Career Development Interventions in Higher Education

 As the global labor market continues to evolve the need for a highly educated labor force has never been more important.  Increasingly, higher education is seen as the principle key to future employment and opportunity, worldwide. Mutlu Süral and Korkut Owen,

Increasing number in Turkey... ned Many new universities opened  Female enrollment increases  In USA at 2010, undergraduate students, % 57 female, % 43 male ( US National Center of Educational Statistics, 2012 ).  OECD countries have same tendencies (Severiens & ten Dam, 2012) Mutlu Süral and Korkut Owen,

Female and male students number TotalFemaleMale

 During 15 years just at 2002 total university student number dropped  Till to 2008 numbers were increasing slowly since then increasing faster  Male student numbers are a little higher (% 54) than female (% 46)

Career Needs of Students in Higher Education  Today’s students are diverse in background, characteristics, developmental levels, and career development needs.

Career Needs of Students in Higher Education, continued  More than 130,000 students with learning disabilities are currently attending college.  Women enrolled in higher education more than ever.  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 sub- populations  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