As institutions attempt to distinguish themselves from competitors, university marketers and recruiters seek additional means of highlighting institutional strengths. One of the previously overlooked, yet easily highlightable, assets is post-graduation career placement. As we've mentioned in the past on this blog, we strongly encourage our clients and colleagues to highlight post-graduation employment. Students and especially parents are increasingly interested in learning about how your graduates fare in the job market. Though international students have a unique set of circumstances regarding post-graduation employment, understanding the career prospects of graduates is frequently listed as an important factor for higher education selection.
On March 17, 2014, the Wall Street Journal featured an article by Melissa Korn titled "Push to Prove Career Success Test Colleges." The article analyzes the ways in which universities report alumni employment. According to Ms. Korn's article, "...with student-loan debt outstanding hitting a record $1.1 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve bank of New York, the issue of quantifying graduate success has become increasingly important as colleges come under pressure to prove the education they provide is worth the investment." International students are just as interested in learning that their educational investment will be worthwhile.
While debate will continue over how the statistics are gathered and reported, those in university marketing and recruitment should pay careful attention to the increased public interest in these statistics. We see this as a great opportunity for highlighting institutional success and an impetus to making positive changes in career preparation.
We've heard from institutional colleagues their frustration with international students' fixation over rankings, particularly the US News and World Report ranking. We would encourage those institutions to highlight career preparedness, alumni success stories and employment statistics through marketing materials. As the Wall Street Journal article notes, parents and students are becoming savvier when it comes to researching employability. Students and parents want to ensure that they are getting the most bang for their buck in terms of tuition dollars vis a vis salary and employability.
Creating a stronger interface between admissions, international student services and the career center is a good first step. We think that the career center needs to become more actively involved with international students, in general. Furthermore the career center's strengths should be highlighted in international student recruitment marketing materials.
How as your institution connecting career services with admissions and marketing? In what ways has your institution responded to international inquiries about post-graduation opportunities? What is your institution doing to assist international students with career placement? Let us know. We'd love to hear from you.
