Networking Beyond PSE: Chambers of Commerce

To work in student affairs is to collaborate with others. Our partnerships on campus go from physical resources to faculty and everyone in between. Extending partnerships beyond our institution's borders to businesses, community groups and local leaders is not as common, or at least not done in as consistent a manner.


The Canadian Chamber of Commerce just released a report, Canada's Skills Crisis: What we heard (found here), which states one of four key priorities for the chamber is "Improving the connections between educators and employers to balance supply with demand for skilled trades and highly skilled occupations."

Countless opportunities exist for collaboration between educators and business, especially when one considers: collectively student affairs professionals have access to over 1 million students who are enrolled in post-secondary education (PSE) in Canada and the chamber represents "192,000 businesses of all sizes in all sectors of the economy and in all regions"

Getting a job is the main reasons students enrol in PSE today (CUSC, p27). Expanding our network beyond our campus community will help us better meet the most important need our student's express. Tapping into an established network, like your local chamber, will be one of the fastest and most efficient ways to do this. The Canada's Skills Crisis: What we heard report indicates we have a willing partner who can facilitate connections between us and businesses.

Lifelong learning requires Lifelong learning advisors

The best sales people stay in contact with their clients long after the initial sale. In my experience, I rarely hear from a sales person again after I buy a product or service. If I do hear from a sales person it will typically be to sell me more of the same; never to follow up on the previous sale or simply to grow our relationship.

Sadly, colleges and universities are poor at sales. A significant amount of resources are put into marketing higher education to traditional students - those coming directly from high school. An excellent example of this is the Ontario University Affairs. Marketing and sales are not the same though. Marketing makes (potential) clients aware of a product or service whereas sales secures a commitment from clients to generate revenue.  

Any good problems present good opportunities and learning is no exception. Consider that
the amount of knowledge that exists is doubling as fast as every year and future job needs are nearly impossible to predict. This situation presents an infinite number of opportunities to "sell" learning. In other words, people will need to continually be learning to keep up with new knowledge and skills required to remain relevant and effective in the employment market.

As the need to learn continues increasing in importance the opportunities to guide learners how to learn efficiently and effectively will grow. This guidance will be supplied best from someone who knows you, your background and the previous knowledge you've gained. Who better to fill this role then colleges or universities. We have the expertise, data and relationships to be lifelong learning advisors to our students. All we need is the system to bring these factors into alignment. Career centres are well positioned to leverage this opportunity. A website like Linkedin or job listing sites like Workopolis or Monster could also fulfill this need. All that's left now is to see who will capitalize on this emerging opportunity.



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Name Tags for Everyone!

Have you ever been introduced to someone only to forget their name 10 seconds later? I have on many occasions. Coming into my new role in housing at uWaterloo where I would be responsible for 100 full-time staff and 200+ student staff I'll admit I was a little concerned with how I was going to remember everyone. Fortunately a solution was already in place.

Long before I arrived one of the housing staff, I believe one of the cleaning staff, suggested all of the full-time staff should wear name tags. Obviously a simple solution. Smart too. Yet few staff in higher education have adopted name tags. The result is missed opportunities.

One obvious missed opportunity is the barrier to strike up a conversation with a colleague. Another is making higher education a little easier for our students. Staff or students who can identify (other) staff and then address them by name will be that much more comfortable and more likely to engage in conversation. For new students this can be invaluable. I've been stopped by random people - students, parents and staff - walking round the uW campus over the past couple of weeks likely in large part because I'm wearing a name tag.  While I have not always had the answer people have engaged with me at a time they needed assistance. Student affairs staff are known to be helpful and often identify strongly with qualities related to helping others. Wearing name tags will help us help others even more.