Get Involved in a Knowledge Group Today

by Erica Lake, Director – Targeted Knowledge Groups, SoACE Board

Have you ever needed an opinion from someone else in career services or college recruiting and didn’t have time to do formal bench marking? Or have you ever gone to a conference where you didn’t really know anyone? We’ve got an app for that. Just kidding, SoACE Knowledge Groups (KGs) are your opportunity to get involved in a community of like-minded career services and recruiting professionals. We have eight Knowledge Groups that focus on various functional areas: Career Advising, Experiential Education, Administration, Small Colleges and Universities, Assessment and Data Analytics, Employer Relations, Employers, and Technology.

Knowledge Groups gather each year at the SoACE Conference to share ideas and make professional connections, as well as to begin planning their activities for the year. Be sure to attend a Knowledge Group meeting during the annual conference.  Many of the groups host webinars and discussions on social media throughout the year about emerging topics and trends related to their group.

The KGs connect and communicate regularly using our new Slack instant messaging technology. This is a great way to ask a quick question or share resources among the group. Some of the groups even host smaller conferences specific to their area of interest, like the Employer Relations Summit and the Technology Boot Camp

Our SoACE Knowledge Groups are also a great way to begin your leadership journey with the Association. To learn more about SoACE Knowledge Groups, to join a KG, or to contact a KG Leader, visit https://www.soace.org/knowledge-groups. After you join a Knowledge Group, you will be invited to join us on Slack for instant access to SoACE members for collaboration, networking, and information sharing.

We can’t wait to connect with you!

 

Participate in the SoACE ERKG Twitter Challenge for a $50 Gift Card!

by Dia Buchanan, Belmont University

What happened to the month of August?! Time flies when you are having fun… or just when you are extremely busy. The beginning of the semester has come and gone but don’t let this opportunity for promotion pass you by. We hope you have had a great start to the Fall semester and want to see all of the connections you are making with employer partners. Our #SoACE2K18 Challenge is currently underway and you have a chance to win a $50 gift certificate! You are already making connections, why not snap a photo and post to Twitter in the process? The instructions to enter the contest are simple.

  • Post a photo on Twitter with you and an employer
  • Tag @SoACEerkg
  • Use hashtag #SoACE2k18

Complete these steps between September 10th and October 8th and $50 could be yours! The photo with the most LIKES & RETWEETS will receive the prize. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @SoACEerkg, along with the primary @SouthernACE account.

Recap: Majors and Career Selection Anxiety in Students: How Can We Help them?

Doug Meyn, M.Ed., Career Consultant to the Muma College of Business, and Jean Keelan, M.S. NCC, Director of Career Planning, from University of South Florida presented findings from a study on how visiting the career center affected student anxiety levels, as well as tools that can be utilized to help alleviate anxiety in students. This re-cap is by Jen Harlan, Career & Internship Advisor at Kennesaw State University, jharlan5@kennesaw.edu.

Doug Meyn kicked off the presentation into this important topic with an anecdote about a student situation that those of us in the advising field are likely familiar with: a student came in to his office anxious about his future. The student told Mr. Meyn that he wanted to become a doctor, but he was anxious about taking the MCAT. From there, he started to spiral – not only was he anxious about taking the MCAT, he was anxious about how he’d do on the MCAT, then he was worried about if he’d even like being a doctor, and so on. He wasn’t certain about his choices, and, as Mr. Meyn puts it, he was “stuck in neutral” and unsure about what to do next.

Stories like these are familiar for a reason. The Spring 2016 American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment found that 17% of student respondents had been treated for anxiety, 14% for depression, and almost 11% for both conditions in the last year. This same study found that over 25% of respondents reported “career-related issues” as traumatic or difficult to handle.

To help put the student back in gear and to speak to his analytical leanings, Mr. Meyn came up with a formula: a + i = a3, or if we are anxious and add inaction then it triples our anxiety. Additionally, he came up with a solution: a + (kpA) = a/2, or if we take anxiety, add knowledge, power, and action, then we cut our anxiety in half. While this interaction eventually led to the study undertaken, the formulas Mr. Meyn created paint a decent picture of what we try to do as advisors; we try to fill in the essential variables of the equation, i.e. knowledge, power, and action, so as to cut a student’s anxiety in half.

The University of South Florida study corroborated this sentiment. Undergrad first-time users of career services seeking assistance with any topic were surveyed through pre-appointment and post-appointment questionnaires. The six questions included in each of these surveys were essentially identical, utilized the Speilberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and were chosen to get a read on the level of the student’s anxiety prior to and after the appointment. Additionally, students were asked to rank resources by most effective to least effective by level of helpfulness for them individually.

Based on the results, 69% fewer students identified with “anxious”-related statements–such as “I am tense,” “I feel upset,” “I am worried”— after their appointment. There was an additional significant decrease in the number of students who did not identify with “at peace”-related statements—such as “I feel calm,” “I am relaxed,” “I feel content” — between their pre- and post- appointment questionnaire. Eighteen percent more students identified with “at peace”-related statements after their appointment. Perhaps most striking, 87% of respondents reported “increased confidence” after their appointment at the USF career center. Students ranked the following as some of the most helpful resources gained from their meeting:

  • Gained information about the job search
  • Learned about resources available to help me
  • Identified a plan to develop career direction
  • Learned new tools I can apply

Mr. Meyn offered several key takeaways from this research, such as developing a plan with students who are anxious, identifying their needs and concerns, utilizing next step concept and messaging, and recommending beneficial resources.

Jean Keelan, in the second half of the presentation, offered further strategies for decreasing anxiety in students when dealing specifically with major selection, based on a presentation she completed for a group of students at USF. Ms. Keelan utilized five areas for structuring this presentation: statistics about major selection, the Systems Theory Framework of Career Development, an activity to measure self- and workplace knowledge, information about decision making and personality types, and, finally, next steps for students in the presentation.

The statistics utilized offered a “you’re not alone” approach; for example, from the National Center for Education Statistics, Ms. Keelan shared that about 80% of students in the U.S. end up changing their major at least once. The Systems Theory Framework of Career Development approach further added the role which chance plays in an individual’s career path. Ms. Keelan led the student’s through the activity of filling out a knowledge wheel, essentially ranking considerations in their major selection process, such as experiences, personality, chance, abilities, etc., from those the student is most knowledgeable of and least. Finally, students were led through considering how their own personality type could impact the decision-making process when selecting a major.

By providing all of this information, Ms. Keelan was able to set the students up to take the next step in their own individual major selection decision-making process. Her presentation provided a different message for different types of students represented in the room, and allowed them all to gain some sort of lead toward continuing in their decision-making process.

These two studies offer important practices in working with students who are anxious about big decisions coming up. Taking note of the best practices and recommendations based on these studies can provide professionals in the advising field a better platform and a larger tool belt for working with students in this situation.

A copy of the presentation can be accessed under the SoACE Membership portal.