EMERGING TRENDS IN CAREER SERVICES
Customized Connections and Communities
Because of the direct link career services has to recruitment, retention, and institutional revenue, university and college leaders are elevating career services by giving career services leadership more institutional influence through changes to titles, reporting lines, and resources. Title changes for career service leaders (in the form of assistant/associate vice presidents/ provosts, deans, and associate deans), allows them to report directly to presidents and provosts, giving them a “seat at the table with more exposure and more influence on the factors that will impact student success” (Dey & Cruzvergara, 2014, p. 10). This increase in visibility and accountability will allow career services to gain access to additional resources such as staff, operational funds to support programs and technology, and new initiatives.
Elevation of Career Services
Experiential Learning
With an increased emphasis of high-impact educational practices in higher education such as education abroad experiences, learning communities, service learning courses, capstone courses, and research with faculty (Finley & McNair, 2013), career services has had to grow its own co-curricular offerings. Experiential learning activities such as internships and cooperative education allow students to connect classroom learning with experience in the world around them (Barnes, 2017). Cooperative education is an opportunity for students to earn academic credit through a full-time, paid work experience. Generally, students do not take classes during that time. Internships, on the other hand, are typically part-time, run concurrent with classes, and can be paid or unpaid. Both activities enable students to gain professional work experience to facilitate their career development.
Alumni Engagement
Engaging students with alumni facilitates peer to peer connection and also teaches students the skill of networking. This engagement can take form through an alumni career source database where current students can access employment and contact information on alumni who have volunteered to serve as mentors, or through other networking events. These events can include panels of alumni who speak at student events, dinners at which students sit with alumni in relevant fields, or field trips through which students spend time shadowing relevant alumni (Barnes, 2017).
By developing relationships and strong connections with a larger group of stakeholders (campus leadership, employers, students, alumni, faculty, families, etc.) career services can create customized career communities that better support student success. A new concept used at Stanford University that has proven very beneficial to students is the use of “meet-ups” or informal discussion circles that are guided by career counselors assigned to various student communities. This form of engagement allows career services practitioners to build trust and inner circles with students and to deliver services outside the confinement of an office building. Moreover, effective use of technology further increases virtual and nontraditional engagement (e.g., past the hours of the normal work day) promoting more opportunities for connection and collaboration that can lead to trust-building and influence.