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Our Mission Statement

The mission of University Career Services (UCS) is to provide guidance and resources to a diverse student body for the achievement of students' career-related goals.

In partnership with students and alumni, career services will facilitate lifelong career development through self-awareness, career exploration, career decision-making, and the implementation of their career choices.

In partnership with faculty and university staff, career services will provide information, programs, and consultations to help them better understand the career-related needs of students.

In partnership with alumni, parents, and employers, career services will develop informational and experiential networks that involve them as resources in support of the career development of students.

In partnership with employers, career services will maintain existing and develop new relationships with a significant base of employers who have an on-going interest in the employment potential and careers of students and alumni.

Motto

To fully support UCS clients in attaining their career-related goals.

Vision

To be recognized nationally as one of the best career services operations.

Principles of Vision

Career Counseling—Counseling and advising are the essence of our role of providing career-related services. All information communicated by everyone in UCS will be accurate, complete, and, when required, confidential in nature. An on-going staff professional development goal will be to continually enhance our counseling and advising skills.

Constituent Relationships—Everyone in UCS will communicate in a timely manner with our constituents. We will systematically involve our constituents in helping us to improve. Because of the time and attention we devote to our constituents, UCS will be recognized for outstanding customer service.

Program Management—UCS will continually assess the value and effectiveness of our programs and services with two purposes in mind:

  1. To continually improve existing programs that are valued by our clients.
  2. To more critically and systematically consider the addition of new programs; and…
  3. To eliminate programs that do not add value.

Entrepreneurial Creativity—UCS staff will be encouraged to think “outside the box” to look increasingly to partnerships that maintain or improve the quality of existing services while simultaneously conserving resources. The ultimate goal is for staff to “work smarter,” which we define as more contact time with students and other constituents and more innovative successes that improve our profession.

Technology Integration—The UCS technology model provides the infrastructure to support the four principles above by: helping UCS staff become more effective career counselors; improving relationships with constituents and thus improving customer service; enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness by which we manage programs; and partnering with anyone/anything that can drive our creativity.

Operational Values

University Career Services strives to provide the very best programs and services that available funding and resources will allow. We strongly subscribe to a student development philosophy and are guided by the following values in planning and implementing programs, services, and activities:

  • We value the opportunity to serve our students, alumni, faculty, and employers, and to help all of these constituents attain their respective career-related goals.
  • We value the opportunity and the responsibility of making a difference in the lives of our students and alumni by providing high quality interactions that will challenge and support them in achieving their educational and career goals.
  • We value positive interaction—personal, social, cultural, intellectual, and professional—with our clients.
  • We value all of our constituents as individuals and respect their unique differences and specific needs.
  • We value professional courtesy, friendliness, and accurate assistance in all methods of contact with our clients, and with each other.
  • We value diversity, accessibility, and user friendliness in developing and delivering our programs, services, and activities.

Organizational Model and Processes

University Career Services at the University of Virginia is organized in a team facilitation model, with five cross-functional teams—strategic planning, student services, employer services, business services, and technical services. The objectives of this team model are to increase cooperation and collaboration and create a more seamless flow of information, with the goals being greater empowerment and autonomy, increased honesty and trust, and measurably more internal and external congruence.

Strategic Planning—This team has the overall responsibility of developing and sustaining the UCS strategic plan, including the annual development, implementation, and evaluation of realistic and achievable goals and objectives. This group will place a heavy emphasis on benchmarking, assessing customer needs, data analysis, appraising outcomes, reporting, and continuous process improvement.

Additionally, this team will serve as the caretaker of individual and collective staff expertise and morale, concerning itself with staff performance evaluations, attainment of educational objectives, and professional growth and development. The team will embrace the management principle that we are first, our own best customers.

Student Services—This team serves the role of primary advocate for students, committed to establishing and nurturing productive, long-term relationships with a diverse group of students and alumni, faculty and staff, and other key constituents.

The team accomplishes this role by counseling, teaching, and advising students to encourage confident and independent action through the development of career management skills and by preparing students to work in the commonwealth, the nation, and the global economy.

Employer Services—This team assumes responsibility for successful employer relations, including acting as an ambassador to the employment community, maintaining on-going contact with recruiters who have established relationships, developing new relationships with employers, and keeping abreast of developments in local, national, and international career trends as they pertain to the career interests of students and alumni.

Business Services—This team provides operational oversight and stewardship for all career services business-related functions by implementing systems that ensure sound fiscal management, positive customer interactions, the effective management and supervision of human resources, the maintenance of facilities and the allocation of resources, and the continuous development, implementation, and evaluation of office fundraising initiatives.

Technology Services—This team maintains an integrated information technology (IT) infrastructure that supports all client career services needs, both external and internal, with the overall goal being the development of applications that improve the accuracy, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of the operation.

Strategic Directions

The seven strategic directions that follow provide UCS a framework for developing a comprehensive strategic plan that includes specific goals and objectives for the next academic year, and more generally, additional goals and objectives that will help guide the operation for several years thereafter. These strategic directions are derived from the UCS mission statement that defines who we serve and why; our principles of vision that provide a pathway to national recognition; and, our operational values that set the philosophical standards and guide our interactions with all constituents.

The final step in this process—the development of specific goals and objectives—will define the methods by which UCS will determine its priorities, set its agenda, and measure its success. Synergy is defined as “the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.” To be recognized as one of the best career services operations in the country, UCS will require a synergy of continuous support from external sources and a staff fully committed to achieving this goal.

Customer Service

Guiding Principle: Good customer service is doing our best to be accessible and accommodating to our constituents.

Career Counseling & Advising

Guiding Principle: Career counseling and advising is not the only work we do, but it is indisputably the most important work we do.

Programming & Service Delivery

Guiding Principle: We deliver programs and services when, in our assessment, our constituents are developmentally ready to benefit most from them.

Career Services Outreach

Guiding Principle: Only by reaching out to everyone in our University and in the greater world community can we fulfill our mission.

Experiential Learning

Guiding Principle: Experiences that our students find personally and professionally rewarding contribute positively to their career development.

Staff Development & Expertise

Guiding Principle: We are first, our own best customers.

New Funding Model

Guiding Principle: Ample resources not only permit us to do our jobs, they enable us to do them more effectively.