College Students' Perspectives on Their Career Decision Making

Abstract

This mixed methods study examined how college student participants discussed their approach to making career decisions, with a focus on how their perspective may be consistent with various models of career decision making. Brief telephone interviews were conducted with 20 college students, and the narrative data were analyzed using qualitative methods informed by grounded theory and consensual qualitative research (CQR). Based on themes generated by qualitative analysis, a ratings instrument was developed. The instrument was used by two individuals who dually served as auditors of the qualitative findings and as independent raters. Themes, as well as correlations and frequency data derived from the ratings, are discussed. It was found that the views of the participants, in terms of how they thought decisions should be made and how they were approaching their own decisions, were consistent with models of career decision making that include notions of interdependence, experience, intuition, and emotion.

Career Adaptability and Occupational Engagement of Student Veterans

“…Occupational engagement is the behavioral component of the trilateral model of adaptive decision making that also involves intuition and reason (Krieshok, Black, & McKay, 2009). Occupational engagement highlights the need for individuals to continuously explore themselves, their work‐related experiences, and the world of work (Bubany, Krieshok, Black, & McKay, 2008). Engaging in these specific behaviors helps college students in general, and student veterans in particular, better understand themselves, the world of work, and the relationship between themselves and the world of work (Krieshok et al, 2009).…”

Initial Validation of the Planned Happenstance Career Inventory–English Version

“…Unlike Korean students, U.S. college students exhibited various attitudes toward unplanned events. For example, in Bubany, Krieshok, Black, and McKay's () qualitative study examining how U.S. college students perceived alternative models (i.e., a planned happenstance model and positive uncertainty) in relation to their career decisions, exploring new learning opportunities (i.e., curiosity factor, such as taking numerous classes or gaining work experience) was consistent with one of the alternative models (planned happenstance). Some participants recalled the unplanned events as being pivotal in changing their vocational direction, whereas other participants did not consider the unplanned events to be a key factor in changing their career direction but just reaffirmed their career decisions (Witchger, ).…”

Affect in Daily Career Decision Self‐Efficacy and Career Choice Anxiety

“…Researchers have given increased attention to emotion constructs in career decision‐making (Bubany, Krieshok, Black, & McKay, 2008; Krieshok, Black, & McKay, 2009; Saka, Gati, & Kelly, 2008). A widely considered emotion‐related variable in career studies (Fritzsche & Parrish, 2005) is emotional intelligence (e.g., Van Rooy & Viswesvaran, 2004).…”