University Business - December 2007 - (Page 62)

HR, BUSINESS OFFICE, STUDENT SERVICES, RECRUITMENT Put basic human resource tasks in employees’ hands. Managers at the University of California, San Diego, can view everything from the hiring process to job descriptions online, while staff at the University of Denver can update their own beneﬁts and training information. The Takeaway: Self-service technology can free up staff time and resources for other necessary tasks. Determine what your hiring needs are ahead of time. Concerned about stafﬁng shortages in the future, some IHEs are developing strategic hiring plans by exploring their risks as well as opportunities in order to build a competent labor workforce. The University of Texas at Austin formed a workforce planning unit to discuss and examine stafﬁng issues, while Babson College (Mass.) established an internal task force to create a plan for faculty of the future. College ofﬁcials with an eye on the aging workforce are taking steps such as creating part-time positions with health beneﬁts and reconsidering age-old hiring criteria that place academic degrees over business experience. The Takeaway: Thinking about tomorrow today helps avoid lastminute hiring scrambles and can ensure new employees are a good ﬁt. Buddy up new employees with seasoned pros. Southwestern University (Texas) started a mentoring program for all new hires three years ago. Through a workshop, volunteer mentors are trained to help new employees get acquainted with the university’s people, procedures, and culture. To mix it up a bit, people from different departments are paired together to offer different yet broader perspectives about how the university operates. The Takeaway: Mentors can help new employees get acclimated, and then those hires will be more likely to stick around. way. Train tour leaders to present a knowledgeable but ﬂexible approach to answering questions. The Takeaway: Every contact with a potential student is a crucial one. Get (home)schooled. Parents are homeschooling their children for a wide variety of reasons. If you determine that this population would be a ﬁt on your campus, put a plan in place for outreach and adopt appropriate admissions requirements for when they come knocking. The Takeaway: Qualiﬁed homeschooled applicants can help bring diversity and a new point of view to campus. 7 12 8 13 Have a clearly deﬁned ﬁnancial aid appeals policy. Staff in admissions, ﬁnancial aid, and any other ofﬁce involved in recruitment activities should understand and be able to communicate the steps a family must follow to initiate a secondary review. The policy should remove any emotional inﬂuence to avoid having parents succeed in “negotiating” better deals. The Takeaway: Families will appeal, and having a policy in place is the ﬁrst step to ensuring they are treated fairly and with respect. Accommodate students with chronic illnesses or disabilities. Students with illnesses that unpredictably increase or decrease in severity (such as lupus) or that involve frequent hospitalizations (such as cancer or heart disease) may ﬁnd it almost impossible to meet the requirements of a conventional college program. DePaul University’s School for New Learning (Ill.) houses the Chronic Illness Initiative, a supportive, ﬂexible program for college students facing chronic health conditions. It offers services so these students may complete the School for New Learning’s requirements and earn a degree. The Takeaway: Students facing an illness may be particularly eager to keep learning, so do what you can to help them succeed. 14 9 15 10 Partner with other schools for international recruiting. International students can add a lot to campus culture and to the bottom line. But there have been more hoops for them to jump through since 9/11, causing a decrease in their numbers. Institutions have teamed across state lines to share information and promotional efforts to aid the recruiting effort. The Takeaway: Enrolling an internationally diverse student body won’t happen on its own. Consider making student health insurance coverage mandatory. Voluntary health plans are seeing rates skyrocket because only those who need coverage most tend to purchase them. Some institutions, and even entire states, are requiring students to have coverage. Since Florida State University made this move, its plan has been able to cover more, from preexisting conditions and prescription drugs to an off-campus urgent care center. The Takeaway: New health care realities call for rethinking old practices. Get the word out on student debt. With headlines announcing that students are graduating with record levels of debt, the expectation is that IHEs will make them aware of the hazards. Debt management is a life skill that will serve students well. Efforts at the Indiana Business College have led to increased retention rates and enhanced trust. Student default rates at the school are down while credit scores are up. No one mentions it, but there is always the possibility that less money sent to repay student loans means more money alumni can donate. The Takeaway: Increased student debt loads are everyone’s problem, and getting students to stay and have trust in their school is certainly a good thing. universitybusiness.com 16 11 Give a grand student tour. Make campus visits more engaging instead of just having tour guides show where buildings are located. Set up a schedule for the day with a visitor through a phone call, e-mail, or online form. Treat visitors as though they’re already accepted students, encouraging them to sit in on a class or eat a meal in the dining hall. A gift of complimentary memorabilia can also go a long 62 | December 2007 http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of University Business - December 2007

University Business - December 2007 Contents College Index Company Index Advisory Board Editor's Note Behind the News Viewpoint Admissions On The Hill Marketing Future Stock Independent Outlook Technology Spending Survey '08 Conference Call A Working Education 30 Smart Business Ideas Educause in Emerald City What's New Calendar of Events End Note

University Business - December 2007

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