https://learn.joinhandshake.com/career-centers/reflections-on-unprecedented-fall/?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTURneFl6TTBPRGd3T0RFMCIsInQiOiJ1K0xxOUY4R0Z0eUd0RFhXMnJIOTE3Y0M5ZzZVTmxjWUg4bGV5WUFjNjVBeXo1THBqeTFSNytLTzhmTlJqNjhhZ0RhdGhvRXUxeVVlYWJ3RTBLUE1ibm1nbGFtbkVkbUpIODlcL1FnUGNJZ0pPYXZHcFFxSUNCbWt2V3RyTWY1THIifQ%3D%3D
By Christine Y Cruzvergara
It’s now a cliche to remark on the unprecedented nature of this time—a global pandemic, bleak economic fallout, and a long-overdue racial reckoning have forced those in higher education to reconsider almost all predictions, processes, and practices of previous years.
As I discussed in a fireside chat with Angel Pérez, the CEO of NACAC, this is the first year enrollment is a complete unknown—students are weighing options for whether and where to attend college up until the first day of class. Campuses with plans to open have had to close within weeks. What seems like a year of unknowns in fact has a few notable guarantees: the financial impact felt by most institutions will in turn be felt by career educators. Virtual engagement will be the norm. And students will be facing one of the most depressed, daunting job markets in almost a century.
In late July, Handshake surveyed 574 of our higher education partners to find out how their institutions were coping with the changes brought by COVID-19. You can read our full findings here.
In our survey we focused on these themes:
When I saw the results of the report, there were some unsurprising findings (budgets are being cut and schools are being asked to do more with less), but also a few opportunities, especially when it comes to how career services teams are assessing their own value.
Unsurprisingly, our survey found that career center budgets and operations have experienced a significant hit based on real or anticipated enrollment declines due to COVID-19.
It’s clear that the budget reductions affecting the majority of our partners are leading many to think about how to become more effective and efficient with their time and resources. 41% of career centers surveyed are considering how technology might help with efficiency or scale in light of these cuts.
At the same time, however, we are finding that some individual career center staff are frustrated with the natural constraints of virtual engagement, especially as it changes the nature of tasks they used to perform: what does work look like when a career fair is virtual? How can time be used more effectively now that your students (and potentially your team) are remote? How can we best promote our services without a campus presence?
These are important questions to consider. Those of you who’ve known me since before my time at Handshake know that I often spoke about the possibilities of what could be created if we came together as one team. Now is not the time to try and replicate previous in-person processes—instead, it’s a chance to reimagine the ways we help our students discover and connect to opportunity.