Career Development Interventions in Higher Education Chapter 12

Career Development Interventions in Higher Education Chapter 12

Career Needs of Students in Higher Education • Today’s students are diverse in background, characteristics, developmental levels, and career development needs. • Approximately 6 million adults (over the age of 25) attend college each year. • Approximately 500, 000 international students were enrolled in higher education in 2001.

Career Needs of Students in Higher Education, continued • More than 130, 000 students with learning disabilities are currently attending college. • Women now constitute the majority (57. 5%) of students enrolled in higher education. • Ethnic minorities made up 22. 5% of students in higher education in 1999.

Career Needs of Students in Higher Education, continued • Career development needs of lesbian, gay, and bisexual students have long been ignored in higher education. • This increased heterogeneity suggests that career development interventions in higher education must be comprehensive and systematic.

The Evolution of Career Development Interventions • • • Professor/advocate Job placement Employment agencies Placement offices Diverse services (no single type of counseling center or placement center)

Five Major Approaches for Delivering Career Services • • • Macrocenter Counseling orientation General-level service Career planning and placement Minimal service

Why College Students Seek Career Assistance • • • Learn more about themselves Identify career goals Become more certain of their career plans Explore career options Do educational planning Learn job search skills

Career Development Competencies in Adulthood • Self-Knowledge – Skills to maintain a positive self-concept – Skills to maintain effective behaviors – Ability to understand developmental changes and transitions

Career Development Competencies in Adulthood • Educational and Occupational Exploration – Skills to enter and participate in education and training – Skills to participate in work and lifelong learning – Skills to locate, evaluate, and interpret career information – Skills to seek, obtain, maintain, and change jobs – Ability to understand how the needs and functions of society influence the nature and structure of work

Career Development Competencies in Adulthood • Career Planning – Skills to make decisions – Ability to understand the impact of work on individual and family life – Ability to understand the continuing changes in male-female roles – Skills required to make career transitions

Goals of Career Interventions in Higher Education • Help students learn to identify and transfer career interests to a plan of action • Help students relate interests and goals to opportunities • Help students relate their career plans to life goals and opportunities • Help students learn how to evaluate their progress toward career goals through academic preparation

Career Interventions in Higher Education (Crites’ Model) • Explore a variety of options. • Crystallize a narrow range of specific options. • Make a commitment to a choice and specify college major. • Implement the choice of major.

Powell and Kirts Model • Proposes a systems approach to career services in higher education • Starts by providing an overview of services to new students • Continues by providing self-assessment • Then focuses on exposure as students engage actively in career exploration • Finally provides training in job search skills

The Florida State Model • A curricular career information service (CCIS) model with five modules, as follows: – Introduction to the service – Orientation to the decision-making process – Self-assessment – Career information – Matching of majors and jobs

Career Services • Courses, workshops, and seminars -- structured group experiences on topics such as career decision making, career planning, and job search skills • Group counseling activities for students dealing with career indecision, career indecisiveness, and job search anxiety • Individual career counseling • Placement programs

Components of Comprehensive Career Services (Hale) • Structured, university-wide program of career education • One-stop center that offers career counseling, career planning, and placement • Specially trained and selected academic advisers representing many academic areas • Central full-time administrator • Commission on academic advising and career services

Goals of Career Interventions in Higher Education (Herr & Kramer) • • • Provide assistance in the selection of a major Provide self-assessment and self-analysis Assist students to understand the world of work Assist students to learn decision-making skills Provide assistance with unique needs of subpopulations • Provide assistance with access to jobs

Career Development Goals in Higher Education (Griff) • Increase career and self-awareness • Develop decision-making skills • Acquire knowledge of current and emerging occupational options • Develop job search skills • Crystallize career goals • Participate in academic planning

Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS) Guidelines • Essential components of career services – Leadership – Organization and management – Human resources – Financial resources – Facilities, technology, and equipment – Acceptance of legal responsibilities

CAS Standards, continued • Equal opportunity, access, and affirmative action • Campus and community relations • Diversity • Ethics • Assessment and evaluation

Advantages of Centralized Services • More likely to have a critical mass of professional staff • Efficiencies and economies of scale in use of facilities and support staff • Vibrant, challenging environment because of heterogeneity of student population

Disadvantages of Centralized Services • May be viewed by students as less personal due to size • May be located farther away from places where students spend most of their time

Ten Imperatives for Career Services (Rayman, 1999) • 1: Acknowledge lifelong nature of career development and challenge students to take responsibility for their own career destiny • 2: Accept and embrace technology as an ally in service delivery • 3: Continue to refine and strengthen professional identity • 4: Acknowledge and accept that individual career counseling is at the core of our work

Ten Imperatives for Career Services (Rayman, 1999) • 5: Forge relationships with other professionals and parents to achieve a “multiplier effect” • 6: Redouble efforts to meet needs of an increasingly diverse student body • 7: Maintain focus on quality career services while also filling relationship role with corporate America

Ten Imperatives for Career Services (Rayman, 1999) • 8: Acknowledge that on-campus recruiting is a thing of the past and develop new approaches • 9: Resolve the nature of the university’s role with alumni, eliciting support rather than providing services to them • 10: Advocate effectively for resources to maintain and increase services and use existing resources efficiently