A research evaluation of the impact of compulsory career coaching for final year undergraduates of Business Management and Accounting

Allen, Maria; Christie, Fiona

Abstract

Universities adopt many strategies to support their students’ employability/career development. However, very little in depth research explores what students report learning from the interventions they experience and if it is possible to trace impact on eventual outcomes. This paper focuses on research about an innovative employability intervention in which students took part in compulsory individual and group career coaching in their final year of study. The paper reflects on whether students value such employability and career development interactions, and if any associations can be made between engagement in such activities and levels of career decidedness. It will have implications for both policy and practice in universities, and raise questions about the feasibility/desirability of scaling up personalised support. Theoretically the paper is informed by career development and graduate employability literature which seeks to consider both contextual and individual factors influencing career outcomes (Artess, Hooley, & Mellors-Bourne, 2017; Tomlinson & Holmes, 2016).

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Society for Research in Higher Education Annual Research Conference
• Start Date: Dec 11, 2019
• End Date: Dec 11, 2019
• Deposit Date: Mar 5, 2025
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• External URL: https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/632035/