Nine ways to provide the career planning assistance that incoming college freshmen want: Part one

Note: This is the first part of a two-part blog on how colleges and universities can respond to the findings of the 2014 National Freshman Attitudes Report.

All too often, college students’ involvement with career planning occurs at the end of their educational experience, when they are almost ready to graduate. But the information in Noel-Levitz’s just-released 2014 National Freshman Attitudes Report reveals that freshmen—whether they are 18 or 35—are asking for this assistance from the very beginning of their college careers:

• The majority of entering freshmen in the study (67 percent) wanted help with developing an educational plan “to get a good job.”
• Upon their arrival on campus, 47 percent of incoming freshmen last year wanted career counseling.
• Just over 21 percent of entering freshmen reported being “very confused” about which career occupation to pursue.
• 93 percent of incoming female freshmen expressed a strong commitment to completing their educational goals, compared to 88 percent of incoming male freshmen.
• Compared to White/Caucasian freshmen, incoming students of color brought higher degree aspirations beyond a bachelor’s.
• Compared to White/Caucasian freshmen, incoming students of color also indicated a greater desire to receive 25 institutional services that were measured in the study.
• Incoming freshmen ages 25 and older were clearer on their career direction than their younger counterparts, but 41 percent of these older students still wanted career counseling.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the students who participated in this study have lived the last six years of their lives under the economic recession and its aftermath. For traditional-age students, this means their entire teenage years have been during the recession.

So how can your institution respond? In what ways can your institution organize itself to meet the career development needs of its first-year students as early as possible in their college careers? What purposeful strategies and opportunities can be put in place to improve your students’ persistence, retention, college completion, and career-goal attainment?

Here are the first four ways to respond to incoming students’ needs and desires for career planning assistance

I’ll conclude part one of this post with the first four of nine suggestions about how campuses can use the data in the report to alter their approach with today’s entering college freshmen.

1. Keep digging to fully understand the views of incoming students. When entering students share the issues that are on their minds, we learn how to make a noticeable, positive difference during their initial days and weeks on campus. By further exploring the views of entering students, colleges and universities can align their resources and services to immediately address the needs of the incoming class. One assessment tool that can help is the College Student Inventory, which gathers non-cognitive attitudinal and motivational data for each individual student on a wide range of topics that influence student success. (This is the same tool on which the report was based.)
2. Help students develop a holistic educational plan every year until graduation. First-year students should be connected to career development professionals early in their first year. An effective college-to-career model starts with connecting first-year students to their present and future through a career assessment process that includes traditional tools such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Career development professionals can use the assessment results to help students develop a plan that affirms the pathway they are already on or directs their talents to new possibilities. Since many students will change their majors, the process of developing a plan—and keeping it up to date—is a critical step in reaching a timely graduation. This written educational plan should, in addition to connecting students to their academic programs, identify opportunities for students to gain relevant experience and develop skills that are transferable to a variety of settings through service experiences, leadership roles, work-study assignments, assisting professors with projects, and placements both on and off campus. Institutions should ensure that high-quality, credit-bearing internships (or, as relevant, clinical and practical experiences) are available to every student in every major, and make freshmen aware of these opportunities.
3. Begin the introduction to the career development process early. Even though a high percentage of students in the study (65 percent) indicated they had made a firm commitment to enter a certain occupation, the majority of these same students indicated they still wanted help with developing a plan to realize their goals (67 percent) as well as with learning more about the qualifications they will need to have to enter certain occupations (64 percent). Orientation programs should include formal sessions on the career development process with introductions to the career resources available through campus programs, including but not limited to the career services office. For schools with first-year seminar programs, timely curricular modules on career development can be developed and used within the seminar. These same modules can be used in residence hall programming, leadership development workshops, and in professional development programs within sorority, fraternity, or other campus organizations. There is also a need for major and career fairs targeting first-year students for participation.
4. Differentiate the needs of varying groups of students and target communications and resources accordingly. The non-cognitive data in this report reveal different levels of receptivity to career counseling by gender and ethnicity. Consider outreach measures that address the varying needs of certain groups on campus. Peer mentors can be identified and organized to connect with these targeted groups. In some cases, planning targeted interventions with specific groups of students will be more effective than “one-size-fits-all” campuswide interventions.

Watch for Part 2 of this post coming next week for five additional suggestions on how to respond to incoming students’ desires for career planning assistance. To make sure you receive part 2, you can subscribe to Strategies, the Noel-Levitz e-newsletter.

Questions? Want to discuss your strategies for meeting the needs and expectations of incoming students? Please contact me to schedule a complimentary conference call. Call 1-800-876-1117 or email me.