Assessment Details
Academic Year: 2020-2021 Level: Undergraduate
Campus Department: Student Affairs [UG and Grad]
Program Type: Co-Curricular Program [UG and Grad]
Program Name: Campus Interviews (Link)
Description of Data Collection:
In previous years, employers who interviewed students through on campus recruitment at the Career Center were given a hard copy survey at the end of their recruiting day. Due to COVID-19, however, all OCR interviews were conducted virtually in FY21. In advance of the interview day, an email was sent to the employer recruiting contact who used our services to schedule interviews, which included a link to an online survey. We requested that the employer recruiting contact forward the email to the specific representative conducting the interviews. The interviewer was asked to complete the online survey at the conclusion of the interview day. Employers conducting campus interviews will be encouraged to complete a post-survey at the conclusion of the interview day via Campus Labs. Through this assessment, we measured:- Likert scale questions that relate to the program’s operational and learning outcomes; – Satisfaction with the overall Boston College student candidate pool as well as specific elements of the students’ level of preparedness to perform well during the interview process.
Operational Outcomes: 28 total employer respondents out of a pool of 32 unique employers that participated in virtual recruiting managed by our office, resulting in 802 interviews. Given the fact that interviews were conducted virtually, we received significantly fewer responses compared to FY19-20 (179 employer respondents, 2006 interviews and 100 unique employers).
Review Process:
The program lead (Recruiting Manager) administers the post-survey. The program lead interprets and analyzes the data in collaboration with other members of the employer engagement team, particularly the AVP, and one assistant director. The data is reviewed mid-semester after peak recruiting periods to enable the Career Center team to address areas in need of improvement during the current academic year.
Resulting Program Changes:
Overall, BC students perform well during campus interviews and overall employers agree or strongly agree that 90% of our students achieved the three learning outcomes listed above. Our goal, however, is to ensure that we increase the percentage of employers who strongly agree that our students have met these learning outcomes and that did not occur. We actually saw a decline in 3 of the 4 learning outcomes from percentage of employers in the strongly agree category based on employer responses (students researched organization and position sufficiently (53.57%, increase of 4.42%; demonstrated appropriate interview techniques (60.71%, decrease of 4.26%; articulated connections between skills and experience relate to the position 46.43%, decrease of 12.89%; and displayed proper professional presentation and attire (75%, a 17.05% decrease). In addition, while our students perform very well overall with behavioral interviews (61% of employers strongly agree), the percentages were significantly less for technical (16% strongly agree) and case interviews (11% strongly agree), indicating that these could be areas to focus on for improvement.
We plan to provide students with additional resources and interview coaching, training, and preparation to enhance interviewing skills. Ideas we are considering, include offering students more training on case and technical interviews and possibly provide a mock interview program to allow students to practice interviewing skills in a simulated setting. While we would like to implement some of these changes this year, COVID-19 may impact the timeline. FY19-20 was the first year the program has been assessed and the pandemic made it difficult to implement significant structural changes particularly since interviewing occurred in a virtual environment. We also hypothesize that some of these declines occurred because both employers and students were adjusting to a virtual interview format. We plan to institute some of the recommendations noted in #6 in FY22 and will be in a better position to measure whether our efforts are having an impact after the FY22 fall recruiting season.
Date of Most Recent Program Review:
Overall, BC students perform well during campus interviews and overall employers agree or strongly agree that 90% of our students achieved the three learning outcomes listed above. Our goal, however, is to ensure that we increase the percentage of employers who strongly agree that our students have met these learning outcomes and that did not occur. We actually saw a decline in 3 of the 4 learning outcomes from percentage of employers in the strongly agree category based on employer responses (students researched organization and position sufficiently (53.57%, increase of 4.42%; demonstrated appropriate interview techniques (60.71%, decrease of 4.26%; articulated connections between skills and experience relate to the position 46.43%, decrease of 12.89%; and displayed proper professional presentation and attire (75%, a 17.05% decrease). In addition, while our students perform very well overall with behavioral interviews (61% of employers strongly agree), the percentages were significantly less for technical (16% strongly agree) and case interviews (11% strongly agree), indicating that these could be areas to focus on for improvement.
We plan to provide students with additional resources and interview coaching, training, and preparation to enhance interviewing skills. Ideas we are considering, include offering students more training on case and technical interviews and possibly provide a mock interview program to allow students to practice interviewing skills in a simulated setting. While we would like to implement some of these changes this year, COVID-19 may impact the timeline. FY19-20 was the first year the program has been assessed and the pandemic made it difficult to implement significant structural changes particularly since interviewing occurred in a virtual environment. We also hypothesize that some of these declines occurred because both employers and students were adjusting to a virtual interview format. We plan to institute some of the recommendations noted in #6 in FY22 and will be in a better position to measure whether our efforts are having an impact after the FY22 fall recruiting season.
Attachments (if available)