By Briana Edwards and Kayla McLaughlin

Diversity is a popular buzzword that we hear thrown around in higher education meetings and initiatives on a weekly basis. With good intentions, many universities plan and execute programming for underserved students without truly understanding the populations they are serving.

As advisors, it is important to take a deeper look to ensure that we not only understand who the minority student populations are on our respective campuses, but also understand their needs and how to foster their growth.

Racialized minorities, low income, first generation, LGBTQ+, and students with disabilities are all student populations that require additional support, especially at predominately white institutions (PWIs).

As advisors, we interact with underrepresented students on an individual basis and these students face various challenges based on their identities and backgrounds. Students face feeling marginalized inside and outside of the classroom, struggling to find their place on campus, feelings of inadequacy due to imposter syndrome, lack of support from family, financial problems, balancing coursework and a part time job, and a host of other challenges. These challenges affect how these students view themselves, their confidence, interactions with other students and their academic performance.

We continually encourage our students to think outside of the box, to go beyond expectations and to explore new and innovative ways to impact the world. Yet, professionalism is rooted in bias, conformity, and privilege. As the authors of this blog post, we have navigated the professional obstacles of being Black and members of the LGTBQ+ community. Finally finding a seat at the table is not an easy accomplishment and now we strive to bring our students along with us. What is our responsibility as career advisors when serving diverse and underrepresented student populations?

First-generation college students who do not know where to start, women in STEM who struggle to find representation, black and brown students with limited resources provided by the university and government; therefore, we often become the first beacon of community who can assist them along their collegiate career. We would like to highlight one of the many examples we have faced. One of the authors worked at a PWI that had a very small percentage of black men in engineering. While working with a student, she began asking the typical career advising questions: what is your major?, what classes are you taking?, what are your goals? The student revealed a familiar story which seemed casual and comfortable enough for conversation; however, at the end the student illuminated his final thoughts and feelings on the career advising interaction. ” I needed this,” he stated. Inquisitive, the advisor further asked what the student meant. The student went on to explain that not many people at the university looked like him, took the time to understand him, or knew what his experiences meant to an entire family. This moment showed him clarity and community. The power of checking in and having conversations is immeasurable. Student interactions occur daily, even if virtually, in higher education. But taking the time to learn a student’s story, challenging what we know, and simply listening can make a world of change.

Diversity is easy, inclusion is where our work begins. 2020 has been a lot of a year. Our responsibility as career advisors encompasses the impact 2020 has had on our students and their well-being. This impact is doubled or even tripled for underrepresented populations. These students are not only facing COVID-19 but also accessibility issues, racism, sexism, nationalism, homophobia, etc. Given these continuing seemingly never-ending -isms, our hope is that career counselors/advisors can make a difference. As authors, we suggest two goals – to listen and to provide resources. Listening to learn rather than listening to respond is imperative, which means gaining knowledge from these students’ experiences and taking that knowledge forward in future advising sessions to better assist and empower them along their journey. Researching resources for these students on campus can be extremely beneficial – “you don’t know what you don’t know.”

All advisors have a responsibility to continually educate themselves on the marginalized students they are serving, not only to ensure they are able to assist these students but to recognize the diverse needs all students have. We close by asking: What are you doing to stay relevant, educated, and involved… Are you truly listening?

About the authors:

Briana Edwards (she/her) is the Career Events Manager at the Georgia Tech Career Center and has been working in career services for four years. In her role, she oversees and implements all aspects of career-related events and coordinates services with other campus offices involved in career and professional development. Briana serves on the Employer Relations knowledge group within SoACE.

Kayla McLaughlin (she/her) is a Career Development Advisor in the Georgia Tech Career Center. She has worked in higher education for the past four years in roles surrounding outreach, advising and recruitment of STEM students. Kayla has a passion for working with underserved populations and assisting students in becoming their best professional self for post graduate opportunities.