6.7 Field Visit
The center shall organize field trips to selected organizations to help students understand how organizations work by visiting their facilities, meeting with managers and recently hired students. The trip to factories or facilities will help students increase their exposure on how organizations operate. If possible, participating employers will be asked to sponsor the field trip by providing bus tour and luncheon reception.
6.8 Virtual Career Services
The CDC through its website will avail online information that can be accessed by employers and students. Employers can post vacancies and their profiles and search for students based on their needs. Students can build their CVs and apply for jobs online. The website will also avail career information and guidance to users free of charge. The virtual career center will be accessible to graduating students from all colleges and institutes of the university and its access will not be limited to those students participating in the career expo. This is to say that students who miss the physical career expo will be able to participate online. Furthermore, all company information and jobs will be posted online.
6.9 Gender Mainstreaming and Disability Access
The center shall take a conscious effort to assist female students to overcome challenges of finding a job. It is common understanding that female students often receive fewer paying jobs and promotion than their equivalent counter male students. So, the center will organize workshops and trainings to help female students know how to negotiate for better pay and jobs, how to build their confidence to present their qualification and how to avoid and deal with potential sexual harassment during interviews.
The center shall provide technical assistant to students with disabilities in collaboration with HU Gender & HIV Directorate & Ethiopian Center for Disability Development. These include creating awareness about diversity and hiring student with disabilities to organizations, availing sign language interpreter for deaf students to attend workshop and trainings as well as accompanying translator during interviews and provide Braille print out to visually-impaired students.
6.10 An Entrepreneur Incubator Services
The entrepreneur incubator program will look to offer students who are willing to be entrepreneurs' laser-focused support to develop their ideas. Therefore, the incubator will be looking to mentor student innovators and provide access to information and in some cases seed money that would allow them realize their dreams of establishing their own businesses.
The program will also provide seminars that are related to entrepreneurship. This will be a service provided for free to all students interested in starting up their own business. In this regard, students are expected to be innovative and take part in venture capital fairs to provide them with an opportunity to pitch their business ideas/projects to potential investors who can finance or offer mentorship towards the success of the projects.
6.11 Establishing Alumni Network & Student Ambassadors
Alumni are among the best candidates for institutions' leadership, philanthropy, and goodwill ambassadors and they are increasingly becoming mentors to current and prospective students. For these reasons, institutions of higher learning cannot afford to lose touch with their graduates. Alumni represent the past, but they provide the foundation of an institutions future. Too often, because the return on an institutions' investment in alumni takes time, schools are less apt to make effective alumni relations a top priority. It is therefore paramount that each university and tertiary institution makes it a priority to establish a network of all their graduates and keep in constant contact.
Student ambassadors are very vital in most institutions of higher learning. They address the needs of all students. They serve as a lesson to student organizations and assist in the development and implementation of specific projects. Their participation provides an invaluable link to the student body and representatives for the office EDCRC as well as selected academic departments. They also establish meaningful supportive relationship with student's faculty and staff. Student ambassadors create a sense of belonging and develop a sense of connection.
In summary, the following typical activities will be in place in CDC.
- Offering trainings on career planning and job searching.
- Organizing activities such as job fairs & expos & recruitment sessions during which students & employers can meet for interviews or informational sessions.
- Develop & maintain career resources library that includes employers & candidate assessment.
- Organizing workshops & trainings, & resume writing, employer recruiting techniques, interview skills & entrepreneurship.
- Creating & updating a database with authorized student information for potential employer review.