Ken Buckley
Baylor students are attaining jobs and grad school positions at an elite rate. The University’s most recent placement rate is 92 percent, and the Baylor University Career Center has played an important role in helping students build a successful approach to their career. Ken Buckley serves as Assistant Vice Provost in the Baylor University Career Center. In this Baylor Connections, he shares how the Career Center partners with students and adds value to their Baylor education.
Transcript
DEREK SMITH:
Hello and welcome to Baylor Connections, a conversation series with the people shaping our future. Each week we go in depth with Baylor leaders, professors, and more discussing important topics in higher education, research and student life. I'm Derek Smith, and today we are talking about student jobs placement and more with Ken Buckley. Baylor University's career center helps students navigate each step of the career journey with effective programming and tailored support to help students land at jobs and internships. Ken serves as assistant vice provost in the Baylor University Career Center, a two-time Baylor graduate who spent 24 years in the high-tech industry sector. He's the co-author of the book, College to the Career You Love and enjoys serving students and helping them realize their career dreams and helping them take ownership of their career progression. A lot of exciting things going on in the career center these days. Ken Buckley, pleased to have you with us to share today.
KEN BUCKLEY:
Thank you very much. Glad to be here.
DEREK SMITH:
Well, we're grateful to have you here. Last year, every year is its own thing, but there's a lot of similarities that go from one year to the next. What's been unique or special about the last 12 months in the career center? What have you enjoyed celebrating or building in that time?
KEN BUCKLEY:
Oh, great question. I think the thing that we really enjoy the most is taking the numbers higher than they were before. So even when we were going through COVID, and actually if you look back the last three years, every year our placement rates and our engagement rates and student success rates on the career side have gone up. And when you think about all the economic challenges and what was going on in the job market and just life in general, to see those numbers go up through those periods of time I think is a remarkable thing that speaks to the quality of the students and just the program that we have.
DEREK SMITH:
Visiting with Ken Buckley from the Baylor Career Center. And Ken, I gave a very brief overview of it. Could you give us the overview from your viewpoint of the career center, what it entails, what it's designed to do?
KEN BUCKLEY:
Yeah, it's got about 28 professional staff, highly dedicated, and honestly, it's a mission first operation in our career center. And by mission first, I mean everyone is there for the students. And as you described it in the beginning of this with what the mission is for our department, everybody embraces that. And the other side of that is we're very comfortable with numbers. And what you typically find is you have people that want to do a wonderful job, but then would they be willing to be accountable for those numbers basically on a daily, weekly basis? And what we have in the career center is we have those staff that have basically connected to students. So typically 800, 850 students would be set up to a specific staff member, and that staff member is responsible for that student from the day they show up on campus until they graduate, and then even out to 180 days after they graduate. And we're responsible not only for their career development, but also the engagement, the warm handoffs to alumni or to employers or just walking through the whole process of that career piece with them, basically getting them to dream and discover in the beginning, and then creating an opportunity for them to see, okay, if these are the things I really want to do, and given the change that's out there and the opportunities that exist, how can I build the best bridge? So we want them to start on the career discovery side and then build that into, okay, if I want to go into those fields, what's the best major? And if I go into those fields with that major, what are the other things I need to do to really set me apart from my peers? And so every one of our staff members takes a role in that, and they're personally accountable for that student's success, the student's engagement, and really the employer relations and also the networking piece to really facilitate that whole piece. So it's very unique to do the career services piece like that where you have a group of people that are fully responsible, transparent performance numbers to all of those, accountable we say, not only to the students, but to the parents, to the university, and really to ourselves with how are we doing? So it's something that I really get energized by and actually, I think if you walk in and just kind of sat through what you'd see in our department, you'd probably be pretty excited and think, okay, I think our students are in a good place.
DEREK SMITH:
Visiting with Ken Buckley from the Baylor Career Center. And Ken, as you described that, there's a real personal side to it that we'll talk about as they interact one-on-one as your team gets to know them. But there's also the numeric side, as you said, you're accountable and we've seen really a lot to celebrate in terms of placement rate. I want to dive into that a little bit with you. What is Baylor's most recent placement rate, and what does that mean exactly?
KEN BUCKLEY:
So that's a big question because you can slice it into so many pieces, but I would just say if you look at our last fiscal year, which would've been basically spring of '22, and we're coming up on... We just finished spring of '23. But the numbers that we have basically are audited and closed within 180 days of that semester. So let's just talk FY 22. So FY 22, we had a knowledge rate of 99.6%. Basically 4,000 students went through the program, graduated undergrad and graduated et cetera, and we had connection to 99.6% of those. There was maybe a handful, 10, 12 students that we didn't actually get feedback on. But the feedback we did get was all done before graduation. So most universities, they're very happy to have, let's say 60, 70%, and that's at the end of 180 days. Our staff look at things very differently because we want to know exactly what's going on with the student before they graduate so we can best assist them. So that level of 99.6, roughly almost a hundred percent, I think is top shelf, totally unique in the marketplace with respect to what we do. And that has everything to do with the fact of how we feel about engagement with students. That engagement level transitions to the amount of support, the active engagement we have of our staff with those students. And that resulted in a 90 plus percent placement rate, which means... And the way we look at that is every student that's looking for a job compared to those students that have formally accepted a job. So that percentage. So you're looking at 90% of those students having a job within 180 days.
DEREK SMITH:
Is that grad school as well? Is there other placements or is that a separate thing?
KEN BUCKLEY:
No, that's enrolled together. And if you look at the grad students versus the undergrad, there's about a one or 2% difference, but cumulatively it's 90%.
DEREK SMITH:
If they're looking for something, nine out of 10 have found it within 180 days.
KEN BUCKLEY:
Easily. And the other piece of that is what we call success. So there's really three numbers that we measure ourselves on as far as the department of performance. One's the engagement, and that's the knowledge rate. So that means that you are actively engaged directly with the students, and they're communicating back and forth with what they need and how we can help them. The second is, if they're seeking a job, did they accept a job? Not just did they get an offer, not just did they do an interview, things like that. But did they formally accept an opportunity? The third piece of that is success, which means did they either accept a job or did they accept or were accepted into grad school, or did they go into a voluntary area of service or even a part-time job that would be commensurate with what they were looking for? So the success rate was roughly I think 92%.
DEREK SMITH:
That's fantastic. As I say, that's fantastic. It is. But I'm just curious, are there benchmarks in higher ed? Is there a certain line that above it is good and below it is not? Or does that just vary by institution?
KEN BUCKLEY:
So it's a mystery. Okay? So I'll put it out like that.
DEREK SMITH:
Sure.
KEN BUCKLEY:
Because if you go in and I would encourage the listeners, you go to those other institutions, look them up and look and see what they say about knowledge rate. And what you'll typically find is if a university speaks about knowledge rate, it tends to be in the 60, 70% range. And that oftentimes is from the professional schools, whether it's business or engineering. But when we talk about knowledge rates, we're talking about complete campus all across the campus, all the majors that Baylor serves. So every one of the students has an advocate for them in our office, regardless of whether it's a business student or whether it's a liberal arts student or an engineering student. So those numbers that you get from other universities tend to be from those departments that specifically have a career focus, but not university-wide. So there will be numbers that will be touted at 90% plus as far as placement, but when you back them into... So what was the real knowledge rate? It's typically in the 60% range. So for us, we say... And also by the way, that 60% or so is at the end of 180 days, six months after graduation. What we do and what we can basically hold ourselves accountable to is did we have a hundred percent of our students engaged in the process and were we interacting with them prior to graduation? Before they walked across the stage, did we have everything, their issues really in front of us? Were we helping them through their path? So I would say as an institution, I would hold our numbers up against anybody.
DEREK SMITH:
So there's breadth and depth to what we know as we put that number out there.
KEN BUCKLEY:
Yeah, absolutely. And you might ask as far as the numbers themselves, the depth of that. So it's not just those three pieces because you can't get to those three pieces without having a lot more activities that go on deeper dive into that. For example, we track the number of engagements, the coaching sessions, the number of career events, the number of employers, the number of employers that are on campus with those events. When you look at the placement rate and the success rate and the knowledge rate of our students, that number is broken down by not only school and college, but also by major and also by demographics within that. And the reason that we do it that way is because we continually are trying to look at how do we best serve those students? So when I tell you that the differences of our organization versus maybe those in other areas, if you were going to go to a university and a university truly cares about getting you positioned for success, not just the experience that you have through the process, but at the end of that process getting you connected to something that would be maybe a lifetime dream, then we would say that this is a wonderful place to be because of our investment, our commitment, and helping those students walk alongside them to help them realize that. And another piece of that is not only are you working with a student to help them through the process of being professionally mature, ready to really represent themselves, but you also work... Each of our staff have a specific number of employers that are typically 10 to 20 that they have a great relationship with. They can create a warm networking opportunity for those students. So it's like when they come on campus, even through the orientation piece, they've got an advocate that's there already working on their behalf to help them with their personal branding, help them with just the thinking about what it is that they'd like to do, giving them the options, giving them the opportunities, and giving them a really, I think, a very mature, real expectation of what life is like outside of college.
DEREK SMITH:
Well, as you described that, Ken, a lot of the questions I'm asking you are kind of higher level about what you do, but I want to make sure we mention, from what I've seen online, it can be everything for, like you said, thinking about your personal branding to developing a strategy from day one or whenever you come in to if you have a job interview and you're nervous, they can coach you through interviews or putting a good resume together. It seems like just about any question a student has, there's a resource there to help them grow in their confidence in that. Right?
KEN BUCKLEY:
Yeah. And most universities have siloed approaches to that. So you'll go see somebody when you get in the process, just what would you like to do? Then they have another person that's set up typically on employer or on different events, or they have... So anyway, every time a student comes through the area, they go to a different person. We do things totally different. There's an advocate for that student that covers all of those. So when that student, because we are... Like I said, our biggest challenge is getting them engaged in the process. When we have one of our professional staff working with those students, we want that professional staff member to be able to talk everything from not only the discovery piece to the grad school piece, to the employer relations piece, to the majors that most appropriately build the bridge to that student's potential success. So it's something that we do specifically to, I think, drive the highest value to the students as far as supporting their opportunities.
DEREK SMITH:
This is Baylor Connections. We are visiting with Ken Buckley, assistant vice provost in the Baylor University Career Center. And Ken, I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about the value that this brings when we think about the fact that... There's a lot of different ways to answer the question, what's the value of a Baylor education? And also recognize that for families, it's a pretty significant investment that they're making. It's not a small thing. There's a lot of ways to answer that, but I'll ask you, as you work with employers specifically from your interactions with them, your team's interaction with them and with Baylor students, how would you answer that question? What's the value of a Baylor education specifically through the lens that you look through every day?
KEN BUCKLEY:
Well, I'm happy to say that there's two things that come up the majority of time. And when we talk to our employers and we're working with them outside of the student engagement piece, probably the next most important piece is employers. And so we work actively with those employers on a regular basis. And what they tell me, and they tell my staff, there's two primary attributes that Baylor students bring to their company. One of those is the students that they hire from Baylor tend to want to make an impact at a bigger level. Not to say they're looking at the corner office, it's just that they're leaving the university and basically a life that they knew at that time going into a professional role, and they want to make an impact. They want to put a mark on the world with respect to making it better. You could say it's a calling. You could say it's a passion. You could say it's something innate about what's going on inside them. Maybe it even boils down to their faith, but they truly want to make an impact in the world. So when they go to work for a company, whether it's an internship or a full-time opportunity, those employers come back to us and say, it's so interesting because that student is truly trying to make an impact. And they don't necessarily look at all the other things. It's not all about them. It's about how do we make things better? The second thing, they say that our students stick. And by that I mean, when those students go to work for companies, they're not typically leaving in two years. And one of the things that we see a lot in the marketplace is turnover. So you can talk to all the employers that come into Baylor and hire our students, and they would say across the board, looking at other universities, our students stick longer. And not that they're in a position and they're just not going anywhere. I'm saying they're in that company because they're trying to make an impact and they're going through the process where they're seeing additional promotions, they're seeing additional responsibility, and they're making a difference throughout the organization. So it speaks really well for the students, it speaks really well for the alums. But it's one of those reasons why companies look at it and they say, okay, if I hire a Baylor student based on what they've learned and the process that they've had from beginning to end, what I get is somebody that wants to come in and truly create value for the company. So it's somebody that we want because we know they're going to add, they're not going to take away. It's more than just about them. And the second thing is, as we put them through the process, they're going to want to be a part of this long term. It's not like, okay, two years from now I've got to look at a replacement for that individual, either because of performance or because they want to leave and go someplace else. And Baylor students are just, I think they're there to make a difference.
DEREK SMITH:
And it's funny, once word gets out, reputation's kind of an intangible thing, isn't it? But it's a funny thing, once it gets out there, is that an intrinsic added value to the degree that you can't really quantify, but it's there?
KEN BUCKLEY:
It truly is. I think the other thing that we do just as a department is we make it very easy for the employers. We don't have additional charges and things like that for them to recruit on campus. We basically provide a concierge type process. We don't arbitrarily set limits on when they can interview, when they can make offers and things like that across the campus. We look at it as each company's got different demands and different timings, and we do everything we can to help through that process. Another piece that I think helps on the employer side is most universities will just blast out a resume book. So all of a sudden you've got four open positions and you get a resume book that's got 500 students. What we do through the process is what students are really interested in that company? Based upon that company and what qualities they're looking for, how does that match up for the qualifications of our students? So we go through because we have that relationship back to the 99.6% knowledge rate of the students that really want to do that job. And basically putting those together with either the personality or just the overall role and profile of the company, how's that matching those students together, matching that employer together so it's a success, a win-win for both? So through our staff, we'll end up going through. And so instead of sending them four or 500 names in a resume book, they'll get 30. And when they come into Baylor, and it's a great campus, we take really good care of them and make sure that they get a chance, the students come prepared. Everybody. Because once again, back to the engagement with our department, everybody's got a good resume. The resumes that we work with are fairly... We set them up basically how those employers want to see them. So we make that job very easy for them. We take care of those employers so they want to come back. And at the end of the day, if you look at all the turnover that exists in the marketplace, more turnover typically exists in the recruiting side for employers in almost anywhere. So we had to build a pipeline or basically a bridge so that those employers can have easy access to quality talent. And at the same time, we work with our students so they know the expectations of the employers, they also know the expectations of our department on what do they need to do to basically be career ready? And all those things go together so that it makes it a much easier process for not only the employer, but for the students to really have a connection that's meaningful.
DEREK SMITH:
Visiting with Ken Buckley. And Ken, as we head to the final moments on the program, I have a couple more questions for you. And one of them I recognize is maybe a little unfair because you've got thousands of students that you're serving and they're going to great jobs all over the country or great grad school positions. But a few examples could you share with us, where are our students going?
KEN BUCKLEY:
Okay. Gosh, that's a broad-
DEREK SMITH:
Yeah, it is. I know.
KEN BUCKLEY:
But about 70% of our students stay in Texas. But outside of that, you could look at California, Colorado, Tennessee, Florida, areas like that. Even New York by the way. But we have students in all states and also internationally. So they go wherever they truly want to go based upon being able to fit themselves into the opportunities. But across the board, if I look at those industries, I'm going to give you just some names of employers that we have. Obviously the big four accountant type firms. You've got KPMG, EY, Deloitte, PWX. Technology side, Dell, Oracle, AT&T and others, IBM as well. Consulting, Accenture, Cordera, Sendero, Protiviti. Healthcare, big emphasis on that with Baylor Scott and White, Ascension, Heart of Texas, Robbins, et cetera. In oil and gas, and I know that's kind of something that's volatile in and out, but ExxonMobil, Phillips 66, Chevron and others. Finance, a big presence in the finance side. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Fidelity. On the government side, which we have a very large involvement obviously in nonprofit and also in government. But on government would be Raytheon, Textron, Lockheed Martin, US Army, Air Force, and L3. And then on the retail side, which we hear so many things about things going up and down and a lot of pressure, but we've seen a lot of activity grow in typically the back office strategy management side of retail with Amazon, Walmart, HEB, Magnolia, Sewell, companies like that. And then also on education, there's a piece of the education in our department that pipeline students directly into that. And a big hiring group is the local community, whether it's Midway or Waco ISD or others. But in general, people always ask, do you need more employers? Do you need more opportunities? And for that, I'd say for the most part, no. We have more than enough opportunities, more than enough internships, more than enough quality things for our students to go to. It's really just up to them to get engaged in the process and get connected. There is no shortage of people that want to hire good people. And by that I would just say, from what I've told you about the placement rate, the success rate, the knowledge rate, and just the quality of our students and really how the marketplace sees them when they hire them, Baylor's a great place to be and Waco's a destination place that it wasn't 10 or 20 years ago. So it's a wonderful time to be a Baylor student. It's a wonderful time to basically be a Baylor Bear. And the employers know when they hire our students that they're getting a quality product. And the faculty, the staff and others within Baylor that help each prepare them through their respective responsibilities helps create this product that makes I think Baylor students very unique in the marketplace. And by that I mean we feel that our department is unique as well because we truly are engaged in their success. I mean, oftentimes we think maybe we care more about it at times than they do because we can kind of see the potential. And we know that where they are, they've got a lot of other things on their mind. But at the end of the day, I think it's a wonderful opportunity to see the students go through the process and have the success that they have.
DEREK SMITH:
Well, Ken, that's a great rundown. And if people are listening and a student or a parent who wants to encourage their student, what's the best way for students to get in touch with you all? And I know you're very proactive in reaching out to them, but are there things they can do to be helpful in that?
KEN BUCKLEY:
Yeah, correct. So we have our website, which I'd encourage any of the listeners to go. Just go to the Baylor EDU website. You could even search on career center. When you get into that area, you'll see how to connect to any of our career success professionals. You can also see all the career data that's there. And that's one of the things that is unique about what we do with respect to having parents and stakeholders and students. They can go to that website at any time and they can see the placement rate, the salaries, the bonus information, the success, et cetera of each major, each college. And they can look at that. They can look at employer detail, et cetera. So all the career information that basically would even just get you started is there. So hit the website, go to the career center piece. That's a great way you can connect directly to our staff. Also through emails. And then I told you, we had 800 and something students per staff member. Those staff members are working with those students throughout the semester. So there's multiple times where we are working with them. And we also engage with them, whether it's extracurricular programs they're involved in, whether it's different fraternities, sororities, or programs or clubs, as well as different schools and colleges where we come in and actually have a chance to speak through the classes. And we also have our own classes that we do, which are career classes that touch about 12 to 1400 students a semester. So there is so many ways you can connect into the career process, whether it's going email, to into our department, hitting the website, or just looking at the information that we send you and responding. And we actually do this also for parents as well. So we'll typically send a mailer out for parents so they can see what's going on really on the career side for a student.
DEREK SMITH:
Lot's of ways to get in touch. The easiest, you just Google Baylor Career Center, it's the first thing that pops up for sure. You can start there.
KEN BUCKLEY:
Correct. Yeah.
DEREK SMITH:
Well, Ken, I really appreciate you taking the time to share today. A lot of great numbers and opportunities for students, and I appreciate you sharing that with us and look forward to seeing more of that ahead.
KEN BUCKLEY:
Yeah, my pleasure. Thank You.
DEREK SMITH:
Ken Buckley, assistant vice provost in the Baylor University Career Center, our guest today on Baylor Connections. I'm Derek Smith. A reminder you can hear this and other programs online at baylor.edu/connections, you can subscribe to the program on iTunes. Thanks for joining us here on Baylor Connections.