HEAD START: How campus leaders can help student seeking federal jobs

Thursday, August 11, 2011

How campus leaders can help student seeking federal jobs

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/06/22/senate_hearing_on_inspiring_students_to_join_federal_government_workforce

"At a Senate hearing Tuesday on inspiring students to seek federal government work, one think was clear: the feds need to do a better job of recruiting and hiring recent graduates. What was less clear was whether they know how."

This article essentially addresses that if the federal government wants to employ new college graduates, it must clean up many of its hiring processes. Though similarly, student affairs leaders looking to support students in their desire to pursue government employment must speak up in advocacy for students. Student affairs employees are often times the adults students spend the most time with, and subsequently are the ones who best understand the mentalities of current college students. Student affairs leaders who share what they know with employers seeking to hire college graduates can support consideration for how to revise hiring processes to target new college graduate demographics.

How HEAD START can help: The essence of this problem for busy student affairs professionals and federal hiring agents is finding time to consider and revise their processes to target millennial generation college graduates. HEAD START can offer consultation to both parties in this situation; to address the "how to" question for federal hiring agents for recruiting college graduates, and support student affairs career services offices in translating these processes to students. Contact vaheyk@gmail.com to explore how HEAD START can work for you.

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Why HEAD START?

Higher education and student affairs offices face constant challenges that distract from the essential systemic learning purpose of advanced education. Such challenges include social and political issues, changing technologies, diverse demographics, demands for accountability, and increasing costs. All higher education institutions are faced with similar challenges, regardless whether the type of institution is a large university, regional state institution, community college, or small collegiate environment.

The way that employees respond to these challenges shapes a higher education environment. Specifically student affairs work will demand more creativity and flexibility as these challenges increase in complexity. Achieving professionalism necessary for student affairs staff to excel at their varied tasks requires professional development opportunities to acquire knowledge and skill. Empirical literature demonstrates there is widespread agreement about the value and need for professional development in student affairs. However, despite evidence supporting the need for continual training for employee and organizational development, a number of factors have made this a difficult goal to actualize.

A national review of staff development practices found that most student affairs divisions had inadequate workplace resources, among other issues, including senior staff that had time and skill to provide in-house training, or orientations to support employee best practices. Busy institutional leaders often must focus on immediate concerns and are challenged to provide development strategies for their organization's long term health. The paradox is, improved long term organizational health directly supports employee's daily work life.

Founder and principle for HEAD START, Katie Vahey, M.A., Ph.D., has the experience and skills to provide holistic assessment, program development, and leadership support for long term development in all types of student affairs organizations.

Let HEAD START work for you.