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Are Your Students “Waiting to Fail”?

2ARE YOUR STUDENTS “WAITING TO FAIL”?

Table of ContentsAre Your Students “Waiting to Fail”? �� 3

The “Wait to Fail” Model in Career Counseling �� 4

Why Are Career Centers Waiting for Students to Fail? �� 6

Planning to Succeed �� 8

How VitaNavis Can Help Your Students Prepare for Success ��10


Are Your Students “Waiting to Fail”?

A 12-year-old girl sits at her desk, struggling to read even a single page of the novel in front of her, tears forming in the corners of her eyes, but her teacher can’t give her pupil official supplementary help because she hasn’t completely flunked the course� This may sound like an educator’s nightmare, but unfortunately, it was a reality for many years� Due to a few poorly structured laws and resulting ill-advised policies for schools, thousands of teachers had to watch their students suffer—or, more commonly, provide informal extra assistance—until they demonstrated a complete lack of success with the material, and only then could these students get additional support� Furthermore, when these students did receive formal assistance, it was often in the form of special education designed for those with disabilities, which these struggling pupils may or may not have had�

The “wait to fail” model has become infamous among reading instructors as an example of how not to structure educational aid� A report from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) explains that after “the U�S� Congress passed the Education of All Handicapped Children Act” in 1975, “policymakers became concerned” about certain “trends�” They noticed that “the number of students identified with learning disabilities grew much more quickly and reached much higher levels than expected,” which indicates that at least some students were likely being wrongly diagnosed�

This tendency to overdiagnose probably came about because “under [these] special education laws, students had to show a deficit (such as mental retardation or a specific learning disability) to qualify for specialized instruction� The process to become eligible for special education services under [these] laws was time-consuming and often meant that a student must ‘wait to fail’ before receiving additional instructional support�” So, rather than promptly, preventively receiving appropriate supplementary instruction when they began to grapple with more difficult reading material, students and teachers had to wait until the situation became disastrous� At that point, the student could be labeled disabled and then finally assisted�

Fortunately, this model of reading instruction has since been remedied with a better technique called RTI, or “response to intervention�” As the ASCD report explains, “Response to Intervention enables schools to identify the kinds of support struggling students need—and provide that support when it’s needed�”1 This approach provides early and routine screeners to collect student information, as well as multiple

1 Brown-Chidsey, Rachel. “No More ‘Waiting to Fail.’” Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ACSD), Educational Leadership, 65 (2), pp. 40-46, Oct. 2007, ascd.org/publications/books/110058e4/chapters/No-More-£Waiting-to-Fail£.aspx.

other data points� This casts a wide net over students who might qualify for supplementary reading assistance� Then, students can take advantage of the RTI-dedicated time and resources already built into a school’s structure�

Essentially, with this technique, at-risk students are immediately put into reading programs designed to help them catch up to their peers and build the skills they need to succeed� RTI makes waiting to fail and “slipping through the cracks” highly unlikely�

Even a cursory look at this model in reading reveals this technique’s obvious flaws: educators and administrators need to address students’ difficulties right away rather than swooping in at the last second once they’ve already fallen flat� Early, preventive interventions are ideal� This is not a controversial issue�

However, the “wait to fail” model is alive and well—not in reading, but in an equally consequential area of education: career counseling� Understaffed, overworked career counseling, academic advising, student services, and similar departments primarily assist desperate upperclassmen frantically trying to get through their chosen programs and find jobs in their chosen fields� These distraught students haven’t made informed decisions from the start of their college careers� For instance, they might choose a science-related major such as engineering, but then find that they simply cannot pass a prerequisite math course like pre-calculus�

Thus, college juniors and seniors who first set foot in a career counseling office because they’re dealing with an educational or occupational crisis are not unlike the middle schooler sobbing over a much-too-difficult novel; in both cases, an early, proactive intervention could have made a world of difference� Just as providing extra tutoring sessions could have helped the struggling reader soar, creating a clear vocational pathway for college students from day one could help ensure they lead successful lives when they graduate�

At The Myers-Briggs Company, we’ve developed the VitaNavis® platform, and we’ve made it our mission to aid students and their mentors chart clear paths for their educational and occupational journeys with our innovative tools� Our platform fosters precisely the kind of interventions students need to prepare for success, so they don’t have to fail to find their way� Read on to learn more about why the “wait to fail” method has affected career counseling and how your educational institution can instead opt for a “prepare to succeed” approach�


The “Wait to Fail” Model in Career Counseling

Although this dynamic of delayed intervention may not be as patently present in college counseling centers as it was in elementary reading pedagogy, it’s still very much in play� Observing basic information about students’ behavior reveals that many are, in fact, waiting to see if they fall flat before seeking vocational and educational advice from their advisors� It appears that many disregard these important advising opportunities until they’re faced with the very real prospect that they might not be able to earn the degree they’d intended, graduate on time, or obtain the sort of job they’d imagined�

For example, a survey on University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign undergraduate students found that amongst engineering majors, “more than 70% of students” who used career services were “juniors and seniors� On the other hand, freshmen (50%) and sophomores (38%) made up the majority of the non-user group� This suggests a

considerable gap in usage between underclassmen and upperclassmen�” This discrepancy indicates that students tend to utilize career counselors more as they draw nearer to completing their degrees, when the need to finish their coursework and find appropriate jobs becomes more urgent�

This reasoning bears out in terms of the study data: the top reason “non-user” students did not take advantage of career services was “No need to yet (I am not ready to utilize their services)�” Unsurprisingly, this reason “was primarily reported

by freshmen (46% of these responses) and sophomores (34% of these responses)�” This suggests that students feel vocational advising is something they have to be “prepared” for, an activity irrelevant to them early in their college careers�2

Of course, if students don’t consider how their degrees will serve them in their vocations and lack clear professional post-graduate plans, this only increases the likelihood that they will not be equipped for the workforce when the time comes� Thus, the students who do eventually use career services are often frenzied, worried, and ill-prepared� They have “waited to fail,” and when they realize they don’t have this aspect of their lives in order, they seek career services as a remedial action (much like the special education services finally afforded to the reading students under old disability laws)� Therefore, college students who put off career counseling are evidently “waiting to fail,” an approach most would agree is less than optimal�

An Inside Higher Ed article on the topic of transforming career services paints a similar picture of the “traditional model” for these departments—“half-a-dozen—or maybe a dozen, if it’s a big university—overbooked counselors sit in an office and advise students who waited until their senior year to think about how they’re going to get a job�”3 Most campus cultures consist of this type of attitude toward career services—seniors rush into the office, while underclassmen put off thinking about their future vocations as a problem for “later” or a question they are somehow “unprepared” to even consider�

As the authors of the survey report on University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign indicate, the statistics on underclassmen and career counseling “[confirm] a need for career services to reach out to students to communicate the value of their services throughout the college experience�” Truthfully, underclassmen need career counseling just as much, if not more, than their more advanced peers� Freshmen and sophomore year are the time to coherently, wisely search out interests, select occupations that align with these, and design a course of study such that they can achieve their vocational aspirations� Trying to do so as a junior or senior is a game of catch-up, an attempt to retroactively position their coursework on a pathway to their goals, a totally backwards perspective—in short, it’s the product of postponing seeking support�

As frustrating as it is that some students put off using career services until they’re anxious upperclassmen, at least those

2 Makela, Julia Panke, et. al. “The Value of Using Career Services: A Comparison of Users and Non-Users.” The Career Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Apr. 2014, careercenter.illinois.edu/sites/default/files/downloads/NASPAReport-Value-FINAL.pdf.

3 Grasgreen, Allie. “Career Services Must Die.” Inside Higher Ed, 15 May 2013, insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/15/career-services-it-now-exists-must-die-new-report-argues.


students actually do ultimately show up for career counseling� In many cases, the mindset of “I’ll only use career services if I’m really having trouble” or “I’ll figure it out on my own until I absolutely can’t” leads students to never utilize this valuable resource� After all, they believe that if they don’t spectacularly fail, they didn’t “need” career counseling, anyway�

According to a recent Gallup and Strada survey on college students, “fewer than 20 percent of undergraduate students reach out to their school’s career centers for advice on finding jobs or finding and applying to graduate programs, both of which the recent report identifies as some of a center’s most valuable services� Often, students instead consult with friends and family members about important decisions that can determine employment, such as choosing a major�”4 In a twist of tragic irony, the same Gallup and Strada report revealed: “few college students feel confident that they actually have the skills and knowledge desired in the workplace�”5

So, students are refusing to use career services because they feel they don’t need assistance, turning instead to peers and relatives who may or may not provide sound advice� Despite the fact that college students believe they (and their close contacts) know better than career counselors, they graduate feeling generally unprepared for their occupations� These contradictory concepts (that students both don’t need career services and simultaneously feel they lack the skills career services would teach them) come from a “wait to fail” mindset�

This potentially damaging perspective also follows students out into the world after they’ve graduated� When Michigan State’s Collegiate Employment Research Institute surveyed “more than 800 employers,” it “found that the people hiring (or turning down) liberal arts students for jobs believe those recent graduates are equipped with the workplace competencies they need, but were not able to articulate and demonstrate their abilities in job interviews, and did not learn several key technical and professional skills that are highly valued by employers�”6 Career centers could have provided the exact capabilities college students needed to land the jobs they wanted, if they’d only been used� Instead, students don’t even realize what they lack until they’re turned down for jobs - the very essence of delaying intervention�

4 Fadulu, Lola. “Why Aren’t College Students Using Career Services?” The Atlantic, 20 Jan. 2018, theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/01/why-arent-college-students-using-career-services/551051.

5 Pringle, Brendan. “College students feel unprepared for workforce.” Washington Examiner, 21 Jan. 2018, washingtonexaminer.com/college-students-feel-unprepared-for-workforce.


Furthermore, even when they do get jobs, graduates carry this insidious idea into their vocations� Harvard Business Review notes: “everyone knows a story about a smart and talented businessperson who has lost his or her passion for work, who no longer looks forward to going to the office yet remains stuck without a visible way out�” These professionals have, to some degree, refused to consider or pursue alternative vocations until they became truly miserable�

The Harvard Business Review article highlights one particular situation: “a milestone birthday, upheaval in his personal life, and a negative performance evaluation - the first of his career - combined to make a ‘snapping point’ for Gary McCarthy� After business school, the former investment banker and consultant had taken a job at a blue-chip firm by default, biding his time until he found his ‘true passion�’”7 This man’s “snapping point” after years of delaying following his “true passion” might just as easily be called his “wait to fail” moment� Students’ idea that planning a fulfilling career is something to be postponed until later sets a dangerous precedent for their professional lives�

So what engenders this harmful attitude? The concept that a student should delay seeking out career services has many potential sources� Students learn about occupational pathways from their peers, family members, and the media, to name a few, so it’s difficult to pinpoint one particular reason they have this attitude� Students’ viewpoints on career counseling

7 Ibarra, Herminia. “How to Stay Stuck in the Wrong Career.” Harvard Business Review, Dec. 2002, hbr.org/2002/12/how-to-stay-stuck-in-the-wrong-career.


are understandably quite nuanced� A recent article in The Atlantic points out that “as Anthony Jack, an assistant professor of education, has written, many students, particularly those who are low-income, lack the know-how to consult adults in positions of power�”8 Feeling apprehensive about approaching career services can further motivate students to wait until their need for advice is dire to reach out, if they ever do�

Students’ approaches to career counseling and their tendency to postpone seeking assistance are complex, but they’re also not entirely uncontrollable or unrelated to institutional practices� After all, colleges and universities themselves take on a kind of “wait to fail” approach when it comes to measuring student success� Institution-wide statistics focus on “retention,” or keeping students enrolled from one year to the next� This approach leads educators only to intervene if students are seriously struggling or showing clear signs that they may depart from the institution�

As University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers put it in their paper on the subject, “historically higher education research has had an eye toward pathology with a focus on repairing students’ problems��to this end, much research exists on why students fail to persist as opposed to why they succeed�”9 This “pathological” perspective inherently waits for students to “fail” at persistence before addressing their needs� To learn more about how replacing retention measures with a persistence-based approach can help students avoid “waiting to fail,” check out our white paper, The Persistence Perspective on Retention�

As further evidence that this perspective is disadvantageous to students, consider what occurs when institutions don’t hold out on helping students until they seriously struggle� Best Colleges ranks the University of Notre Dame first in its list of Best Colleges for Career Services� The site points out: “the undergraduate career services center maintains a dedicated staff of 35 [which is much larger than most institutions]� This includes two teams: an engagement team for first- and second-year students, and an exploration team to provide assistance in specific fields and industries�” This engagement team is key to help students take charge of their educational and vocational pathways so they are actively preparing to succeed rather than remaining unsuccessful�

8 Fadulu, Lola. “Why Aren’t College Students Using Career Services?” The Atlantic, 20 Jan. 2018, theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/01/why-arent-college-students-using-career-services/551051.

9 Demetriou, Cynthia and Amy Schmitz-Sciborski. “Integration, Motivation, Strengths and Optimism: Retention Theories Past, Present and Future.” Proceedings of the 7th National Symposium on Student Retention, 2011, Charleston, pp. 300-312, 2011. studentsuccess.unc.edu/files/2012/11/Demetriou-and-Schmitz-Sciborski.pdf.

Similarly, Clarkson University, which is third on the list of Best Colleges for Career Services, “prides itself on its active role in helping students reach their goals by��fostering early engagement with career planning�” Clearly, early intervention is the antidote to this problem and the solution for successful career services�

There are a wide variety of techniques institutions can use to make their career services procedures more proactive� For instance, Clemson University, which ranks seventh on the list, has “an impressive 83% usage rate among the graduating class of 2017,” with “a strong student engagement profile�” When the vast majority of students are interacting with career services, they’re almost definitely using proactive techniques to work toward their goals� Instead of focusing on helping upperclassmen cope with their job search stress, Clemson University “assists students and alums in developing transferable core career competencies, including integrity, adaptability, and branding�” These skills give students the tools they need to achieve their aspirations�

Pennsylvania State University also made the eighth spot on the list of Best Colleges for Career Services—this institution notably offers “an individual professional mentor who works with [students] throughout their education,” giving them personalized professional guidance to keep them on track so they never fail to begin with�10

Unfortunately, the “wait to fail” educational concept that proved itself entirely ineffective in reading also causes

10 “Best Colleges for Career Services.” Best Colleges, bestcolleges.com/features/best-college-career-services.

http://people.themyersbriggs.com/rs/788-YSM-155/images/Persistence-retention-v3.pdf


problems in career services� However, the good news is that, having noticed this trend, institutions can identify the reasons why they’ve adopted this approach and thereby take steps to provide more advantageous advising�

Why Are Career Centers Waiting for Students to Fail?

Career counselors, academic advisors, and other mentors in career services departments are intensely passionate about helping their students� As a mentor, we understand that you want your students to achieve their dreams, and you have immense potential to succeed in this goal given your extensive expertise� However, just like the dedicated, well-intentioned reading teachers who felt pressured to let their struggling pupils flounder amidst flawed laws and broken systems, career counselors are up against myriad obstacles� You likely agree that letting students delay assistance when it comes to pursuing their educational and occupational pathways is not ideal, but the fact of the matter is that many career centers lack the resources they need to proactively assist their pupils�

The first issue is insufficient staffing� Despite the fact that the “American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 1-to-250,” such that there should not be more than 250 students per counselor, the actual proportions are much worse� The National Academic Advising Association at Kansas State University reported that

“the median caseload of advisees per full-time advisor is 296—and for large institutions, it climbs up to 600�”11

To make matters worse, the 1-to-600 statistic may actually be too generous� As per the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the “median number of professional career services staff” is a mere three,12 while the medium school size, according to College Data, is between 5,000 and 15,000 students�13 Taking these numbers into account, the actual ratio may be between 1-to-1,600 and 1-to-5,000� By any calculation, the typical number of career counselors compared to the size of the student body is absolutely abysmal� With career services staff completely overwhelmed with students, it’s no wonder that they can only attend to those who are in urgent need of remedial assistance�

Having too few career counselors to engage with students contributes to the general “deal with it when it becomes a problem” modality regarding attitudes toward vocational preparation� The Atlantic notes: “ultimately, the scope and quality of a given school’s career services largely depends on the resources it has available and its advisor-student ratio�” High-caliber career centers are made up of committed, qualified professionals who have sufficient time and energy for each of their students� It’s difficult, if not impossible, to prioritize proactive engagement with underclassmen and ensure they’re prepared to succeed if you’re egregiously overburdened�

An inextricably related problem to understaffing is, of course, underfunding� Career services programs are often woefully lacking in resources� According to a recent report by The Atlantic, when a national survey asked participants “if taxes were raised to improve local public schools, [what should] the money��be spent on first�” Of all the options, “counselors came last, with just 6 percent of the sample” advocating for better career services�14 When it comes to institutional budgeting, career services is often considered a low priority, despite the fact that it is crucial for students�

11 Pierce , Lindsey. “The Case for a Case Management Approach in Advising Academically Underprepared Students.” NACADA, www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Academic-Advising-Today/View-Articles/The-Case-for-a-Case-Management-Approach-in-Advising-Academically-Underprepared-Students.aspx.

12 NACE Staff. “Use of the Career Center by First-Generation Students.” National Association of Colleges and Employers, NACE Center for Career Development and Talent Acquisition, 26 Oct. 2016, naceweb.org/career-development/student-attitudes/use-of-the-career-center-by-first-generation-students.

13 “College Size: Small, Medium or Large?” College Data, collegedata.com/cs/content/content_choosearticle_tmpl.jhtml?articleId=10006.

14 Murphy, James S. “The Undervaluing of School Counselors.” The Atlantic, 16 Sept. 2016, theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/09/the-neglected-link-in-the-high-school-to-college-pipeline/50021


Adding insult to injury on the financial front, Inside Higher Ed notes: “colleges slashed career office budgets by an average of 16 percent this past year,” according to one report�15 Overextended counselors with ever-shrinking budgets don’t have the energy, effort, staff, or even basic resources to implement a more preventive, preparatory approach�

As a result, overworked college counselors have to concentrate on the students with the most pressing needs: upperclassmen who, having put off getting help, are, in fact, failing, and need immediate assistance just to get by� After all, a new Strada-Gallup survey on career readiness revealed that just “a third of college students feel prepared for [the] job market and workplace�” Only as they’re about to make the leap into the vocational world do many students realize that they aren’t ready, and seek career services for help� This, of course, occurs because students don’t engage with career centers as underclassmen, thereby leaving them unprepared� Then, career counselors are so busy helping desperate upperclassmen that they can’t put effort into early intervention, and thus the same trends could continue endlessly�

This vicious cycle must be broken, especially since the same Strada-Gallup survey found that even a modicum of career counseling makes a notable difference in students’ outcomes� As per EdSurge, “students who answered ‘yes’ that [at] least one professor, faculty or staff member has initiated a conversation with them about their career options were more likely to express feelings of career readiness� Thirty-nine percent of those students responded that they are confident they will graduate with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in the job market,” compared with “25 percent” who “didn’t have a faculty or staff member initiate a conversation with them about their career options�” In the same vein, 41 percent who’d had a conversation about their career possibilities “said they are confident they will graduate with the skills they need to be successful in the workplace” compared to “28 percent” who didn’t�16 If a single exchange about career choices with an educator could make students feel 14 percent more prepared for the job market, imagine what a truly rigorous early intervention approach could do�

The other hindrance on career centers is that vocational guidance is, essentially, a voluntary elective activity rather than a core educational requirement� Giving busy, exhausted, stressed college students a choice about whether or not to

15 Grasgreen, Allie. “Career Services Must Die.” Inside Higher Ed, 15 May 2013, insidehighered.com/news/2013/05/15/career-services-it-now-exists-must-die-new-report-argues

16 Nazerian, Tina. “New Survey Says Only a Third of College Students Feel Prepared for Job Market and Workplace.” Ed Surge, 17 Jan. 2018, edsurge.com/news/2018-01-17-new-survey-says-only-a-third-of-college-students-feel-prepared-for-job-market-and-workplace.

seek career counseling means that, more often than not, they’ll decide to put it off� Despite the fact that vocational advising is actually vital, many educational institutes treat career centers as ancillary� This perception then pervades the campus culture generally, giving students the impression that career counseling is more of a luxury than a necessity, or a safety net for students who can’t do it on their own� Thus, any barriers—finances, shyness, a packed schedule, etc�—become that much more difficult to overcome�

Career centers undoubtedly have more than their fair share of difficulties to deal with in helping prepare students for the world of work� The good news is that, having identified these obstacles, educators, advisors, and career counselors can make a concerted effort to overcome them�

Planning to Succeed

It’s now clearer than ever that “waiting to fail” is no way to approach career counseling� In light of how detrimental this tactic has been, educational institutions ought to approach the exact opposite method: “prepare to succeed�”

After all, those shining paragons from the Best College Career Services list we discussed above all help students plan in advance for their occupational advancement� To highlight a few stellar strategies, Barnard College (number ten on the list) boasts a “Jumpstart program for industry-specific, lecture-based practical training bootcamps,” while the University of Florida (number five) offers its whimsically titled “CHOMP (Career Help for Major Planning) for Gators, a special collection of activities that explore skills, identify interests, and develop a plan of action to meet goals�” The CHOMP program is very similar to the interest-aligned career and vocational pathways our VitaNavis platform provides�

As we mentioned above, the University of Notre Dame (number one) and Clarkson University (number three) both emphasize “early engagement” with underclassmen, while Pennsylvania State University (number eight) connects students with mentors and Clemson University (number seven) inspires the vast majority of students to interact with career services�17 While these colleges each have distinctive perspectives and tailor their methods to their unique student bodies, what they all share is an emphasis on preparation for success� Far from letting students wait to fail, these institutions hardly allow pupils to wait at all before garnering their interest in career-focused seminars, activities, and advisement�

17 “Best Colleges for Career Services.” Best Colleges, bestcolleges.com/features/best-college-career-services.


It probably comes as no surprise to you that educational research supports an emphasis on early intervention� In their influential paper, The Nature and Power of Interests, James Rounds and Rong Su describe the crucial steps on the journey to goal attainment for students� The first, initial step is interest development, which builds into motivation, catalyzes behavior, and finally results in goal attainment� For ideal outcomes, these steps should be performed sequentially - interests building into motivations building into behavior building into goal attainment�18 The “wait to fail” model turns this process on its head, attempting to repair a lack of goal attainment from the top down rather than the bottom up�

Rounds and Su’s work strongly suggests that interests, properly cultivated, are the baseline of student success� In fact, they’ve found that interests are 35�4 percent predictive of degree attainment, 21�7 percent predictive of college persistence, and 32�9 percent predictive of occupational prestige� In order to coordinate their interests with their careers, students must consider them early on in their college experiences, not after they’re already well into a major and floundering to find a job� Finding and developing student interests are key components of a “prepare to succeed” model of career counseling�

As Rounds and Su’s study indicates, assisting students in determining their interests and aligning these with their curricular and vocational goals early on can increase their likelihood of persisting through to graduation� The non-profit Complete College America notes that just “5 percent of students complete their associate’s degree within 2 years” and only “19 percent of students complete their bachelor’s degree within 4 years�” In order to raise these rates, Complete College America advocates for “proactive advising” based on “academic

18 Rounds, James, and Su, Rong. “The Nature and Power of Interests .” Current Directions in Psychological Science , 2014, pp. 1–6., doi:10.7554/elife.25012.017.

maps” fitted to the number of credits students need to graduate on time� These also “empower advisors to effectively monitor progress and provide intervention as needed�”19

In Preparing the Underprepared, educational expert Joe Cuseo advocates for a robust first-year program for college students� He argues that “the first year of college continues to be the most critical or vulnerable period for student attrition,” and points out: “two independent studies conducted by the Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education have revealed that more cognitive growth occurs during the first year than during any other year in the college experience�” The first year of college is clearly a transformative time for students; it is when students form the habits and attitudes that follow them throughout their entire undergraduate education�

Cuseo specifically cites career counseling objectives as an aspect of first-year programs, suggesting seminars on “self-assessment and self-awareness (for example, assessment of learning styles and career interests)�”20 Our VitaNavis platform includes the Predictive Student Success Module to help users better comprehend their approaches to learning and which soft skills they should develop� In addition, the SuperStrong® assessment helps students discover their interests� As numerous educational researchers, institutions, and our very own clients have found, a proactive approach is optimal� It is much easier and more effective to provide underclassmen with the resources and assistance they need to proactively plan for their future vocations than to help underprepared seniors through the intense stress of job applications�

19 “Complete College America.” Complete College America, Completecollege.org.

20 Cuseo, Joe. “Preparing the Underprepared: Strategies for Promoting New-Student Success.” Higher ed hero conference. 3 Jun. 2010.


In addition to the obvious advantages preparing to succeed offers students, this technique also tangibly benefits the educational institutions that implement it� Taking a proactive approach to career counseling and academic planning motivates students to persist through their degrees, which is good for both the students and the school� After all, it is much more affordable to keep students than to recruit new ones� As University Business puts it, “it costs your school at least $5,640 to recruit a student� Why lose them by not expending some inexpensive time and about $25 to $50 a student to keep them?”21 It is well worth it for institutions to invest the resources career centers need so they can truly prepare their students to succeed�

Even beyond being a better course of action for career centers, a “prepare to succeed” model would cure the ills of the “wait to fail” cycle� As the old adage goes, “prevention is the best medicine�” Rather than focusing on treating the various “pathologies” that come with delaying assistance (a lower retention rate, students who aren’t ready for the workforce, distraught seniors, etc�) career centers can engage in their own kind of holistic, preventive “medicine” - giving students of all years the guidance they need to stay vocationally and academically healthy on the pathway to their goals�

For example, take the student who chose to major in engineering but can’t pass pre-calculus� Helping this student “prepare to succeed” might entail ensuring that the student has a strong list of back-up majors or, ideally, assisting the student in choosing a different major altogether early on� Career counselors and academic advisors are expert in helping students understand their own data, so these staffers must be involved in the process right from the start—not when students must resort to starting over�

Moreover, a proactive approach can help students stay engaged as they study and get ready for their futures, further improving their academic and vocational outcomes� In a recent survey of undergraduates, “56 percent��were still uncertain concerning the career path they wanted to pursue,” and, on a related note, “49 percent indicated that they endured stress over deciding on a major or career path�” Counseling Today suggests addressing this stress with a “prepare to succeed”-style approach, recommending that students “visit their campus center during their first semester at college”

21 Raisman, Neal A. “Retain Students, Retain Budgets: A How-To Primer for Colleges and Universities.” University Business, 1 Apr. 2009, universitybusiness.com/article/retain-students-retain-budgets-how.

so that they can become oriented to career counseling and begin gathering the information they need to do well�22

As we discussed previously, many students don’t go to the career center because vocational advising is a voluntary activity, separate and distant from the college curriculum� To fully, optimally implement the “prepare to succeed” model, this perspective must be integrated with the college experience as a whole� For instance, Michigan State University created a “new ‘distributive approach’” to college counseling� This involves “three main hubs whose staff are closely connected (or even reside) with” the university’s various schools� Career counseling offices “coordinate the college’s goals and agenda with the main center offices, embedding career development into the curriculum and helping to build students’ professional identity from the get-go�” In this configuration, career centers aren’t just “extras” at the edge of campus, but a significant part of its functioning, and one that students are much more likely to interact with�

As Inside Higher Ed explains, “Michigan State has overcome the traditional model’s challenge of getting students to use its services by taking the services to the students - and it increased demand so much that strains are emerging�”23 This technique is so successful that students are actually clamoring for (instead of ignoring) vocational advising� An assimilated, active career center that inspires students to prepare for their futures rather than postpone them can work wonders for this element of education� With the Michigan State model in place, students don’t have to wait for career counseling, nor do they have to fail at all; they can simply engage with career services from day one and build the future they want for themselves�

How VitaNavis Can Help Your Students Prepare for Success

If you’re ready to replace “waiting to fail” with “preparing for success” for your students, VitaNavis can help� The VitaNavis platform drives informed decision-making from the start and at any point in the educational journey� At the heart of the platform, valid and reliable assessments help students explore their interests, personalities, and skills as they relate to goal achievement� The tools within the platform help students explore and select programs and majors,

22 O’Donnell, Neil. “Career counselors: On the front lines of battling student stress.” Counseling Today, 27 Mar. 2017, ct.counseling.org/2017/03/career-counselors-front-lines-battling-student-stress.



and identify how those programs and their skills relate to their future in the world of work following completion�

Helping students better understand their interests is a win-win-win for students, school stakeholders, and future employers� As we’ve discussed throughout this report, students who comprehend their passions and plan their careers accordingly are likely to do better academically, graduate, feel confident in themselves, and succeed in their vocations� This is because with interest comes persistence, as per Rounds and Su� Students’ dedication and perseverance (borne out of purpose and enthusiasm) serve all involved�

In addition to providing a shared vocabulary and perspective from which to prepare for success, VitaNavis offers practical, logistical tools� For example, at the end of the SuperStrong assessment, VitaNavis offers a variety of interest-aligned potential vocations, along with the educational requirements that go with these� This allows users to map out their educational plans with a clear goal in mind� Furthermore, the Predictive Student Success Module offers suggestions on “how to grow” for each category, such as taking more risks (Self-Confidence), becoming more decisive (Self-Awareness), and adopting a more flexible approach to tasks (Flexibility)�

At the Myers-Briggs Company, we understand that we may not be able to instantly solve every problem career counselors face, such as understaffing and underfunding� These are longer-term issues to straighten out� However, the VitaNavis platform can instantly better inform career counselors’ advice, helping you quickly get to know your students through the use of analytics and dashboards, paired with our innovative technology and assessments� These questionnaires are also engaging and easily shareable, so every incoming freshman could become proactive about their pathways in mere minutes� In sum, the VitaNavis platform can serve as more than just a starting point, immediately inspiring students who might have “waited to fail” to “prepare to succeed�” It can then serve as an important tool to guide students throughout their entire journey to graduation and beyond�

To explore VitaNavis for yourself, sign up for a free trial or register for one of our weekly webinars�

ABOUT THE MYERS-BRIGGS COMPANY

The Myers-Briggs Company offers industry-leading solutions to help you improve organizational performance and address the issues you face—from team building, leadership and coaching, and conflict management to career development, selection, and retention. But it’s our knowledgeable experts who always keep an eye out for ways to help you solve today’s complex organizational issues and anticipate future needs. Perhaps that’s why millions of individuals in more than 100 countries use our highly reliable products each year. They include people at Fortune 500 companies and businesses of all sizes, as well as educators, government agencies, and training and development consultants. For more than 60 years, The Myers-Briggs Company has provided world-renowned brands that include the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI® ), Strong Interest Inventory®, Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI® ), FIRO®, CPI 260®, and California Psychological Inventory™ (CPI™) instruments—and now, the VitaNavis® platform, powered by the SuperStrong® assessment. When it comes to making your organization better, you give it your all—and The Myers-Briggs Company is a partner who will, too.

Talk to us today to see how.

185 N. Wolfe Rd., Sunnyvale, CA 94086 800-624-1765 : get.vitanavis.com

© 2019 by The Myers-Briggs Company. Myers-Briggs is a registered trademark of The Myers & Briggs Foundation in the United States and other countries. Strong Interest Inventory, SuperStrong, VitaNavis and the CPP, Strong, SuperStrong, and VitaNavis logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Myers-Briggs Company, in the United States and other countries.

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