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Career Services, use by employers - Spring 1998

Overview  

In late spring 1998, an employer survey was mailed to the 900 recruiters on the Career Services mailing list at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The survey was designed and administered cooperatively by Career Services and the Office of Planning, Budget and Analysis and included questions about how recruiters perceive Career Services’ programs and customer service quality, and how they regard the CU-Boulder students they encounter in interviews and as employees. Ninety-nine surveys (11%) were returned, and the results are presented in this report. 

Highlights 

Employers indicated their satisfaction with two aspects of Career Services at CU-Boulder: first, the services that Career Services provides to employer/recruiters, and second, the quality of the students that these recruiters interview and hire. Only 11% of employers who received surveys actually responded to the survey; thus, it is important to interpret results with caution. 

Ratings of Career Services as a provider of services to employers and recruiters  

I. Recruitment programs  

• The employment fairs sponsored by Career Services are well-regarded by respondents. The internship fairs and career fairs were given some of the highest satisfaction ratings.
• On-campus interviews for both internship and career positions received among the highest satisfaction ratings.
• The lowest-rated programs are career vacancy announcements and resume referrals for internships. Both of these services received more low than high satisfaction ratings. These also are the least used programs among the nine services rated by employers.
• In general, the programs that are used the most by respondents are also the programs with the highest satisfaction ratings.
• Respondents tend to use programs geared toward career positions more than they use internship recruiting services. 
• Respondents feel that CU-Boulder’s Career Services compares favorably to Career Services at other schools; 79% of respondents rate CU-Boulder’s Career Services about the same as or better than other schools’ programs.
• Sample comment:
• "Limit the career fair to only serious students so we don't have so many resumes from people not wanting to work. Also a fair for only engineers would be great so I don't have to constantly tell other majors we aren't interested." 

• Respondents are generally quite pleased with the quality of customer service provided directly by Career Services. Handling of the employer’s initial inquiry, follow-up assistance, accommodation on specific dates, and interactions with Career Services staff were all rated highly by 92-97% of respondents. 
• The only customer-service aspect with an average rating below 3 ("satisfied") is on-campus parking.
• Sample comments:
• "We receive notifications regarding events and services much better than other schools we work with."
• "(1) Parking meters often broken. (2) Difficulty in getting dates as some employers are allowed to reserve several rooms for several days, effectively blocking out certain weeks."

I. Overall ratings  

• Respondents are positive about CU-Boulder interviewees, giving students above-average ratings on all skill domains about which they were asked. 
• In particular, respondents agree that CU-Boulder interviewees have good self-presentation and interpersonal skills, but relatively poorer ability to analyze real-world problems and knowledge of the interviewers’ organizations.
• Sample comments:
• "We have always been pleased with the students that we hire. They are always in the top of their group performance-wise. Several have turned into managers - for this reason we always go back to CU."
• "I find more CU students want to be paid more and work less." 

 
• On average, Engineering and Business majors are rated favorably, and ratings for these two groups are quite similar. 
• In all cases, CU-Boulder students are judged at least as good as, if not better than, interviewees and new hires from other schools. 
• Those respondents who evaluate only Engineering students tend to rate the following skills most highly: computer skills, listening skills, math and quantitative skills, and research skills.
• Those respondents who evaluate only Business students tend to rate the following skills most highly: self-presentation, interpersonal skills, flexibility, and leadership.
• Sample comments:
• "Your I.S. degree has become worthless in the field. Please re-evaluate what these students must do/learn and make them of some use either to business or computer industry. Currently, they don’t know either one at all."
• "On one or two occasions, we interviewed students who were mismatches, e.g., hardware interest versus our software needs. Part of this was our fault for not reviewing resume thoroughly. In general, CU engineering and computer science are of excellent quality."

To receive a copy of the report, or details on any of the feedback provided by respondents, contact Michael Deragisch at Career Services, (303) 492-4123, or by e-mail at Michael.Deragisch@Colorado.edu

Last revision 07/08/05