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In a competitive job market, job seekers need to do more than list their skills on a resume — they must be able to communicate and demonstrate what they can do. Whether students are about to enter the workforce for the first time after graduation or are enrolled in an academic program to advance in their current careers, career coaching can be immensely valuable.
The challenge is that few students take advantage of coaching services. To better understand the lack of participation and what motivates students to take full advantage of these services, we partnered with a private, nonprofit online university to explore students’ and faculty’s understanding, perspectives, and use of career coaching in a higher education setting.
Through three phases of research, we endeavored to address two broad questions: (1) What do online students need for career development? and (2) How do students make decisions about using career services?
Phase 1
Interviewed faculty to understand the university’s current approach to career support and development.
Phase 2
Interviewed students to understand their career motivations, perspectives on career coaching, and the support they need to succeed.
Phase 3
Conducted a student survey to explore career motivations, identified support needs, and determined interest in career coaching across a wider body of students.
What Online Students Need for Career Development
To understand the career development needs of online students, we interviewed five faculty members and fifteen students in the institution’s College of Business.
The Faculty Perspective
Faculty members are often unaware of students’ bigger career goals. The faculty we interviewed said students rarely mention their career development needs. The career goal-related conversations students have, especially with course instructors, are most often directly related to coursework.
Faculty recognize the benefits of career services for students and refer learners to participate in common activities like job-seeking. Some faculty also promote resources like career fairs and webinars. Referrals from faculty members remain a critical aspect of career support, as students are most likely to use services when recommended by a trusted advisor at an institution.
We asked faculty directly about barriers to supporting students with career development, and they offered a variety of suggestions for improving services and increasing faculty involvement in career development, including:
- Make activities such as internships, mock interviews, and resume-writing workshops a required part of degree programs.
- Provide more information or training about career services to faculty.
- Offer faculty opportunities to receive formal coaching training.
- Develop workshops that accommodate groups of students for common activities such as resume writing.
- Recruit career advisors with specialized knowledge, such as professionals who have had executive roles or have technical expertise relevant to students.
- Extend the student-advisor relationship to go beyond graduation.
The Student Perspective
The perspectives we heard from faculty echoed what we heard from the students themselves. Student feedback indicated that learners approach career development as distinct from their schooling. While most of the students we interviewed sought a degree for career advancement and discussed post-graduation career goals, they were not undertaking any career development activities beyond coursework. There was a general perception that only after their degree was finished could a student focus on career advancement.
When we asked students specifically about the kind of support that would be helpful, their answers primarily related to receiving concrete steps to achieve their goals. They provided definitions of a coach that aligned more with the idea of a mentor or trainer, someone who can give them “insider knowledge” relevant to their career path. These expectations reflect their current sources of information, which are most often managers and co-workers.
Students also expressed that limited time often prevents them from participating in coaching. The median age of students participating in the survey was 39, and they had, on average, ten years of professional experience. As established professionals, many students balance working and caretaking responsibilities with going to school, which consumes most of their time. Extra offers of help feel like just that — ”extra” — and something they don't have time for.
Key Takeaways from Student Interviews
- Encouraging students to participate in career development while in school requires clear communication efforts for why they should do so. Long-term marketing efforts will need content and support from institutional partners to encourage students to participate in coaching while enrolled.
- The word “coaching” is likely confusing to students, causing them to ignore emails in which the offering is unclear. Understanding student motivations and using the right language to communicate services is important. One way to start this is by developing student personas.
- Students are hesitant to sign up for optional activities that require additional commitment. Two ways of addressing this are (1) using messaging that emphasizes the flexibility of coaching or (2) integrating coaching into something required in a degree program.
Separate from our research efforts with this particular institution, we collect students’ perspectives on and usage of technology in higher education annually through the College Innovation Network (CIN) EdTech Student Survey. In the 2023 survey, students reported that they were more likely (32%) to have accessed online career services than in-person career services (24%).
Boosting Motivation to Use Career Coaching Services
Our research revealed several meaningful lessons for institutions and EdTech companies to improve delivery and communications about career services, including:
- Tailoring messages for specific student needs: This research taught us the value of tailoring offers and messaging to specific personas. For example, under-resourced students with career uncertainty may benefit considerably from coaching but are also constrained to sign up. Substituting a degree requirement with coaching or integrating coaching into coursework makes it part of the program instead of something “extra” to do.
- Focusing on mentorship and guidance: Most students are more interested in career navigation, mentoring, and leadership skills than in traditional career coaching like resume writing. Avoid vague language like “change management,” which many students do not relate to. The term “professional mentoring” might appeal to students more than “coaching” as long as the nuances of mentoring versus coaching are accounted for.
- Close vendor-institution collaboration: Overcoming low participation for career development services will require collaboration between EdTech companies and institutional partners.
- Encouraging an earlier start to career development: Educational materials need to emphasize the importance of viewing career development as something students should start while in school rather than waiting until after.
- Articulating benefits more clearly: The benefits of coaching need to be especially clear for adult learners, whose time and energy are often limited by juggling school, family, and work.
Career Development in the Learn-Work-Learn Cycle
While employer involvement was not directly explored in this research, it is an important aspect of career development. The rapid changes in today’s workplace demand a cycle of learning and working. Collaborations between employers, higher education institutions, and EdTech companies can connect all aspects of the cycle to provide workers and learners with greater guidance for career advancement.
Promising skill-based learning platforms like Instructure’s Headlamp (a former client who engaged us to create project-based learning modules) help individuals upskill on their own time and pace. Other efforts, such as micro-projects, provide learners with hands-on experience across multiple careers. These project-based, discrete work experiences enable learners to “try on” careers and engage in real-world projects to learn in-demand skills. Paired with guidance from experienced mentors and messages that speak directly to learners’ motivations, this type of career development support can make a big difference for students.
With these insights and strategies, higher education administrators and EdTech companies can revamp career development services to make them even more valuable to students. By adapting services to match student interests and time, clearly communicating the benefits, and taking advantage of new approaches, institutions can better prepare students for the demands of today’s workforce.
