Bates’s Purposeful Work initiative is just one way colleges are trying to better prepare students for meaningful careers. Here are six strategies:
Rethink Career Advising
On most college campuses, students must opt in to career services; at Grinnell College, in Iowa, they must opt out.
For the past five years, Grinnell has assigned each freshman an “exploratory adviser” to help her or him develop a sense of direction. Once students find a focus, they join one of seven “career communities,” including “Education Professions” and “Business and Finance.” Each community is directed by someone who has spent time working in the field outside academe.
Whether behind a desk or on a farm, students in purposeful-work programs explore connections between their intellectual and vocational goals.
The goal is to serve all students, and to simplify and personalize their relationships with career services, says Mark Peltz, dean for careers, life, and service.
To achieve that goal, the college has expanded its advising team from three staff members to 14. Its professional staff-to-student ratio is now 1:94, far below the national mean for similar baccalaureate colleges of 1:759.
Enlist the Faculty
According to a recent survey, students who have frequent conversations with faculty members about their career options feel more prepared for workplace success than those who don’t. Yet many faculty members aren’t sure how to advise students in choosing a career.
To help them, the Council of Independent Colleges and the Association of College and University Educators have started a program that will certify 500 faculty members at roughly 25 colleges in best practices for instruction and career guidance. The online course, which will be covered by a $1.2-million grant from the Strada Education Network, will teach faculty members how to incorporate career advice into their courses, says Richard Ekman, president of the council.
“We know that faculty members are among the most influential adults in students’ lives, so we’re trying to capitalize on that,” he says.
Start Early
College students often wait until senior year to visit their career-development office. Lori Varlotta, president of Hiram College, in Ohio, thinks that’s too late. She wants students to begin identifying their callings when they’re freshmen.
So Hiram requires students to reflect on their goals and progress at four specific junctures during their college career, starting in the spring of their first year. Freshmen receive iPads that they can use to answer prompts and create portfolios and multimedia journals.
The goal, says Varlotta, is to “help them create an integrated narrative of their undergraduate experience.”
Make It Convenient
College students often say they don’t have time to attend career-development workshops, or to meet with career counselors.
To remove that barrier, some colleges are offering intensive workshops during, or just before, breaks. At Agnes Scott College, in Georgia, sophomores and upperclassmen participate in Peak Week, a potpourri of leadership experiences that includes daylong visits with local employers, grad-school boot camps, and lectures like “Adulting 101.” Peak Week, which takes place just before spring break, includes a Team Global Challenge, in which students work in teams to devise solutions to real-world problems.
Hendrix College, in Arkansas, just created a free three-day Career Term that sophomores can attend during winter break, when the dorms are otherwise empty and the facilities unused. Participants take self-assessments, learn interview skills and email etiquette, and practice dressing professionally. Hendrix plans to make the course a requirement for all sophomores in 2020.
“The dorms are just sitting there. The RAs are cheap, and a lot of the alumni are local,” says Hendrix’s president, Bill Tsutsui. “This is a five-digit program, not a six.”
Offer Incentives
Low-income and first-generation students often lack the professional connections that upper-income students have, and can’t afford to take unpaid internships.
To help close that gap, a growing number of colleges are offering to sponsor students on unpaid internships. Claremont McKenna College, in California, is among them. Last year it paid out stipends totaling $1.3 million, in increments ranging from $250 for a Washington, D.C., transit pass to $7,900 for a student teaching in Capetown, South Africa.
Mount Holyoke College, in Massachusetts, offers a one-time stipend to every student who accepts an unpaid or low-paying internship — $3,000 for domestic internships, and $3,600 for international. Students who receive a grant are required to take a two-credit course reflecting on what they’ve learned through the internship, and how it will shape the rest of their college career. More than 60 percent of all students accept the funds.
Track Their Progress
It can be hard for students to know if they’re on track in preparing for a career. So Augustana College, in Illinois, gives students a Viking Scorecard: a four-year checklist of skill-building activities.
Students acquire points for each activity — such as meeting with a career coach or attending a workshop — with the goal of accumulating 100 points. The focus is on acquiring the skills most sought by employers.
The college is now reworking its scorecard to add career development to the skill-building exercises. Starting next year, students who accumulate 100 points will be invited to an end-of-the-year banquet to celebrate their career-preparation success.
The goal, says Laura Kestner-Ricketts, executive director of career and professional development, is “for all students who have engaged in the Viking Scorecard to be confident in knowing they are indeed career-ready.”
