The Psychology Department Model Advisement Procedure: A Comprehensive, Systematic Approach to Career Development Advisement

Abstract

The MAP (Model Advisement Procedure) is a comprehensive, systematic approach to developmental student advisement. The MAP was implemented to improve advisement consistency, improve student preparation for internships/senior projects, increase career exploration, reduce career uncertainty, and, ultimately, improve student satisfaction with the postgraduate preparation offered by the program. The MAP structures each advisement session with a set of advisement questions, handouts, activities to complete between advisement sessions, and a place to record information for future advisement sessions. The present report is intended to describe the development of the MAP and the resources it offers. Further, we report on preliminary post-implementation assessment of the new advisement procedures. Although the effects were largely non-significant, the results indicated that students' career exploration was more likely to be the result of the encouragement of advisors after the implementation of the MAP. Moreover, narrative data indicate that students are pleased with the new advisement procedures and the information/tools provided to them.

Barriers and supports related to psychology alumni career development.

“…Given the increased preference for online coursework and online degree completion post-COVID-19 (D’Agostino, 2022), we encourage psychology departments to provide career programming through online meeting platforms (e.g., Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, Discord) or record in-person presentations and post them to departmental websites. All psychology majors need career development support, not just strong, proactive students who can seek out one-on-one mentorship from faculty (Howell-Carter et al, 2016; Schatz & Ansburg, 2020). While it may not be possible to make all activities accessible for every student, we can take steps to remove barriers and increase supports.…”

“…While these studies provide important information about anticipated career barriers, few studies consider barriers experienced by psychology alumni (Doran, Kraha, et al, 2016; Wilcox et al, 2022) and those focus exclusively on alumni who completed graduate education (early career psychologists). Given that many psychology majors will be employed with only a bachelor’s degree (APA, 2021), more research on barriers experienced by psychology alumni is critical to informing interventions and developing resources to support psychology student career development (Howell-Carter et al, 2016; Thiem & Dasgupta, 2022).…”

“…The few studies that considered supports in psychology students’ career development show that interactions with faculty outside of the classroom (Schwartz et al, 2018; Williams, 2015) and participation in high-impact practices (HIP), such as internships, service learning, and being on a research team (Case et al, 2014; Peterson et al, 2014; Vespia, 2020), are perceived as supports for career development. Additionally, access to information about careers in the field (Howell-Carter et al, 2016; Hunter & Meshkati, 2022) and opportunities to engage in job shadowing (Schwartz et al, 2018) are supportive of career development. As with barriers, the above-cited research focused on career supports perceived by current psychology majors rather than the experiences of alumni in the workforce.…”