Monique Frost, a Consultant with The Collective, connected with Faith McClellan, Dean of Career Development, and Deb Wijnhoven, Assistant Dean of Employer Partnerships and Career Communities at Smith College.
Smith College has leveraged ongoing advisory services such as in-person retreats and training sessions from the Career Leadership Collective. The following is a discussion about how having a thought partner has helped transform career services at Smith College.
Learning to Scale Across the Career Ecosystem
Faith McClellan emphasized that having The Collective as a thought partner has primarily influenced their shift toward scale and impact across the campus ecosystem. "The biggest transformation has been getting buy-in from all our staff about working with cross-campus partners strategically to implement programs in partnership rather than in isolation," she explains.
Deb Wijnhoven builds on this, highlighting their new approach to partnerships: "We've engaged employers in a way that we have never done before, certainly not in the 26 years that I've been at Smith. Now, they feel like they have contributed to aspects of the partnership. We can go to a faculty member and say, 'This is a community that's tied and tethered to the work that you're doing.' For the first time, they respond with, 'We get it. This does feel like it's for us.'"
Integration into Campus Life: Early Engagement Success
The impact of changes that involved integration into everyday aspects of campus life is already evident in the numbers. "In the past two years, we've seen a 20% increase in first-year engagement," Faith reports. "Over one-third of our first-year students have participated in workshops during orientation alone, and about 90% completed an online asynchronous learning module on Clifton's strengths."
Deb further discussed the concept of "career everywhere" through their career communities initiative. "Students are starting to feel a sense of belonging within their area of interest. We're excited about what that looks like in a four-year arc."
Fostering Belonging and Building Confidence
One of the most significant achievements has been increasing student access to alumni networks and building networking confidence. Faith shares that "over 50% of our students are engaged with alumni on our career connect platform powered by People Grove."
The results of their social capital development programming have been particularly impressive. "100% of students reported increased career networking confidence, and nearly 80% said they felt an increased sense of belonging at Smith," Faith notes.
Deb highlighted their successful Inclusive Recruiting Summit in partnership with Wellesley College: "We had long wait lists both years of the summit, and what was interesting was the participation from underrepresented populations who wanted that access to networking and felt they could be themselves."
Faculty Engagement and Innovation
Implementing guidance from the retreats led by The Collective, Smith College has systematized faculty engagement through a faculty career partners program. About 25% of faculty are now actively engaged with the career center, which includes co-teaching courses, networking events, and curriculum development.
Deb also shared a successful example: "The Career Communities Team hosted a trek to DC in partnership with a faculty member, visiting sites including the Pentagon and high-level nonprofits. Having a faculty member working side by side with us has a real impact on student participation."
Data-Driven Decision Making
Smith College has shifted from focusing solely on first-destination outcomes to measuring career mobility throughout the student journey. Faith stated that we have embedded career learning outcomes measurement in four cross-campus surveys throughout the four-year developmental lifecycle.
"The metrics tell us a story about who we might be missing and who's a frequent flyer," Deb explains. "We're curious about those outcomes – did they land the job they wanted, get the internship or fellowship?"
Looking to the Future
The team is preparing to move into a new building, Faith shares, thus co-locating with the Leadership Development Center. Students will be design partners in this space, including working with an artist to create a mural representing leadership and the future of work.
We are also expanding skills training programs. "We're focused on tech skill building," Deb shares. "We're partnering with external entities and bringing in alums to deliver tech content training, including blockchain and AI/machine learning courses. We're looking at emerging technologies that students need in their portfolio as they prepare for the hiring process."
Through these initiatives and their partnership with the Career Leadership Collective, Smith College continues to innovate and enhance its career development services, creating more inclusive and effective pathways for student success.
The Career Leadership Collective aims to empower career staff and senior administrators with the knowledge and expertise to weave career readiness into the fabric of their institution. To learn more about how the Career Leadership Collective can help revolutionize career services on your campus, Contact Nick Cattin, Senior Manager of Consulting and Training.