GCCA | Graduate Careers Council of Australia

Graduate Careers Australia

ergo - Number 88 September 2002

E-Careers Management Systems in Australian Universities: An Overview

Rapidly evolving information management systems have had a revolutionary impact on all industries over the past decade, but perhaps none more so than the services sector. In Australia, university careers services have widely embraced communications technology, and in recent years a number of different models have been employed in careers services around the country which exploit the potential of instantaneous, replicable electronic communication and its capacity to efficiently manage and store information.

Electronic Careers Management Systems, or “e-careers management systems” have been adopted by many institutions as total solutions for the storage and dissemination of student, careers, administrative and employer data. These tasks have historically been performed using a wide variety of tools including physical noticeboards and “snail-mail” newsletter lists, and with a greater requirement for one-to-one contact between careers staff and students. Electronic communication and information storage has replaced a number of these delivery methods, or in many cases is used side by side with more traditional services to provide greater levels of efficiency for students, employers and other stakeholders.

E-careers management systems in Australia are often developed in-house by university careers services seeking to streamline their procedures. This will generally take place with the input of an external party such as the university’s IT department, or in consultation with suppliers or software vendors. Alternatively, pre-packaged systems such as the CareerHub system are increasingly being adopted, as they can be tailored to a particular institution’s needs. Two differing approaches are examined below.

The RMIT University Experience

RMIT Career Development and Employment (CDE’s) e-career management system is still being refined, but in the past couple of years a number of new systems have been installed to make the collection, management and dissemination of information more efficient. Primary among these has been the staged introduction of an Employment Services Portal (ESP) which is currently utilised to advertise jobs and to allow students to build and store online resumes. The ESP is used to send out emails and a database is being developed which will allow statistics to be collected and analysed, as well as student case notes stored confidentially. RMIT careers has also introduced the group management system software GroupWise to allow multiple online access to staff appointments, activities and meetings; this has provided efficiencies for both staff and management in dealing with students and CDE’s workload.

With increased efficiency and heightened customer service the stated aims for the introduction of these systems, RMIT has found that electronic information management and delivery offers a degree of responsiveness not previously available. The ESP system was developed by NGA Software in association with CDE and RMIT Training, ensuring that the system was compatible with the institution’s existing systems as well as the needs of the careers service. Some training was required, but the implementation of both ESP and GroupWise has thus far been smooth and relatively unproblematic.

While these increased efficiencies have meant that immediate response times are expected and have in a sense stretched staff resources further, the effect has been largely positive, as CDE has experienced an overall increase in demand for its services. The value for offshore, rural and regional students has also been demonstrated as they are able to be more “in touch” with university careers activities and services, and this has led to “enhanced service delivery” for all students.

The CQU Experience

The Central Queensland University careers service currently employs the CareerHub system, specifically developed for university careers services. Before the introduction of CareerHub, CQU used a system of mailing lists, noticeboards and the careers services website; today these are still used in conjunction with the new software. One of the primary reasons for introducing CareerHub was the difficulty of ensuring the currency of advertised vacancies, as well as the ability of students to limit their searching to jobs which were of specific interest to them. These problems were addressed by the system, which provides a “one-stop shop” for students and prevents them from having to keep track of job notices posted over a longer period of time, in addition to allowing counsellors to reach the many distance learning CQU students. The CareerHub package consists of core components and optional modules which can be introduced later, allowing it to be tailored to the needs of each particular careers service and institution. Additionally, it allows multiple administrators and provides for students and employers to update permissible parts of the database such as personal details, or in posting job ads. Other options, for example employer activity histories and ad hoc email facilities which can be used to target registrants by year level and degree program, are also available.

Introduction of the CareerHub system was relatively easy at CQU, with most staff merely requiring a one-on-one session with a more experienced user and subsequently finding it fairly intuitive. Apart from the efficiency gains, the system can particularly benefit more pro-active students by assisting them in careers searches, whilst also making less career-focused students easier to reach. The CareerHub system also targets specific help for technical problems (monitored by the university’s Information Technology Department) for student users and administrators, and access to career counselling is also quickly and easily facilitated.