Job Placement Center Evaluation
Executive Summary
During the early part of the fall 2011 semester, the executive leadership of the Academic
Senate authorized the formation of a committee to conduct an evaluation of the status and
future direction of the Job Placement Center at the college. The following individuals were
appointed to serve on the committee:

Academic Senate designee: Kathy Oborn

Dean of Academic Affairs: Barbara Anderson

Dean of Student Services: Phyllis Braxton

Career Center Counselor/Director: Joanna Zimring-Towne
This evaluation is not a formal viability study as usually outlined by the Academic Senate and as
such, is not as comprehensive as a formal viability study. It was developed as a way for the
Academic Senate and senior staff at the college to look at ways to assess and if needed,
improve the delivery of services currently offered by the Job Placement Center. The committee
was created on October 6th. The committee members met four times during the fall 2011
semester: October 25th, November 7th, November 21st and they had a phone meeting with the
chair of the committee on December 12th.
They interviewed current and former members of the Job Placement Center as well as those
connected to the Job Placement Center, reviewed the Job Placement Center website, reviewed
the operating and staffing models of other job centers in the region, and assessed whether
services offered by the Job Placement Center were also offered by other service areas such as
the Career and Transfer Center. In addition, the director of the Career and Transfer Center also
submitted a report of the Career and Transfer Center services in line with what was asked of
the Job Placement Center.
Based on this input, the committee identified a number of issues facing the Job Placement
Center and created a list of recommendations to present to the executive leadership of the
Academic Senate.
1. The committee recommends that any career counseling, advising, and career
preparation services of the Job Placement Center be shifted to the Career and Transfer
Center. Committee members felt that the best programs for providing career services
such as career advising, resume writing, career exploration and assessment, class
registration assistance, and labor market dissemination are conducted by those with
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special training in career development and assessment such as career counselors.
Currently none of the Pierce staff or faculty at the Job Placement Center has an
educational background in career development. The committee members also felt that
it is confusing to students to have similar services at both locations especially when the
Job Placement Center is closed during the intersessions.
2. Other services that are not duplicated may need further consideration in terms of their
effectiveness. Job fairs, a primary event of the Job Placement Center, may no longer
have the same potential for culling prospective job candidates because many companies
now rely on the Internet or their own recruiting resources to reach out to potential
candidates. A new direction the college could consider is having internship fairs which
would have a strong interest for current students.
3. Although the Job Placement Center maintains its own job board website and the
director is responsible for communication with employers and potential job candidates,
job placement services at many colleges have become more efficient, allowing
employers and job seekers more flexibility in accessing services. According to a review
done by the committee, most career or job placement centers at colleges can no longer
offer fully staffed, individualized job placement services to students or the community
due to budget reductions. In addition, the changing technological innovations afforded
by the Internet have allowed most job placement centers to purchase web-based tools
that appear to be very effective. The committee members were able to view a
demonstration of software used by job placement centers called Career Management
Services (CMS) software. CMS software is tailored to educational institutions and allows
employers and job seekers to access content efficiently and on-demand. As budgets
shrink and availability of services dwindle in all support service areas, having on-demand
web tools that help both employers and job seekers stay in contact regardless of office
hours of a college service becomes very important. In addition, job placement services
must now be able to establish risk management processes to vet potential employers to
avoid potential liability concerns.
4. The Job Placement Center’s connections with the community and with business leaders
are promoted mainly from the job placement postings and the job fairs. However, there
are additional ways that the college can reach out to business leaders and the
community. Many of our current college programs, departments, and services utilize
advisory committees to stay connected to the community and maintain links to
businesses. Also many college programs, departments, and student support services
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have hosted college activities and events that highlight career and job opportunities and
encourage community participation.
5. Although not mentioned in Mr. Skidmore’s report to the committee, the website does
mention that the Center has a Housing Office. The Housing Office is used as a hub to
post and view housing opportunities that are available to students. Housing services
should be something the college reviews as part of their risk management process. As
with the job placement services, liability issues can arise if the college is the
intermediary for such services. There are other options to get housing information.
Currently community members are utilizing authorized bulletin boards on campus to
post housing opportunities for students. Also many students now use other resources,
including web-based resources, to find out about housing on their own. These types of
independent activities may diminish the need for involvement of the Job Placement
Center to post housing information.
6. If the college would like to continue to have services such as job fairs and job placement,
then additional resources must be made available to ensure that these activities are
done efficiently and effectively wherever the service is housed.
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Assessment of the Job Placement Center
Job Center Staffing
Richard Skidmore, a Business Department teaching faculty member has 0.40 FTE reassigned
time to work as the center’s director. He’s been at the center since 1998. He believes his Cbasis assignment is inadequate because of the reduced staffing and because the center cannot
function in the intersessions with a C-basis assignment. He states a need for an Office
Assistant. When he had an office assistant, who shared duties with the Cooperative Work
Experience Education (CWEE) Program, the office assistant was able to split his time to provide
coverage so that the center could remain open for 36 hours a week. The office assistant worked
with six to seven student workers who assisted him. His main duties included: answering
employer questions – about 10 a week via email and phone; forwarding employer needs such
as the job postings to the job center director so he could post and remove job listings from the
website; coordinating with EDD, PV Jobs, and Rideshare representatives; coordinating with the
Job Placement Center intern to schedule appointments with students; and assisted
approximately 30 walk-in students a day.
Mr. Skidmore would like to see the center operating at 36 hours a week again. At that rate, in
addition to an office assistant, he states that he would need two job developers, two
workability specialists, and student workers to fill 90 hours a week (2.5 hours per hour that the
center is open). He also works with the EDD to have a veterans’ job developer on board and
hopes to have a job developer back on board by the spring semester. He currently does not
have any counselors on staff.
Job Placement Center Functions and Services
According to the Job Placement Center Director, current programs and services offered by the
center include internet and hard copy access to local, national, and international jobs; current
labor market information; professional development resources on resumes, cover letters, and
reference lists; interviewing techniques and mock interviews, computer stations to job search,
register for classes, and prepare resumes; and fax service for submitting resumes and job
applications. For employers and community resource partners, services include pre-screening
applicants and resume referrals, free online posting of job announcements; access to an
educated applicant pool in Southern California. With the exception of providing access to jobs,
the Career and Transfer Center also currently offers the same services. And the Career and
Transfer Center is positioned to implement Career Management Services (CMS) software to
help establish a website allowing employers and employees to post job listings.
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Clients must go to the Job Placement Center located in Village 8200 to access the services.
Because of the center Director’s C-basis assignment, Mr. Skidmore is not available to maintain
the center during the summer and winter intersessions. As a result, as Mr. Skidmore concedes,
there is no staff support during the intersessions and clients cannot be adequately served.
Use of the Job Placement Center
The Job Placement Center has not been required to submit any annual program plans or
program reviews. However Mr. Skidmore was able to submit a report to the committee. To
track student, employer, and community use of the center, he requires everyone to sign in
when they visit the center. According to his report, during the Center’s most active time from
2000 through 2004, the Center served an average of 9,735 people; an average of 6,799
students and an average of 2,935 community members. His latest numbers for 2010 cite that
he’s served a total of 4,125 people, with 3702 being students and 423 from the community.
These data include the job fair attendance. His goal is to increase the traffic to the center to
12,000 students.
The director does not have formal processes for assessing the needs of students, employers, or
the community. He did mention that in assessing the needs of employers, he makes note of the
number of placements requests he gets through the Jobs Board, a section of the Job Placement
Center website. He also uses labor department data from the state and county in addition to
other job databases he can access.
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Use of advisory committees and community relations
Mr. Skidmore does not work officially with an advisory board, but he does work closely with
Ron Smetzer, the director of the Cooperative Work Experience Program, as well as Jose Luis
Fernandez, the dean of CATE. He also maintains close working ties in the community with the
local EDD office, the Chatsworth WorkSource center, and the District’s PV Jobs Program which
coordinates the district’s internships for the bond program.
Job Center Budget Needs
On several occasions, Mr. Skidmore has stated his need for more administrative support to
support the office functions. He states that he needs additional funds to operate the center but
his needs often change because of changing administrative priorities. In addition to staffing, he
needs a supply budget of $5,000 and updated computer equipment. He was not awarded any
VTEA funds this year although he did have funds for a limited time last year to hire a student
worker but he could not fill it due to the lack of qualified applicants.
The Job Placement Center’s biggest campus event is the job fair which he estimates costs about
$1,500 a year. Mr. Skidmore has an ASO account to help with the job fair expenses which is still
funded but has been losing money over the last few years.
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Background of the Job Placement Center
It is interesting to note that one of the committee members actually served as the Job
Placement Center Director from 1989 through 1996 (see report in Appendix 1). As the director,
she posted job listings from local employers, posted them on a job board, posted housing
opportunities, and coordinated the yearly job fair. Five years later, she was hired to run
Pierce’s Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) grant. At this point, JTPA took over the
responsibilities with the Job Center and Housing Office. Her main tasks as the grants director
were to supervise student workers, collect job postings, and conduct job placement. A year
later, she negotiated with the Employment Development Department (EDD) to contract out for
one of their employees to help with job placement. As late as 1996, the services offered by the
Job Center were housed in Student Services and eventually moved under the direction of an
academic faculty member, Richard Skidmore and as such, moved to Academic Affairs.
Richard Skidmore stated in his interview that in 1998, he was requested to take over the
position by the Vice President of Academic Affairs at the time, Carmelita Thomas. He believes
that she chose him because he had written and published a pamphlet entitled; “The Job Search
Handbook” which he stated was successfully used by Pierce Students to find jobs and seek
advancement in their work.
He was tasked to improve the operation of the center including getting a new computer
system, utilizing equipment, advertising on campus to increase awareness and improving
community relations.
Committee Development and Process
During the early part of the fall 2011 semester, the executive leadership of the Academic
Senate authorized the formation of a committee to conduct an evaluation of the status and
future direction of the Job Placement Center at the college. The following individuals were
appointed to serve on the committee:

Academic Senate designee: Kathy Oborn

Dean of Academic Affairs: Barbara Anderson

Dean of Student Services: Phyllis Braxton

Career Center Counselor/Director: Joanna Zimring-Towne
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The committee met four times during the fall 2011 semester: October 25th, November 7th,
November 21st and they had a phone meeting with the chair of the committee on December
12th.
The committee members conducted the following activities:
1. Job Placement Center website printout
2. Kathy Oborn report regarding her previous experience as Job Center Director
3. Presentation on Career Management System (CMS)
4. Interview with Richard Skidmore
5. Interview with Joanna Zimring-Towne
6. Interview with Aaron Chan
7. Interview with Deborah Young
8. Interview with Ron Smetzer
9. Career Center and Job Placement Center Operations in District and Region
Because the center does not submit formal plans such as the annual plan and a program
review, the committee decided to base the report on a status update of the program’s
functions and services, along with ideas about the vision and goals of the center, and some
qualitative and quantitative outcomes expected for students, employers, and the community.
We set up a written interview survey and submitted this to Richard Skidmore to assess the
following (see Appendix 2):
-
Functions and responsibilities of the Job Placement Center Director
-
Current offering of services
-
Vision and goal of the Job Placement Center
-
The role of the center at Pierce College
-
The number of students served during an academic year (and how they are tracked)
-
Assessment of the needs of students, employers, and the community the center serves
-
Assessment of the demand for services
-
Use of an advisory board for community input
-
A self-report of the strengths, challenges, trends, and opportunities of the center
-
An assessment of duplicative services
-
Staff and resource requirements needed to operate the center
-
Additional staff, faculty, employers, or community members who could give input about
the center.
Summary of interview with Mr. Richard Skidmore
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Functions and Responsibilities of the Job Placement Center Director
Mr. Skidmore’s duties include: overseeing the duties of staff members; maintaining good
working relations with the college, district, and employment community; developing policies
and procedures; developing a budget; providing training programs for staff to assist clients;
maintaining the Job Placement Center bulletin boards; accepting postings for jobs and
internship opportunities; establishing hours of operation; preparing reports for management;
obtaining supplies and equipment for the center; and coordinating the job fair and other
recruitment activities for employers.
Services of the Job Placement Center
In his interview, Mr. Skidmore stated that the services are offered to all clients who visit the
Center on campus. Current services include: internet and hard copy access to local, national,
and international jobs; current labor market information; professional development resources
such as information on writing resumes and cover letters; interviewing techniques and mock
interviews; computer stations to job search, register for classes, and prepare resumes; fax
service for submitting resumes and job applications. For employers and community resource
partners, prescreening of applicants and resume referrals; free online posting of job
announcements; and access to an educated applicant pool.
Vision and Goals of the Job Placement Center
During the interview, Mr. Skidmore did state that he does not submit an annual plan or a
program review. However he did have specific goals and visions for the center.
He would like to increase the Job Placement Center hours back to 36 hours a week; employ
student labor at a rate of 2.5 hours per week that the center is open; expand the job center
staff to include two job developers and workability specialists; refill the position of Office
Assistant; move the center director from a C basis to a D basis to cover intersessions; increase
the center’s supply budget; increase the number of clients to 12,000; purchase new computer
equipment; evaluate services offered to clients; and offer advertising of department positions
via the Job Center.
Role of the center at the college
This question sought to get at the role that the thinks the Job Center should have in serving
students. He stated that he thought it should be as it was designed and how he has worked to
maintain it. He added that the Administration should meet the obligations of the college and
students by providing financial support.
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The number of students served during an academic year (and how they are tracked)
He submitted data from 1996 to 2011 showing the numbers of community members and
students served. Everyone who visits the center must sign in. He says that once he was on
board, the numbers that they served increased. At his peak in foot traffic in 2002, he served a
total of 10, 239 people, (6,856 of this number were students). He also had his peak during that
time of days being open…233 days. He mentioned that President Rocky Young came in around
2001-2002, and he no longer allowed advertising on the street which affected his marketing
and as such caused a decrease in the numbers of people visiting the center. When the previous
Vice President Carmelita Thomas was here, he had a marquee, personnel, and volunteers to
help grow the center. His report data shows that from 2011, he had a total of 4,125 people
visiting the center, (3702 of this number were students) and that the number of days that the
center was open dropped to 158.
Assessment of the needs of students, employers, and the community the center serves
He assesses the needs of employers as they sign up to have employment offers publicized
through the online Jobs Board. He also assesses needs by accessing numerous reports from the
Labor Departments at the state and county. He also has ways of making contact with "green"
businesses and produces reports for Industrial Technology identifying several hundred
companies.
Assessment of the demand for services
He believes that based on the data there is sufficient demand for the program. He says that
with more stable funding, the center could provide more consistent service.
Use of an advisory board for community input
He does not work with an advisory board but he works with others to maintain contacts with
businesses and the community. On campus, he works with the director of CWEE, the dean over
CATE, and the EDD department. He also has serves on the board of the WorkSource program in
Chatsworth and the district's PV jobs program which provided internships to students to work
on the bond program.
A self-report of the strengths, challenges, trends, and opportunities of the center
He believes the strengths of the program is the director and staff as well as his relationships
with employers and Work Source Centers. He believes the challenges are lack of support from
the college administration. Some of the trends in this current market is a demand for the
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services center could provide with staff. He thinks that with the proper support, opportunities
are unlimited.
What makes the Job Placement Center unique?
Mr. Skidmore stated that he feels that the center’s placement on a college campus is one of the
unique traits of his program. He believes that the center needs to be an integral part of the
college with full support. Clients coming into the center receive the benefit of services of the
center and the partnership staff he has on board. Not many other centers in the area can offer
clients his type of personal support.
Staff and resource requirements needed to operate the center
He outlined four staff and resource requirements:
1. Expand the job center staff to include 2 job developers, 2 workability specialists, and an
office assistant.
2. Hire student worker at a rate of 2.5 hours per week that the center is open for operation
3. Increase the job center supply budget by 5,000
4. Update computer equipment by purchasing 2 printers and have computer upgrades
Additional staff, faculty, employers, or community members who could give input about the
center
He recommended the committee members contact Aaron Chan who used to work as an office
assistant in the office; Jose Luis Fernandez, Dean of CATE; Ron Smetzer, Director of CWEE; Paul
Whalen, who used to be the former dean responsible to the job center; PV Jobs director
Michael Flores; and Deborah Young, the EDD staff person who used to work in his office.
The committee members were able to contact all of the people he suggested with the
exception of Michael Flores. (For statements from the contacts, please see Appendices 3
through 6).
When the various contacts were reached to give feedback on the center or the interactions
with Mr. Skidmore, the responses were all very positive. Most felt that Mr. Skidmore has a
productive and ambitious program. They thought that the Job Placement Center had an
important role with not only employers but CTE programs, CalWorks, EDD, and Cooperative
Education. Most thought that Mr. Skidmore’s skills as a professor and with the computer were
an asset to the center.
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Summary of Interview with the Career Center Director
Because Pierce College employs a career center director, the committee members wanted to
see if the duties and responsibilities of a career center director were similar. Ms. Zimring –
Towne answered the same interview questions. (see Appendix 7) Her responses are
summarized:
Ms. Zimring-Towne’s background
The majority of her experience since 2001 has been in youth employment. She has graduate
training in career development and is well-versed in career counseling and vocational
assessment. She is currently serving as a C-basis counselor who has split her time 50-50 as a
general counselor and as the Career Center Director.
Functions and Responsibilities of the Job Placement Center Director
As the Career Center Director, she is responsible for: career counseling to students; supervising
the career center staff; creating and managing career center materials which are available on
the career center website; offer resources such as the comprehensive career resource guide,
resume, interview, and job search information, major to career guides; she manages the career
center website; she creates and manages workshops; she organizes special campus-wide events
such as Department of the Month and Meet your Major Fair; she publishes a newsletter; she
prepares an annual plan; she has developed, assessed, and reported on service area outcomes
for the career center; she coordinates with other directors and faculty; she maintains currency
in her field by attending career-related conferences and trainings; and she applies for and
manages grant funding.
Services of the Career Center
The services of the career center include: individual career counseling appointments; drop-in
career counseling; career assessments; resume assistance, ; interview preparation; workshops
on resume, interview, career exploration, internships, industry-specific opportunities, special
events like Meet Your Major fair; internship board and resources; career center library; online
resources through the Career Center website; and computers for students to access career
resource material.
Vision and Goals of the Career Center
Her vision for the Career Center is to provide comprehensive, wrap-around career services to
students. To do this she would like to accomplish the following goals: Increase the visibility of
career services to the campus at large and with the community; collaborate more with faculty
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to provide classroom presentations and/or curriculum; increase the availability of career
counseling by hiring career counselors; offer a formal internship program for students; utilize
career management software (CMS) web-based applications to connect students with
employment opportunities and resources which will allow targeted employment services;
collaborate with CTE faculty and departments to provide apprenticeship/internship
opportunities to CTE students; create a database of Pierce alumni and supporters willing to
offer informational interviews and job shadowing opportunities to students.
Role of the Career Center at the college
According to Ms. Zimring-Towne, the center should continue to serve the students by providing
opportunities to explore majors and careers. Her hope is that she will be able to expand these
services so that the center can be more fully integrated at the college. Ideally the role of the
Career Center is to be a one-stop shop for students, faculty, and the community who need
assistance with work-related concerns and access to career and job-related resources.
The number of students served during an academic year (and how they are tracked)
Ms. Zimring-Towne admits that there is not an effective way to track how many students come
into the center and use the library resources, computers, or online resources because the
career center is housed in the lobby of the student services building which has multiple uses.
She does track counseling appointments. For career counseling individual appointments,
group, and drop in appointments, this data is tracked through SARS, an appointment scheduling
application. In Spring 2011, 187 students were seen for individual career counseling
appointments and an additional 117 were seen for drop in career counseling. During that same
period, 13 workshops were offered with 104 students attending. These numbers do not include
those that were reached through classroom presentations or special events. In Fall 2011,
approximately 550 students attended the Meet Your Major Fair. These types of activities are
tracked by sign-up sheets at the workshops and events.
Assessment of the needs of students, employers, and the community the Career Center serves
She has conducted student and faculty satisfaction surveys. She is currently planning to
conduct a needs assessment in Spring 2012.
Assessment of the demand for services
She believes there is sufficient demand but the current staffing levels prevent her from meeting
the demand.
Use of an advisory board for community input
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She does use an advisory board for input. They first met in Spring 2011. They plan to meet
again in Spring 2012.
A self-report of the strengths, challenges, trends, and opportunities of the center
The strengths include collaboration with counseling and transfer center; partnerships with CTE,
basic skills faculty, and academic faculty; counselors have special training and certification in
career counseling; collaboration with other district career centers; faculty who are able to
synthesize knowledge of career development process with “world of work” issues; and ability to
create engaging, interactive and meaningful resources for students, faculty, and community.
The weaknesses include lack of sufficient staffing or funding to fully serve the needs of all
students; lack of visibility on campus; confusion between the job center and the career center;
lack of formal internship program; facilities of center is not a dedicated space.
Some of the trends include: students now need to pick a major early in their students in order
to transfer and/or graduate in a timely manner. Basic skills students require specialized career
development interventions. Current economic trends are forcing many people to return to
college for training. Students need greater assistance fining internships and job opportunities.
She feels that there are several opportunities. The center could be a one-stop shop with proper
planning and budgeting. There are opportunities to collaborate with cooperative education to
ensure that the policies and procedures are in line with labor laws and best practices. The
center could be partnering with CTE and Workforce Development job developers to outreach to
employers for CTE programs. The center could work with the other district career centers to
leverage resources and partnerships. They could offer streamlined and efficient employment
services through the use of effective technology. They could partner with EDD, WorkSource
centers, and other community employment agencies and projects.
What makes the Career Center unique?
Ms. Zimring-Towne believes that it is the only place on campus where students can get
individualized career/major exploration services. Career center counselors are trained in
academic and career counseling so they are able to help students in a more holistic fashion.
The career center counselors also engage in ongoing professional development activities to stay
current in the field.
Staff and resource requirements needed to operate Career Center
To effectively operate the Career Center with holistic, wrap-around services and take on any
possible additional employment services tasks, the center needs the following resources:
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-
1.0 FTE of career counseling to provide career counseling and job preparation services
and to effectively partner with faculty and community constituencies
-
Additional .2 release time for the career center director to manage the career services
management software (if required)
-
Conversion of the C-basis career center director to a D-basis so that the center can be
operational during the summer
Career Center and Job Placement Center Operations in District and Region
As the committee members wrestled with the notion of the possibility of shifting services to the
Career Center, the members wanted to review how other community colleges organized their
career centers and job centers. At the request of the committee, Ms. Zimring-Towne submitted
a report of district and regional career and job centers to see if they were combined or separate
(See Appendix 8). She began her exploration by making a formal distinction in the
characteristics of a career center and a job center. A career center’s main function is to assist
students with career and major exploration. A job center’s main function is to provide access to
employment information and resources and partner with local employers. These functions are
separated at Pierce into different centers which appear to have an overlap in services. This
duplication of services appears to have created a natural tension between the two centers. In a
report of a former employee working in the Job Center, the employee stated that although she
knows students know about the Career Center, they always come back unsatisfied with the
service because they can’t get the one-on-one interaction that they get at the Job Placement
Center. In addition, she felt that she was as well-trained as any career counselor and could
provide adequate job search, resume writing, and other interview preparation skills. However
these duplicative offerings of services can create a great deal of confusion for students and
employers.
For instance, the Career Center offers similar services such as job postings, labor market
information, professional development resources (resume, interviewing, etc), mock interviews,
computers for job search, registration for classes and resume preparation; fax service. Ms.
Zimring-Towne reports that the only thing the career center does not do is provide specific
employment services such as job postings and working directly with employers.
To see if it was a normal trend to have separate centers for career services and employment
services, a review was conducted of community colleges within LACCD and in the greater LA
basin. It became clear that most colleges use a model of combined services. Within the
district, East, City, and Southwest have career centers which offer both career exploration and
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employment services. Trade uses a similar model to Pierce. Valley doesn’t have a traditional
job center and handles their employment relations through their workforce development
department and cooperative education program. West, Mission and Harbor do not have any
career centers. Harbor uses the CalWorks office to post job listings. Other community colleges
in the area including Pasadena City College, Santa Monica College, Moorpark and College of the
Canyons have services combined under the career center. The most common services offered
by combined career centers include: online job board, workshops, both practical and
explorative; career counseling; website with links and additional information;
Given that so many centers have combined the function, the committee members wondered
how this could possibly work if the career center took on job placement function. One of the
main services, job placement, is an example of a service that is unique to the Job Placement
Center but based on a review of other colleges, seems to be occurring in alternative formats.
The committee members reviewed these alternatives that seem to be flexible and impervious
to changing staff and budget levels - a real concern with the college as it faces severe budgetary
constraints.
CMS software
It is important to note that Mr. Skidmore created and maintains the Job Placement Center’s
website. Potential employers can post their job listings. However there are some concerns.
While it does offer students the ability to view postings online, it does not offer a very userfriendly interface nor does it allow for searching or filtering of job postings. And there is also no
way to track usage or collect data.
There are some useful software tools now available such as Career Management Software
(CMS) that can assist either a job center or a career center with job posting and listings. The
committee members viewed a presentation regarding a popular Career Management System
(CMS) called College Central Network (www.collegecentral.com). The cost of the service is
approximately $1500 a year. Other CMS web-based applications were similarly priced. College
Central Network is in negotiations with two other colleges in the district and some committee
members wondered if in the future, a district contract could be arranged possibly lowering the
cost of the software.
The system has a good resume builder according to Ms. Zimring-Towne. One of the nice
features of the software is that student job seekers can send their information to any employer.
Students can save postings as a pdf file and also can send employers the link to their resumes.
Students can even submit their entire portfolios in fields that require portfolios such as art.
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Students searching for careers can set the expiration dates on their resumes and have full
control of their resumes. The system also has a good job search function…the majors can be
Pierce-related or transfer-related. You can also manage campus interviews. And it allows
students to report whether they’ve been offered a job.
These systems operate with minimal staff support. If one were to provide this functionality
with staff, administration would need to provide staff to approve the resumes, approve the
employer, and staff to do outreach.
Other alternatives include the concept of a consortium board. Large-sized companies can post
on the consortium board so they can go to all of the colleges. Students would not be able to
use this type of service though.
Monster Trac is the college version of Monster but the job listings are mostly listings of
employment agencies. Many employers are not going to pay to post. They’ll post on their own
internal websites. So it would not be the most applicable for students.
Website Review
When reviewing the services offered, committee members reviewed services listed on the
website (see Appendix 9). Many of the services seemed incredibly comprehensive. For
instance, under professional development, there were options listed in which people could
have their resumes critiqued or that they could send resumes to the job placement center by
email. They also offered to help students develop a professional portfolio. However many of
the links were not active. And as the committee members came to find out, many of the
services could not be offered due to reduced staffing and the lack of staff available during the
winter and summer intersessions. In fact, the website went dark this past winter because the
Job Placement Center was closed during the winter intersession.
Recommendations
As a result of the information collected through interviews, websites, and reports, the
committee offers the following recommendations:
1. The committee recommends that any career counseling, advising, and career
preparation services of the Job Placement Center be shifted to the Career and Transfer
Center. Committee members felt that the best programs for providing career services
such as career advising, resume writing, career exploration and assessment, class
registration assistance, and labor market dissemination are conducted by those with
special training in career development and assessment such as career counselors.
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Currently none of the Pierce staff or faculty at the Job Placement Center has an
educational background in career development. The committee members also felt that
it is confusing to students to have similar services at both locations especially when the
Job Placement Center is closed during the intersessions.
2. Other services that are not duplicated may need further consideration in terms of their
effectiveness. Job fairs, a primary event of the Job Placement Center, may no longer
have the same potential for culling prospective job candidates because many companies
now rely on the Internet or their own recruiting resources to reach out to potential
candidates. A new direction the college could consider is having internship fairs which
would have a strong interest for current students.
3. Although the Job Placement Center maintains its own job board website and the
director is responsible for communication with employers and potential job candidates,
job placement services at many colleges have become more efficient, allowing
employers and job seekers more flexibility in accessing services. According to a review
done by the committee, most career or job placement centers at colleges can no longer
offer fully staffed, individualized job placement services to students or the community
due to budget reductions. In addition, the changing technological innovations afforded
by the Internet have allowed most job placement centers to purchase web-based tools
that appear to be very effective. The committee members were able to view a
demonstration of software used by job placement centers called Career Management
Services (CMS) software. CMS software is tailored to educational institutions and allows
employers and job seekers to access content efficiently and on-demand. As budgets
shrink and availability of services dwindle in all support service areas, having on-demand
web tools that help both employers and job seekers stay in contact regardless of office
hours of a college service becomes very important. In addition, job placement services
must now be able to establish risk management processes to vet potential employers to
avoid potential liability concerns.
4. The Job Placement Center’s connections with the community and with business leaders
are promoted mainly from the job placement postings and the job fairs. However, there
are additional ways that the college can reach out to business leaders and the
community. Many of our current college programs, departments, and services utilize
advisory committees to stay connected to the community and maintain links to
businesses. Also many college programs, departments, and student support services
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have hosted college activities and events that highlight career and job opportunities and
encourage community participation.
5. Although not mentioned in Mr. Skidmore’s report to the committee, the website does
mention that the Center has a Housing Office. The Housing Office is used as a hub to
post and view housing opportunities that are available to students. Housing services
should be something the college reviews as part of their risk management process. As
with the job placement services, liability issues can arise if the college is the
intermediary for such services. There are other options to get housing information.
Currently community members are utilizing authorized bulletin boards on campus to
post housing opportunities for students. Also many students now use other resources,
including web-based resources, to find out about housing on their own. These types of
independent activities may diminish the need for involvement of the Job Placement
Center to post housing information.
6. If the college would like to continue to have services such as job fairs and job placement,
then additional resources must be made available to ensure that these activities are
done efficiently and effectively wherever the service is housed.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Kathy Oborn statement about previous experience as the Job Placement Center
Director
Appendix 2: Written interview with Richard Skidmore
Appendix 3: Interview with Ron Smetzer
Appendix 4: Interview with Aaron Chan
Appendix 5: Interview with Deborah Young
Appendix 6: Interviews with Jose Luis Fernandez, Dean of CATE; and Paul Whalen, former Dean
over the Job Placement Center
Appendix 7: Written interview with Joanna Zimring-Towne
Appendix 8: Career Center and Job Placement Center Operations in District and Region
Appendix 9: Printout of Job Placement Center website pages (November 2011)
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Appendix 1
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Appendix 2
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Appendix 3
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Appendix 4
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Appendix 5
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Appendix 6
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Appendix 7
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Appendix 8
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Appendix 9
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