1. College Graduation Isn’t Enough: Vice President, Programs
Supporting First Generation Students from College to Leadership in Careers
Dr. Toinette Gunn
Vice President, Programs
April 13, 2018

2. What’s Your Superpower? 5 minutes Turn & Talk and Share Out
What’s your superpower that contributes to your professional success?
Keep that in mind as we are going to come back to this in a bit

3. ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW
We uniquely select, train, & mentor academically ambitious students from under-resourced communities to complete college & become the next generation of leaders who will transform their neighborhoods and our city.
Mission
A vibrant Chicago powered by diverse leaders from every neighborhood.
Vision
Mission Driven
Collaboration
Excellence
Belief
Innovation
Data Driven
Core Values
1 minute

4. 1 minute Key Levers of Impact We double down on critical transitions
Heavy lifting we do is baked across programming
Mentorship
Chicago Scholars provides adult , peer, and career mentoring for students
7 year mentoring program
Community Building
First generation and under-resourced students need a strong community of support. Why?
They experience factors and obstacles contributing to lower retention rates

5. 1 minute
We compare our outcomes to those of CPS since about 90% of our students are from within that district/stystem. This comparison provides some context of the impact of our outcomes

6. What’s THE Focus? 10-15+ years 5-10 years < 5 years 5 minutes
Changes to the industry over the years

7. A fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions
3 minutes
Changes in the industry over the years
Our work included a number of assumptions about our students
What were the assumptions?
Get to college=graduation
Graduation= career success
How many of you have had students who did well in high school get to college and not do well or graduate?
How many of you have had students who have graduated from college not working in their fields of study? Working just to make $? Struggling in their careers?
as we’ve learned more about our students’ needs and experiences over the years, those Assumptions have been debunked
We had some paradigm shifts over the past 20 years
Focus from college prep and access to college success
To college success/graduation isn’t enough… a focus on beyond college…. college to careers

8. What challenges might first generation professionals face in their careers?
5 minutes
Think about the challenges first generation college students face in college
What challenges might they face as first generation professionals?
Career partners are unconcerned with the technical/hard skills… willing to train for that
But, soft skills are challenging them
Hard skills get you hired, soft skills get you fired

9. What are the superpowers of first generation college students that can help them to find success in their careers?
3 minute turn and talk
5 minute share out
What are the superpowers of first generation college students that can help them to find success in their careers

10. Our Career Readiness & Leadership Development Programming Redesigned
Goals
Ensure that Scholars secure professional employment and have the tools to grow into professional and civic leaders
Change the face of leadership in Chicago, by building a robust talent pool from which Chicago employers can draw
1 minutes
we embarked on a 5-month effort to redesign our College to Career Programming: Strategic Plan

11. Two-Track Programming
All Scholars
Virtual Resources
Events
Career Portal
Friends of Chicago Scholars
Leadership Institute
Focus on preparing students for for-profit, non-profit, or government careers immediately following graduation
3 minutes
Events: Signature smaller, in-person or virtual events; based upon overall scope and sequence
Virtual resources: Readily-accessible career specific resources (e.g. career assessment tools; toolkits for resume and cover letters, etc.)
Career Portal
Includes job-seeker and employer profiles; job board
Monetized: employers pay different rates to participate at different levels and have access to high-quality, diverse talents
For Scholars and alumni
Friends of Chicago Scholars database
Database to helps Scholars and Alumni to build their networks
Includes those affiliated with Chicago Scholars (e.g., board, staff, former staff, alumni, etc.) who are willing to provide career advice, conduct informational interviews, etc.
Points to highlight
Size of the Institute
Start small (to pressure test and ensure proof of concept): 25 students
Grow to serve almost 500 students, or 8% of students
Add’l information on the # of Scholars in the Institute, if needed:
Expect a 10% attrition rate between levels 1 and 2
Expect that 15% of students will not get a job offer and will need additional coaching through the Extra Support
For # of Students served
FY19 # of Resources students based on current #s
Expect that # to increase by 25% year-over-year
For # of Scholars who secure a full-time job
For the Institute: 100% that complete get a job
Add’l year of support for those who do not initially receive an offer
For the Resources: By FY24, expect that 70% of participants receive a job offer, which surpasses the average for ALL college graduates of 54%

12. Support Most Critical to First Generation & Under-resourced Student Career & Leadership Success:
Exposure to & Support in Identifying the RIGHT Career Path
Support
Training to Develop Soft Skills
3 minutes
Exposure to and support in identifying the right career path
Training to develop the soft skills needed to secure and succeed in a career
Support in securing an internship in the summer of junior year
One-on-one personalized coaching
Support in Securing an Internship
Personalized Coaching

13. What Can You Do? What Are You Doing?
5 minutes

14. What Can You Do, What Are You Doing?
Help students to recognize their Superpowers!
College Career Centers
Share Resources
Some Free!
Access to volunteers, mentors, board members, etc.?
Opportunities for job shadowing, informational interviews, internships, interview prep, resume writing/review, mentoring, etc.
Career Mentoring
5 minutes

17. Making a Career Plan/Setting Goals Networking Skills
How did you figure out what you wanted to do and that you were good at?
What gaps exist between what I need to know and don’t yet know for my industry?
What goals do I already have?
Are my goals SMART? (specific; measureable; attainable; realistic; timely)
Networking Skills
Informational Interviewing
Discuss possible connections my mentor and I have for potential informational interviews
Once someone has been introduced to me, what should I do/say next?
Networking at Events
Share experiences networking at previous events: what’s easy/hard?
Create an action plan for improvement for networking
How do I use Twitter or other social media outlets to network?
What are some of the industry specific conferences/associations I should look into?
How to Find a Job/Internship
Have I leveraged all of my networks to aid in my search
Since I don’t know what I want to do, how do I decide on an internship/job?
Personal Branding
First Impressions: What do I want people to remember about me after we meet?
Managing Your Brand:
What can you do to make sure that when you leave a room, you are remembered for the right things that accurately represent who you are?
Professional Communication
Written & Texting:
What are some of the most common mistakes you see with young professionals and their writing?
How can I make my s easier to read?
When do you reply all, cc, bcc people? When shouldn’t you?
Presentation Skills:
What do great presenters do in your opinion?
How do I make boring information more interesting in a presentation?
Interviewing Tips
Before the Interview
How do I decide what to wear?
What type of things should I research or know about the company before my interview?
What are some of the most common interview questions I should be prepared to answer?
During the Interview
What should I do to make sure I have a great interview experience?
What should I avoid doing in interviews?
How can I utilize the STAR Method to answer behavioral based questions?
After the Interview
What is the proper and professional way to thank them for the interview?
What are some professional ways to follow up?

18. University Websites with Free Career Resources!
University of Pennsylvania
Harvard University
University of Michigan
UC Berkeley

19. Recommended Websites
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)
The Muse
Harvard Business Review
Business Insider

20. Career Assessment Tools
The below tools help you assess and connect career interests, skills, & values to jobs and careers you may not have known about:
Connecting interests to actual jobs: O-Net Interest Profiler
Play games to see what you are good at:
Strengths Assessment (other free tests):

21. Q&A
5 minutes

22. Let’s Continue the Conversation….
Dr. Toinette Gunn
(312)