Career Advising
According to a latest news report (August 2012), the number of college graduates who could not find jobs is increasing at an alarming rate all over the world. The report finds that there are an overwhelming number of students graduating in areas that the job market no longer need because they did not receive proper guidance when entering college. The result is they invest four years in college but end up unemployed or working on something that has nothing to do with their education.
A career advising is a professional job that requires constantly training and updating to keep up with market demand but according to the report, many schools do not have career advisors so professors are being asked to do a job for which they have not been trained for. A college professor complained: “Our job is to teach, not to give advice. If students need help they should go to the career advisors but school administrators want us to provide career advising, something that we have no idea how to do it.” Even when they have career advisors not all of them are doing a good job. A career advisor admitted: “A professional career advisor must update the job market requirements every three months but a majority of advisors only update this information every one or two years so they are always behind the market needs. They do not have the most up to date about industry trend so they have no idea about job market and who are hiring?”
The study conducted by the Association of Colleges Professors found that most of them experience difficulty in giving careers advice to students. A majority (68%) of professors do not feel they have the appropriate knowledge to give guidance. Half of them admitted to having given bad advice to students and said that they feel obligated to encourage students to stay on their field of study rather than switch to others. There is a belief among professors that staying in a field of study is the best option, because it is student's choice in the first place. A Math professor said: “My job is to teach, if they select to study Math than I am very glad. I cannot tell them to switch to other fields. What will happen if they also cannot find job?” There is also a worrying about advice students to switch career may bring bad consequences. Over 30% of professors admitted that their advices were influenced by pressure from school management and they fear that they might lose their job if student numbers declined.
It is not just school advisors and professors who are struggling. More than a half of parents also say that they feel out of touch with advising their children about careers. More than a third of parents say that their advice often be limited to careers in which they are familiar. A mother said: “The world is changing too fast, we only know about few careers such as medical, pharmacy, and dental. We do not know what to advice our children. They have many choices now but not all of them would give them good future.”
When advice is not very clear, students do not get the full information about what they need to make an informed choice about their future. Many just follow their friends to select some fields of study and eventually could not find works. For example, Banking was a hot job ten years ago but after the financial crisis in 2008, today it is considered one of the worst jobs with the highest number of unemployed graduates.
With more people entering college they will most likely need advices on what careers to chose and what fields to study. As schools will have a major influence on the career path that students choose to take, it is essential that professors get more help with their advisory responsibilities. One solution would be to provide professors and parents with more information on the jobs market and the fields of study required to get into certain careers. This could be done by get more industry information to be available and building strong relationship with local companies. Companies need skilled workers and students need jobs and by having better relationship with industry, schools can act as a bridge to bring industry and students together.
Another way to ease the burden on professors is to increase the role that companies participate in the classroom. This is something that most professors like to see happen, with 93% saying they want students to have better access to employers and businesses while at school. School should invite companies to come and discuss their needs with students and give them a clear direction about their needs and what area they are hiring. By providing more work experience discussions, giving careers talks, getting involved in the development of the curriculum at school or just having presence in the classroom would boost the confidence of students.
Although professors should focus on teaching, the influence they have over a students' education choices is still critical. In this difficult jobs market, it is vital that students receive proper guidance. It is important to encourage students to start thinking about their future and plan their career as early as possible because their future is the future of the society and the country.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
