urveys are a great way to gather information about your college’s student population and document their needs and wants. Just think about how many times you have referenced NACE’s survey that measured important skills for a job candidate. When you look at their survey results, you get quick and easy access and insight into the skills employers want their new hires to possess. The data tells the story. Surveys are a powerful communication tool you can use to create greater awareness of your career services and programs. Besides being easy and inexpensive to design and implement here are additional advantages of using surveys:
- Develop PLO’s: Build program-learning outcomes based on students’ needs and priorities.
- Document SLO’s: Track and verify information on student-learning outcomes via follow-up surveys.
- Build Credibility: Provide survey results to administrators, faculty, and funding sources to validate the need for and value of career services.
- Gain Faculty Support: Share information and ways to collaborate with instructors for greater student success.
Career Counselor and Chair of the Career Center at CCSF, Indiana Quadra, worked with a team of resourceful career counselors to develop a Career Readiness Survey (CARS). For several years this survey was served up in a paper pencil edition and now it lives online for students to access as part of their on-line matriculation process at CCSF or at the Career Development and Placement Center. The intention of the survey is to assist new students in self-assessment and direct them to the career services and resources at CCSF. This 30-question survey is easy and quick and provides students with specific career course recommendations and/or other career-related referrals at CCSF, based on their responses. In addition, the survey captures and stores students’ email addresses and allows the Center staff to send appropriate career information to students throughout the year.
Michael Regan, Assistant Director of the Student Development Career Center, utilizes a four question Career Decidedness Survey. This short survey allows students to identify themselves as either “undecided” or “decided” about their career choices. Over the years, about 42-44% of students have grouped themselves in the “undecided” category. Michael has shared the data with college administrators to document the need for career center programs, and with faculty to encourage more collaboration between the career center and the college classroom. The survey is part of the online matriculation process and the data is accumulated and analyzed each semester.
Informal surveys do not need to be complicated or expensive. The guidelines for writing online survey really do not vary from a paper-pencil version. Try our five question “Big Idea” Survey. Then write your own 5 to 10 question student survey using Survey Monkey’s free trial to try it out.
Big Ideas is brought to you by the California Community College Chancellor's Office Statewide Advisory Committee for Career Development.
Please contact Rita Jones (rjones@occ.cccd.edu), Chair of the statewide Career Development Advisory