CAREER MANAGEMENT CENTER AWARDED PRESTIGIOUS NACE/CHEVRON AWARD

Old Dominion University's Career Management Center received the 2007 NACE/Chevron Award for its development of the Cyber Career Center.

Presented since 1983, the NACE/Chevron Award recognizes and honors a college member of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) for its development of a groundbreaking program in the career services field.

"We were faced with providing our services to a growing student population, our entire alumni population, and a large national distance-learning program," says Tom Wunderlich, assistant dean of career management. "It was apparent that we needed to provide all career management center programs electronically to students and alumni."

ODU's Cyber Career Center focuses on using existing career center technology in a proactive manner to provide three levels of service: live (face-to-face), live (distance), and self-paced (distance). The Cyber Career Center is located within the Career Management Center.

For clients seeking live, face-to-face service, the Cyber Career Center is staffed from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET with graduate students who are trained as Cyber Coaches. These coaches meet with students and provide traditional walk-in service.

Cyber Coaches also are available to clients seeking live distance services on Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET and on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. During these times, the Cyber Coaches are available to interact via live chat, e-mail, two-way audio/video conferencing, and phone. In addition, they can conduct webinars and video streaming presentations.

The CMC is supported at all times by its Virtual Career Assistants (VCAs), who are provided by a telecommunication answering service. VCAs have available on their computer desktops a script developed with ODU's Career Management Center that defines the interaction with the type of caller, whether it is student, alumni, employer, faculty, or vendor. VCAs also have access to ODU's web site to provide resources and information. All calls taken by VCAs are followed by e-mails to the appropriate career management center staff member, providing caller information, question, and action taken or action needed.

"The VCAs provide a triage service in that they are not trained, nor expected to, perform career advising, resume checks, and such, but they do perform basic information services, such as assisting with technology on our Cyber Career Center, giving directions to other offices on campus, and offering live message referral," Wunderlich explains.

For those who prefer a self-paced career exploration or job search, the Cyber Career Center houses all of the Career Management Center's seminars in an audio/video format. These presentations are available by CD for clients at distance sites who do not have access to a high-speed Internet connection.

"Since the launch of our Cyber Career Center, we have seen an increase in services to our client populations, particularly the alumni and distance student populations," Wunderlich notes.

The Career Management Center will be honored during the NACE National Meeting, which will be held May 29 to June 1, in New York City.

Since 1956, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has been the leading source of information about the employment of college graduates.