While The University of Alabama Career Center offers many different services for current students, such as resume critiques, career fairs and career advising, they also offer services to recent graduates.
The Center continues contact with graduates up to six months after graduation. Amanda Ingram, assistant director of operations at the career center, said the center conducts surveys beginning at graduation time.
“Historically, the Career Center has conducted surveys at the request of the College of Engineering and the Culverhouse College of Commerce,” Ingram said. “More recently, additional colleges have expressed an interest in our collecting data for their colleges.”
Ingram said the Career Center began collecting for the College of Communication & Information Sciences and the College of Education this past summer. They have received additional requests and as a result will be adding additional colleges in the near future.
New graduates are emailed an electronic survey before graduation. If the student completes the survey and indicates they have secured employment, will be attending graduate school or have joined the military, then the students are recorded as placed and are no longer surveyed.
“If a recent graduate indicates they are still seeking or fails to respond to the survey, then we conduct follow-up surveys both electronically and by phone,” Ingram said. “Our Career Center provides services to alumni for life. For those who are still seeking after graduation, we would encourage them to contact our office.”
Employment rates vary by major and graduation period and depend on the labor market and a variety of other factors. The most recent completed surveys, also known as First Destination Reports, can be found at career.ua.edu.
Travis Railsback, executive director for the Career Center, said the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the primary professional organization for college and university career centers, is in the process of developing a standardized approach for use by all higher education institutions.
“Despite the strong interest shared by many in knowing where students are going post-graduation, there is not one universally accepted method of collecting this data,” Railsback said. “As a result, institutional comparisons are routinely confusing and sometimes inaccurate.”
Brittany Fossett, a May 2012 graduate of the Culverhouse College of Business, said she used the Career Center as a student for the career fairs.
“I went to a couple different career fairs to help me find a job,” Fossett said. “The Career Center and the career fairs were beneficial in helping me find a job by the time I graduated.”
