LaGuardia Community College, located in Long Island City, Ny., is home to 23,000 students from 133 countries, with a significant portion of first-generation college students. To support this diverse student population in all aspects of career development is the Center for Career Professional Development, led by Dr. Jessica Perez, who has led a revolutionary journey towards a more streamlined, automated, and student-focused office with Symplicity CSM. LGCC has been a Symplicity CSM partner since 2015 and has seen a transformational change in that time, while continuing to expand its use of the system to build the office and school’s reputation with an increase in student, faculty, and employer engagement. The platform's robustness was a perfect fit for LaGuardia's needs, allowing them to meet the diverse requirements of their international and first-generation student population.
Increased Student Engagement
Prior to adopting CSM, LGCCC was looking to automate processes away from an unorganized tracking and filing system that wasn’t telling the full picture. "It was my idea to really automate the office and make it more accessible to students, faculty, and employers," Dr. Perez explained. The goal was to move away from the transactional nature of how the career services office operated. With Symplicity CSM's features, like the counseling module, job posting board, and reporting capabilities, the office has seen an instrumental increase in student engagement. The platform's robust tracking and reporting capabilities were instrumental in sparking student interest and driving engagement.
"Scheduled appointments with an advisor to this day has doubled our numbers," Dr. Perez proudly stated. The office now serves about 9,000 of the 10,000 students enrolled at the college, a significant increase from the mere 3 to 400 students previously engaged. This leap in engagement was attributed to the visibility and accessibility of the platform, which piqued students' curiosity and encouraged them to seek assistance with resumes, interviews, and job searches.
Reporting Tells the Whole Story
The platform's reporting features have been particularly critical to LGCC’s success. Previously, experiential learning initiatives at LGCC were overseen by academic departments that required an internship or experiential learning activity. Yet, Dr. Perez was able to make the case, with the use of the critical data within CSM, that this campus initiative should be led by her office.
The robust reporting within CSM has enabled Dr. Perez and her team to tell the story of their students' professional development and successes. “The reporting function is extremely helpful… Other competitors do not have this feature because it's a game changer from a director level and even to the administration like the President of the college,” Dr. Perez told Symplicity. “We’ve used the reporting and data within CSM to advocate for funding for career services to really tell the story of what’s going on with our office and just how many touchpoints with have with employers and students to advocate for more team members.” With the backing of data at her fingertips, Dr. Perez won to increase her team to three career advisors from just one, two internship coordinators, and, finally, two experiential learning coaches.
Finally, as part of the CUNY system, career readiness is a primary focus of the CUNY Chancellor and administration and its strategic plan. Now, LGCC’s external affairs team is utilizing the data within CSM to track the employer and community based partnerships. Within one system, Dr. Perez and her colleagues can batch email employers to invite them to different events, segmented by industry or even student major, keeping track of who is more actively engaged through the notes feature.
"The reporting function is extremely helpful… Other competitors do not have this feature because it's a game changer from a director level and even to the administration like the President of the college... We’ve used the reporting and data within CSM to advocate for funding for career services to really tell the story of what’s going on with our office and just how many touchpoints with have with employers and students to advocate for more team members."
Dr. Jessica Perez,
Director, Center for Career & Professional Development at LaGuardia Community College
Experiential Learning at LGCC
Symplicity CSM has also played a pivotal role in experiential learning at LaGuardia. Dr. Perez was able to pitch the integration of internships and experiential learning into career services, a move that was initially met with hesitation. Now, the experiential learning module tracks all such activities across the institution, and Dr. Perez's office is the central hub for this data. "If it's not in Symplicity, it didn't happen," she remarked.
The platform's visibility, tracking capabilities, and strategic use of data have helped secure funding and build stronger partnerships across the institution. In one example, Dr. Perez and her team identified students who couldn’t apply for an internship due to financial strain. Recognizing this barrier to opportunity, LGCC’s President was able to fundraise $250,000 just to support students with unpaid career development opportunities.
Using the experiential learning module, Dr. Perez and her team have been able to easily connect with students to connect them to a $2,000 semester stipend during their internship experience, expanding opportunities for LGCC students. Everything in this grant is tracked in Symplicity’s Experiential Learning module. “It is a game changer for us to even track the hours that the students complete on a weekly basis,” said Dr. Perez. “We track all the placements for all the students, so we have the job descriptions in one place, learning objectives, etc. and are the gatekeeper of everything that we need to track this funding.”
"It is a game changer for us to even track the hours that the students complete on a weekly basis. We track all the placements for all the students, so we have the job descriptions in one place, learning objectives, etc... If it's not in Symplicity, it didn't happen."
Dr. Jessica Perez,
Director, Center for Career & Professional Development at LaGuardia Community College
Conclusion
Dr. Perez and her team at LaGuardia Community College have used Symplicity CSM to create a success story that is a testament to the power of technology, strategic planning, and data in transforming career services. The longstanding partnership between LaGuardia Community College and Symplicity has been paramount to the school’s success, “It’s not just about Symplicity being a vendor we use, but a real partnership. The company is very hands on, meeting the needs of the different career services offices and being extremely helpful.”
Their efforts have resulted in increased student engagement, streamlined processes, and enhanced collaboration across the college, setting a new standard for career development support in higher education.
