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Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Implementing a Course-Embedded Résumé and
Professional Employment Action Plan Preparation
Program for College of Business Juniors
Robert E. Pritchard , Gregory C. Potter , Joanne Damminger & Betsy Wriggins
To cite this article: Robert E. Pritchard , Gregory C. Potter , Joanne Damminger & Betsy
Wriggins (2004) Implementing a Course-Embedded Résumé and Professional Employment
Action Plan Preparation Program for College of Business Juniors, Journal of Education for
Business, 79:6, 348-353, DOI: 10.3200/JOEB.79.6.348-353
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.79.6.348-353
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
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Implementing a Course-Embedded
Résumé and Professional
Employment Action Plan
Preparation Program for College
of Business Juniors
ROBERT E. PRITCHARD
GREGORY C. POTTER
JOANNE DAMMINGER
BETSY WRIGGINS
Rowan University
Glassboro, New Jersey
W
hen the AACSB/EBI Undergraduate Business Exit Survey
(Survey)1 is administered to graduating
college of business seniors, they give
the lowest ratings to “placement and
career services.” Furthermore, AACSB/
EBI Survey results indicate that student
satisfaction with career services for all
participating college of business students declined dramatically from 2000
to 2002. On a 7-point Likert-type scale
including the anchor points 1.0 (very
dissatisfied), 4.0 (neutral), and 7.0 (very
satisfied), the mean rating for participating institutions was 4.15 in 2002—a
level below the satisfied level of at least
5. Clearly, graduating seniors attending
colleges of business at many institutions
are dissatisfied with placement and
career services.
The rating for the category “placement and career services” represents a
combination of the scores of four specific AACSB/EBI survey questions
(factors). In Table 1, we provide these
four questions, along with the survey
ratings obtained from the graduating
College of Business (COB) seniors,
spring 2002, at the regional university
348
Journal of Education for Business
ABSTRACT. When the AACSB/EBI
Undergraduate Business Exit Survey
(Survey)1 is administered to graduating
business students, the results tend to be
similar for all participating institutions.
Of the 14 areas measured through the
Survey, “placement and career services” receives the lowest ratings from
students. Because the Survey ratings
for graduating College of Business
(COB) students at one regional university were significantly lower than those
from the other colleges of business, the
authors of this article developed a program to help COB students have more
positive career planning and placement
experiences.
where we developed the CourseEmbedded Résumé and Professional
Employment Action Plan Preparation
Program (Program). The COB began
using the survey in 1998 and has used it
every 2 years since then.
In spring 2002, the COB’s graduating
senior rating for “placement and career
services” was 3.75 on the scale of 1.0 to
7.0, significantly under the 4.15 rating
for all business colleges participating in
the Survey. Furthermore, with the
exception of the response to question
no. 62, a longitudinal multiyear factor
comparison analysis indicated decreasing student satisfaction at the COB with
respect to all four questions from 1998
to 2002. The overall 3.75 rating in 2002
was slightly lower than the 1998 rating
of 3.85 and considerably lower than the
2000 rating of 4.13. This COB rating
decrease from 2000 to 2002 was consistent with the decrease for all business
schools participating in the Survey.
Finally, the 3.75 COB rating for
“placement and career services” in 2002
was lower than that for any of the other
13 areas surveyed by the COB; the other
ratings ranged from a low of 4.29 to a
high of 5.54. This lowest rating for
“placement and career services” obtained
at the COB is consistent, again, with the
AACSB/EBI Survey results for all participating colleges of business.
Interestingly, as in previous years, the
results of the fall 2002 Cooperative
Institution Research Program (CIRP)
Survey2 show that most (88.6%) of the
incoming COB students viewed finding
a better job as a very important reason
for their decision to go to college.
Despite a history of COB students’ indicating a high level of interest in better
TABLE 1. AACSB/EBI Undergraduate Business Exit Survey “Career and
Placement Services”: Questions (Factors) and COB Ratings Obtained for
Spring 2002
Question (factor)
Rating
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61 How satisfied were you with the placement office assistance in
preparing you for your placement job search?
62 How satisfied were you with your access to the alumni in cultivating
career opportunities?
63 How satisfied were you with the number of companies recruiting on
campus for permanent jobs?
64 How satisfied were you with the quality of companies recruiting on
campus for permanent jobs?
employment opportunities, many COB
seniors had not been registering for or
attending interviewing and recruitment
events, career fairs, and similar activities. As a consequence, interviewers
from a number of regional and national
employers cancelled such events, which
resulted in fewer interviewing opportunities for those students who did attend.
This situation posed a serious problem
for the COB.
Literature Review
The evident student dissatisfaction
with placement services reported in a
study by Educational Benchmarking,
Inc. (EBI, 2004) begs an examination of
(a) what students expect of these services and (b) whether their expectations
are, in fact, realistic (Roach, 2003;
Miller, 2004). In part, this dissatisfaction reflects the economic downturn of
the early 2000s, which resulted in widespread contraction of employment
opportunities and significant cutbacks
in campus recruiting (Chen, 2003;
“Prime Numbers,” 2001; McMenamin,
Krantz, & Krolik, 2003).
Although plentiful job opportunities a
few years ago meant that students could
just “walk in” to check placement center
listings, finding a suitable position by or
shortly after graduation today requires
advance preparation, hard work, and an
aggressive approach (Bisoux, 2003;
Roach, 2003). Furthermore, the accelerating rate of structural changes in the job
market, together with the exportation of
many jobs to countries such as China,
Mexico, and India, has added to the difficulty and complexity of searching for
3.87
3.55
3.90
3.57
employment (Schwartz & Harrington,
2003).
Moreover, campus career services
also face changing student demographics, as well as other challenges stemming from personal and psychological
factors (Brown, 2002; Brownlow &
Reasinger, 2001; Lewis, 2001; Scott,
2002; Trusty, 2002; Yang, Wong,
Hwang, & Heppner, 2002). All of these
factors can add to student frustration
and result in dissatisfaction with campus career placement services.
Framing realistic career expectations
and requirements for students in search
of suitable entry-level positions is the
paramount task of career planning and
counseling services (Brigham Young
University, 2004; Hoyt & Maxey, 2001).
It is equally important to note that the
job market for business alumni is undergoing rapid changes as well. In many
instances, these changes have resulted
in dislocations requiring business graduates to change jobs and career paths as
well as employers, often several times
during the course of their careers. This
situation clearly suggests the need to
incorporate the skills and knowledge
required for a series of successful job
searches within the undergraduate business curriculum (Lataif, 2003; Nowak
& Miller, 1996; Young & Henquinet,
2000; Young & Murphy, 2003).
From the standpoint of the business
curriculum as a whole, Walker and
Black (2000) remarked that academic
leaders recognize the challenges confronting business education and that
they mirror those faced by corporate
America. These researchers specifically
identified the need for business school
faculty members to align their skills
with the requirements of the rapidly
changing business environment. Approaches to meet this need are included
in the “Outcomes Assessment and Continuous Improvement” statement prepared by the College of Business at
William Paterson University (William
Paterson University, 2004). The statement identifies an “Annual Stakeholders’ Conference” to provide dialogue
among business leaders, alumni, and
faculty members regarding learning
goals and objectives. Similarly, Columbia University’s business school provides outreach activities that engage
student teams with firms on consulting
projects “to advance our understanding
of commerce as it exists today and how
it may evolve in the future” (Fraiman,
2002).
Paralleling such efforts to align the
business curriculum with the changing
world of commerce and work, academic support services such as placement and counseling also recognize the
need for collaboration and articulation
among teachers, community organizations, and businesses (Banta & Kuh,
1998; Korschgen & Hageseth, 1997;
Letourneau, 2002; Schuh, 1999). Such
collaborative efforts ensure that students
have a “full range of information about
themselves, exploration of all careers,
and a knowledge of the job market”
(Maddy-Bernstein, 2004).
This perspective represents a shift in
the view of the placement center from a
“job dispensary” (Miller, 2004) to an
integral part of the undergraduate experience (Korschgen & Hageseth, 1997;
Schuh, 1999). This integration involves
recognition of student psychology and
culture, including factors such as the students’ abilities, family and friends, and
vocational interests, as well as the culture itself (Akers & Porter, 2003; Kim,
Markham, & Cangelosi, 2002; Lewis,
2001; Simmerling & Wilcox, 1995).
Forging relationships among faculty
members, students, and service agencies under the umbrella of student services is an ongoing, seamless process
(Schuh, 1999). Lumsden, Garis, Reardon, Unger, and Arkin (2001) stressed
that career preparation takes place
throughout the undergraduate experience, not through “one visit” to the
July/August 2004
349
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career center. Lane’s research (2000) on
career development urges students to
develop career plans even before 11th
grade. Arnold’s research (1989) on
career decidedness and psychological
well-being supports the importance of
making career decisions before graduation, even though the benefits may
become apparent only after graduation.
The processes of career exploration,
positioning oneself to be attractive as an
employee, and conducting a job search
are most successful when conducted
over a period of time and not left until
students are preparing for graduation.
Several models have been used to
help students develop career plans. Such
planning can take, for example, the
form of the career planning essay,
which can be incorporated within the
classroom experience. Lyon and Kirby
(2000) described a career planning
essay and résumé writing experience for
business majors. Those authors stressed
that this approach helps students manage their own careers rather than letting
the career manage them.
Jones (2002) set out an action plan
covering the 4 years of undergraduate
study to help students find their career
paths. Even though such activities might
be construed by students as potentially
time-consuming extra work, research
suggests that students actually approve
of and view them as valuable careertraining tools (Ackerman, Gross, &
Perner, 2003; Schroth & Pankake,
1999). Development of a career plan is
an integral part of the process of job
search and selection. Finally, the literature supports the assertion that integrating (course-embedding) career planning
skills into classroom experiences is both
pedagogically sound and an effective
way to help students frame realistic
expectations (Dodson, Chastain, & Landrum, 1996; MacDermott, 1995; Nell,
2003; Nowak & Miller, 1996).
Description of the CourseEmbedded Résumé and
Professional Employment Action
Plan Preparation Program
The COB dean and various COB faculty members, recognizing the importance of (a) the information provided in
the literature, (b) the general low ratings
350
Journal of Education for Business
given to “placement and career services” by all students participating in
the Survey, and (c) the significantly
lower ratings given by COB 2002 graduating seniors compared with those
obtained at other colleges of business,
met with the director and staff members
of the University’s Career and Academic Planning Center (CAP Center). Their
plan was to develop a program to
achieve the following goals:
1. Help COB students develop realistic expectations about the kinds of campus career planning and placement
resources and services available to them
and specifically those available through
the CAP Center.
2. Better prepare COB students to
obtain internships and graduating
seniors to obtain career positions.
3. Teach COB students how to prepare professional résumés and submit
the résumés to potential employers.
4. Teach COB students how to prepare professional development action
plans or plans for specific actions to
make themselves more marketable upon
graduation.
5. Improve levels of student satisfaction with placement and career services.
In this article, we focus on the program
(Program) that was developed to help
achieve these goals. The Program was
embedded in the business core course
Principles of Finance (Principles). We
chose this course for four reasons:
1. It is required of all business majors
regardless of major or specialization.
2. Almost all COB students take Principles during their junior year, thereby
ensuring that nearly all COB students
would participate in the Program during
their junior year. This timing was important because students need well-prepared
résumés to obtain supervised internships.
Most COB students participate in supervised internships either during the summer following their junior year or during
their senior year.
3. Very few students transfer Principles to the university, thereby ensuring
that virtually all COB students would
participate in the Program.
4. The professor coordinating Principles was very supportive of the Program, was willing to devote class time
to it, and was able to convince other
Principles instructors to do so.
The Program required students to
participate in the four activities listed
below. According to the quality of completed assignments, students could earn
up to 10 points, and these points were
added to their final examination grades.
The final exam counted for 40% of the
semester grade. Thus, students could
increase their semester average by four
points, an amount slightly greater than,
for example, the difference between a
B- and a B.
The CAP Center staff created a rubric
for assigning the points. We presented
the rubric to the students with an explanation, so they would understand how
they would be graded. All assignments
had to be completed on time; students
did not receive credit for assignments
turned in late. Details of the Program
and the assignment due dates were
included in the Principles course syllabus. The four activities included the
following:
1. Attend a résumé preparation workshop conducted by CAP Center staff in
the CAP Resource Center during a regularly scheduled 75-minute Principles
class period. This location was chosen
because it required students to visit the
CAP Center (some did not know where it
was located; others had never been there)
and permitted the CAP staff to illustrate
the resources available to students at the
Center. To emphasize commitment to the
program, the instructors teaching all
Principles sections attended the presentations along with their students.
During the presentations, the students
were taught how to develop a résumé
and prepare themselves to obtain a professional career position upon graduation as well as a supervised internship
while attending college. We provided
the students with appropriate handouts.
The faculty coordinator of the COB
Supervised Internship Program attended
the presentation for each Principles class
section and provided students with
information about the COB Supervised
Internship Program. The PowerPoint
slides for the presentation are available
for review at http://www.rowan.edu/ studentaffairs/cap/PDF_Powerpoint/COB.
Finance.resume.pdf.
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Students were awarded one point for
attending the workshop.
2. Prepare a résumé or update an
existing résumé, following the instructions provided at the CAP résumé
preparation workshop. The Principles
instructors collected the résumés; members of the CAP Center staff critiqued
and graded them. The résumés were critiqued for format, content, completeness, and grammar (including spelling).
Students were awarded up to three
points for this assignment, according to
the quality of their résumés.
3. Revise
the résumé based on the
CAP Center critique and resubmit it
along with the original résumé containing the CAP Center critique. Students
were awarded up to two points for this
assignment, according to the quality of
their corrected résumés.
4. Develop a professional employment action plan. Students were
required to assess their current status
with respect to GPA, level of activities,
and so forth, and then identify the
résumé-building activities that they
wanted to complete to strengthen their
résumés so they would be more attractive to potential employers. The CAP
Center staff provided them with a multipage handout detailing many résumébuilding activities. For example, if a student wanted his or her résumé at
graduation to include a semester (or
more) of work experience in his or her
area of specialization, then the student
could consider enrolling in a COB
Supervised Internship. If she or he
wanted it to include demonstrated leadership or teamwork skills, then the student could consider taking an active
leadership role in one or more of the
COB student organizations.
The students were instructed to review
the handout carefully and to select those
activities that they wanted to complete.
Then they were asked to list those activities in their action plans and indicate the
specific steps that they were planning to
take to complete each activity. The students were awarded up to four points for
this assignment, according to the quality
of their action plans. A sample action
plan designed to assist students in completing this assignment is included in the
appendix.
Results and Summary
At the end of the semester, students
participating in the Program were asked
to complete a short survey form
designed to determine the Program’s
effect on their perceptions of the “placement and career services.” After consulting with the Vice-President of
Research and Development at EBI, the
CAP Center staff included AACSB/EBI
Survey Question 61 (“How satisfied
were you with the placement office
assistance in preparing you for your
placement job search?”) with the added
clarification that the term “job search”
referred to all activities of the finance
class résumé writing project.
On the 7-point scale with the anchor
points 1.0 (very dissatisfied), 4.0 (neutral), and 7.0 (very satisfied), the mean
rating by students participating in the
Program for this question was 4.36 (n =
112). It is interesting to note that the
mean rating for the day students was
5.34 (n = 44), and that for the evening
students was 4.09 (n = 68). The difference in mean rating for day and evening
students may be attributable to the fact
that many evening students already have
full-time positions. Both the day and
evening students who participated in the
Program gave higher ratings to Question
61 than did the COB students who graduated in spring 2002. The average rating
for the 2002 group was 3.87.
The higher ratings given by students
who had completed the Program,
although certainly encouraging in terms
of the perceived value of the Program to
them, were not significantly different
statistically from the ratings given by
the 2002 group. The lack of statistically
significant difference was a consequence of the small sample size. Furthermore, when the students who completed the Program (most did during
their junior year) actually enter the
process of finding a career position, the
level of difficulty that they experience
may be the primary determinant of their
future ratings.
Although satisfaction ratings given to
placement and career services are
important to colleges of business, the
larger issue of providing students with
career development and job searching
skills is much broader. If college of busi-
ness graduates cannot secure professional positions and then successfully
move through a series of potential career
changes, an important component of the
rationale for obtaining a business degree
in the first place comes into question.
What is the value of the degree (regardless of the quality of the students and
their education) if the graduates cannot
secure appropriate positions and then
move ahead with their careers?
The answer to this question suggests
not only the importance of developing
programs such as the one outlined in
this article, but also the necessity of
helping students develop realistic
expectations about their areas of study.
Engendering realistic attitudes with
respect to the business major, the selection of a particular business major, and
the requirements for gaining admission
to graduate programs and attaining
appropriate professional certifications is
prerequisite to the development of realistic attitudes toward the prospective job
market and career possibilities. Inculcating realistic attitudes can help students make informed decisions in the
selection of business as major, as well
as help them choose a specialized area
of study within business. This, in turn,
should increase the likelihood that they
will complete their majors successfully,
thereby ensuring a successful transition
from college to a career position. Such
an outcome likely will be attended by
increased retention rates.
Inculcating realistic attitudes requires
affective learning (House, 2000; WiersJenssen, Stensaker, & Grogaard, 2002).
That is, students must be convinced that
their long-term success depends on an
understanding of the expectations of
their majors, as well as the realities of
the national and international economies. Only then will they direct their
attention and concern to developing the
cognitive skills and affective attitudes
necessary to succeed within the major,
graduate, and go beyond to employment
or further study.
NOTES
1. AACSB International—The Association to
Advance Collegiate Schools of Business is the primary international accreditation agency for colleges
of business. EBI is Educational Benchmarking, Inc.
The AACSB/EBI Undergraduate Business Exit
Survey includes 70 questions covering 14 areas,
July/August 2004
351
including faculty and instruction, curriculum, use of
teamwork, student organizations, advising, computer resources, and others.
2. CIRP (Cooperative Institutional Research
Program) is coordinated by the Higher Education
Institute at UCLA and the American Council on
Education.
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APPENDIX
Developing a Professional
Employment Action Plan:
Instructions
The sample professional employment action plan shown below is for a
student majoring in finance and who is
interested in pursuing a career in financial planning. There are many other
career areas in finance, including (a)
corporate finance, (b) financial engineering, (c) investments, (d) insurance,
(e) real estate, and (f) working in a
financial institution (e.g., a bank). Similarly, there are many career paths for
students majoring in marketing,
accounting, management, and so forth.
You need to prepare your action plan
based on your major or specialization
and your career goals.
Note that the sample professional
employment action plan consists of two
parts. The first is a detailed statement
describing your current situation as well
as your short- and long-term goals. The
second is a listing of the specific actions
that you plan to take to help you achieve
your career goals.
Finally, please note that the sample
professional employment action plan is
designed for a full-time student. If you
are a part-time student and have a fulltime job, it may be inappropriate for you
to become involved in campus student
organizations or to participate in a supervised internship. Nonetheless, developing
a professional employment action plan to
outline your career planning is important.
You may want to change employers or
move ahead with your career at your current employer. You may want to consider
activities in professional or civic organizations to foster networking opportunities. You may include such plans in your
professional employment action plan and
substitute them for participation in student activities or other areas.
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 23:33 12 January 2016
Sample Professional
Employment Action Plan for a
Student Specializing in Finance
and Interested in a Career
in Financial Planning
Part 1: Detailed statement describing
your current situation as well as your
short- and long-term goals
I am interested in investing and
learning how to help other people invest
their money. I think that I would like to
work for a company that sells stock or,
perhaps, mutual funds or life insurance.
At present, I am in the second semester
of my junior year, my GPA is 2.90, and
I have not participated very actively in
campus activities.
I had some work experience during
the summer and presently work about
20 hours a week in retailing. My advisor
suggested that I enroll in a supervised
internship in an area of personal finance
because this is my area of interest. The
internship experience will help me learn
more about the field. She also suggested
that if I need to continue working, I
should try to find a job more closely
related to my career interests. Finally,
she indicated that I probably will need
to obtain professional certifications in
finance after graduation and should seriously consider getting a graduate
degree—either an MS in finance or an
MBA with a specialization in finance. I
realize that I must improve my GPA to
gain admission to graduate school and
obtain a good job.
Part 2: List of the specific actions that
you plan to take that you believe will
help you achieve your career goals
To position myself so that I will be
able to pursue a career in personal
finance as well as graduate study, I plan
to take the following actions:
1. I have visited _______________,
assistant dean and faculty coordinator of
the COB Supervised Internship Program, with the goal of obtaining a
supervised internship in personal
finance. I am considering an internship
during [specify the semester] with
[specify name of company] located in
[specify city, state]. The position title is
[specify]. My responsibilities will
include the following [specify].
2. I am going to contact _______
_______, assistant director of career
and academic planning, and attend the
workshop “How to Improve Your GPA.”
3. I have met with my academic
advisor and discussed improving my
GPA. This discussion helped me
decide that, to improve my GPA, I will
have to repeat two courses as well as
take a reduced course load next year or
give up my part-time job. Then, I can
focus on studying and getting very
good grades, especially in my finance
specialization courses. I plan to repeat
the following courses: [list them here].
I plan to enroll in [indicate the number] of courses next semester. I plan to
limit the number of hours that I work
next semester to [specify] hours a
week.
4. I am going to contact _______
________, faculty advisor for the
Financial Management Association,
join this club, and participate in club
activities that will help me develop leadership and team-working skills.
5. I am going to contact the College
to obtain more information about
becoming a certified financial planner.
6. I am going to contact ______
________, coordinator of the Center for
Learning Services and Volunteerism,
and obtain information on becoming a
volunteer. I realize that spending a few
hours a week as a volunteer will provide
me with valuable experience, build my
resume, and involve me in helping others. I am particularly interested in volunteering for [specify].
July/August 2004
353
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Implementing a Course-Embedded Résumé and
Professional Employment Action Plan Preparation
Program for College of Business Juniors
Robert E. Pritchard , Gregory C. Potter , Joanne Damminger & Betsy Wriggins
To cite this article: Robert E. Pritchard , Gregory C. Potter , Joanne Damminger & Betsy
Wriggins (2004) Implementing a Course-Embedded Résumé and Professional Employment
Action Plan Preparation Program for College of Business Juniors, Journal of Education for
Business, 79:6, 348-353, DOI: 10.3200/JOEB.79.6.348-353
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.79.6.348-353
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 18
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Citing articles: 2 View citing articles
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Implementing a Course-Embedded
Résumé and Professional
Employment Action Plan
Preparation Program for College
of Business Juniors
ROBERT E. PRITCHARD
GREGORY C. POTTER
JOANNE DAMMINGER
BETSY WRIGGINS
Rowan University
Glassboro, New Jersey
W
hen the AACSB/EBI Undergraduate Business Exit Survey
(Survey)1 is administered to graduating
college of business seniors, they give
the lowest ratings to “placement and
career services.” Furthermore, AACSB/
EBI Survey results indicate that student
satisfaction with career services for all
participating college of business students declined dramatically from 2000
to 2002. On a 7-point Likert-type scale
including the anchor points 1.0 (very
dissatisfied), 4.0 (neutral), and 7.0 (very
satisfied), the mean rating for participating institutions was 4.15 in 2002—a
level below the satisfied level of at least
5. Clearly, graduating seniors attending
colleges of business at many institutions
are dissatisfied with placement and
career services.
The rating for the category “placement and career services” represents a
combination of the scores of four specific AACSB/EBI survey questions
(factors). In Table 1, we provide these
four questions, along with the survey
ratings obtained from the graduating
College of Business (COB) seniors,
spring 2002, at the regional university
348
Journal of Education for Business
ABSTRACT. When the AACSB/EBI
Undergraduate Business Exit Survey
(Survey)1 is administered to graduating
business students, the results tend to be
similar for all participating institutions.
Of the 14 areas measured through the
Survey, “placement and career services” receives the lowest ratings from
students. Because the Survey ratings
for graduating College of Business
(COB) students at one regional university were significantly lower than those
from the other colleges of business, the
authors of this article developed a program to help COB students have more
positive career planning and placement
experiences.
where we developed the CourseEmbedded Résumé and Professional
Employment Action Plan Preparation
Program (Program). The COB began
using the survey in 1998 and has used it
every 2 years since then.
In spring 2002, the COB’s graduating
senior rating for “placement and career
services” was 3.75 on the scale of 1.0 to
7.0, significantly under the 4.15 rating
for all business colleges participating in
the Survey. Furthermore, with the
exception of the response to question
no. 62, a longitudinal multiyear factor
comparison analysis indicated decreasing student satisfaction at the COB with
respect to all four questions from 1998
to 2002. The overall 3.75 rating in 2002
was slightly lower than the 1998 rating
of 3.85 and considerably lower than the
2000 rating of 4.13. This COB rating
decrease from 2000 to 2002 was consistent with the decrease for all business
schools participating in the Survey.
Finally, the 3.75 COB rating for
“placement and career services” in 2002
was lower than that for any of the other
13 areas surveyed by the COB; the other
ratings ranged from a low of 4.29 to a
high of 5.54. This lowest rating for
“placement and career services” obtained
at the COB is consistent, again, with the
AACSB/EBI Survey results for all participating colleges of business.
Interestingly, as in previous years, the
results of the fall 2002 Cooperative
Institution Research Program (CIRP)
Survey2 show that most (88.6%) of the
incoming COB students viewed finding
a better job as a very important reason
for their decision to go to college.
Despite a history of COB students’ indicating a high level of interest in better
TABLE 1. AACSB/EBI Undergraduate Business Exit Survey “Career and
Placement Services”: Questions (Factors) and COB Ratings Obtained for
Spring 2002
Question (factor)
Rating
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61 How satisfied were you with the placement office assistance in
preparing you for your placement job search?
62 How satisfied were you with your access to the alumni in cultivating
career opportunities?
63 How satisfied were you with the number of companies recruiting on
campus for permanent jobs?
64 How satisfied were you with the quality of companies recruiting on
campus for permanent jobs?
employment opportunities, many COB
seniors had not been registering for or
attending interviewing and recruitment
events, career fairs, and similar activities. As a consequence, interviewers
from a number of regional and national
employers cancelled such events, which
resulted in fewer interviewing opportunities for those students who did attend.
This situation posed a serious problem
for the COB.
Literature Review
The evident student dissatisfaction
with placement services reported in a
study by Educational Benchmarking,
Inc. (EBI, 2004) begs an examination of
(a) what students expect of these services and (b) whether their expectations
are, in fact, realistic (Roach, 2003;
Miller, 2004). In part, this dissatisfaction reflects the economic downturn of
the early 2000s, which resulted in widespread contraction of employment
opportunities and significant cutbacks
in campus recruiting (Chen, 2003;
“Prime Numbers,” 2001; McMenamin,
Krantz, & Krolik, 2003).
Although plentiful job opportunities a
few years ago meant that students could
just “walk in” to check placement center
listings, finding a suitable position by or
shortly after graduation today requires
advance preparation, hard work, and an
aggressive approach (Bisoux, 2003;
Roach, 2003). Furthermore, the accelerating rate of structural changes in the job
market, together with the exportation of
many jobs to countries such as China,
Mexico, and India, has added to the difficulty and complexity of searching for
3.87
3.55
3.90
3.57
employment (Schwartz & Harrington,
2003).
Moreover, campus career services
also face changing student demographics, as well as other challenges stemming from personal and psychological
factors (Brown, 2002; Brownlow &
Reasinger, 2001; Lewis, 2001; Scott,
2002; Trusty, 2002; Yang, Wong,
Hwang, & Heppner, 2002). All of these
factors can add to student frustration
and result in dissatisfaction with campus career placement services.
Framing realistic career expectations
and requirements for students in search
of suitable entry-level positions is the
paramount task of career planning and
counseling services (Brigham Young
University, 2004; Hoyt & Maxey, 2001).
It is equally important to note that the
job market for business alumni is undergoing rapid changes as well. In many
instances, these changes have resulted
in dislocations requiring business graduates to change jobs and career paths as
well as employers, often several times
during the course of their careers. This
situation clearly suggests the need to
incorporate the skills and knowledge
required for a series of successful job
searches within the undergraduate business curriculum (Lataif, 2003; Nowak
& Miller, 1996; Young & Henquinet,
2000; Young & Murphy, 2003).
From the standpoint of the business
curriculum as a whole, Walker and
Black (2000) remarked that academic
leaders recognize the challenges confronting business education and that
they mirror those faced by corporate
America. These researchers specifically
identified the need for business school
faculty members to align their skills
with the requirements of the rapidly
changing business environment. Approaches to meet this need are included
in the “Outcomes Assessment and Continuous Improvement” statement prepared by the College of Business at
William Paterson University (William
Paterson University, 2004). The statement identifies an “Annual Stakeholders’ Conference” to provide dialogue
among business leaders, alumni, and
faculty members regarding learning
goals and objectives. Similarly, Columbia University’s business school provides outreach activities that engage
student teams with firms on consulting
projects “to advance our understanding
of commerce as it exists today and how
it may evolve in the future” (Fraiman,
2002).
Paralleling such efforts to align the
business curriculum with the changing
world of commerce and work, academic support services such as placement and counseling also recognize the
need for collaboration and articulation
among teachers, community organizations, and businesses (Banta & Kuh,
1998; Korschgen & Hageseth, 1997;
Letourneau, 2002; Schuh, 1999). Such
collaborative efforts ensure that students
have a “full range of information about
themselves, exploration of all careers,
and a knowledge of the job market”
(Maddy-Bernstein, 2004).
This perspective represents a shift in
the view of the placement center from a
“job dispensary” (Miller, 2004) to an
integral part of the undergraduate experience (Korschgen & Hageseth, 1997;
Schuh, 1999). This integration involves
recognition of student psychology and
culture, including factors such as the students’ abilities, family and friends, and
vocational interests, as well as the culture itself (Akers & Porter, 2003; Kim,
Markham, & Cangelosi, 2002; Lewis,
2001; Simmerling & Wilcox, 1995).
Forging relationships among faculty
members, students, and service agencies under the umbrella of student services is an ongoing, seamless process
(Schuh, 1999). Lumsden, Garis, Reardon, Unger, and Arkin (2001) stressed
that career preparation takes place
throughout the undergraduate experience, not through “one visit” to the
July/August 2004
349
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career center. Lane’s research (2000) on
career development urges students to
develop career plans even before 11th
grade. Arnold’s research (1989) on
career decidedness and psychological
well-being supports the importance of
making career decisions before graduation, even though the benefits may
become apparent only after graduation.
The processes of career exploration,
positioning oneself to be attractive as an
employee, and conducting a job search
are most successful when conducted
over a period of time and not left until
students are preparing for graduation.
Several models have been used to
help students develop career plans. Such
planning can take, for example, the
form of the career planning essay,
which can be incorporated within the
classroom experience. Lyon and Kirby
(2000) described a career planning
essay and résumé writing experience for
business majors. Those authors stressed
that this approach helps students manage their own careers rather than letting
the career manage them.
Jones (2002) set out an action plan
covering the 4 years of undergraduate
study to help students find their career
paths. Even though such activities might
be construed by students as potentially
time-consuming extra work, research
suggests that students actually approve
of and view them as valuable careertraining tools (Ackerman, Gross, &
Perner, 2003; Schroth & Pankake,
1999). Development of a career plan is
an integral part of the process of job
search and selection. Finally, the literature supports the assertion that integrating (course-embedding) career planning
skills into classroom experiences is both
pedagogically sound and an effective
way to help students frame realistic
expectations (Dodson, Chastain, & Landrum, 1996; MacDermott, 1995; Nell,
2003; Nowak & Miller, 1996).
Description of the CourseEmbedded Résumé and
Professional Employment Action
Plan Preparation Program
The COB dean and various COB faculty members, recognizing the importance of (a) the information provided in
the literature, (b) the general low ratings
350
Journal of Education for Business
given to “placement and career services” by all students participating in
the Survey, and (c) the significantly
lower ratings given by COB 2002 graduating seniors compared with those
obtained at other colleges of business,
met with the director and staff members
of the University’s Career and Academic Planning Center (CAP Center). Their
plan was to develop a program to
achieve the following goals:
1. Help COB students develop realistic expectations about the kinds of campus career planning and placement
resources and services available to them
and specifically those available through
the CAP Center.
2. Better prepare COB students to
obtain internships and graduating
seniors to obtain career positions.
3. Teach COB students how to prepare professional résumés and submit
the résumés to potential employers.
4. Teach COB students how to prepare professional development action
plans or plans for specific actions to
make themselves more marketable upon
graduation.
5. Improve levels of student satisfaction with placement and career services.
In this article, we focus on the program
(Program) that was developed to help
achieve these goals. The Program was
embedded in the business core course
Principles of Finance (Principles). We
chose this course for four reasons:
1. It is required of all business majors
regardless of major or specialization.
2. Almost all COB students take Principles during their junior year, thereby
ensuring that nearly all COB students
would participate in the Program during
their junior year. This timing was important because students need well-prepared
résumés to obtain supervised internships.
Most COB students participate in supervised internships either during the summer following their junior year or during
their senior year.
3. Very few students transfer Principles to the university, thereby ensuring
that virtually all COB students would
participate in the Program.
4. The professor coordinating Principles was very supportive of the Program, was willing to devote class time
to it, and was able to convince other
Principles instructors to do so.
The Program required students to
participate in the four activities listed
below. According to the quality of completed assignments, students could earn
up to 10 points, and these points were
added to their final examination grades.
The final exam counted for 40% of the
semester grade. Thus, students could
increase their semester average by four
points, an amount slightly greater than,
for example, the difference between a
B- and a B.
The CAP Center staff created a rubric
for assigning the points. We presented
the rubric to the students with an explanation, so they would understand how
they would be graded. All assignments
had to be completed on time; students
did not receive credit for assignments
turned in late. Details of the Program
and the assignment due dates were
included in the Principles course syllabus. The four activities included the
following:
1. Attend a résumé preparation workshop conducted by CAP Center staff in
the CAP Resource Center during a regularly scheduled 75-minute Principles
class period. This location was chosen
because it required students to visit the
CAP Center (some did not know where it
was located; others had never been there)
and permitted the CAP staff to illustrate
the resources available to students at the
Center. To emphasize commitment to the
program, the instructors teaching all
Principles sections attended the presentations along with their students.
During the presentations, the students
were taught how to develop a résumé
and prepare themselves to obtain a professional career position upon graduation as well as a supervised internship
while attending college. We provided
the students with appropriate handouts.
The faculty coordinator of the COB
Supervised Internship Program attended
the presentation for each Principles class
section and provided students with
information about the COB Supervised
Internship Program. The PowerPoint
slides for the presentation are available
for review at http://www.rowan.edu/ studentaffairs/cap/PDF_Powerpoint/COB.
Finance.resume.pdf.
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Students were awarded one point for
attending the workshop.
2. Prepare a résumé or update an
existing résumé, following the instructions provided at the CAP résumé
preparation workshop. The Principles
instructors collected the résumés; members of the CAP Center staff critiqued
and graded them. The résumés were critiqued for format, content, completeness, and grammar (including spelling).
Students were awarded up to three
points for this assignment, according to
the quality of their résumés.
3. Revise
the résumé based on the
CAP Center critique and resubmit it
along with the original résumé containing the CAP Center critique. Students
were awarded up to two points for this
assignment, according to the quality of
their corrected résumés.
4. Develop a professional employment action plan. Students were
required to assess their current status
with respect to GPA, level of activities,
and so forth, and then identify the
résumé-building activities that they
wanted to complete to strengthen their
résumés so they would be more attractive to potential employers. The CAP
Center staff provided them with a multipage handout detailing many résumébuilding activities. For example, if a student wanted his or her résumé at
graduation to include a semester (or
more) of work experience in his or her
area of specialization, then the student
could consider enrolling in a COB
Supervised Internship. If she or he
wanted it to include demonstrated leadership or teamwork skills, then the student could consider taking an active
leadership role in one or more of the
COB student organizations.
The students were instructed to review
the handout carefully and to select those
activities that they wanted to complete.
Then they were asked to list those activities in their action plans and indicate the
specific steps that they were planning to
take to complete each activity. The students were awarded up to four points for
this assignment, according to the quality
of their action plans. A sample action
plan designed to assist students in completing this assignment is included in the
appendix.
Results and Summary
At the end of the semester, students
participating in the Program were asked
to complete a short survey form
designed to determine the Program’s
effect on their perceptions of the “placement and career services.” After consulting with the Vice-President of
Research and Development at EBI, the
CAP Center staff included AACSB/EBI
Survey Question 61 (“How satisfied
were you with the placement office
assistance in preparing you for your
placement job search?”) with the added
clarification that the term “job search”
referred to all activities of the finance
class résumé writing project.
On the 7-point scale with the anchor
points 1.0 (very dissatisfied), 4.0 (neutral), and 7.0 (very satisfied), the mean
rating by students participating in the
Program for this question was 4.36 (n =
112). It is interesting to note that the
mean rating for the day students was
5.34 (n = 44), and that for the evening
students was 4.09 (n = 68). The difference in mean rating for day and evening
students may be attributable to the fact
that many evening students already have
full-time positions. Both the day and
evening students who participated in the
Program gave higher ratings to Question
61 than did the COB students who graduated in spring 2002. The average rating
for the 2002 group was 3.87.
The higher ratings given by students
who had completed the Program,
although certainly encouraging in terms
of the perceived value of the Program to
them, were not significantly different
statistically from the ratings given by
the 2002 group. The lack of statistically
significant difference was a consequence of the small sample size. Furthermore, when the students who completed the Program (most did during
their junior year) actually enter the
process of finding a career position, the
level of difficulty that they experience
may be the primary determinant of their
future ratings.
Although satisfaction ratings given to
placement and career services are
important to colleges of business, the
larger issue of providing students with
career development and job searching
skills is much broader. If college of busi-
ness graduates cannot secure professional positions and then successfully
move through a series of potential career
changes, an important component of the
rationale for obtaining a business degree
in the first place comes into question.
What is the value of the degree (regardless of the quality of the students and
their education) if the graduates cannot
secure appropriate positions and then
move ahead with their careers?
The answer to this question suggests
not only the importance of developing
programs such as the one outlined in
this article, but also the necessity of
helping students develop realistic
expectations about their areas of study.
Engendering realistic attitudes with
respect to the business major, the selection of a particular business major, and
the requirements for gaining admission
to graduate programs and attaining
appropriate professional certifications is
prerequisite to the development of realistic attitudes toward the prospective job
market and career possibilities. Inculcating realistic attitudes can help students make informed decisions in the
selection of business as major, as well
as help them choose a specialized area
of study within business. This, in turn,
should increase the likelihood that they
will complete their majors successfully,
thereby ensuring a successful transition
from college to a career position. Such
an outcome likely will be attended by
increased retention rates.
Inculcating realistic attitudes requires
affective learning (House, 2000; WiersJenssen, Stensaker, & Grogaard, 2002).
That is, students must be convinced that
their long-term success depends on an
understanding of the expectations of
their majors, as well as the realities of
the national and international economies. Only then will they direct their
attention and concern to developing the
cognitive skills and affective attitudes
necessary to succeed within the major,
graduate, and go beyond to employment
or further study.
NOTES
1. AACSB International—The Association to
Advance Collegiate Schools of Business is the primary international accreditation agency for colleges
of business. EBI is Educational Benchmarking, Inc.
The AACSB/EBI Undergraduate Business Exit
Survey includes 70 questions covering 14 areas,
July/August 2004
351
including faculty and instruction, curriculum, use of
teamwork, student organizations, advising, computer resources, and others.
2. CIRP (Cooperative Institutional Research
Program) is coordinated by the Higher Education
Institute at UCLA and the American Council on
Education.
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APPENDIX
Developing a Professional
Employment Action Plan:
Instructions
The sample professional employment action plan shown below is for a
student majoring in finance and who is
interested in pursuing a career in financial planning. There are many other
career areas in finance, including (a)
corporate finance, (b) financial engineering, (c) investments, (d) insurance,
(e) real estate, and (f) working in a
financial institution (e.g., a bank). Similarly, there are many career paths for
students majoring in marketing,
accounting, management, and so forth.
You need to prepare your action plan
based on your major or specialization
and your career goals.
Note that the sample professional
employment action plan consists of two
parts. The first is a detailed statement
describing your current situation as well
as your short- and long-term goals. The
second is a listing of the specific actions
that you plan to take to help you achieve
your career goals.
Finally, please note that the sample
professional employment action plan is
designed for a full-time student. If you
are a part-time student and have a fulltime job, it may be inappropriate for you
to become involved in campus student
organizations or to participate in a supervised internship. Nonetheless, developing
a professional employment action plan to
outline your career planning is important.
You may want to change employers or
move ahead with your career at your current employer. You may want to consider
activities in professional or civic organizations to foster networking opportunities. You may include such plans in your
professional employment action plan and
substitute them for participation in student activities or other areas.
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 23:33 12 January 2016
Sample Professional
Employment Action Plan for a
Student Specializing in Finance
and Interested in a Career
in Financial Planning
Part 1: Detailed statement describing
your current situation as well as your
short- and long-term goals
I am interested in investing and
learning how to help other people invest
their money. I think that I would like to
work for a company that sells stock or,
perhaps, mutual funds or life insurance.
At present, I am in the second semester
of my junior year, my GPA is 2.90, and
I have not participated very actively in
campus activities.
I had some work experience during
the summer and presently work about
20 hours a week in retailing. My advisor
suggested that I enroll in a supervised
internship in an area of personal finance
because this is my area of interest. The
internship experience will help me learn
more about the field. She also suggested
that if I need to continue working, I
should try to find a job more closely
related to my career interests. Finally,
she indicated that I probably will need
to obtain professional certifications in
finance after graduation and should seriously consider getting a graduate
degree—either an MS in finance or an
MBA with a specialization in finance. I
realize that I must improve my GPA to
gain admission to graduate school and
obtain a good job.
Part 2: List of the specific actions that
you plan to take that you believe will
help you achieve your career goals
To position myself so that I will be
able to pursue a career in personal
finance as well as graduate study, I plan
to take the following actions:
1. I have visited _______________,
assistant dean and faculty coordinator of
the COB Supervised Internship Program, with the goal of obtaining a
supervised internship in personal
finance. I am considering an internship
during [specify the semester] with
[specify name of company] located in
[specify city, state]. The position title is
[specify]. My responsibilities will
include the following [specify].
2. I am going to contact _______
_______, assistant director of career
and academic planning, and attend the
workshop “How to Improve Your GPA.”
3. I have met with my academic
advisor and discussed improving my
GPA. This discussion helped me
decide that, to improve my GPA, I will
have to repeat two courses as well as
take a reduced course load next year or
give up my part-time job. Then, I can
focus on studying and getting very
good grades, especially in my finance
specialization courses. I plan to repeat
the following courses: [list them here].
I plan to enroll in [indicate the number] of courses next semester. I plan to
limit the number of hours that I work
next semester to [specify] hours a
week.
4. I am going to contact _______
________, faculty advisor for the
Financial Management Association,
join this club, and participate in club
activities that will help me develop leadership and team-working skills.
5. I am going to contact the College
to obtain more information about
becoming a certified financial planner.
6. I am going to contact ______
________, coordinator of the Center for
Learning Services and Volunteerism,
and obtain information on becoming a
volunteer. I realize that spending a few
hours a week as a volunteer will provide
me with valuable experience, build my
resume, and involve me in helping others. I am particularly interested in volunteering for [specify].
July/August 2004
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