Career Services Marketing Study



Career Services

Submitted by Mike Heuring

Research Team: Christine Gerber, Erin Giefer, Krista Hays, Derek Jones, Kelly Larson, and Danielle Noonan

ABSTRACT

To help students plan for their educational and professional lives, Career Services provides resources, such as academic and career decision counseling, student employment, electronic and campus-based recruiting, career fairs, and academic/professional licensing and certification testing. The unit promotes its services to students in person, through direct outreach and orientations. However, a great deal of marketing is done in print—on flyers and posters, and in mailings and newspaper ads.

The Career Services marketing team sought to increase its cost-effectiveness and decrease its environmental impact by streamlining its methods and minimizing paper waste. To aid in this effort, a research team, composed of Communications Studies students, designed and conducted a survey, which juniors and seniors completed voluntarily. The research team assessed students’ overall knowledge of Career Services, thereby determining which marketing methods were most effective. After analyzing survey results, a focus group was conducted to collect more detailed perceptions of Career Services.

Based on survey results and focus group responses, the research team made the following recommendation: to increase efficiency, the Career Services marketing team might consider a reduction or elimination of promotional postcard mailings; an increase in word of mouth marketing that utilizes faculty and advisors; an enhanced web presence; and more targeted print campaigns.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The unit wants to reach as many students as possible in ways that are most convenient for them. Therefore, it is important to learn how students become aware of Career Services and to evaluate various methods of marketing. In order to determine which portion of the student population was less informed about Career Services, the unit had to first identify those who were utilizing its resources by collecting in-depth demographic information.

To assist the marketing team’s efforts to streamline promotional methods, encourage more departmental and faculty referrals, and reach a larger portion of the student population in the most cost-effective, environmentally responsible way, Career Services utilized a survey. As the survey would not allow for personalized responses, a focus group was also conducted. In contrast to the inflexible survey format, the focus group favored follow-ups and allowed for spontaneous responses.

ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE

The research team, a COMM 460: Research Methods class under the direction of Dr. Allan Sillas, prepared a survey to be completed by junior and senior students attending the University of Montana during spring semester 2009. Students from The College of Technology (COT) and UMOnline also participated.

After compiling a complete sample list, the team sent a mass e-mail, providing a link to the survey, requesting student participation, and offering incentives. To increase response rates, Career Services provided three raffle items. By assigning a distinct number to each respondent’s e-mail address and utilizing a random number generator (care of ) to select the winner, the team was able to award prizes to three respondents. It is important to note that the raffle winners were selected strictly on the basis of survey participation, not on their specific survey responses. To protect confidentiality, winners were not publicly announced.

Student rights were of the utmost importance; the research team made every effort to uphold and protect the rights of respondents throughout the process. No identifying information, beyond that of major and grade level, was solicited, nor was any attached to the results. Students were informed that their participation was completely voluntary and that they could stop the survey at any time.

Students had approximately two weeks to complete the survey. To encourage as many responses as possible, the research team sent one mass e-mail reminder.

The survey consisted of 17 questions and was organized into four sections: (1) Awareness, (2) Use,

(3) Recommendations, and (4) Demographics. These headings were not identified to participants.

Student respondents were able to express their overall knowledge and awareness of Career Services by answering open-ended and close-ended questions. To categorize their findings, the research team coded open-ended questions, analyzed data, and noted general trends and noteworthy student observations. SelectSurvey, an electronic survey software system, was used to calculate basic statistics and data was processed with SPSS Inc. technology.

After survey results were processed, one student focus group was conducted. Career Services provided a list of forty randomly selected students who had used its services. The research team called and e-mailed candidates, inviting them to participate. When only a few students responded, signs were posted around campus offering free pizza to those attending the session.

The focus group was held in a Liberal Arts classroom at five thirty in the evening. It was facilitated by two members of the research team. One asked questions, mostly open-ended, which probed for detailed information about student involvement with Career Services, and allowed participants to express opinions in their own words. The other researcher recorded responses. Only three students attended the focus group, which lasted 43:46 minutes.

FINDINGS

Primary data consists of survey questionnaire responses and unstructured comments expressed during the focus group.

Survey

Although the survey was intended for juniors and seniors, the demographic data revealed respondents from all four grade levels. Before overall conclusions are drawn, survey data is provided on a question by question basis:

Table 1: How familiar are you with Career Services?

|Response |Frequency |Percent Valid* |

|Very Familiar |55 |6 % |

|Familiar |233 |24% |

|Somewhat Familiar |410 |42% |

|Not at all Familiar |286 |29% |

|TOTAL VALID* |984 |100% |

* Two respondents did not answer/did not provide valid answers.

The second question was designed to gauge participants’ full understanding of a key aspect of Career Services familiarity—office location. Table 2 illustrates the frequencies of responses.

Table 2: Where is the office of Career Services located on campus?

|Response |Frequency |Percent Valid* |

|University Center |25 |3% |

|Liberal Arts Building |2 |0% |

|University (Main) Hall |4 |0% |

|Social Sciences Building |2 |0% |

|Lommasson Building |783 |80% |

|Not Sure |167 |17% |

|TOTAL VALID* |983 |100% |

* Three respondents did not answer/did not provide valid answers.

Surprisingly, almost 80% of respondents could correctly locate the Career Services office, despite the fact that over half of them described themselves as “Somewhat Familiar” or “Not at all Familiar” with Career Services (see

Table 1).

Table 3: Which of the following Career Services have you specifically heard about?

|Service |N |Percent Valid* |

|Career Fairs |842 |89% |

|Griz recruiting |509 |54% |

|Mock Interviews |395 |42% |

|Career Counseling |482 |51% |

|On-Campus Interviews |356 |38% |

|Student Employment |650 |69% |

|Ask-An-Alum Program |419 |44% |

|TOTAL VALID* |944 |

* 42 responses did not answer/did not provide valid answers.

The question above asked participants which services they had “heard about” rather than which ones they had actually used, making this data particularly important; it highlights the various methods of communication and advertising that had successfully promoted services. The elevated familiarity with campus career fairs may be due to the particular niche that these events fit. More rigorous marketing might also account for these results; career fairs are advertised more frequently and through different methods than other services.

Though only a small percent of respondents claimed to be “Very Familiar” with Career Services (see Table 1), almost all had heard about several of its offerings. There seems to be a clouded connection between Career Services, the unit, and the services it provides.

Table 4: Has a faculty or staff member spoken with you about Career Services?

|Response |Frequency |Percent Valid* |

|Yes |255 |26% |

|No |710 |74% |

|TOTAL VALID* |965 |100% |

* 21 respondents did not answer/did not provide valid answers.

Those who had responded “Yes” to the question “Has a faculty or staff member spoken with you about Career Services?” were asked to provide the name of the person who had engaged them. The purpose of this follow-up question was to gather purely qualitative data that Career Services could use to foster relationships with faculty or staff who were already promoting the unit and to identify areas where relationships need to be developed.

Table 5: Do you receive e-mails from Career Services?

|Responses |Frequency |Percent Valid* |

|Yes |337 |35% |

|No |434 |45% |

|Not Sure |196 |20% |

|TOTAL VALID* |967 |100% |

* 19 respondents did not answer/did not provide valid answers.

Table 6: If yes, how helpful did you find these e-mails to be?

|Responses |Frequency |Percent Valid* |

|Very Helpful |39 |10% |

|Helpful |113 |30% |

|Somewhat Helpful |164 |43% |

|Not at all Helpful |62 |16% |

|TOTAL VALID* |378 |100% |

* 608 respondents did not answer/did not provide valid answers.

Table 7: Do you receive postcards from Career Services?

|Responses |Frequency |Percent Valid* |

|Yes |126 |13% |

|No |678 |71% |

|Not Sure |155 |16% |

|TOTAL VALID* |959 |100% |

* 27 respondents did not answer/did not provide valid answers.

The question of postcards was of particular interest to the marketing team because postcards are an expensive form of communication and produce large amounts of waste. Postcards are sent only to those who sign up to receive

e-mails from Career Services. Although almost 35% of respondents reported receiving e-mails (see Table 5), only 13% reported receiving postcards. Assuming correct reporting on the part of the respondents, this data would imply that 22% of them are receiving postcards without realizing it or are supposed to receive postcards, but are not.

Table 8: If yes, how helpful did you find those postcards to be?

|Responses |Frequency |Percent Valid* |

|Very Helpful |7 |4% |

|Helpful |28 |18% |

|Somewhat Helpful |72 |45% |

|Not at all Helpful |52 |33% |

|TOTAL VALID* |159 |100% |

* 827 respondents did not answer/did not provide valid answers.

With 78% of respondents categorizing postcards as “Somewhat Helpful” or “Not at all Helpful,” it’s clear that only a few students receive useful information from this primary method of advertising.

Table 9: Where else have you received information about Career Services?

|Sources |N |Percent Valid* |

|University web site |532 |61% |

|Missoulian Ads |32 |4% |

|Kaimin Ads |431 |49% |

|Dorm Edutainment Network (DEN) |69 |8% |

|Postal Mail |78 |9% |

|Associated Students of The University of Montana |121 |14% |

|(ASUM) Bus Ads | | |

|Conversations with other students |226 |26% |

|Posters/flyers |379 |43% |

|Orientation |181 |21% |

|First-Year Interest Group (FIG) |52 |6% |

|Other |95 |11% |

|TOTAL VALID* responses |2,200 |100% |

|TOTAL VALID* respondents |875 |

* 111 responses were not valid

Table 10: Which Career Services offerings have you actually used?

|Responses |N |Percent Valid* |

|Career Fairs |389 |43% |

|Griz eRecruiting |245 |27% |

|Mock Interviews |127 |14% |

|Career Counseling |123 |13% |

|On-Campus Interviews |67 |7% |

|Student Employment |232 |25% |

|Ask-an-Alum Program |31 |3% |

|Career/Education Decision Making |70 |8% |

|None of the Above |285 |31% |

|Other |60 |7% |

|TOTAL VALID* Responses |1,633 |100% |

|TOTAL VALID* Respondents |912 |

* 74 responses were not valid

The results shown in Table 10 correspond to those in Table 3. For example, 21.4% of respondents reported having heard about career fairs on campus and 23.9% reported using career fairs. Strangely, more people had used career fairs than had heard about them, a discrepancy possibly explained by a misunderstanding of the question or a vague interpretation of the phrase “heard about.” After “Career Fairs,” the second most frequently reported response was “None of the Above.”

The next question was open-ended. Survey participants were asked to name where they had first learned about Career Services, an important question because it had the potential to provide information about the marketing method that was the most memorable. The responses were coded in nine groups, ranging from “Class” to “Other.” Table 11 illustrates these findings.

Table 11: Where did you first hear about Career Services?

|Response |Frequency |Percent Valid* |

|Class |108 |20% |

|Department |30 |6% |

|Web site |57 |11% |

|Word of mouth |45 |8% |

|Advisor/faculty/staff |40 |7% |

|FIG |7 |1% |

|Orientation |13 |2% |

|Unsure |109 |20% |

|Other |128 |24% |

|TOTAL VALID* |537 |100% |

* 449 respondents did not answer/did not provide valid answers.

A great number of respondents first heard about Career Services in their business and education classes. This information can provide the marketing team with valuable departmental contacts with whom it might further publicize Career Services. Overall, 41.5% of all responses involved communication between people, i.e. “Class,” “Department,” “Word of mouth,” and “Advisor/faculty/staff.”

Table 12: Please rate your overall experience with Career Services. Was it…

|Response |Frequency |Percent Valid* |

|Very Helpful |119 |19% |

|Helpful |302 |48% |

|Somewhat Helpful |174 |28% |

|Not at all Helpful |35 |6% |

|TOTAL VALID* |630 |100% |

* 356 respondents did not answer/did not provide a valid answer.

The knowledge that students are mostly satisfied with Career Services is crucial for marketing. Students who find their experiences “Not at all helpful” are very likely to share their ill opinions through word of mouth, thereby negatively impacting the student perception of Career Services.

The survey included an open-ended follow-up question. Participants were asked to explain what they found useful and not useful about their experiences with Career Services.

Table 13: What is your year in school, currently?

|Response |Frequency |Percent Valid* |

|Freshman |10 |1% |

|Sophomore |44 |5% |

|Junior |343 |35% |

|Senior |527 |54% |

|Graduate Student |50 |5% |

|TOTAL VALID* |974 |100% |

* 12 respondents did not answer/did not provide a valid answer.

Table 14: What is your major?

|Response |Frequency |Percent |

|Social Sciences |195 |19.8% |

|Humanities |118 |12.0% |

|Physical Sciences |64 |6.5% |

|Biological Sciences |44 |4.5% |

|Forestry and Conservation |45 |4.6% |

|Health Professions and Biological Sciences|130 |13.2% |

|College of Technology |26 |2.6% |

|School of Business |190 |19.3 |

|Education |58 |5.9% |

|Visual and Performing Arts |24 |2.4% |

|Journalism |34 |3.4% |

|School of Law |1 |0.1% |

|Other/Undecided |57 |5.8% |

|TOTAL |986 |100% |

After processing all survey results, the team was eager to analyze responses across questions. Table 15 is a cross-tabulation of the responses from two questions—“Do you receive e-mails from Career Services?” and “If yes, how helpful do you find these e-mails to be?”

Table 15: Cross-tabulation of e-mail questions

| |If yes, how helpful do you find these e-mails to be? |

| |Very helpful |Helpful |Somewhat helpful |Not at all helpful |TOTAL |

|Do you receive e-mails from Career Services? |Yes |34 |109 |150 |42 |335 |

| |No |1 |0 |4 |9 |14 |

| |Not Sure |4 |4 |7 |11 |26 |

| |TOTAL |39 |113 |161 |62 |375 |

One participant claimed not to receive e-mails from Career Services, but still reported the e-mails to be very helpful. Thirteen other respondents rated the e-mails, despite the fact that they claimed not to receive them. Of those that reported receiving e-mails, the largest group found the e-mails to be somewhat helpful.

As shown in Table 16, 21 respondents reported not having received postcards, but still rated the postcards as “Somewhat helpful” and “Not at all helpful.”

Table 16: Cross-tabulation of postcard questions

| |If yes, how helpful did you find these postcards to be? |

| |Very helpful |Helpful |Somewhat helpful |Not at all helpful |TOTAL |

|Do you receive postcards |Yes |7 |27 |59 |29 |122 |

|from Career Services? | | | | | | |

| |No |0 |0 |1 |20 |21 |

| |Not Sure |0 |0 |9 |2 |11 |

| |Total |7 |27 |69 |51 |154 |

Table 17: Cross-tabulation of e-mail vs. postcard receipt

| |Do you receive postcards from Career Services? |

| |Yes |No |Not Sure |TOTAL |

|Do you receive |Yes |71 |229 |32 |332 |

|e-mails from | | | | | |

|Career Services? | | | | | |

| |No |36 |349 |43 |428 |

| |Not Sure |17 |97 |78 |192 |

| |Total |124 |675 |153 |952 |

It is interesting to see how many respondents received e-mails vs. postcards, considering both are sent to the same people. Notably, 229 respondents claimed to receive e-mails, but not postcards. Only 36 received postcards, but not e-mails.

The research team thought it important to analyze familiarity with Career Services based on a respondent’s year in school. Since e-mails were meant to be delivered to juniors and seniors, only juniors and seniors are included in the results below. Table 18 is a cross-tabulation of responses to the questions “How familiar are you with Career Services?” and “What is your year in school, currently?”

Table 18: Cross-tabulation of familiarity vs. year in school

| |What is your year in school, currently? |

| |Junior |Senior |

|How familiar are |Very Familiar |15 |37 |

|you with Career Services? | | | |

| |Familiar |78 |143 |

| |Somewhat Familiar |147 |213 |

| |Not at all Familiar |104 |134 |

| |Total |344 |527 |

Most junior and senior respondents reported being “Somewhat Familiar” with Career Services; neither class has a superior understanding of what Career Services does nor the services offered.

To identify whether students in particular fields of study have more familiarity with Career Services than others, the team cross-tabulated the results of two questions—“How familiar are you with Career Services?” and “What is your major?”. For the purpose of this analysis, only the most frequently reported majors were taken into account.

Table 19: Cross-tabulation of familiarity vs. major

| |How familiar are you with Career Services? |

| |Very Familiar |Familiar |Somewhat Familiar |Not at all Familiar |TOTAL |

|What |Social Sciences |12 |38 |76 |68 |194 |

|is your | | | | | | |

|major? | | | | | | |

| |Humanities |6 |28 |49 |35 |118 |

| |Physical Sciences |5 |10 |33 |16 |64 |

| |Biological Sciences |5 |10 |23 |6 |44 |

| |Forestry/Conservation |1 |13 |19 |12 |45 |

| |Health Professions/ |8 |28 |51 |43 |130 |

| |Biomedical Sciences | | | | | |

| |School of Business |12 |50 |84 |44 |190 |

| |Education |3 |24 |14 |17 |59 |

| |Other/Undecided |1 |15 |24 |18 |57 |

The above information reveals that particular departments and majors are more aware of Career Services than others.

Focus Group

Though poorly attended, the focus group did provide meaningful information. Participants were asked about the unit’s marketing and services. One participant was very familiar with Career Services and the other two were not. None remembered receiving postcards in the mail.

Participants were asked to speak about the Ask-an-Alum “Find Fred” program. The research team distributed posters and requested feedback. A common reaction was that the posters were too vague, flashy, and unfocused. Participants thought the signs might be ignored because they are confusing to students not familiar with Career Services or its programs.

RECOMMENDATIONS

One major objective of the assessment was to identify ineffective processes in order to streamline marketing. Based on survey results and focus group responses, the research team recommends that Career Services review its postcard mailing list and determine whether information is accurate. A majority of respondents had not received postcards. Since another objective was to reduce the unit’s environmental imprint, the reduction or elimination of postcards as a form of advertisement is recommended. In addition to reducing paper waste, it would curb the manpower and monetary demands of postal mailings.

Since word of mouth is a cost effective, environmentally friendly method of marketing, the research team recommends that the unit approach academic departments to inform advisors and faculty about Career Services and its many resources. Faculty may be more likely to refer students, not only in one-on-one meetings, but also in classes to a larger number of students. Fostering these relationships could empower Career Services staff and ultimately benefit students.

As a large group of participants reported learning about Career Services via the University web site, it is important that the unit improve and increase its technological marketing methods. Currently, Career Services information is difficult to find online. Perhaps a more obvious link on the UM homepage could entice students, staff, and parents to take a closer look at what Career Services has to offer.

Career Services might consider adjusting its marketing to target particular groups. For example, a poster that says “Do you need a job?” is more likely to catch students’ attention than a poster that says “Career Services” or “Ask-an-Alum.” The focus group revealed that students are driven, generally, by a particular goal. Also, students are not connecting Career Services, the unit, with the services it provides. Enhanced specificity on signage would help to that end.

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