What Does it Take to Promise a Career?

In my previous blog post, I discussed the topic of career services offices providing guarantees as a means of building credibility for their programs and services. This caused a flurry of discussions on various LinkedIn Groups, primarily focused on the idea of guaranteeing jobs (to which most were strongly opposed). Although guaranteeing jobs was not the focus of my article, I did provoke the discussion by mentioning the University of Regina’s recent launch of the “UR Guarantee” which promises a great career after graduation. By no means am I suggesting that others should copy this strategy, but I am interested in the implications of this guarantee for the field of campus career development. What can we learn from this strategy?

First a little background.

The UR Guarantee (details are here) is built on the strength of the university's co-operative education program and commitment to experiential learning, and promises all students who complete the guarantee requirements a career-oriented job within six months of graduation. If students don’t get a good job, then they are entitled to an additional year of undergraduate study at no cost. Participation in the guarantee is optional and to qualify students must participate in a variety of career development activities each year during their studies.

The program was launched last fall, so the school won’t know if it attracts more students for a while and they won’t have students graduating with the guarantee for a few more years. Here are a few more important points:

• This is primarily a recruitment initiative driven by anticipated enrolment challenges
• It is being implemented from the senior administration down with the president leading the campaign
• It has been accompanied by a significant investment in additional career development staffing and resources

It’s worth noting that with 12,000 students, U of R is the smaller and lesser known of the two universities in the province; it draws very few students from outside the province and is facing a declining demographic in terms of potential students in the region in years to come. It is also in a province that has weathered the recession extremely well in terms of youth employment.

So what’s a small university that is not well known with a declining enrolment base and great employment programs to do? How about addressing almost every student’s number one priority when considering post-secondary studies: careers!

On one level, this new initiative is so obvious I almost hesitate to call it brilliant. (And I know some are going to call me crazy for referring to this as “brilliant.”) And I can hear a few of the objections:

• Isn’t this just a marketing ploy? (Yes, it is, but one that promotes career development for all students.)
• How can you believe every student will get a job? (You can’t, but you can promise to help those who don’t succeed right away.)
• Doesn’t this take us back to the dark ages of “placement”? (Securing a great career is still the students’ own responsibility. If four years of engagement in career development activities and experiential education doesn’t give them the tools they need then…)
• What about the “unemployable” students we all have but don’t talk about? (UR would much rather give them extra attention than pretend they don’t exist.)

Haven’t we all been yelling from the rooftops for years that universities need to pay more attention to students’ career development? Isn’t this a great way to ensure investment in career services and experiential programs? And isn’t this bound to help other schools understand the value of investing in this kind of support? Sounds to me like it’s good for everyone – except possibly those schools that have to compete with U of R for new students.

It’s not really my goal to promote the UR Guarantee; nor am I suggesting that other schools should adopt this strategy. My interest is in looking at what this program implies for other.

This is what I take from the existence of the UR Guarantee:

1. When confronted with enrolment challenges, universities that take their planning and research seriously must address the fact that no outcome is more important to prospective students than their career opportunities.
2. A real commitment to student career development requires leadership from the president on down and from all corners of the campus.
3. This program clearly recognizes that students’ opportunities for career success are significantly enhanced by integrating career development throughout the post-secondary experience (and one school believes that strongly enough to invest in it up front and risk expense later if it doesn’t work).
4. For a university itself to feel confident that it can deliver on the promise of a successful career outcome, it must offer every student comprehensive programming delivered in all years of study.

Whether or not a university offers a guarantee, or even actively promotes career outcomes, the promise of a better career and a higher salary is implicit in the recruitment process at every school.