The Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Career Collaborative — an organization of 14 HSIs from across the country, including Stanislaus State as a founding member — received an honorable mention in the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) Excellence Awards 2022 in the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - College category. The Collaborative was judged on program need/objectives, relevance to the target market, integration, design, medium use, creativity, innovation, measurable outcomes and ease of replication.
The HSI Career Collaborative Summit was launched in April 2021 with two virtual professional development events – for employers, students, and alumni followed by an expo where employers, community partners, and professionals meet with prospective job seekers, interns, and volunteers. Expanding on the momentum of last year, the collaborative hosted two professional development workshops for students/alum which focused on building dynamic job search strategies and connecting with employers via a virtual career fair.
“The opportunity to collaborate with 13 other Hispanic Serving Institutions across the nation provides new employer connections for Stan State students and alumni,” said Julie Sedlemeyer, executive director of Stan State’s Career and Professional Development Center. “Recognition from NACE for this unique collaboration helps to spread the word so more are aware of this diversity, equity and inclusion focused collaborative.”
As we move into fall, the collaborative will focus on employer knowledge and best practices for DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) recruitment strategies. An employer summit held on Aug. 10 themed “University Diversity Recruiting, Deconstructed,” featured a keynote on inclusive recruiting and looked at HSI student engagement and experience from the student and alumni perspective.
The HSI Career Collaborative advocates a collaborative model of inclusive excellence that serves as a point of reflection and strategy in how career recruitment is viewed and advances diversity, equity, and inclusion for all students and alumni from participating institutions. The collaborative now represents 1.4 million alumni, over 285,000 students of which 59% are first-generation and 63% are Latinx/Hispanic.
