DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AND BELONGING
Howard University Takes the Lead in Placing Students for Success
By Patrick Connole N
othing is guaranteed for those seeking internships and full-time employment, but it is almost assur-
edly easier to navigate the web of opportu- nities that present themselves to college-age students if there is someone skilled to help. And, for that, Howard University is lucky to have a longtime leader like Carol Dudley, the employer relations manager at the Cen- ter for Career and Professional Success for Washington, DC-based Howard, one of the nation’s leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HCBU). Dudley is expert in the craft of listening to
students and matching them with potential jobs, be it a job after graduation or while in school. A veteran of nearly 50 years at How- ard, she has experienced the ups and downs of job markets, witnessed the changes in young people and their relationship to work expectations, and of course the way in which employers approach and recruit at an HCBU. Her story will be the first of an ongoing
series in this magazine to discuss issues tied to the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Be- longing (DEIB) movement. Argentum has embraced DEIB and considers the ability of senior living to attract and retain a diverse workforce as one of the keys to future suc- cess for the industry (see the bottom of this article for more information). Most of what Dudley discussed is also
of interest for employers, like senior living owners and operators, on the current state of mind of young people entering the pro- fessional world, and how the career office at a highly touted school like Howard works. For Dudley, her job is to be the first
touchpoint for employers seeking Howard candidates for employment, and she also does “everything” related to career services
46 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE MAY/JUNE 2023
in aiding students and graduates. “I’ve been at Howard for 47 years work-
ing. I was a student before that,” Dudley said. The university president eventually moved her from other roles in the school to manage the main career services office for the university “to help students get that necessary internship training so that they may better know where they want to go after graduation, but also in what part of that discipline they want to work.”
A School Striving for Excellence Howard has a robust healthcare-focused array of majors and concentrations, mak- ing outreach to sectors like senior living a natural. Overall, there are approximately 10,000 students at the school, counting undergraduate and graduate students. And if there is one thing that over the years that has changed among the group it is not their smarts or skills or strong academic achieve- ment, but their take on work, Dudley said. “The first thing that’s different is that these
students aren’t as hungry as my early earlier graduates, but that’s because they didn’t have access to the opportunities students have now,” she explains. “The number two difference is the onslaught of employers from all industries recruiting here. It is incredible now, and these are sustainable relationships and intentional relationships. After the George Floyd tragedy and after the Black
Lives Matter (BLM) movement, very few have not been sustainable.” Floyd was mur-
dered on May 25, 2020, at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer as oth- er officers looked on, triggering na- tional outrage, ig- niting in the growth of BLM, which actually had its genesis in July 2013 upon the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin a year earlier.
Carol Dudley Employer Relations, Center for Career and Professional Success Howard University
Opportunities Grow for Students The generational change about jobs is not something exclusive to Howard and goes to something that senior living executives have known for at least a few years now: there are many more job openings than there are people to fill them. “The problem with having so many op- portunities is that students know something else is going to come along. This generation is different because they have access to so much,” Dudley said. “Another thing I see different is that young people will leave a job sooner than any other age group….they just think it’s okay.”
“The number two difference is the onslaught of employers from all industries recruiting here. It is incredible now...”
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