Career Center Annual Report 2016-2017

Submitted by Crisanne Kadamus Blackie, Director June 9, 2017

Section I Executive Summary

Section II Career Center Overview and Key Program Areas

Section II Points of Pride

Section III Goals for 2016-2017

Section IV Engineering Job Fair and Career Fair reports

we could help them or that one of our counseling staff helped them to explore a new major, find an

internship that changed their path or helped them to find a full-time position or graduate program that

launched their career. It is our pleasure to work with our students as they prepare for their future. This year

we hired and trained 2 new staff members and are now at full staff capacity. In addition, we developed a

plan to provide support services to University of Maine at Machias through the utilization of CareerLink,

our online job listing service, our website resources and staff consultation. In summary, the Career Center

staff:

• Met with 5,927 students through one-on-one appointments, walk-ins and presentations.

• Had 126,306 unique hits on our website, a 7% increase, 6,972 followers on social media a 59%

• Assisted health professions and pre-law students in their pursuit of professional school.

• Focused on Career Ready competencies and linked these to the Engaged Black Bear digital badging

initiative.

• Piloted “Careers in Accounting” workshop format as a way to teach networking skills to students

and help them to interface effectively with employers. Eight accounting firms and 80 students

participated.

• Encouraged students to utilize the Career and Engineering Job Fairs to explore internship

opportunities; 62% of companies who participated had internships opportunities.

Career Center Overview

Events

This year we hosted the largest Engineering Job Fair in our history with 114 employers coming to campus, a

15 % increase from the previous year and an 470% increase since our first Engineering Job Fair in 1993.

This event has become a signature partnership between the College of Engineering and the Career Center.

The all majors Career Fair also was the largest in history with 167 employers participating. This was an

increase of 20 employers from last year. In addition, we hosted 38 information sessions and 508 students

dress well, present themselves professionally and are prepared to meet with the employers. We partner with

many faculty members to make this happen. They generously allow us to come into their classrooms to

work with students and are happy to encourage students to attend Career Center events. This is a true

partnership with everyone working towards the common goal of helping students.

New this year was CareerFest. This jump start program took place in September on the Mall. A “big top”

atmosphere was chosen to energize over 350 students around their career goals. The message that it is never

too early to start planning and looking towards the future was felt through this carnival like atmosphere.

Several employers were available to review resumes, answer questions about interviews and provide general

advice to students. In addition, students were able to attend mini workshops on career related topics and

the program is that partnering with Maine based companies to create paid internships for students will result

in a prepared workforce. We know statistically that students who have a paid internship as an

undergraduate will be more likely to be offered a full- time position after graduation and have a higher

starting salary. Paid internships are a win-win for both the employer and student.

Chelsea Castanguay, Career Counselor, Kate Axelsen Foster, Assistant Director for Employer Relations

along with Rene Kelley, Assistant Vice President for Innovation and Economic Development, and Claire

Sullivan, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Community Engagement, developed and launched the

program this year with 19 student participants and 17 companies. Students who are interested in being a

Flagship Intern, must apply to the program and be connected with a Flagship Employer. They participated

in a 3-day preparation “bootcamp” where they met with employers, learned workplace expectations, and

In addition, more internship opportunities have been available to our students. At the Career Fair and

Engineering Job Fair, 62% of the companies who participated were offering internships. Our recent survey

to graduating seniors indicated that 52% of survey respondents had at least one internship. Of this group

75% indicated that their internship was paid and 40% indicated that they had received academic credit for

the internship.

Maine Mentor Program

This was another strong year for the Maine Mentor Program. We collaborated with Terry Porter, Assistant

Profession of Management, to coordinate mentor guest speakers in two of her classes. The mentors were

happy to come back to campus and the students learned practical information from their class appearances.

New this year is the recruitment of mentors who are military veterans. These mentors are designated in the

database so that student veterans will be able to partner with them. We recruited 19 new mentors, including

Pre-health shadowing opportunities present a challenge. Penobscot Community Health Care (PCHC) and

Maine General have been key points of successful contact for our students however, success at EMHS has

been limited. We met with Dr. Raczek in the in June and are hopeful for a more streamlined and timely

process in the future for EMHS requests.

It is the individual successes that make this program notable. A great example is the student who was

interested in working in the National Parks Service. His mentor actually broke down the federal jobs

application process piece by piece via email and sent a sample spreadsheet of how they score the applicants.

This type of helping hand from a UM alum can make all the difference for our students.

During Open House and Accepted Students Days, the Tufts Maine Track and Early Assurance Programs are

the most popular topics perspective students and parents want to discuss. This year we had three students

apply to the Early Assurance Program and all three were interviewed. Acceptances are announced in June.

Acceptances to medical school this past year were lower than in the past. The MCAT exam continues to be

a struggle for our students. Those students accepted into MD programs average a 507 MCAT, National

average is 510. So those who score well are accepted. However, our average MCAT score is 503. This

presents a challenge for us and our students. Now that the Health Professions staff position is stabilized,

this will become an area of focus in 2017-2018.

This year marks our 10

Medical Outreach Maine trip. Sponsorship from The Maine AHEC Network,

Volunteers.

The Health Professions Career Day was sponsored by the Maine AHEC Network and the University of

Maine Student Government. This year, 45+ students attended, ranging from pre-dental, pre-med, pre-

optometry, to those interested in public health and research. Students were able to meet with admission

representatives from Tufts University School of Medicine, University of New England College of

Osteopathic Medicine, Husson University, and New England College of Optometry. A panel of various

healthcare professionals speaking on the topic of patient perspective was well received.

The Health Professions Club is very active on campus and in the community. The club has bi-weekly

meetings throughout the year. Members performed dental outreach at Old Town Elementary School and

volunteered at campus events.

Recruitment visits included Dalhousie Dental and Logan Chiropractic. Guest speakers included, medical

Employer Relations

The area of employer relations is very broad. We work closely with students to connect them with

employers. This is not an easy task and requires a huge amount of organization and program development

to make this happen. CareerLink is our job listing service. We partner with Student Employment, who

coordinates part-time, summer and work-study jobs while the Career Center staff coordinated all full time

and internship opportunities. Daily, staff are preventing job scams from being posted in our system.

Our CareerLink system has become our primary method of coordinating employment related opportunities

for students. This year over 200 targeted emails regarding selected jobs, internships, and recruiting events

An effective employer relations program requires attending events off campus which allows for networking

opportunities as well as hosting employer visits on campus. Kate Axelsen Foster, Assistant Director for

Employer Relations, was able to attend several off campus events including the Wayfair Ribbon Cutting

ceremony, the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce Annual Breakfast, FOCUS Maine Employer

Networking Reception at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Magnetize Maine Summit and participated

in several corporate tours including EMMC, Baxter Brewing, Lewiston Auburn Museum, CloudPort, New

Beet Market, Flight Deck Brewing in partnership with Live and Work in Maine and TRC.

Campus Outreach

Continuing Education programs, Bachelor of University Studies students, Trio and those students who are

attending the Hutchinson Center all have utilized our services this year. BJ Roach, Career Counselor was

recognized by Commuter and Non-Traditional Student Association for all of her great work.

Engaged Black Bear

Over the past two years the Career Center has been working on the development of a Career Ready digital

badge as part of the Engaged Black Bear program. We completed a pilot program last year and this year

have worked to clarify Career Readiness and the components of the 3 levels of badging. Both our Director

and our Assistant Director are members of the Student and Alumni Relations (SAAR) committee within the

School of Business. One of our initiatives this year was to identify Career Ready competencies, based upon

the NACE competencies, and work towards helping students to achieve these competencies. The School of

Business became our partner in this process. Through the SAAR committee, a rubric was developed to

assist students with Career Readiness and will be reviewed during academic advising appointments. As a

means to document student progress, the SAAR committee decided that creating a badging structure for

Overall this has been a very busy and year of change for the Career Center. We are excited for next year as

we continue to develop and streamline our programs.

Crisanne Kadamus Blackie, Director

Kate Axelsen Foster, Assistant Director

BJ Roach, Career Counselor

interviews

information and advice

• Continued the successful MOM (Medical Outreach Maine) program by building on the established

Expand CareerFest to a multiday career event.

Increase Career Fair student attendance by 10%.

Review, develop and grow collaborative programs with graduate students, international students, athletes,

Trio and transfer students.

Partner with professional staff at the University of Maine at Machias to provide access to services and

Revamp the Career Assistant training for the start of the new academic year.

Purchase, implement and market the Career Outcomes module in CareerLink.

Continue with the development of the coordination of internships and internship materials.