Experience Counts! Leveraging Internship/Externship Experience to Secure Employment for your Graduates. Join highly-rated APSCU speaker Ann Cross of the Sparrow Group and Connie Johnson Ed.D, Chief Academic Officer at CTU for this interactive and engaging workshop about standardizing and implementing institutional wide externship best practices. This is not a theoretical workshop- You’ll hear stories of success, see data that supports employment outcomes and leave with tools that you can take back to your institution and use immediately.

1. Experience Counts! Leveraging
Internship/Externship Experience to
Secure Employment for your Graduates
Dr. Connie Johnson
Ann Cross
Mary Beth Ryder

2. Many Thanks to Turning Technologies

3. Ann Cross
Executive Partner
Anncross012@gmail.com
Dr. Connie Johnson
Chief Academic Officer
Cjohnson@coloradotech.edu
Mary Beth Ryder
Strategic Partnership Manager

4. About Us
The Sparrow Group
Proven Student Engagement Success
The sparrow is known for being nimble, quick,
loyal, and attentive to details, and for unusual
vision which enables them to see opportunity from
a great distance.

5. About Us
Colorado Technical University
Founded in 1965, Colorado Technical
University (CTU) provides higher education for
today’s career-focused students and offers
students support, flexibility and resources to
advance personally and professionally.
CTU offers associate, bachelor’s, master's,
and doctoral degrees. CTU’s main campus is
in Colorado Springs, CO, with campuses in
Denver CO.; Sioux Falls, SD; and North
Kansas City, MO.
Nearly 25,000 students attend CTU through
ground campuses or online platform.
Approximately 82 percent of our students
attend CTU’s web-based Virtual Campus.
 Colorado Springs
4435 North Chestnut Street
Colorado Springs, Co 80907
 Denver
3151 South Vaughn Way
Aurora, CO 80014
 Sioux Falls
3901 West 59th Street
Sioux Falls, SD 57108
 North Kansas City
520 East 19th Avenue
North Kansas City, MO
64116

6. What You Will Learn
 Trends in experiential learning
 Identify executive level strategies
 Practical tools - What Works!
 Data, Data, Data- 3 Innovations
 Site Development
 Bonus! Leverage social media, alumni networks and
technology to improve employment outcomes

7. TELL US ABOUT YOUR COMPANY
One
Cam
pus2-10
Cam
puses>10Cam
puses
ConsultantorVendor
Other
0% 0% 0%0%0%
1. One Campus
2. 2-10 Campuses
3. >10 Campuses
4. Consultant or Vendor
5. Other

8. TELL US ABOUT YOU
Cam
pusAdm
inistration
CareerServices
Education
Adm
ission
StudentServices
Vendor/Consultant
0% 0% 0%0%0%0%
1. Campus Administration
2. Career Services
3. Education
4. Admission
5. Student Services
6. Vendor/Consultant

9. WHY IS THIS TOPIC IMPORTANT TO
YOU?
W
e
are
looking
fortactic..
W
e
need
datato
suppor...
Because
w
ew
antto
im
p...Allofthe
above
Other
0% 0% 0%0%0%
1. We are looking for tactical tools to
help manage intern/externship
2. We need data to support the
importance of experiential
learning offerings for all programs
3. Because we want to improve
employment outcomes and want
to see some best-practices
4. All of the above
5. Other

10. Why Employment Outcomes Matter
The Perfect Storm
 Major Lawsuits against highly selective
institutions
 Gainful Employment legislation
 Obama Administration dialogue
 Media coverage - “The Value of Higher
Education”
 Accreditors
 Economy
 Prospect shopping research

11. Experiential Learning is Everywhere
Experience is King!
• Portfolio project
• Internship/externship
• Volunteer work
• Related work
• Experiential assignments
• Capstone Projects

13. Impact of Experiential Learning
1. 83% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that
“work/internship experience acquired before, or during, graduate
school results in greater employment opportunities upon
graduation.”
2. Undergraduates in a business school were more likely to receive job
offers if they had completed an internship
3. Intern alumni had higher salaries than non-intern alumni
4. Internship statistics from the National Association of Colleges and
Employers' (NACE) 2009 Experiential Education Survey:
• 67.7% of 2007-08 interns were offered fulltime positions
• 83.6% of these offers were accepted
• 35.3% of employers' fulltime, entry-level college hires came from
their internship programs.
1) Cassidy, 2010
2) Gault, Leach and Dewey, 2010
3) Gault, Reddington and Schlager, 2000

14. Proof of Concept
“Internships help students see practical applications for what they learn in the classroom
and clarify their own career aspirations (regarding not just what they want in a job, but
also what they don’t want)” –Inside Higher Ed, 2012
 According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), over 55%
of 2012 graduates who took part in NACE’s 2012 Student Survey completed an
internship or co-op.
 NACE’s 2012 Job Outlook survey found that 73.7% of employers prefer to hire job
candidates who have relevant work experience.
 The 2012 NACE Internship & Co-op Survey found that the number of internships is
expected to increase by 8.5%.
 NACE 2010 Student Survey: Graduates with internship experience are more likely to
receive a job offer than graduates without this experience (42% vs. 30%)
 81% of employers who participated in the 2010 Association of American
Colleges and Universities survey said that completing an internship or
community-based field project to connect classroom learning with real-world
experiences would help to prepare college students for success.

16. BOTTOM LINE?

17. Executive Level Oversight
Standardize, Implement & Manage
Case Study

18. What Experiential Learning Data Tells You
 Area’s for curriculum improvement
 Area’s for student soft skill improvement
 Area’s for student practical skill improvement
 Is your Institution meeting the demands of the market?
 Which companies are most likely to hire
 Cultural fit of your students to specific companies
 Which Employers offer the best learning environments?
 Who are the market influencers?
… Just to name a few!

19. WHAT TOOLS ARE YOU CURRENTLY USING TO
MANAGE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING PROGRAMS?
OurStudentInform
atio...
OurSIStrackssom
e
thin...
It’salltracked
m
anually
(..
W
e
have
an
Experientia...
Other/Idon’tknow
0% 0% 0%0%0%
1. Our Student Information System
(SIS) tracks everything
2. Our SIS tracks some things, and
we do others manually
3. It’s all tracked manually (in MS
Excel, or paper documents)
4. We have an Experiential
Learning Management System
(ELMS) such as RXPreceptor
that tracks everything
5. Other/I don’t know

20. ELMS
Job Board
Student
Portal
Site
Portal
Field
Instructor
Portal
Faculty
Portal
ELM Admin
Portal
Document
Management
Experiential Learning Management System -
Must Haves!

21. Preceptor ViewRxPreceptor-

22. RxPreceptor- Student View

23. Administrator ViewRxPreceptor-

24. RxPreceptor: Feedback
Preceptors/Employers
“RxPreceptor made it extremely easy to
approve time.”
“RxPreceptor was very useful and easy
to navigate.”
 76.7% of preceptors surveyed felt
very or extremely comfortable with
navigating the RxPreceptor site.
 50 employers/preceptors have an
RxPreceptor login and are actively
working with students to complete
their PLE hours.
Students
“RxPreceptor was a fantastic
organizational tool and communication
tool that was super easy to use!”
“Rxpreceptor was helpful and easy to
understand.”
 81% of students surveyed agreed or
strongly agreed that they felt
comfortable with navigating the
RxPreceptor site.
 About 550 active students have an
RxPreceptor login. These students
are in various stages of their physical
PLE.

25. Evaluating ELMS

26. ANALYTICS TO GAUGE
OUTCOMES

27. Innovation: New Data
Data, Data, Data
• Employment Velocity
• Employment
Forecasting
• Employment
Dashboard
• Employ-Ability Index

28. Employment Velocity
Employment Velocity
The speed at which our graduates are employed
Graduate and start my job, not graduate and start my
job search!
Days from Graduation Percent Employed
At graduation* 50%
30 70%
60 80%
90 85%

29. Employment Forecasting

30. Employment Dashboard

31. Employ-Ability Index
 5 Assessment Points
– Month 1
– Early Term Skills Class
– Mid-Term
– Late Term Skills Class
– 1 Month prior to Externship/Internship
 10 Professionalism Criteria
– Reflects behaviors and characteristics deemed critical to
success in todays workplace
– Reflects attributes, tools, practices and skills equipping a job
seeker to compete for desirable positions

33. “Employ-Ability” Index
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Comm Attitude Timely Reliable Organized Image Feedback Team Integrity Application
New Student
Early Tenure
Mid-Tenure
Near Graduation
Graduation

34. Mitigation Strategies- Employ-Ability Index
Series of 8 Soft-Skill Workshops
1. New Beginnings- Your Map to
Success
2. Interviewing Strategies for Success
3. Maximizing Social Media to get a
great job
4. Conducting a Successful Job Search
5. Writing a Winning Resume & Cover
Letter
6. Time Management for the Busy
Graduate
7. Internship/Externship Excellence! Your
Open Door to a New Career!
8. Professionalism!

35. Which tools do you already use?
(Select all that apply)
Regularem
ploy...
Em
ploym
entfor...
W
eeklydashboa...Em
ploy-ability...
None
oftheab...
0% 0% 0%0%0%
1. Regular employment velocity
reports
2. Employment forecasting
3. Weekly dashboard
4. Employ-ability indexing
5. None of the above

36. Best Practice
Maximizing Social Media
&
Career Service Branding
What Works!

37. Establish a Career Services Brand

39. State of Talent Acquisition
 People no longer find jobs, employers seek
and source talent
 Online networks at the core of recruitment
 LinkedIn corporate hiring solutions used by
85 of the Fortune 100, $486.4 million spent
by employers in Q2 2012
 Digital identity is becoming increasingly
important for candidates competing for
opportunities in a competitive market
Source: LinkedIn investor relations
Jobvite social recruiting survey, Aug. 2011

40. LinkedIn Networking
 The nature of online networks today allow for powerful influence among professional connections
 Student joins a university and broadcasts that update to professional network – a tacit endorsement
of school/program
 Graduate completes education and changes jobs, indirectly influencing network on their career
achievements

42. Site Development
Leveraging Relationships

43. What is your greatest challenge when
recruiting new employers?
Findingenough...
Em
ployersprev...Em
ployerslack...CareerService...
Other
0% 0% 0%0%0%
1. Finding enough sites
2. Employers previous
experience
3. Employers lack of knowledge
regarding benefits to them
4. Career Services lack of effort
or ability to “sell” the benefits
5. Other

45. Innovation:
The New Internship
Site Development and Management
• Make it easy for employers to participate with clear
roadmap to becoming a site
• Provide site managers with training
• Provide employers with “perks”
• PAC participation
• Access to resources from campus
• Always say thank you
• Manage sites “out” when they don’t hire

46. Best Resources for New Sites
 Alumni - leverage social media
 Students - rewards & recognition
 CS Staff- tie site-development to performance reviews
 Faculty - bonuses, incentives, contests
 University Brand - cross pollination (across departments)
 Culture - support the idea that “Employment Outcomes” is
everyone’s job!
Make them stake-holders to create buy-in!!!

47. Ann Cross
Executive Partner
The Sparrow Group
anncross012@gmail.com
www.sparrowgroup.biz
http://www.linkedin.com/in/anncross
Questions??
Thank you!
Please feel free to contact us with additional questions.
© Copyright 2013 The Sparrow Group. www.sparrowgroup.biz
Dr. Connie Johnson
Chief Academic Officer
Colorado Technical University
cjohnson@coloradotech.edu
www.linkedin.com/pub/connie-
johnson/42/601/a33/