keystone college students’ perceptions of career development and use of career services

Keystone College Students’ Perceptions of Career Development and

Use of Career Services

An Academic Research Capstone Project

prepared by

Joseph Croft

for

Rhea Ellis-Duke, Director of Career Development

Patricia Jennings, Associate Professor of Communications

Sherry S. Strain, Ph.D., Professor of Communications

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements

for the Degree of

Bachelor of Arts: Communication Arts and Humanities

Keystone College

April 2013

Career Development 2

Abstract

This research pertains to the perceptions of career development

of students at Keystone College, as well as their use of career

services at the College. The study primarily looks at how much

value students place in career development and what services

they are using. A total of 94 students participated in the

study. The data instrument used was a questionnaire consisting

of 21 questions. The results of the study showed that the

majority of students are aware of career services, although not

as many use the services. The research also shows that the

majority of students at Keystone College find value in career

development throughout the entire college experience.


Keystone College Students’ Perceptions of Career Development and

Use of Career Services

There is a popular idea among individuals that going to

college will guarantee one to have a successful career. Within

the recent economic climate, there are some who believe that

colleges are not doing enough to continue this tradition. As a

result, career centers at many colleges and universities are

being forced to go to extremes to increase awareness of career

development and to better aid students.

These circumstances should make college career centers very

popular for students. However, most career centers still face

the same problem: students are not taking full advantage of the

resources available. Or, if they do, they are doing it too late.

This problem is evident at Keystone College, and this research

will be aimed at solving that problem.

The research to be presented will focus on both the

importance of career development in a college setting, as well

as the problems faced today by college career centers. It will

also describe solutions that various institutions have used to

combat these problems, including some solutions that have been

implemented at Keystone College. It is hoped that the overall

study will result in a successful plan to reinvigorate student

involvement in career development at Keystone College.


The results of this study conducted at Keystone College

will provide a glimpse into students’ perceptions of career

development and use of career services. The obtainment of a

college degree and how that relates to career development, as

well as post-college plans, will be examined. The study will

also show when students feel that using career services is most

important. Finally, a large portion of the study will look at

the actual use of career services and provide insight into

suggestions on how to improve the services at Keystone College.

Review of the Literature

Background on College Career Development

Career development is largely rooted in theory. According

to Hartung and Niles (2000), one of the main theories used in

career development is John Holland’s theory of vocational

personalities and work environments. The theory states that

individuals fall within a range of six personality types:

realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or

conventional. Using this type model, known as the RIASEC model,

career counselors use evaluative tools to direct clients to a

satisfying career. The most common method of doing this is to

use the Self-Directed Search (SDS) which results in the

revelation of the three most prominent personality types for


that individual. The initials for those three types form what is

known as a Holland code.

Using this theoretical work as a base, career counselors on

college campuses work to assess what may be the best career

choices for each student. The work for these professionals,

however, does not stop at assessment. According to Shea (2010),

career centers on college campuses also focus on resume

preparation, interview skills, and job search techniques. These

centers act as a hub and try to solve the needs of three main

groups: students, faculty, and employers. Each group has its own

needs, and the staff of the career center must work with limited

resources to meet those needs as effectively as possible.

At Keystone College, the Career Development Center (CDC) is

a department within the division of Student Affairs. Apart from

offering the basic services of a typical college center, the CDC

also has a feature that is unique among other institutions of

higher education. Established in 1997, The Keystone Promise is a

system through which first-time, full-time students can be

guaranteed to either be working full-time or be accepted into a

graduate school or other degree program within six months of

graduation (The Keystone Promise, n.d.). In order to secure this

arrangement, students must follow a series of eleven steps,

which will ensure that, after graduating, a student will be


successful. By going through this process, students eventually

experience every service that the CDC has to offer.

Communication Connection to College Career Centers

There are two theories of communication that can be

directly linked to the functionality of college career centers:

Geertz, Pacanowsky, and O’Donnell-Trujillo’s Organizational

Culture Theory and Weick’s Organizational Information Theory.

According to West and Turner (2010), the Organizational Culture

Theory states that members of an organization work to create a

unified understanding of the ideals of an organization so that

others may better understand the purpose and value of the

organization. The theory also explains that an organization’s

use and interpretation of symbols plays a large part in the

success of the organization.

West and Turner also describe the basis of the

Organizational Information Theory. One of the main assumptions

of this theory is that the way organizations send and receive

information is important in order to maximize both visibility

and understanding of an organization’s mission and purpose.

Feedback from those outside of an organization is crucial in

order for the organization to evaluate its success. Without this

process, the organization will not be able to determine what, if

any, gaps exist and how to improve them.


Both of these theories connect to college career centers in

two ways. First, the understanding of a college career center’s

purpose is crucial to its existence. If students on a college

campus are unaware of the intent that a career center has, they

will either misuse the services offered or simply ignore them.

To ensure that neither of these problems occur, career centers

must strive to become recognizable through the use of symbols.

Secondly, the flow of information to and from a career

center must be both maintained and carefully studied. If

information is not being sent about the services offered by a

career center, students will not be engaged in the career

development process. If information is being sent incorrectly

and ineffectively, it can be misinterpreted or not seen at all.

Problems for College Centers

According to Lipka (2008), the recent economic climate in

the United States has resulted in much pressure being put on

college career centers. In the past, many individuals were able

to go to college, receive a degree, and be almost guaranteed to

secure a well-paying job. This is not the case today. As a

result, colleges and universities are attempting to emphasize

the importance of their career centers and the services that

they offer. Some are even going so far as to make the center the

main selling point in admissions recruiting.


For some career centers, this emphasis is creating a

problem of being overwhelmed with students. For most, however,

it is still a struggle to get students into the office. This

problem can be linked to the communication theories previously

mentioned. Students may not understand how the career center can

help them due to lack of information and improper use and

interpretation of symbols. For example, Lipka explains that

career counselors have been trying to remove the word placement

from titles and descriptions of career centers. Placing a

student in a job is not a primary function for a career

counselor. Rather, she or he uses tools to guide students to a

well-matched career field. The term placement, however, still

exists in some areas, which causes confusion for students and

problems for career centers.

The problem can also be linked to pure laziness. Lipka

suggests that students simply postpone career planning and only

seek out help at the last possible minute. Career counselors

realize that this is a problem, and therefore spend a lot of

time of trying to determine effective ways to market career

centers and engage students. Since many career centers lack

sufficient funding, these efforts require creative methods that

must both be cost-effective and exciting for students.

Apart from trying to get students in the doors of the

office, Shea (2010) describes a few more problems faced by


career centers. He explains that there is mounting pressure from

parents to ensure that their children are successful after

graduation. He also explains that changing student populations

make it both difficult and confusing to deal with the various

needs associated with those students. A third problem he

describes is that of technology. It has been changing rapidly

since the 1990s, and career centers are simply having trouble

keeping up with the changing trends.

Marketing Solutions for Career Centers

According to “Six Steps to Effective Strategic Marketing”

(2011), career centers can plan how to reach students using six

basic steps. The first step encourages strategy in order to have

career centers better represent themselves. Students want to

feel that these offices will both welcome them and help them in

innovative ways. It is more important to explain how a student

will be helped rather than to just say that the student will be

helped.

The second step describes how to spread a positive message

about the career center through current students and alumni who

have benefited from the center. It explains that word of mouth

is still very important, so it is crucial for career centers to

have positive relationships with clients in order to keep a good

reputation. The remaining steps suggest that schools should plan

interesting events, take more advantage of social media, engage


more efficiently with employers, and become visible at high-

traffic areas.

The first two steps really form the foundation of a how

career centers can start to better market themselves. After this

is accomplished, they can focus on the main task at hand, which

is to get students involved in career development. The article

“Engaging Non-Users in Career Services” (2010) explains that

students who do not utilize the resources of career centers

actually do know these offices exist. However, they may feel

that they either do not need help or that they cannot be helped

at this time. This again goes back to the idea that these

offices need to focus more on marketing the value of services

rather than the services themselves.

While this is an important point, many career centers still

try to get students excited about career development in general

using creative ideas. Some of these methods include hosting a

career carnival, hanging flyers in high-traffic and unexpected

areas, extensively using social media, and visiting classrooms

to explain the services offered (“Marketing the career center to

students”, 2010).

One of the more popular approaches in recent years is to

employ student ambassadors to form a branding team for career

centers. “UCI’s Dream Team Taps into Students to Market Career

Center” (2010) describes one school’s success with this


approach. The program, created in 2009, is actually an

internship program that accepts five students per year. Each

student is then assigned to a specific task through meetings

with the coordinator and then works to develop creative

marketing solutions. The students themselves serve as personal

brand ambassadors who are able to give a student’s perspective

on the importance and value of career development. The program

at this particular university has been so successful that it saw

more than 250 students in one day for a single event.

Program Solutions for Career Centers

While general marketing efforts are important in order to

engage students in career development, programming is also

crucial. Colleges and universities work very hard to add

beneficial programs for students that may be required or not in

order to better prepare them for the future. Some of the

required programs have proven to be the most successful.

Some required programs get students started in career

development from the very first year of college. Stebleton

(2010) explains the implementation of career development in

first-year seminar courses at one particular college. Students

in these courses are required to take part in a computer-based

career assessment during the very first week of classes.

Throughout the first semester, career counselors then go to

classrooms to walk students through four other activities that


result in them becoming more aware of their personal strengths

and career aspirations.

A program at Xavier University also believes in beginning

career development during the first year of college. According

to Clark (2005), business majors at the school are thrust into a

four-year program in order to better prepare them to be working

professionals. Work in the first year is focused on self-

assessment, ethics, and goal setting. Students are then required

to follow a number of structured, career-focused activities

throughout the remainder of their college experience.

Gavigan (2010) outlines a required internship program that

is used at Wheaton College in Massachusetts. The program is

able to provide students with substantial scholarship money so

that they may be able to participate in unpaid internships that

could offer a lot of valuable work experience. Students are

also able to start taking advantage of this offer during their

very first year on campus. The program at Wheaton also involves

intense competition. Students have to interview in order to

receive a scholarship and to also be placed at an internship

site that they really want. The overall design of the program

almost ensures that students will succeed and land an

internship, but the added pressure of competition has been

reported to have helped students immensely to prepare for the

world of work.


Technological Solutions for Career Centers

Along with stronger marketing and adding more programs,

career centers have also had to embrace technology in order to

successfully engage students. Online mentoring through e-mail is

one approach. According to Venable (2008), the basic idea of an

online mentoring program is to match students with mentors based

on career goals. The students then communicate with the assigned

mentors via e-mail to discuss information most relevant to them

in terms of career guidance. Career counselors closely monitor

the process of communication to ensure successful outcomes.

Venable warns that while some positives, such as convenience,

exist, there are negative aspects to this approach, such as

misinterpreting e-mails and lack of confidentiality.

Aside from e-mail mentoring, many schools use computer-

based assessment tools to help students, such as in the first-

year program described earlier. An early software program, SIGI

PLUS, was incorporated into a program at Endicott College. The

program helped students by taking them through self-assessment,

career exploration, and job searching, all with positive results

(“Using SIGI PLUS career planning software to enhance

recruitment, retention and placement”, 1999).

Luzzo and Maples (2005) researched the results of another

program, DISCOVER. The program was similar to SIGI in that

students were guided through self-assessment, but it was a more


powerful tool that let students explore themselves on a deeper

level without much, if any, assistance. Through the use of this

program, students were able to feel more confident in regard to

making choices about career development independently. This is

the program that was in place at Keystone College until the fall

of 2012, when the program was discontinued as a whole.

According to Thomson (2010), the implementation of an

online-based program at Queensland University of Technology,

Australia, has been met with a lot of success. This complex,

four-year program takes students through a variety of modules in

order to prepare them for the workforce. These modules include

self-understanding, course exploration and decision-making,

assessing readiness for study, thriving at university,

introducing the student e-portfolio, and one elective, which may

be managing finances, interviewing, or networking. The program

has been met with great approval from officials throughout

Australia and has even been integrated into classroom curricula.

Keeping the Focus on Students

The variety of options available in order to more

successfully market and improve career services on a college

campus is certainly vast. However, the focus must always remain

on the students and what they get out of any of these programs.

According to “Engaging Non-Users in Career Services,” those not

using career services are more in favor of individual, face-to


face meetings over workshops and classroom presentations. They

also want personal mentors to help them rather than strangers,

which is why they often turn to faculty instead of career

counselors.

Shea (2010) explains how different student populations have

different needs. For example, single parents and older, adult

students, value being able to work while gaining a college

education. He describes a program at a university in Canada that

helps to ensure that these students are not only working, but

working in jobs related to their future careers. Students who

are about to graduate are in another group with different

concerns. They are most concerned with making the transition

from school to work. At another Canadian university, these

students are directed through specific modules that help them to

make connections in the workforce and gain practical experience

though internships.

Determining the Best Approach to the Problem

In order to solve the problem most effectively, while still

keeping the needs of students at the core, it is imperative to

connect the communication theories described earlier to the

problems of a specific career center. If students are aware of

the existence of a career center and the service that it offers,

the problem may lie within the culture of the organization.


Perhaps it is not welcoming enough or doing a good enough job at

ensuring a unified interpretation of its mission and goals.

If students are unaware of the services, the best approach

may be to look at the way information is being sent and

received. If e-mail has been the primary use for a center, it

can attempt to switch to social media platforms, such as

Facebook and Twitter. Perhaps it is more effective for students

to see flyers on campus. Or, as described in “Six Steps to

Effective Strategic Marketing” (2011), the main problem may be

word of mouth. This would be a problem that would have to be

solved by both looking at the information system as well the

culture of the organization.

Once the communication theory has helped to inform career

center staff how to best go about solving the problem, the

method or technique must be chosen. This is when career centers

can determine what efforts have worked best in the past and

which ones have been the least successful. For example, if a

career center has not engaged in social media and students are

determining that they would be more informed if they did, then

starting a Facebook page may be a great idea. If attendance at

workshops and events has been historically low, maybe counselors

should talk to faculty about requiring one-on-one appointments.

If students seem to prefer engaging with peers to talk about


career development, perhaps adding a group of student brand

ambassadors would be the best solution.

As Lipka (2008) explained, the current economic climate is

really forcing career centers to deal with any and all problems

immediately and forcefully. There is increased pressure from

informed students who are aware of the difficulty of securing a

job to be as prepared as possible. This pressure forces career

centers to think about unique strategies to better prepare

students in the best way possible. However, with limited funds,

this proves to be quite difficult. Pressure is also coming from

colleges and universities as a whole to get students more

engaged in career development. Those non-users who are very

aware of the existence of career centers need to be pushed to

take a more active and visible role in preparing for the future.

The problems may seem daunting, but a variety of solutions

exist. Career centers can engage in specific and creative

marketing methods in order to make students more aware and

excited about career development. They can also add programs,

often required, that will help to ensure that students are

receiving the right tools for entering the workforce. These

offices can also embrace technology and implement computer-based

career assessment and totally online career modules that will

help to guide students through the career planning process step-

by-step.


The majority of the research that has been presented has

said that students are actually aware of the availability of

career services, but they just do not feel inclined to take part

in them. This topic will be explored further using the

perceptions of Keystone College students. This researcher will

collect information about student awareness of and use of career

services available to them at Keystone College. From the

research collected, it is hoped that a strategic form of action

can be made so that the CDC will be able to serve the student

population in the most effective and efficient way possible.

Method

Participants

A total of 94 participants fully completed my

questionnaire. Seventy of these participants indicated that they

were aged 18-21 years old. Of the remaining participants, 16

fell into the 22-26 age range, while eight indicated that they

were aged 26+ years old.

Participants were also asked to specify gender. Forty-five

were male, while 49 were female. When asked to indicate their

current school year, 21 responded freshman, 23 sophomore, 35

junior, and 15 senior. Thirty-five of the participants also

indicated that they were residents, while 59 were commuters.

Finally, participants were asked to write in their major

area of study. The majority fell within three areas:


communications (32), sport and recreational management (29), and

business (17). Of the remaining participants, four were

psychology majors, two criminal justice, two education, and one

each from accounting, culinary, liberal studies, art,

environmental resource management, allied health, and social

sciences. One participant also indicated an undecided major.

The visual breakdown of participants by demographics can be

seen in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Figure 1: Age of Participants

70

16

8

18-21

22-25

26+


Figure 2: Gender of Participants

4549M

F

Figure 3: School Level of Participants

21

2335

15

Freshman

Sophomore

Junior

Senior


Figure 4: Resident or Commuter Status of Participants

35

59

Resident

Commuter

Figure 5: Major of Participants

1

17

4

1

29

2

32

112

11 1 1

Accounting

Business

Psych

Culinary

SRM

Ed

Comm

LS

Art

CJ

ERM

Allied Health

Soc Sci

Undecided


Each of the participants was given a copy of the Informed

Consent Form that was approved prior to my questionnaire by

Keystone College’s Institutional Review Board. The participants

read over the consent form as I read the form out loud to them.

Those people who agreed to participate returned the Informed

Consent Form and then they completed the questionnaire. A copy

of this form is attached to the end of the report. (See Appendix

A).

Once all of the questionnaires were completed and gathered,

the results were tabulated and analyzed. All of the

questionnaires and tabulations were kept in a locked location

that only I had access to in order to protect the privacy and

confidentiality of the participants.

Materials

The date collection instrument used was a questionnaire.

The questionnaire was distributed to into eight individual

classes taught by four Keystone College professors. Permission

was granted to me by Dr. Sherry Strain, Patricia Jennings,

Melany Fedor, and Brenda Lidy to enter their classes. E-mail

documentation of approval was submitted to the Institutional

Review Board. A blank copy of the questionnaire is attached to

the end of the report. (See Appendix B).

The questionnaire presented a variety of questions in order

to gage participants’ perceptions of career development and use


of career services at Keystone College. First, participants were

asked to relate the seeking of a college degree to the

obtainment of a job. This was followed by a question about

future plans following graduation. Next, they were asked to

indicate whether or not they were aware of the availability of

career services at the College. Participants who answered yes to

this question were then prompted to indicate during which year

of school they became area of this availability. The following

two questions were used to find out if participants believed

that career services were useful throughout the entire college

experience or only during senior year.

Next, participants were asked to indicate topics of

interest related to career development and whether or not they

preferred individual appointments or classroom presentations.

The following question asked if participants felt that the

Career Development Center at Keystone College had been effective

at preparing them for the future. A follow-up to this question

asked for indication of how to improve career services. Then,

they were asked to select the best communication channels for

reaching them.

The final set of questions was used to gain insight into

use of career services at Keystone College. Participants were

asked how frequent they had visited the Career Development

Center during the last twelve months. Those who chose a response


other than “Never” were then asked to indicate which services

they had used and whether or not they were required to visit for

a class. Finally, all participants were asked to write the names

of CDC staff members, as well as the location of the office.

Design and Procedure

In order to obtain a sufficient amount of data, I planned

to distribute 151 questionnaires in hopes that at least 100 of

them would be usable. After my project was approved by the IRB,

I set out to schedule times to stop by the classrooms of those

professors who granted me approval.

According to my Capstone proposal, I wanted to finish

distributing questionnaires by the first week of March. This

process went much faster than anticipated, and distribution was

completed two weeks early. Absenteeism prevented the collection

of one hundred and fifty questionnaires, but 121 were still

collected in total.

During the distribution and collection, I began tabulating

in order to expedite the process. This allowed the project to

move ahead of schedule. For tabulation, a database was created

using Microsoft Excel. One spreadsheet was created for the

tabulation of demographic information, while another was created

for responses to the questions. The initial spreadsheet used for

responses to the questions was copied several times for

tabulation by demographic group. After tabulation was completed,


charts were able to be generated for both the demographic

information, as well as the responses to the questions.

Results

Question #6 asked participants to indicate whether or not

they were pursuing a college degree in order to get a job.

Seventy-two strongly agreed, eight somewhat agreed, 11 agreed,

two disagreed, and one somewhat disagreed. A follow-up to this

question asked participants to indicate plans after college.

Fifty-three responded by saying they would enter the workforce,

22 planned to attend graduate school, 13 were undecided, two

said they would enlist in the military, and four indicated a

response of “other.” The visual breakdown for these responses

can be seen in Figure 6 and Figure 7.

Figure 6: I am seeking a college degree in order to get a job.

72

8

11

2 1

Strong A

Some A

Agree

Disagree

Some Dis

Strong Dis


Figure 7: Plans after college.

53

22

13

2 4

Work

Grad School

Undecided

Military

Other

Question #8 asked the participants to indicate whether or

not they were aware of the availability of career services at

Keystone College. 80 responded yes, while 14 responded no. The

80 who responded yes were then asked when they became aware of

this availability. 54 said during their freshman year, 13 during

sophomore year, 11 during junior year, and two during senior.

The breakdown of these responses can be seen in Figure 8 and

Figure 9.


Figure 8: I am aware of the availability of career services at

Keystone College.

80

14

Yes

No

Figure 9: When they became aware of the availability

54

13

112

Freshman

Sophomore

Junior

Senior

The next two questions were used to determine whether or

not participants believed that the Career Development Center was


helpful throughout the entire college experience or only during

senior year. For question #10, 12 strongly agreed that the CDC

was helpful during freshman year and throughout the college

experience. 24 somewhat agreed, 35 agreed, 14 disagreed, two

somewhat disagreed, and seven strongly disagreed. In terms of

the CDC only being helpful during senior year, five strongly

agreed, 11 somewhat agreed, 20 agreed, 41 disagreed, six

somewhat disagreed, and 11 strongly disagreed. The breakdown of

these responses is displayed in Figure 10 and Figure 11.

Figure 10: CDC helpful throughout entire college experience.

12

24

35

14

27

Strong A

Some A

Agree

Disagree

Some Dis

Strong Dis


Figure 11: CDC helpful only during senior year.

511

20

41

6

11Strong A

Some A

Agree

Disagree

Some Dis

Strong Dis

Question #12 asked participants to indicate which topics

related to career development were of most interest to them. 58

said writing resumes and cover letters, 60 said making a

portfolio, 47 said interviewing skills, 57 said internships and

experiential learning, 74 said job search, 34 said graduate

school preparation, 32 said career assessments, and 55 said

career planning. Please see Figure 12 for the visual breakdown

of these responses.


Figure 12: Career development topics of most interest.

58

60

47

5774

34

32

55R&CL

Portfolio

Interviewing

Intern/EXPL

Job Search

Grad School

Assessments

Planning

Question #13 asked if participants preferred individual

appointments over classroom presentations. 31 indicated that

they strongly agreed, 27 somewhat agreed, 28 agreed, seven

disagreed, and one somewhat disagreed. The breakdown for

responses to this question can be seen in Figure 13.

Figure 13: Prefer appointments over classroom presentations.

31

27

28

7

1

Strong A

Some A

Agree

Disagree

Some Dis


The next question, #14, asked if participants believed that

the CDC had been effective at preparing them for the future.

Eight strongly agreed, 23 somewhat agreed, 39 agreed, 17

disagreed, three somewhat disagreed, and four strongly

disagreed. A follow-up to this question asked for indication of

ways for the CDC to improve its services. 34 thought broader use

of social media would improve services, while 33 said more

frequent events, 44 said a larger availability of online

resources, 57 indicated increased publicity, and one indicated

“other” and specified brining in speakers to talk about careers.

The visual breakdown of these responses is seen in Figure 14 and

Figure 15.

Figure 14: The CDC has been effective at preparing me for the

future.

8

23

39

17

3 4Strong A

Some A

Agree

Disagree

Some Dis

Strong Dis


Figure 15: Ways for CDC to improve its services.

34

33

44

57

1Social Media

Events

OnlineResources

Publicity

Speakers

Question #16 asked for an indication of the best channels

of communication for reach participants. 85 said it is best to

contact them through their Keystone College E-mail, 23 said

through a non-Keystone College E-mail, 20 said through KC

Morning E-Notes, 48 said through Facebook, 16 through Twitter,

35 said flyers and posters on campus, and four indicated a

channel of “other” and specified by cell phone. The breakdown of

these responses is shown in Figure 16.

Figure 16: Best channels of communication for reaching students.

85

2320

48

16

35

4

KC E-Mail

Other E-Mail

KC Morning

FB

Twitter

Flyers

Cell Phone


Question #17 asked often participants had visited the CDC

during the last 12 months. 37 indicated that they had never

visited, 51 said 1-3 times, five said 4-6 times, and one said

more than 6 times. Those who indicated a response other than

“never” were then asked to say which services provided by the

CDC they had utilized during the last 12 months. 26 indicated

that they had visited for a resume and cover letter review, 13

for portfolio preparation, four for mock interviews, 13 for

finding an internship, six for a job search, three for career

assessments, eight for career planning, and seven responded with

“other.” The seven “other” responses specified one for

experiential learning, three for First Year Seminar (FYS), one

for a work-study problem, one for counseling, and one stopped by

just out of curiosity. These same 57 participants were then

asked if they had only visited the CDC during the last 12 months

because they had been required to do so for a class. 30

responded with yes, and 27 responded with no. The visual

breakdown for these three questions is displayed in Figure 17,

Figure 18, and Figure 19.


Figure 17: How often have you visited the CDC during the last 12

months?

37

51

5

1

Never

1-3 Times

4-6 Times

More than 6

Figure 18: CDC services used during last 12 months.

26

134

13

6

3

8

13

1 1 1R&CL

Portfolio

Interviews

Internship

Job

Assessments

Planning

EXPL

FYS

Work-Study

Counseling

Curiousity


Figure 19: Required for class to visit CDC during last 12 months?

30

27 Yes

No

For question #20, participants were asked to list the names

of the current Career Development Center staff. 16 named Rhea

Ellis Duke (Director), 13 said Christopher O’Connor (Assistant

Director), and 4 said Alissa Lastres (Career Outreach

Assistant). Three participants wrote names of employees who were

not CDC staff members, and two wrote down my name. Ten of the

participants indicated that they did not know any names, and 63

did not respond. Finally, participants were asked to write the

location of the CDC office. Of the 94 participants, 65 knew

where the office was located, seven did not know, and 22 did not

respond. The visual breakdown for these last two questions can

be seen in Figure 20 and Figure 21.


Figure 20: List the names of the current CDC staff.

16

13

4

3

210

63

Rhea

Chris

Alissa

Non-CDC Staff

Joe

Didn't Know

No Response

Figure 21: Write the location of the CDC office.

65

7

22

Knew It

Didn't Know

No Response

When looking at the demographic groups, there were varied

responses between participants of different school levels. Of

the 21 freshmen who were surveyed, 15 strongly agreed that they

were seeking a college degree in order to get a job, while two


somewhat agreed and four agreed. Ten of the freshmen planned to

work following graduation, while four planned to go to graduate

school, six were undecided, and one planned to enlist in the

military. Only two of the 21 freshmen indicated that they were

unaware of career services at the College. Also of those 21

freshmen, eight said that they have never visited the CDC within

the last 12 months. Of the 13 that had visited the CDC during

the last 12 months, ten said that they only did so because they

were required to for a class.

The responses from sophomore participants showed some

variation. Of the 23 surveyed, 16 strongly agreed that they were

seeking a college degree in order to get a job, while three

somewhat agreed, three agreed, and one somewhat disagreed. In

regards to plans after college, 13 indicated that they would

enter the workforce, six planned to attend graduate school, two

were undecided, and two responded with “other.” Only three of

the sophomore participants were unaware of career services at

the College. Ten of the participants indicated that they had

never visited the CDC during the last 12 months. Of the 13 who

had, seven indicated that they only did so because they were

required to for a class.

The largest group of participants was those who identified

as juniors. Of the 35, 29 strongly agreed that were seeking a

college degree in order to get a job. Two somewhat agree, three


agreed, and one disagreed. After college, 19 of the juniors

planned to enter the workforce, 11 planned to attend graduate

school, four were undecided, and one indicated a response of

“other.” Eight of the participants were unaware of career

services at the College. During the last 12 months, 18 of the

juniors indicated that they had not visited the CDC. Of the 17

who had, only seven said they did so only because they were

required to do so for a class.

A total of 15 seniors participated in the study. Of the 15,

12 strongly agreed that they were a seeking a college degree in

order to get a job, while one somewhat agreed, one agreed, and

one disagreed. Twelve of the seniors planned to work after

graduation, one planned to attend graduate school, one was

undecided, and one indicated a response of “other.” Just one

senior was unaware of career services at the College. Only one

senior indicated as having never visited the CDC in the last 12

months. Of the remaining 14 who had visited, seven said that

they were required to do so for a class.

Responses from residents and commuters were also analyzed.

For question #15, 18 of the 35 residents said that social media

could improve CDC services, while 21 indicated more frequent

events, 17 said online resources, and 21 said increased

publicity. When asked often they had visited the CDC in the last

12 months, 18 residents said never. Of the 17 who had visited,


seven said that they did so only because they were required to

do so for a class.

Of all of the participants, 59 indicated that they were

commuters. Of the commuters, 16 believed social media would

improve CDC services, 22 said more frequent events, 25 said

online resources, 36 said increased publicity, and one indicated

a response of “other” and specified brining in speakers to talk

about careers. Nineteen of the commuters said that they had

never visited the CDC in the last 12 months. Of the 40 that had

visited, 24 said that they only did so because they were


Discussion

Career development for college students is certainly an

important issue. However, is this topic actually important to

college students? Are they taking advantage of the services that

a college career center has to offer? This study set out to

answer these questions and was able to capture part of the

perspective according to Keystone College students.

Lipka (2008) pointed out that the recent economic climate

increased pressure on colleges and their career centers to

successfully prepare students for the world of work. Although a

college degree is no longer a guarantee for a successful career,

many individuals are still assuming that this is the case. This

study certainly correlated with this research, because 72 of the


94 participants strongly agreed that they were seeking a college

degree in order to get a job. Fifty-three of the participants

also indicated that they planned to enter the workforce after

graduation. The responses from both of these questions continued

to prove that the mindset is still that of degree equals career.

Being aware of career services at a college or university

is certainly a large factor in terms of participation in career

development. According to “Engaging Non-Users in Career

Services” (2010), students may not utilize the career center but

are still very much aware the center actually exists. This

theory also proved true, because 80 of the participants

indicated that they were aware of the availability of career

services at Keystone College. Most of the participants also

became aware fairly early, because 54 indicated that they were

aware of the CDC beginning freshman year. Those who were not

aware until later could possibly have been transfer students,

which was a population not examined during this study.

Also pointed out by Lipka (2008) was that a majority of

students still believe that career services are not helpful

until later in the college experience. This study actually

disproved that theory with question #10 and question #11.

According to the results, the vast majority considered the

Career Development Center to be useful during freshman year and

throughout the college experience. To further disprove Lipka’s


theory, the majority of the participants also indicated that

they disagreed that career services were only helpful during

senior year. This result actually surprised me, because I had

the same prediction as Lipka.

Question #12 came from my own feelings about career

development and how important certain topics are to students. I

was not surprised to see a majority of participants selecting

job search as a topic of interest. I was, however, surprised to

see so many participants interested in career planning. This,

however, could be the result of not understanding the services

provided the office. Geertz, Pacanowsky, and O’Donnell-Trujillo

did point out with the Organizational Culture Theory that

misinterpretation of an organization’s mission and culture is

common (West and Turner, 2010).

According to “Engaging Non-Users in Career Services,” those

not using career services are more in favor of individual, face-

to face meetings over workshops and classroom presentations.

Thus, participants were asked if they preferred individual

appointments over classroom presentations. Sure enough, 31

participants strongly agreed that they preferred individual

appointments, and 28 generally agreed. Of course, this question

was asked of all participants, not just non-users. So, this both

proves the theory about non-users and shows that many students,

as a whole, prefer the individual, one-on-one attention.


Going back to what Lipka (2008) addressed about the

pressure being put on colleges and career centers to produce

results, question #14 asked if participants believed the CDC had

been effective at preparing them for the future. While 39

generally agreed, 23 only somewhat agreed and 17 disagreed. The

result was more positive than I had initially anticipated, and

it does not take into account how much of a role participants

believe the CDC plays in shaping their future.

Shea (2010) discussed how career centers must deal with

different populations, as well as technology, to meet the needs

of all students. The next two questions sought to uncover

information regarding these topics. Interestingly enough, while

using more social media and online resources garnered many

responses, the biggest suggestion for improvement was a general

increase in publicity. In terms of how to best reach students,

social media was not the most popular response. An overwhelming

majority of participants indicated that contacting them through

their Keystone College E-mail was the best way. While this still

employs modern technology, it certainly went against “Six Steps

to Effective Strategic Marketing” (2011), which suggested using

more social media to reach students.

Question #17 again connected to “Engaging Non-Users in

Career Services,” because it directly asked about visiting the

CDC. I was not very surprised to see that 37 of the 94


participants had not visited the office in the last 12 months.

As previously discussed, this has nothing to do with awareness

of the CDC, because the majority of participants indicated that

they were indeed aware of its availability. I was also not

surprised to see that the 30 of the 57 participants who had

visited the office only did so because they were required to do

so for a class. Clark (2005), Gavigan (2010), and Stebelton

(2010) all pointed out the success of required programming, so,

while this result was not surprising, it is certainly not

necessarily negative.

Although not discussed in the literature review, I had

personally predicted that there would be differences in the

responses to certain questions based on school level, as well as

resident and commuter status. In terms of school level, I felt

that students further along in the college experience would have

more varied ideas about career development and their futures.

Regardless of school level, the majority of participants still

felt strongly about pursuing a college degree in order to get a

job. However, there was a difference in post-college plans. The

trend in the study showed that students identifying as freshmen

were either more set on entering the workforce or undecided.

More students indicated an interest in graduate school in

sophomore, junior, and senior year. Juniors in particular had

the highest interest in graduate school. This trend corresponded


with my initial assumption. There was not, however, a big

difference between school levels and awareness of career

services, as the majority was aware.

When looking at participants in different levels of school,

I was also interested to see the difference between visiting the

CDC office. As I predicted, students in sophomore and junior

year were visiting the office less. I also predicted that

participants in lower grade levels would be visiting due to a

required class. Sure enough, the majority of freshman students

who visited only did so because they were required to do so for

a class. I was, however, surprised to see that half of the

seniors that visited also only visited because they were


The comparison of results between residents and commuters

probably surprised me the most. I had predicted that more

residents would suggest having more frequent events as a way of

improving CDC services. As it turned out, the number of

responses for this area was almost exact between the two groups.

In fact, the count for commuters suggesting more frequent events

was one count higher than that of residents suggesting the same

thing. While this result was surprising, the fact that more

residents visited the office without being required to do so

than commuters was not surprising.


This study can certainly prove useful to the Career

Development Center at Keystone College, as well as anyone

interested in career development for college students. While

this particular study was restricted to Keystone, it could

certainly be taken to other institutions for a comparison of

results. The study could also be continued at Keystone on a

larger scale and also with adjustments.

For a researcher to pick up where this study left off,

limitations must be taken into consideration. This particular

study only collected complete results form 94 participants,

which is a very small sample. Of that small sample, there was

not an even distribution between the demographic groups, which

likely skewed the results. Also in terms of population, not all

majors were represented. Finally, the fact that participants

were not asked whether or not they were transfer students is a

big limitation. This would have provided much deeper insight and

should be included in any future research on this topic.

Another limitation to this study was the construction of

the questionnaire. Many of the unusable questionnaires contained

unanswered questions. This is probably because participants who

were unaware of the availability of career services should have

been told to skip questions #10 and #11. Those two questions

asked if they believed the CDC was helpful throughout the entire

college experience or only during senior year. If they were


unaware of the availability, they really would be unable to

answer those questions.

A final limitation to the study is the overall lack of

insight provided for certain responses. For example, this study

may show that many students would like to see more frequent

events related to career development, but it does not provide

details as to what types of events. There also may be an

indication that participants believed the CDC had been effective

at preparing them for the future, but the reasons why this is

the case cannot be determined. These details could possibly be

gleaned in a more detailed, comprehensive survey.

Aside from considering the limitations, this study can be

progressed in other ways. Participants indicating that they were

required to visit the CDC for a class could specify which

classes were requiring the visit and which professors were

teaching those classes. Also in terms of using CDC services, it

would be interesting to find out how much of the use was related

to fulfilling the Keystone Promise. The information gathered

regarding how to best reach students could also be taken to the

Communications Council in order to improve outreach across

campus. Above all, this study should be put in the hands of the

Career Development Center in order for the staff to use it for

the betterment of their services.


For my Capstone II project, I set out to uncover Keystone

College students’ perceptions of career development and use of

career services. I wanted to find out if students were

interested in career development and how they were using the

services of the CDC. According to my research, there is

definitely an awareness of the CDC, but the actual use is

limited. The main interest in career development appears to be

related to finding a job, but other topics, such as career

planning and preparing a portfolio, are also of high interest to

students. There also appears to be a changing trend in the

perceived value of career services. According to my study, more

students believe that the CDC is useful throughout the entire

college experience as opposed to only during senior. More

participants also felt that the CDC had been effective at

preparing them for the future. This certainly adds more optimism

to the initial research that started this study in the first

place.

Whether or not college students believe that career

development is important in shaping their futures, generations

continue to pursue a college degree in hopes of snagging that

dream job. The perception that a college education will lead to

a great career has not changed, and it probably will not for

years to come. What can change, however, is the respect for a

component of the college experience that will help the most in


attaining that job. That same component will also continue to

strive at making students realize that there is quite a

difference between a job and a career. Developing that career is

perhaps the most important aspect of the entire collegiate

journey.


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