Research & Trends Committee SOP's
Updated August, 2024
The primary role of this committee is to conduct research on trends that affect graduate business student hiring and recruitment, as well as internal surveys regarding career services and recruiting office operations. The committee also plays a role in assisting the Executive Director with managing research partnerships and relationships with outside entities (such as GMAC) and helps facilitate CSEA’s involvement in outside research. Topics for research may include, but are not limited to: job market trends, career services salary information, and recruiter benchmarking data. CSEA staff or other committees may conduct additional research among members or non-members for purposes that span outside of this committee, such as member satisfaction surveys or interest in programming. The Reseearch & Trends Committee focuses only on employment and recruiting trends and operational benchmarking.
Depending on the workload and committee structure, deliverables may be managed by sub-committees/groups.. If this model is used, participation on at least one sub-committee/group is expected of all committee members, as well as regular attendance on monthly conference calls.
Typical committee deliverables are outlined using the navigation links on the left side of this page.
The committee utilizes online collaboration tools to assist with file sharing and project management.
What makes a good Recruiting Trends Committee?
Ideal skills sets include: familiarity with data analysis and research, overall industry knowledge, understanding of CSEA's membership composition (i.e. MBAs, specialty masters, employers, etc.), ability to represent all facets of the membership, and the ability to decipher survey results into meaningful takeaways (significant data analytics knowledge is not necessary).
Committee Leadership Roles
Executive Director
- Oversees and is a member of the committee. Is included in all leadership and committee communications.
- Schedules committee meetings.
- Communicates the SOPs to the committee and answers questions about the committee's role, expectations, and scope as needed.
- Is consulted about anything the committee will be bringing to the board.
- Approves surveys before being finalized and released to the membership.
- Manages internal and external distribution of survey results. Distributes committee-related communications to the membership, including survey announcements and results.
- Serves as primary contact with external research firms that might be utilized by the committee. Supervises and communications with staff that work on research projects.
- Serves as CSEA Media Liaison. Writes and distributes press releases regarding survey results as appropriate. Serves as first point of contact for media inquiries about research results.
- Serves as liaison among all CSEA committees, assisting with opportunities for cross-committee communication and collaboration when needed.
- Hosts a debrief meeting at the end of each year to discuss successes and note suggestions for the following year.
Board Liaison
- Serves as an additional resource to ensure the board and committee are working closely together.
- Communicates the board's strategic goals to the committee on a regular basis, and ensures they are accomplished through the work of the committee.
- Is a member of the committee and is included on committee communication and leadership calls.
- Provides regular committee reports to the Board of Directors and communicates feedback from board meetings to the committee as appropriate.
- Submits the committee's budget requests to the Treasurer each year upon request.
Committee Co-Chairs
- Hosts regular meetings with committee members to update progress and make decisions.
- Keeps the Executive Director and Board Liaison up to date on committee progress in between meetings.
- Sets and distributes an agenda for committee meetings, with input from the Executive Director.
- Ensures that minutes are taken at the meetings and distributed in a timely manner after the meeting has concluded (Note: the co-chairs are encouraged to delegate this responsibility to one or more committee members).
- Assigns committee members to subcommittees/groups and manages those groups. Hosts subcommittee calls and email exchanges as needed to ensure the work of the committee is accomplished.
- If needed, works with subgroups within the committee to complete work on surveys outside of committee meetings.
Distribution of Survey Results
The Executive Director coordinates all organizational marketing and communication strategies. The results from surveys are distributed internally and externally in the following ways:
- Survey results (or executive summaries, depending on the survey) are uploaded to the web site and made available to the public on the Data & Trends page. Results from the larger yearly or bi-yearly surveys are featured on the main index page of the web site as well.
- One or more press releases is created and distributed to the media by the Executive Director.
- A link to the survey results, as well as media mentions, is shared through CSEA social media handles (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook).
- Committee members are encouraged to write blogs about the survey results, including anecdotal information they are seeing within their own organizations.
- Survey results are distributed to the membership through a standalone email, and depending on the survey may also be featured in an e-newsletter.
Sample Survey Time Table
This timeline is followed as closely as possible, but variances may occur depending on volunteer and staff availability. The committee remains flexible with regards to timing.
Summer/Early Fall every other year | Career Services Benchmarking Survey |
Late December/Early January every year | Fall Recruiting Trends Survey |
January/February every year (note: timing is determined by GMAC) |
GMAC Corporate Recruiters Survey |
Summer/Early Fall every other year | Recruiter Benchmarking Survey |
Ongoing, as determined by committee and staff availability | Monthly Member Quick Surveys |