Nichols Office of Career Services announced the results of its annual graduate survey on November 29th, and the results are spectacular: 91.4 percent of the Class of 2011 has secured full-time employment within six months of graduation, a one percentage point increase over Nichols Class of 2010.

“We were confident that our outcomes would be stellar,” says Thomas R. Cafaro, vice president of enrollment & marketing. “Nichols takes great care to integrate into the student experience professional development programs and activities that cultivate and enhance professional skills and readiness.”

Specifically, Nichols' unique Professional Development Seminar (PDS) is a series of four-year, one-credit coursework which logically builds on the prior year, and includes topics such as: transitioning to college and improving study skills; exploring majors and internship opportunities; interviewing, writing resumes and developing portfolios, and launching successful careers. “This exploratory journey connects career and life purposes; thereby, creating significant learning outcomes,” notes PDS Director Andrea Becker. “We provide tools to ensure that our students strategically plan for their future, and this makes them more confident, qualified and prepared for the professional challenges ahead.”

According to the Director of Career Services Liz Horgan, of the 230 graduating with bachelor’s degrees in 2011 (minus two foreign exchange students), there was a 76 percent response rate. Of those 174 respondents, 28 students are attending graduate school full-time and 17 students have delayed the job search for a variety of reasons including studying for the CPA or graduate school exams. In addition, 3.1 percent are employed part-time. “We contacted students through email, phone and mailings,” says Horgan, “and also gathered information from social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

Nichols Office of Career Services has an aggressive program to match fourth-year students with potential jobs, including: yearly hosting one of the largest, New England career fairs; an online job database and resource library called the Road to Success, on-campus recruiting, InterviewStream which enables students to practice interviewing via a webcam and review the results with counseling staff; and sage, hands-on advice on how to effectively use social media to network and glean job opportunities.

Says Horgan: “My department recognizes that it takes four years for students to find their paths; no longer can students wait until their senior year to write a resume or to network for a job. To make intelligent career decisions, students must take incremental, critical steps to hone their talents and skills.”