Business Liaison & Career Office Strategic Planning

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ThisreportisacombinedeffortoftheBusinessLiaisonandCareerServicesoffice,ACT
faculty/administrationandACTstudents.Morespecifically,thoseacknowledgedbelowcontributedto
informationandideaspresentedinthisdocument:
1. Dr.PanosVlachos
2. Dr.ArchontisPantsios
3. Dr.DavidWisner
4. Dr.NikosKourkoumelis
5. Prof.VassiliBlatsa
6. Prof.ManoliMaou
7. Ms.ElliKosntantinou
8. Mr.TheodorePapanestoros
9. Ms.ArianKotsi
10. Ms.LauraStrieth
11. Dr.BillTempleton(AssociateDean,CollegeofBusiness,ButlerUniversity)

Also,previousCareerOfficerswhoprovidedtheirinput:
1. Ms.ElenaCharalambides
2. Ms.KaterinaIoannou

Finally,specialthankstoProf.ArgyrisSpyridisMarketingResearchclass.Thegroupofstudentswho
undertookaprimaryresearchamongthestudentbodyonbehalfoftheofficeconsistedof:
1. GjokaIgla
2. KesisisIoannis
3. LenaKristina
4. LeraXheni
5. MilovicMina
6. SerdarisAsterios
7. StefanovaSvetlana

andspecialthankstothe60ACTstudentswhoprovidedtheMarketingResearchgroupwiththeir
time,completedthequestionnaireandparticipatedinthefocusgroups.

Sincerely,
DimitrisDiamantis
BusinessLiaisonandCareerOfficer
June2010

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Current Situation:
The office needs both re-engineering and re-branding.

The Career Services has never been a strategic priority of ACT. All the efforts made to revitalize
it where based on each officers experience, ideas and capabilities resulting in mixed identity of
the office and poor performance for ACT students and alumni.

What students are thinking?
A research conducted among the students revealed that almost 20% of the students asked, do
not know the Career Office exists at all, while the rest are confused with regards to the services
offered and the value received of those services. The overall perceived quality of the Career
Office is very low, with 90% of the students asked believing the quality of its services are poor
or fair (71% said poor, 19% said fair, 10% said good and none said it was excellent). In
addition, those who have visited the career office have mixed feelings regarding the quality of
the specific services offered. Although Career Building (e.g. resume coaching) and Career goals
scored high among students, 85% of those asked are extremely dissatisfied with the J ob Search
/ Business Liaison services (Please refer to Appendix 2 for students paper).

Also, the students mindset is not career oriented but student oriented up until the last
semester, when they demand a job placement (not just an opportunity). Most of the students
do not realize the lack of their knowledge and skills regarding the market realities, job search
and career planning, while they often have a groundless elitist approach to job search and
selection.

This lack of ability to pursue a career and compete in the job market may result in de-valuing the
education they acquired in ACT, since they cannot transform this education and effort into a job
or career.

Career Office Status Quo:
The offices problems could be summarized in the following:
Mixed Focus: Over the years, the office did not have a clear focus of services (career
services, housing, recommendation letters, etc). That resulted in having a mixed identity
among the student body with students having a distorted picture of what this office can offer
to them (which, in turn, results in reduced use of the services).
Management distraction: Usually, the Career Office has been consisted of one full time
employee, who was also working on other (unrelated) tasks as well. That resulted in
managerial distraction, which resulted in the officer managing tasks rather than managing
the office and the strategy of the office. The office was trying to do a little of everything,
resulting in the officers putting a lot of effort with results that left the students unsatisfied.
Low tech tools: Most of the offices archive is in hard copy while its tech progress is limited
to email lists on XL files. No online communication, resume progress, job posting, etc tools
exist. Also, there is not CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system in place, which
makes the relationship building with external partners (companies) time consuming and ad-
hoc.
Lack of ongoing training: The school did not invest in the officers training (seminars,
workshops, databases, books, etc), while the work load resulted in getting some superficial

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data from online resources that the office did not have the time of clearness of mind to read,
digest and use.
No research: No research at all was happening. All information has been based on personal
relationships and ad-hoc emails. The office does not have any data about the alumni (where
do they work, their emails, etc). Also, it has no data at all regarding the current student body
and it goals, so as to streamline its efforts accordingly. Mostly, the officer is based on his/her
own personal experience to make assumptions of how to provide the services (e.g. resume
writing, job opportunities, and market realities) rather than on data.
Ad-hoc PR strategy / relationship with other departments: Although the people are eager to
collaborate, the overall system limits their ability. Multiple departments communicate with the
same companies for different purposes, without a unified approach.
Limited resources: Limited personnel, tech support and overall resources result in one
person trying to do many things, in inefficient ways.

The combination of all the above have resulted in offices mediocre (if not poor) performance,
despite the efforts of the officers. The services students were getting did not prepare them
enough for entering the market of their choice, while there was no career orientation at all.































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Career Office Re-Engineering & Re-branding:

The Career Office should be a strategic priority of ACT and a strong selling point for new
students and funders. It needs to be a 4-year effort with a program parallel to the academic
program that will help students develop and hone career and life skills early enough, so that
they will be ready to get a quality internship(s) before graduating and be ready to get a quality
job once they have graduated. That program will focus (progressively) on:
Setting / understanding academic and professional goals
Acquiring career and work/life skills
Having practical experience (internship, real life projects, etc)
J ob/career opportunities
The immediate priority of this strategic plan is on ACT students. Once this program creates solid
foundation, then it will be in position to offer more services to ACT alumni as well. The two
strategic priorities that summarize the above are:
Work/life mindset and skills
Quality job/career opportunities

STRATEGIC PRIORITY 1: Work/life mindset and skills:
Through a curriculum-like program, the Career Office will provide students with those skills that
will help them identify the most appropriate major (with relevance to the work realities and their
personality), develop their job search skills (e.g. job search tactics, resume building, etc) and
teach them how to manage daily work situations. The ultimate goal is not only to help students
find a job; rather, it should provide them with skills that they will be able to use in any time
during their career, while helping them form a career/work path that suits both the market
realities and their personality and aspirations.

STRATEGIC PRIORITY 2: Quality job/career opportunities:
The career office should not be a placement agency; rather, it should provide students with
opportunities and the skills to pursue them. Under that goal, the Career Office is to become a
partner of companies with regards to their hiring needs. Since many jobs are covered through
word-of-mouth, ACT needs to be one of those mouths. In addition, it should provide students
with opportunities to acquire practical experience so that they become more competitive in the
beginning of their careers.

The means to achieve those goals will be:
Given the difficult economic circumstances, the office should institutionalize a strong student
internship program and invest in technology that will facilitate its daily operations. More
specifically (indicative list):
Staffing (a combination of full time, part time, interns, work-study)
Staff training
Technology (CRM, online communication tools, online career platform)
Curriculum based approach
Increased public relations and collaboration with companies
Career related resources
Career Office marketing and branding (e.g. stationary, presentation, etc)
Synergies with other local organizations and institutions


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STRATETIC PRIORITY 1: Work/life mindset and skills

The concept behind this priority is to provide students with all those skills and mindset that will
allow them to make the appropriate academic decision and prepare for the market realities after
graduation. In order to change the students achieve that there should be a 4-year Career
Program, in collaboration and parallel to the official academic program, that will provide students
with all those tools and skills that will help them make appropriate decisions and prepare for the
life after college.


The following goals have been set the realizing this strategic priority:
Goal 1: Appropriate choice of major
Goal 2: Market realities
Goal 3: J ob search / career skills
Goal 4: Life skills

Each student will have career account. This account will have Career Credits and Career
Requirements. All activity will be documented in this career account.

Career credits: Each event will have a credit value. For a student to be able to have access to
certain career activities (e.g. internship) he/she must collect a certain number of credits. This
does not affect in any way their academic progress or graduation; it will just prohibit them to
take a full advantage of all the job/career opportunities ACT has to offer, operating as a motive
to actively participate in the Career Program.
Career requirements: Required career course(s) and resume/cover letter/interview coaching.



Apart from the year-specific described below, at all times students will be have access to the
following services:
Career Newsletter
Online resources / reference tools
Walk-in advising / personal coaching for resume writing, cover letter writing, and interview
preparation.

Also, on top of the activities mentioned below, special workshops should take place for:
i. International students, focusing on legal & cultural issues of working in Greece and/or
EU.
ii. ACT faculty, focusing on career counseling in order to be equipped to provide career
guidance to students.







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F
R
E
S
H
M
E
N

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION
C
R
E
D
I
T

V
A
L
U
E

R
E
Q
U
I
R
E
D

C
R
E
D
I
T

P
R
E
-

R
E
Q
U
I
S
I
T
E
S

Self
assessment
In collaboration with specialized HR professionals,
psychologists, etc a series of in-class exercises,
questionnaires, etc will take place that will help
students assess their standing. This will happen
once every year.


Personal goals
setting
In collaboration with the Career Officer and the
Academic Advisor each student will set his/her short-
term (semester/year) and long-term (after
graduation) goals. This will updated annually.


Concentration
series
A year-long series of events (lectures, presentations,
round-tables, workshops, etc by ACT faculty, ACT
seniors, alumni and professionals who represent the
majors/minors of the school).


Parent
workshops
A series of events similar/parallel to the
concentration series that will help parents acquire
those needed skills that will help guide their children.




















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S
O
P
H
O
M
O
R
E

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION
C
R
E
D
I
T

V
A
L
U
E

R
E
Q
U
I
R
E
D

C
R
E
D
I
T

P
R
E
-

R
E
Q
U
I
S
I
T
E
S

Self
re-assessment
Repeat/update the assessment that took place in the
previous year.



Personal goals
re-setting &
evaluation
Repeat/update the personal goals setting that took
place in the previous year.



Concentration
series
A year-long series of events (lectures, presentations,
round-tables, workshops, etc by ACT faculty, ACT
seniors, alumni and professionals who represent the
majors/minors of the school).



Career Class A pass/fail or for-credit class (could be half-semester
course) concentrating on introducing students to
career related concepts, skills, etc (e.g. resume
writing, networking, job search tactics, cover letter
writing, interviewing, etc). This can complete a full-
course credit value with the career course of the
sophomore year.
























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J
U
N
I
O
R

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION
C
R
E
D
I
T

V
A
L
U
E

R
E
Q
U
I
R
E
D

C
R
E
D
I
T

P
R
E
-

R
E
Q
U
I
S
I
T
E
S

Self
re-assessment
Repeat/update the assessment that took place in the
freshmen & sophomore years.


Personal goals
re-setting &
evaluation
Repeat/update the personal goals setting that took
place in the freshmen & sophomore years.


Internship 101 A class focusing on internship-related issues: how to
manage daily work life, work ethics, addressing
problems with employers and colleagues, making an
internship more productive, etc. This can complete a
full-course credit value with the career course of the
sophomore year.


Internship
panels
Students discuss past internships and answer
questions to assist each other in identifying and
securing internship opportunities


Mentoring
program
Students are assigned a mentor (professional
and/or ACT alumni who matches the aspirations and
personality of the student).


Career events
Workshops / Seminars / Lectures in (indicative list):
Company/Industry profiles
Developing your personal network
Resume writing
Effectively marketing yourself to companies
Writing Cover and Thank-You Letters
Interview types and skills
Evaluating and negotiating offers
Effective networking
Career fair preparation
Starting your career
J ob searching
Industry panel discussions
Round tables for careers in the majors/minors the
schools offers (professionals, alumni)


Structured for-
credit
internship
and/or co-op
Part of a class that offers a combination of in-class
teaching and hand-on experience OR semester-long
posting in an internship which substitutes course
credits. All students should be insured and the goal is
for as many students as possible to being paid (e.g. a
sponsorship on behalf of the company that will


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provide a scholarship for that student for that

semester).

ACT faculty should participate in a committee that
would screen and decide on the internships, in
collaboration with the Career Office.

The internships could either be individual internship,
team internship (please see Appendix 1, Task 9:
team internships/individual internships)

Internship / co-
op support
On-going support for the students who have an
internship, for addressing issues relative to their work
ethic, experience, problems with employers, etc.


On-line
platform
access
J ob postings & resume postings.
































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S
E
N
I
O
R

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION
C
R
E
D
I
T

V
A
L
U
E

R
E
Q
U
I
R
E
D

C
R
E
D
I
T

P
R
E
-

R
E
Q
U
I
S
I
T
E
S

Self
re-assessment
Repeat/update the assessment that took place in the
freshmen, sophomore & junior years.


Personal goals
re-setting &
evaluation
Repeat/update the personal goals setting that took
place in the freshmen, sophomore & junior years.


Internship
panels
Students discuss past internships and answer
questions to assist each other in identifying and
securing internship opportunities


Mentoring
program
Students are assigned a mentor (professional
and/or ACT alumni who matches the aspirations and
personality of the student).


Career events
Workshops / Seminars / Lectures in:
Researching Company/Industry Profiles
Developing Your Personal Network
Writing Effective Resumes
Effectively Marketing Yourself to Companies
Writing Cover and Thank-You Letters
Interview Types and Skills
Evaluating and Negotiating Offers
Effective networking
Career fair preparation
Starting your career
J ob searching
Industry Panel Discussions
Round tables for careers in the majors/minors the
schools offers (professionals, alumni)


Structured for-
credit
internship
and/or co-op
The same as with the sophomore year.


Internship / co-
op support
On-going support for the students who have an
internship, for addressing issues relative to their work
ethic, experience, problems with employers, etc.


On-line
platform
access
J ob postings & resume postings.



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STRATEGIC PRIORITY 2: Quality job/career opportunities

The concept behind this priority is to provide students with all those tools, experiences and
opportunities that will help them successfully compete for the jobs, careers and lives that fit not
only their skills but also their personality and aspirations. The school should not assume the
responsibility (neither raise the expectation) of placement for all students; that should be each
students responsibility. The offices responsibility should be to provide all those skills,
opportunities and tools that will help the student to assume that responsibility.

The following goals have been set the realizing this strategic priority:
Goal 1: Bring in more job opportunities
Goal 2: Create internship/project opportunities
Goal 3: Expose students to market realities
Goal 4: Provide resources

Given the student break-down, the efforts should be primarily concentrated in the following
areas:
1. Greece
2. Albania
3. FYROM
4. Bulgaria
5. Serbia

Also, special effort should be
given to provide
opportunities for non-Greek
speaking students in
Greece, aiming at serving
the important population of
US students. Thus, each
goal set (and tasks
employed to realize each
goal) should have an
additional and special focus
in uncovering opportunities
that require less Greek
speaking skills.










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In order to achieve the goals of this strategic priority, several tasks have been employed. These
tasks can be used all together or in any combination.




TASKS DESCRIPTION
TASK 1:
PR with companies
The office will create an archive of companies for each
major/minor (in the countries of interest). Also, it will have an
archive of companies own by alumni or companies where alumni
work. Once every month an intern will contact the company to
see whether they have staffing needs. The Career Officer will
make the first contact and will visit partner companies (ones
that offer internships, etc).

TASK 2:
Online platform for
resume and job posting

(e.g. http://www.symplicity.com/career_services_manager_csm)

TASK 3:
Year-round on-campus
recruiting
Companies need personnel year-round. Once they have access
to ACT students and alumni, they will be able to review their
resumes and conduct on-campus interviews at the time and day
of their preference.

TASK 4:
Motives for companies to
inform us for job
openings / internship
Most of the jobs never reach the ACT Career Office not even
job posting outlets; rather, they are covered through word-of-
mouth and personal relationships. In order to be one of those
mouths, we can provide a free credit for each job opening a
company offers for training their employees. Apart from the job
openings that may reach ACTs community, that company may
invest in paying for the rest of the degree/courses since they
have already attended a couple classes.

TASK 5:
Year-round on-campus
company presentations
The Career Office can facilitate presentation of leading
companies on-campus.


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TASK 6:
Year-round company
visits
Groups of students will visit leading / representative companies
of each major/minor the school offers, in order for students to see
the life in one of these companies.

TASK 7:
Media analysis
The Office will follow the business and career news in order to
identify opportunities.

TASK 8:
Updated and active
alumni professional
network
The office will regularly contact alumni in order to update their
info and professional standing.

TASK 9:
Team internships /
individual internships
Individual internships: a structured internship, with specific job
description, goal, timeframe etc by an employer that has been
approved by the career office (and maybe a team of ACT
Faculty). This internship is either offered in parallel to a class
(both theory and practical obligation) or as an alternative for a
class (for-credit internship).

Team internships: an approved employer provides a specific
project to a team of students: 1 senior (team leader), 2 juniors.
This team internship allows non-Greek speaking student to
increase the pool of potential internship offers, while the
employer has a team of 3 working on a specific project. Again,
the structure has to be in place (description, goals, timeframe,
etc).

Ideally, internships will be offered for credit, while the employers
would sponsor part (or total) of those students credits (company-
sponsored scholarship).

TASK 10:
Real-life projects in
collaboration with higher
level classes
Students will participate (under the guidance of their professor) to
a real-life project as part of their class.

TASK 11:
Career Fair
The goal of the career fair is to bring together potential employers
with ACT students not necessarily for immediate hiring. In order
to make this more appealing to more businesses and to
companies from other Balkan countries, this has to take place in
collaboration with other local institutions. The market is small, the
big companies are few and the individual private colleges are
small. The creation of many small career fair results in poorer
results than a big joint career fair. Alternatively, ACT could co-
organize it with other institutions (e.g. Anatolia, American
Chamber of Commerce, American Farm School, etc).


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Also, each specific task employed to realize the strategic priority should be aligned with the
majors/minors provided by the school. Thus, internships, company visits, etc should be in
industries whose field of operations is represented by a respective major/minor in ACT. Thus,
the focus should be in the following 12 areas:
1. Business Administration
a. Banking & Finance
b. International business
c. Management
d. Marketing
e. Human resources
f. Entrepreneurship
2. Computer Science
a. Computer science
b. Business & Computing
c. Multimedia / Digital Media
d. Web Development
e. Networking
3. International Relations / European & Balkan Studies

Secondary priority should have the following:
1. Media & Communications
2. Social Studies
Finally, each task has been broken down to sub-tasks, accompanied by the performance
metrics and staffing required for its realization. For more details please refer to Appendix 1.

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APPENDIX 1:
Strategic Priority 2 subtasks, performance metrics & staffing needs

TASK 1: PR with companies
T
A
S
K

0
1

SUB-TASKS PERFORMANCE
METRIC
STAFFING
NEEDS
Contact with companies for acquiring new
job openings/opportunities.
Number of contacts /
month
Interns

Visit companies for building personal
relationships and promoting ACTs students.
Number of visits per
month
Activity that was
generated after this
visit (e.g. company
presentation, job
opportunities, real-
life project, etc)
Career Officer


TASK 2: Online platform for resume and job posting
T
A
S
K

0
2

SUB-TASKS
PERFORMANCE
METRIC
STAFFING
NEEDS
Student tools: upload resumes, complete
personality profile, view job openings
Reporting and
Analytics relevant to
the traffic and
actions on that
platform
Automated
process

Alumni tools:

Employers tools: post jobs, view resumes

Career Office tools


TASK 3: Year-round on-campus recruiting
T
A
S
K

0
3

SUB-TASKS
PERFORMANCE
METRIC
STAFFING
NEEDS
Allow companies to view student resumes
and allow on-campus recruiting.
Number of resumes
sent for each
opportunity.
Number of
companies having
on-campus
recruiting.
Number of students
getting an interview.
Number of job
offers.
Interns

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TASK 4: Motives for companies to inform us for job openings / internship

T
A
S
K

0
4

SUB-TASKS
PERFORMANCE
METRIC
STAFFING
NEEDS
Provide motives to companies (e.g. course
credit accumulation) for each job opportunity
they offer.
Number of job
openings.
Number of students
applying.
Number of
interviews.
Number of job
offers.
ACT
administration
decision that
will follow
communication
with
companies.


TASK 5: Year-round on-campus company presentations
T
A
S
K

0
5

SUB-TASKS
PERFORMANCE
METRIC
STAFFING
NEEDS
Company presentations on-campus Number of company
presentations
Number of students
participating
Follow-up activities
(e.g. recruiting,
openings, projects,
offers, etc)
Interns


TASK 6: Year-round company visits
T
A
S
K

0
6

SUB-TASKS
PERFORMANCE
METRIC
STAFFING
NEEDS
Groups of students will visit companies to
better have an insight of their operations
Number of
companies
expressing interest.
Number of company
visits.
Number of students
participating.
Follow-up activities
(e.g. recruiting,
openings, projects,
offers, etc)
Career Officer







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TASK 7: Media analysis
T
A
S
K

0
7

SUB-TASKS
PERFORMANCE
METRIC
STAFFING
NEEDS
Follow business news to proactively identify
opportunities



Interns


TASK 8: Updated and active alumni professional network
T
A
S
K

0
8

SUB-TASKS PERFORMANCE
METRIC
STAFFING
NEEDS
Regular personal calls for updating alumni
contact info, professional standing, etc
Number of alumni
contacted per month
Interns

Online publication of alumni professional
standing
Number of alumni
on that list
Automated
process


TASK 9: Team internships / individual internships
T
A
S
K

0
9

SUB-TASKS
PERFORMANCE
METRIC
STAFFING
NEEDS
Team internship: 2 junior, 1 senior (and
team leader) that will undertake an in-house
project for a company.
Number of project
offers.
Number of students
expressing interest.
Number of teams
hired.
Evaluation of the
project/students by
the company.
Career Officer

Individual internships: structured
internships for individuals
Number of
internship offers.
Number of students
expressing interest.
Number of
interviews.
Number of
internship offers.
Evaluation of the
project/students by
the company.
Career Officer


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TASK 10: Real-life projects in collaboration with higher level classes
T
A
S
K

1
0

SUB-TASKS
PERFORMANCE
METRIC
STAFFING
NEEDS
Project assignment on groups of students,
as part of higher level classes
Number of
companies.
Number of students.
Evaluation of the
project/students by
the company.
Career Officer
ACT Faculty


TASK 11: Career Fair
T
A
S
K

1
1

SUB-TASKS
PERFORMANCE
METRIC
STAFFING
NEEDS
Targeted college Career Fairs (business,
computer, IR) in collaboration with other
local private & public institutions of higher
education (combined Career Fair, individual
interview sessions in each school)

In Thessaloniki there are:
Business:
4 private institutions
5 public departments

IR:
2 private institutions
3 public departments

Computer:
3 private institutions
5 public departments
Number of
companies
participating.
Number of students
participating.
Number of
interviews
conducted.
Number of offers
made.
Career Officer
Interns