Hidden Gem Recipient Loyola University – How to Best Run Career Services

College Recruiter, the leading niche job board used by recent college graduates to find entry-level jobs and students to find internships, chose Loyola University as one of 12 winners of its 2015 Hidden Gem Index for being one of the best colleges and universities for employers who want to hire high quality graduates who majored in business.
College Recruiter used its custom research product to generate the rankings. The modeling for this hidden gem school project was to identify schools which featured high SAT/ACT scores for entering students, high average starting salaries for the regions in which the schools were locates, a high percentage of graduates working in their chosen field of study, and a majority of the graduating class available for recruitment by employers.

Andrea McEwen Henderson, National Account Manager for College Recruiter, hosts in today’s webinar Hassan Akmal, who joined Loyola as Director of Business Career Services. Who in May 2014 after a very successful five-year career as a Visionary, Career Thought Leader, and Director of Career Services at multiple locations in both New York and Southern California, and Wren Donofrio, Assistant Director of Business Career Services: Employer Outreach & Relations. Who has over 6 years of higher education experience and leads our Project Enhance- leveraging and connecting our employer outreach and recruiting strategy with a qualitative, quantitative and robust client management focus that benefits the university at-large.

Topics Discussed:

1. How is your career services department different than the other universities around Chicago?

• It is state of the art – career passports, software, diversity, and visible. Students can see employer tables easily, alums come back all of the time, and gives the students an easy approach of their career vision.

2. How do you prepare your students for employment after graduation?

• Some students view internships and entry level jobs as something they can get without practice, but the truth is that’s not the case for most students. We target students at the beginning of their college education, constantly have employers on campus, get the students to understand what networking is, have them look over their LinkedIn profile and resume, and try to get them to find their best fit for their professional vision.

3. How many commitments a year should an employer consider?

• The number of commitments vary for different employers, the best (most satisfied) employers, have a minimum 4-5 commitments a year. The career week we encourage employers to have dialogues with students before the career fair in the normal recruiting season. They can accept resumes and schedule an interview before normal recruiting season as well. On-campus interviews are a very good strategy and can occur from the beginning of the career fair to the end of the recruiting season. We also allow informational interviews, real time sessions – this is where alumni can have 20 minutes one on one with the students.

4. What are employers doing right and wrong when it comes to attracting top talent from Loyola University Chicago and Quinlan School of Business?

• Coming onto campus and getting commitments throughout the year is a great way and gets free branding for employers. It’s a great way to get to know the students on a personal level before recruiting them, raising awareness for your company, and become a fabric of the business school. By taking tours, having good relations with the students, and following the model that the school sets up for students interested in programs. These employers should get a feel for the campus, have real relations, and be able to give feedback, which can progress the graduates career.

5. How prepared are Quinlan graduates when it comes to Career Readiness? What about professionalism in particular?

• The faculty encourage the students to at least say hi to career services office when starting their first semester. By graduating year, the students feel comfortable talking with employers and asking questions. We want them to not wait until career development to start thinking about their opportunities and encourage them to look at their resume and cover letter. We use a “passport to success”, which is a checklist which they receive stamps as they go to events, then they take a survey on their readiness and how they can improve their professionalism. These “passports” are really working for getting the students engaged; take this process seriously and to their advantage.

6. Why do the employers keep coming back to Quinlan to recruit and have some many alumni?

• Employers keep coming back to foster a community. Those employers use alumni to go back to connect with their old schools to go and talk to the students. They seem to really resonate with the current students as a mentor and are very effective at relating to the students.

Bios:
Hassan Akmal joined Loyola as Director of Business Career Services in May 2014 after a very successful five-year career as a Visionary, Career Thought Leader, and Director of Career Services at multiple locations in both New York and Southern California. He’s committed to coaching career-seekers who will strengthen our global business system. He aims to foster a university-wide, living career culture that’s vibrant, celebrates/breathes success, and that’s readily visible. As he leads an impactful team, he hopes to help students connect passion to purpose, and instill “career readiness” while bridging new lines of communication and collaboration that champion change—commensurate positive change. He is a former Chief Executive Officer for a global not-for-profit that focuses on Forced Migration and Health, Financial Advisor for UBS Financial Services, and Business Development Manager. Akmal, a former professional tennis player and member of the UCLA Men’s Tennis Team, also completed a five-year contract as an International Right to Play Athlete Ambassador to the United States. His undergraduate degree is from the University of California, Los Angeles and he has a graduate degree from Columbia University. He recently graduated with a second graduate degree, a Master’s in Business Administration with a Concentration in International Business and plans to pursue his doctorate in 2015. Phone: 312.915.7813 Email: hakmal@LUC.edu
Title: Assistant Director of Business Career Services: Employer Outreach & Relations
Phone: 312-915-6665   Email: wdonofrio@luc.edu
Wren Donofrio, Assistant Director of Business Career Services: Employer Outreach & Relations, has over 6 years of higher education experience and leads our Project Enhance- leveraging and connecting our employer outreach and recruiting strategy with a qualitative, quantitative and robust client management focus that benefits the university at-large. Her true passion is motivating students, helping launch their careers, and offering career guidance aligned with job opportunities to the next generation of industry leaders. She holds her undergraduate and graduate degrees from DePaul University in Public Relations/Advertising and Education and is pursuing her MBA at Loyola University.