyers are designed with a consistent design. New professional staff polo shirts as well as new Outreach Team t-shirts were created. Great strides have been made towards "cleaning-up" a previously inconsistent image.

As a result of this increased consistency and more targeted efforts, our presence among the campus community has increased. Our numbers as far as traffic and counseling have increased. Workshop attendance can be improved and will be addressed in the upcoming year.

Different marketing efforts used this year included:

• Sandwich display boards on Wright Street
• Bus advertising
• Presence in residence halls at "late night break" option
• Incorporating Prize Wheel in appearances at campus events
• Purchased new promotional items such as info magnets, key chains, and Frisbees.
• Created our own listserves to announce events to targeted campus groups
• Used the I-Connect database to promote events
• Advertised on university calendar placed in all of the residence hall rooms
• Posted announcements on Residence Hall television channel
• Did bright, full color posters (designed in-house) in order to stand out on bulletin boards
• Created "bulletin board in a bag" to be distributed to resident advisors

One of our goals this year was to eliminate the amount of wasted flyers left at the end of the year. At the end of 2003-04 roughly 30,000 wasted flyers were available. This year the amount of flyers left is roughly 4,000, a significant decrease. We also coordinated the printing of our own "Calendar of Events" brochure in house on the new color copier allowing us to print only what was needed and in a much timelier manner. Total cost for printing this year was $7648.82, a significant decrease from previous years.

Recommendations

• More focused marketing efforts, continue the process of developing consistency and raising awareness.
• Focus marketing efforts next year on workshops to increase attendance at workshops.
• Complete a new informational brochure about The Career Center to serve as the centerpiece of TCC brochures and serve as a general promotional tool for TCC services and facilities.
• Continue and enhance our outreach to the residence halls for promoting our events.
• Utilize Outreach Team more in the promotion of our facilities and services; they provide a unique connection to a number of campus groups allowing us to promote in a broad manner.

Staff Development

This year staff development offered a wide array of topics and programs. There were 7 staff development programs each semester.

Fall 2004

• 09-16-04 Health updates (Karen Paulsen)
• 09-20-04 Health updates (Keri Pipkins)
• 10-11-04 Building a Customer Service Environment (Sue Stewart. T4B)
• 10-25-04 Career Seeking Culture: Use Library Resources (Lisa Redlinski)
• 11-08-04 Out of the Closet: Into the Workplace (Jane Reid, Curt McKay & Anita Hund)
• 12-01-04 "Applying Counseling Psychology and Career Coaching to Liberal Arts Students" (NACE virtual seminar presented by Kate S. Brooks)
• 12-14-04 "Developing and Maintaining Effective Relationships with Faculty to Market and Deliver Career Services" (NACE Virtual Seminar presented by Jeff Nardo).

Spring 2005

• 01-19-05 "Tough Market, Fragile Egos" (NACE Virtual Seminar presented by Jacquelyn Gist)
• 01-28-05 Summit II - Discovering the Hidden Curriculum. Keynote: Julian Parrott and Margaret Schrock. Sessions by: Brandon Butte, Kaletra Dispennett, Margaret Schrock,Julian Parrott, and Matthew Tomaszewski
• 02-14-05 "Interpreting the MBTI" (Lydia Buki, Counseling Psychology Faculty)
• 04-11-05 "Beyond Academic Accommodations, Identifying and Supporting the Career Development Needs of Students with Disabilities" Internship Panel (4 DRES students) co-sponsored with DRES.
• 04-20-05 "Motorola and The Accommodation Process for Employees with Disabilities" (Kevin Foster, Senior HR Manager, Motorola; Rena Taylor-Reedy and Steve Slesnick, HR Motorola).
• 05-02-05 "The Newly Revised Strong" and "Using the MBTI and Strong for Career Counseling" (Kerri Kearney, Character of Excellence)

Highlights:

• This spring "Summit II: The Hidden Curriculum" was a highlight as Margaret Schrock and Julian Parrott were the keynote speakers. The Summit strengthened the cooperative ties between TCC and academic advisors, and set the stage for future collaborations.
• The day and a half "train the trainer" with Kerri Kearney presenting on the Newly Revised Strong and Using the Strong and MBTI in Career Counseling
• Sponsoring NACE virtual seminars provided a great way to invite other offices and helped to forge relationships among the offices and communication for future collaborations

Recommendations:

• Continue NACE virtual seminars, but chose well and wisely

The Career Center Advisory Committee

The Career Center Advisory Committee continued to be a valuable part of The Career Center's operations and development of goals. The number of students on the committee was increased from 8 to 10. The purpose of the committee is to review and evaluate the services of The Career Center and to enhance student awareness of the programs, services, and activities of the Center. The committee also assists in making recommendations for the annual operating budget and presentation to the Service Fee Advisory Committee (SFAC). The Career Center Advisory Committee met 8 times during 2004-05. Once again the noontime/lunch meetings seemed to work out best for members and attendance remained high for the year. Several students and staff returned from the previous year. New students and staff members were offered an opportunity prior to the first meeting to view the TCC video, the mission of The Career Center, and previous goals and accomplishments of TCC as an orientation to the Center. "Perceptions of TCC" was discussed along with what was viewed as strengths and weaknesses of the Center. TCC staff members were invited throughout the year to discuss special projects that The Career Center was working on such as the marketing plan, new website design for TCC, the electronic calendar (Schedule Q), Career Resource Center reconfiguration, University 101/EPICS developments, Internship/Externship Education initiatives, Alumni Relations, a possible paraprofessional program, and TCC outcomes and priorities. Advisory Committee members were instrumental in compiling the A,B,C's (Affective, Behavioral, and Cognitive Outcomes) for TCC that correlated with outcomes discussed in staff retreats.

Career Services Council

It was another good year for the CSC as members discussed a variety of collaboration efforts. Collectively and individually, the Council members offer services and programs that serve the general university community. The CSC also develops and reviews policies and procedures for students and employers within the boundaries of the university community. Nell Madigan from the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations served as Chairperson and provided excellent leadership. The CSC discussed, developed, and researched the idea of implementing a marketing plan for the Council and career services across campus. A sub-committee of Directors met several times with representatives from the Office of Public Affairs to brainstorm and develop a career services marketing plan. Options and suggestions were put before the Council members but more discussion and fine-tuning is necessary before a common marketing plan will be developed for UIUC career services. The Council discussed the pros and cons and feasibility of doing a campus-wide Career Fair; co-sponsoring a monthly calendar of events in the Daily Illini; agreed to host a campus-wide event with a guest speaker; and organized two Job Search Fairs for students that were graduating (December and May) and may not have sought help from career services offices prior to graduating.

Guest speakers during the year included Anthony Mendes, Executive Director from the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership Development describing the new program at the University of Illinois; Kathy Sweedler from the University of Illinois Extension office speaking about a program for students called Plan Well, Retire Well; an Employer Panel to answer questions and offer suggestions for UIUC students as they seek employment; and Alumni Association representatives with updated information to help students network with alums for internships and full-time employment. Rich Feller from Colorado State University presented two workshops-one for CSC members/faculty/staff, and one for students. Many of the CSC offices contributed to the cost of this event. The topic presented by Dr. Feller was Knowledge Nomads and the Nervously Employed; Workplace Change and Courageous Choices. Students were given an interactive presentation on What Are Your Colors? - an opportunity to discover more about themselves and how their personality type affects how they interact with others.

For the first time an employer hosted the annual CSC field trip rather than a university. Anheuser Busch in St. Louis acted as our host for the annual trip. Over 35 members signed up for the bus trip to visit an employer that recruits from numerous offices on campus. Anheuser Busch shared what they look for when they come to campus to recruit our students and they also asked how they can be more "efficient" when they come to our campus to recruit. One CSC meeting was held at the Siebel Center and the members were given a tour of the building after the meeting. Other meetings were held in the new office spaces for Educational Career Services and Engineering Career Services. An EPICS demo was introduced to members at one meeting because other career services offices will be involved in the very near future as the program is developed further. The Allerton Conference was hosted AND planned by UIUC this year. Members from the CSC served on the planning committee. The Career Services Council (CSC) is a collaborative effort of all career services offices on the Urbana-Champaign campus.

715 S. Wright St., Champaign, IL, 61820   Hours: 8:30-5:00 M-F   Phone: (217) 333-0820 We are one of over twenty Career Services offices on campus.