Bentley University’s mission to ‘educate creative, ethical, and socially responsible organizational leaders by creating and disseminating impactful knowledge’ perfectly complements the goal of Associate Vice President of University Career Services, Susan Brennan to ‘improve outcomes and expand Bentley’s reputation in the global marketplace.’ In the spring of 2013, Brennan had a vision to expand and strengthen the role of career services on the Bentley student experience in educating and preparing students for career success. One aspect of the plan to reinvigorate Career Services was to develop a brand of consistency and success, recognizable to current and prospective students, employer partners, the campus community, and other career services professionals at large.
The uConnect platform is engineered to reflect and promote the brand standards of each individual institution. As new clients are onboarded, they gain ownership over a dynamic, powerful platform that looks and feels native to their organization.
In the Fall of 2013, uConnect took Bentley's existing strengths and created an institutionally branded and public facing platform to showcase the unique strengths of the Bentley University career education experience. uConnect worked closely with Brennan’s team to customize the platform to make engaging with the career center fun, easy and, most importantly, a natural part of day-to-day college life. Behind the scenes, the career department began utilizing uConnects career service marketing tools to promote career community specific content, events, opportunities and more. This combination allowed the Bentley team to engage the entire campus community of students, employer partners, alumni, parents, and faculty in dynamic career information and resources. A specific implementation goal of the project was to raise visibility and drive utilization - so students could better capitalize on Bentley’s robust career offerings such as a dedicated job board, alumni mentoring tools and one-on-one peer career advising.
“More than any other tool or resource, our brand propelled us to Princeton Review's #1 Career Center in 2016”
Since implementing the uConnect platform, University Career Services has seen monthly online engagement with their career center increase by 12x since 2012. This In August of 2016, Bentley was awarded Princeton Review’s #1 for Career Services. When asked about how uConnect contributed to this designation Brennan stated, ‘We’ve completely changed how we engage students, alumni and employers in career services, helping us increase visibility and elevate our brand, both on campus and across the industry.’ In February of 2017, the University was ranked #1 for Internship Opportunities by Princeton Review.
Conclusions:
- Increased community engagement
- Optimized career center branding and marketing practices
Below are stories from schools that rely on uConnect to highlight career pathways and outcomes to transform the student experience.
