The Career Champion program is a new staff learning opportunity presented at Elizabethtown College. It is being run through the campus’ Career Development Center, and is aiming to give faculty stronger abilities in making students career ready.
It differs from other professional learning because, “It was very highly focused on preparing students for [their] career, while a lot of our professional development is focused on strong practices in teaching and learning,” said Dr. Kristi Kneas, professor of chemistry and one of the first staff members to complete the program.
The learning consists of a full day of sessions that teach the skills needed to be a Career Champion. The nature of these sessions allow the faculty to fully engage with the material and discuss it amongst each other. It includes presentations and conversations with a recruiter from an outside company.
The first recruiter was from WellSpan Health. They gave an insider look into what different businesses look for in the people they interview. The recruiter also went into depth about how the faculty themselves can prepare their students for these job opportunities.
“I learned a lot about how AI has impacted the process,” Kneas said. “I learned about how timelines have changed.”
The first day of the program was held on Oct 1. with six staff members participating from The School of Sciences and Health. The plan for the program is to open it up to the full staff this upcoming spring. Once the training is fully launched, it will be held in the fall, spring and summer annually.
“The School of Sciences and Health was selected as our pilot cohort because Dr. Alan Utter, Dean of the School of Sciences and Health, immediately recognized the value of the Career Champion Program and enthusiastically volunteered his school to participate,” said Maureen Brown, senior director of the Career Development Center, “Starting with a smaller cohort also allows us to gather meaningful feedback, refine the program, and build a strong foundation before expanding to other schools across campus.”
The days spent teaching faculty these specific skills will be helpful for all students around campus. It will provide opportunities to have conversations about the student’s future career, and what skills are needed to get there.
“What we bring as faculty members is the relationships with employers, but what we don’t often have is current up-to-date information on the aspects of the interview and hiring process,” Kneas said. Hopefully, this program will change that.
Kneas has already started to utilize the skills she learned from participating in the professional development day. She’s started to tell her junior students to apply for summer internships now if they’re interested because they fill up quickly.
In Kneas’ classes, it has led her to ponder on ways to integrate career ready skills into her courses. She has also tried to show her students how career competency skills are being developed in their assignments. Participation in the Career Champions program helped show her which skills students need to develop for future employers.
This integration of skills into students’ learning is just what the program was made for. Showing the students what they’re specifically learning with their assignments (outside of just the course curriculum) will make them want to complete their work more.
“We’re building on the great work faculty and staff are already doing,” Brown said. “Our goal is to help faculty and staff make those connections more intentional.”
Faculty will continue to learn how to best support students after the one day program as well. The people who complete the training sessions get added to a Canvas course that has a plethora of resources for them to use. The ultimate goal is to have a network of Career Champions throughout the campus.
“We’re also hoping to offer smaller professional development opportunities throughout the year to keep the learning and collaboration going,” Brown said.
