Career centre resources, services and metrics: A Pan-Canadian benchmarking survey

In Canada, there has been little objective, aggregate data available about how post-secondary career centres operate. This study was developed to be able to provide current benchmarking data to career services leaders about three major areas of concern: – Financial, human and spacial resources – Services provided to students, alumni, employers and other stakeholders – Metrics collected and reported In addition to collecting this data in aggregate across Canada, this study also looked for differences in these areas across institution type, geographic region, and career centre type. Relationships between these three areas – resources, services and metrics – were also investigated in an attempt to provide career centres with useful data to use when making decisions. This study provided three significant conclusions reported in this research brief: – Career centres continue to do more with fewer resources. Career centres would benefit from increased collaboration around best practices for how they are increasing efficiency, utilizing technology and avoiding staff burnout. – Career centres who can position themselves more central to their institutional mission generally receive more funding and staffing. – Career centres would benefit from longitudinal data to better identify trends, successes and challenges. It is hoped that career centre staff, institutional administrations and others can use the data presented in this research brief to make better-informed decisions about how to operate their career centres. CACEE proposes to run a similar survey every two years to collect longitudinal data and, thus, would appreciate feedback on how this study could be more useful to you in your day to day work.