Chapter 13

According to Brown (2012), career program activities can be put into place and be helpful if properly implemented. Brief interventions are defined as ones that take less time for the staff member per student as well as the number of hours consumed by the students. Even though they do not consume a lot of time, they have been found to have positive changes in students who were at first undecided. Some of these activities are web sites, advising, major fairs, career courses, and workshops and seminars.

One of the most helpful activities to me is implementing a major fairs. This is where students and faculty attend an evening program and they get to interact with different areas of study. This allows the students to see multiple careers at once. It also allows them to directly ask questions and get answers immediately regarding the major, if their interests match up with the major, and what they could do with the major. For students who are involved in other things, a major fairs will be extremely beneficial. This allows students to pursue all their options in one night which is less time consuming then making appointments with each major to get more information. Another group of students that this may particularly appeal to are those students who are lazy or less motivated. They are not going to take time out of their schedules to book an appointment with multiple majors to gain more information. This allows them to get it all done in one night. I also think this should be a requirement for those who are undecided to attend with their counselor. It can serve as a starting point for some who are clueless about what they want to major in and for others this could allow them to make their choice of major. Schools have tons of fairs including ones for jobs and internships, but I never heard of them doing a fair with all the majors (at least not at my undergraduate institution).

One of the things I found least helpful is having a career course. In high school I took one and the class was not interesting, especially since I already chose a major. The class was mandatory, but I think if schools are going to have these type of courses it should be for those who are undecided and not those who already know what they want to do in life. It could also be confusing if you have a career choice and cause career indecisiveness that you did not have prior to this class.

There are many ways to educate students on careers. Personally, the more hands on and creative approaches are more likely to gain students attention and allow them to fully engage in the activity which will hopefully allow them to pick a major. 

Brown, D. (2012). Career information, career counseling, and career development (10th ed., p. 14). Boston: Pearson.