The Career & Internship Services Office continues to meet the career development needs of our students, providing a number of services that assist to enhance a student's career readiness from resume preparation to career assessments, from networking techniques to creating a personal brand. A most recent addition to our services was the creation of a career readiness curriculum that highlights the competencies needed for successful transition int the workplace, as recommended by NACE. During the 18/19 academic year, we plan to implement the career readiness curriculum.
Since the Fall of 2016, we have utilized Career Coach, a software program which helps students determine the career and major that is a good fit for them. It provides students with the most current local data on wages, employment, job postings and associated education and training. It guides students to the right major based on their interests. Making the connection between the student's plan of study and their ultimate career goal is a major factor in student retention and completion. We have funded the Career Coach through grants but are looking to continue it once the grant expires.
Student retention and completion are of great concern in light of declining enrollment. The need to connect students with a meaningful major that addresses their interests, skill, and abilities is more critical than ever before. Connecting students, especially liberal arts majors, with our office to help them identify potential careers through career assessments, labor market information, and career research is vital in keeping them engaged and pursuing majors that will result in marketable skills and employment. We plan to continue our outreach efforts, connecting with departments, advisors, and the campus community to get the word out and to get students into our doors for career assessments and guidance. We will look into the possibility of establishing an advisory group consisting of faculty and staff who can help us champion our career development initiatives and help support our career development activities.
The SUNY Applied Learning initiative has gotten a lot of momentum and resulted in us receiving a grant which will allow us to hire 2 part-time staff to help with our internship placements and help establish community service opportunities for students to engage with. We hope to achieve better placement outcomes by having the new staff consistently market the internship and job opportunities.
External partnerships with the business community, the One-Stop Career Center, and economic development agencies continue to be a major focus of our Office. We connect our students with the employer community to help them secure internships or jobs, conduct mock interviews, job shadow professionals, and learn about the local job market. Efforts will be directed to maintaining these relationships and to grow new partnerships as new companies locate to Orange County. Amy's Kitchen and the new Lego Park are two potential employers that we hope to partner with.
Our Office, in partnership with Financial Aid, Human Resources, and Payroll, runs the Work Study Program. This past year the Financial Aid Office automated the process and we encountered a few difficulties. We would like to evaluate the new processes, along with the other offices, and make changes if deemed beneficial. One thing to consider is revamping the student orientation packet, and to redesign the faculty/staff orientation