Entering the workforce can be a tough experience for recent college graduates. Student voice survey in May 2024 Internal Advanced ED Generation Labs found that 68.9% of students are currently at least somewhat stressed when considering and preparing for their post-graduate life.
Working in a career that resonates with their interests is also a goal for students: Two-thirds of young people around the world say they want their work to make sense and make them happier than they did last year. Among the respondents’ top three ambitions, young people in the United States identified financial stability (65%) and became a priority in work-life balance (52%).
To help students pursue occupational health, a group of students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and California Tech Pomona University are supported by consultants from Cal Poly Pomona who work hard, which encourages students to guide their intrinsic potential in future success and collective well-being.
The program is located at the Research Center at the University of Madison Center for Work (CCWT) and includes student resources and facilitator training. The program was launched in spring 2022 and supports more than 150 students to date.
Investigation says
A survey of young people in the workforce (ages 27 to 35) found that about one-quarter of respondents strongly agreed that their employers have policies or structures that support work-life balance.
How it works: Working to develop a tuning of occupational health programs guides students through practices of building their own self-efficacy and understanding of health. The purpose is to bridge theory and practice in an applicable and flexible manner.
Interventions can be provided as independent programs or integrated into existing courses.
The benefits of striving for work include five modules rooted in a fundamental rehabilitation framework that focus on students’ values, career goals, resilience, and the feeling of hope and community. The program includes a complementary tool suite for students to explore.
“The program addresses unique challenges faced by individuals by highlighting the importance of community and cultural strengths in rehabilitation and strategy to promote a thorough hope of persistence in the face of obstacles,” said Mindi Thompson, Executive Director of CCWT.
To guide practitioners to provide interventions, the center provides three hours of facilitator training for $30 per person and provides continuing education time for the National Career Development Association Certificate.
Upon completion of the training, the moderator will receive a portal containing detailed promotion manuals, student workbooks and presentation slides.
Influence: 17 students from three different proprietary institutions participated in a pilot study, which has since been scaled to involve more than 150 student participants and 90 professionals who completed moderator training to provide the program.
In the future, CCWT hopes to be able to further expand and attract practitioners through resources so that they can better support students’ success.
Do you have career-centered interventions that can help others promote student success? Tell us.
