Helpful content for parents and counselors. Please feel free to contact me for reference information!

1. Social Media for
Student Career Planning and
Harnessing of
Community Assets

2. Introduction:
Jennifer Blanchard Belk is an Assistant Professor of Interior Design, has a Masters of Art Education,
and is the winner of the 2013 National Association of Women in Construction Education Visionary
Award. She has served on admissions, scholarship, and specialization committees and serves as
Chair of the University College Faculty Conference (representing segments of the university such as
Honors Programs, Academic Success Center, Career Development, International Center, etc.). As
an Orientation Faculty Mentor and freshman seminar instructor, she has extensive experience
working closely with incoming students, assisting them with academic advising, college community
assimilation, and exploration of career options. Some of her research interests include Service
Learning, Career and Professional Development, and Student Travel.
Jennifer Blanchard Belk

3. Collaborator:
Ashley Sineath
• Graduate of Winthrop University
• Research assistant within the program
• Former secretary for the Winthrop Council of Student Leaders
• Former President and Recruitment Chairman of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority.

4. Goals and Content

5. Why is career exploration so important?
The number one reason students drop out of college is a lack of
career focus. Even if they do stay in college, students who lack
focus end up spending more time and money to earn a degree.
With advance planning, your child can enter college well informed
and focused on a career goal (ACRN, 2006)
If students have a clearer idea of their career goals, they will more
likely to engage in academic tasks (Blustein 2002)
Exploration helps students make more post-secondary plans that
are both realistic in nature and clearly related to their career
goals (Davis, 2006)

6. What are the issues with the state of student career exploration?
Young people have high ambitions, expecting to be highly
educated and have professional careers, yet research has found
that many do not develop coherent plans for achieving their
goals.
(Hughes & Merchur Karp, 2004)
Students should not only be using the title of the position with
the students but explaining what their job entails
(Kerr, 2003)
Students have a lack of active investigation into what the career
or educational path actually entails
(Davis, 2006)

7. The U.S. does lead the world in
one important statistic:
The U.S. has the highest
college dropout rate in the
industrialized world.
(ACRN 2006)

8. The Educational, Social, and Economic Value of Informed and
Considered Career Decisions
America’s Career Resource Network Association (ACRNA) urges consideration of the extensive body of evidence of the
educational, social, and economic value of career information and services that foster informed and considered career
decisions.
A. Educational Outcomes
i. Improved educational achievement
ii. Improved preparation and participation in postsecondary education
iii. Better articulation among levels of education and between education and work
iv. Shorter time to graduation
v. Higher graduation and retention rates
B. Social Benefits
i. Benefits to family, peers, and community
ii. Higher levels of worker satisfaction and career retention
iii. Shorter path to primary labor market for young workers
iv. Lower incidence of work-related stress and depression
v. Reduced likelihood of work-related violence
C. Economic Consequences
i. Higher incomes and increased tax revenues
ii. Lower rates and shorter periods of unemployment
iii. Lower costs of worker turnover
iv. Lower health care costs
v. Lower incarceration and criminal justice costs
vi. Increased worker productivity

9. Students with access to career information resources & programs
and who make the connection between their academic coursework
& future goals:

10. Why start so early?
Guidance activities directed at junior high school students
had the largest effect sizes, indicating that guidance efforts may
be most effective with pre-teenage (rather than high school or
college) students (Hughes & Merchur Karp, 2004)
When surveyed, the majority of high school dropouts say they
began to “disconnect” in middle school or earlier.
(Castellano et al., 2002)
Sixth-through-ninth-grade children have demonstrated very little
understanding of how school relates to the real world and
seem to have little to no awareness of the skills and knowledge
needed for success in the future. (Johnson, 2000)

11. Career Development Continuum
Preparing all Youth for Success in College, Career, and Life
Career Awareness
Learn about a wide variety of
and careers
Career Exploration
jobs
Classroom & School
• Web Research
• Guest Speakers
• Career Interest Assessment
• College & Career Fairs
• Career Contextual Instruction
• College Awareness
Explore, research, and plan
the future
Classroom & School
Workplace
• Industry Tours & Field Trips
• Career & Job Fairs
• Youth in the Workplace
• Job Shadowing
• Career Mentoring
• Community Service Projects
• Informational Interviews
Families & Neighborhood
Families & Neighborhood
Awareness
for
• Career Pathways, Courses, & Clubs
• Integrated Curriculum
• Classroom Simulations
• Career Plan Development
• Career-Focused Projects & Assignments
• College Exploration
Workplace
• Adult Interaction
• Role Model Observation
Career Preparation
• Risk Taking
• Role Playing
• Progression of Responsibility
Exploration
Gain education, training, and work
experience
School & Workplace
• Core Academic Preparation
• Career Technical Courses & Programs
• Career-Related Project-Based Learning
• Career Plan Refinement
• Work-Ready Certification/Soft Skills
• Occupational Certifications
• Job-Seeking Skills
• Work Experience
• Internships
• College Preparation
• Postsecondary Options:
•Community College
•4-year College or University
•Trade/Technical School
•Military Service/National Service
•Apprenticeship
•Enter Workforce (full or part time)
•Self-Employment/Entrepreneur
Preparation

12. Why should parents be involved?
Parents play key roles in youth’s career decision-making
process. Parents need help recognizing that youth look to them to
provide learning experiences and are greatly influenced by
parental occupational advice.
(Ferry, 2003)
Scientists agree that parents are the single most influential
factor in the career development and choice of their children but
are not adequately informed about how to help.
(Clark, 2000)

13. Many parents could benefit from educational interventions that
expand their knowledge of potential career options that are
available to their children in the area and nationally.
(Ferry, 2003)
Although parents feel they are actively involved in their children’s
career decision making, they also feel that they are uninformed
about the process and unable to provide competent help.
(ACRN, 2006)

16. In what ways do they want to explore careers?
In a 2011 dissertation study (Whitten), 288 high school students
discussed what career exploration help they would like from their
school?
•Field trips to
job of choice
•Speakers
•Observation
opportunities
•Career fairs
•Listen to and
interact with
professionals

17. Looking Back: Winthrop University Senior Research:
Surveys were administered to Winthrop University seniors (Fall 2012; Only
those who had already applied for graduation) to obtain information about
their career search methods.
More than 200 of the 800 surveys were returned (+25%)
Question Topics Included:
When they started researching career paths
How they started researching career paths
How confident they are in career/major decision
Where and how they network online

18. The Results:
87%
Seniors who believed that career exploration should begin
during or before High School.
72%
Seniors who actually did start researching careers before or
during High School
86%
Seniors who were confident in their career decision
47.9%
college
Seniors who changed their major at least once during

19. Why is online networking important for career and college
exploration?
Community asset mapping is part of a more general movement
in the US for people to become more self-reliant and develop
stronger social relationships with each other.
School counselors can no longer function in isolation from the
community in which they work …..using the neighborhood
associations, civic clubs, community centers, colleges and
universities, and business to grow your network.
(Griffin, 2010)
….but how can I easily grow my network and use it to benefit
my students???? …. Utilize Social Networking!!!

20. Legal and ethical issues for guidance personnel and parents

21. What is the difference between using Social Networks for
Personal Networking and Professional Networking?

23. Why LinkedIn?
Professionals are signing up to
join LinkedIn at a rate of
approximately two new members
per second
.
LinkedIn users are more affluent
than the average internet user
LinkedIn has relevant users who
offer trusted information

24. LinkedIn Facts - As of August 2013, LinkedIn operates the world’s largest
professional network on the Internet with more than 200 million members in over
200 countries and territories. Members did nearly 4.2 billion professionally-oriented
searches in 2011 alone!
Worldwide Membership
As of the school year ending May 2012, there are
over 20 million students and recent college graduates on LinkedIn. They are
LinkedIn's fastest-growing demographic.

25. LinkedIn and Business
•As of June 30, 2012, LinkedIn
counts executives from all 2011
Fortune 500 companies as
members; its corporate hiring
solutions are used by 85 of the
Fortune 100 companies.
•>2 million companies have
LinkedIn Company Pages.
•LinkedIn members are
sharing insights and knowledge
in more than one million
LinkedIn Groups.

26. Sample Student Connection Info:

27. Sample Student Skills and
Interests:

28. Reasons to Use LinkedIn
Strictly sourcing related reasons to use LinkedIn
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
It has a high passive to active member ratio
The number of members continues to increase
It is referral-friendly
Its profiles are easily comparable and searchable
Its profiles are accurate
It provides recommendations and facilitates introductions
Non-sourcing related reasons for using LinkedIn
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
A powerful talent management research capability
It offers many professional learning groups
It provides an easy reference snapshot
It allows you to poll
It is integrated with many other services – Slideshare!
It allows InMail for communications
… but are the people and organizations we need online?
(We did research to find out!)

31. 2012 Mobile Stats
- Higher Ed
•97% of Millenials own a cell-phone
•58% have a smart-phone.
•60% of surveyed higher education
administrators believe mobile is
already basic to how students
experience college
Administrators report mobile being
important at the following stages:
• 92% - Recruitment marketing
• 90% - Informational accessibility for
enrolled students
• 87% - Strengthening community
amongst enrolled
• 83% - Influencing yield/mix/summer
melt in admissions

32. How are universities
leveraging current social
media outlets?
•Sharing Information; Promotion of
student groups and connecting people
•Showcasing Student & Faculty Work
•Platform to Broadcast Events
•Emergency Notification
•Producing, Not Just Promoting
•Creating a Dialogue and
Communicating to Students
•Getting Wired Via Mobile

33. Helping students and parents understand the beneficial uses
of social and professional networking!
Early Connection with university and professional community
leads to college admission, satisfaction, retention & success
Colleges have recognized the enormous potential of connecting with their students through various
social media channels for admissions, community building, and leading edge retention efforts.”
(Inigral Insights, The Social Side of Student Retention:)

34. Why Should You Use Professional Networking
for Community Asset Mapping and Resource Harnessing?
Past research shows that individuals are more likely to actively engage in
volunteering for or giving to an organization if that organization is a part of
their social network.
SNSs … are low-cost tools that can promote the creation and maintenance of
strong social network ties by increasing the frequency of communication
with and the emotional closeness to other individuals.
In contrast to e-mail, where information is pushed out to audience members
from a single author, SNSs allow users to actively seek out or pull in
information about individuals with whom they share an offline connection.
(Boyd & Ellison, 2007; Ellison et al., 2007; Lampe, Ellison, & Steinfield,
2006).

35. Professional Networking Success for Counselors

36. Use Professional
Networking to:
•Find Your Speakers
•Find Career Fair Participants
•Set Up Field Trips
•Assist With Mentoring
•Make Community
Collaboration Opportunities
•Track Graduates and
Perform Assessment
But …are the professionals you need
active on professional networking and
are they willing to assist you?

40. Why College Educators Use Professional Networking

43. How can you help parents get
LinkedIn to their student’s career search!
Social Media and technology is changing the way we do business
and the way we communicate. Professionals are utilizing sites
such as LinkedIn to do candidate research to make hiring
decisions and to market to clients. LinkedIn can also be used to
explore career options and to make connections for mentoring
and shadowing opportunities.
Although LinkedIn is restricted to ages 18 and up, you can assist
your child by exploring networks already available to you! Your
child’s success in deciding on a major and building a career could
be improved by you utilizing a site like LinkedIn to connect with
professionals and peers.

45. Broad Search:
With your child’s involvement and guidance, do an “Advanced Search” to identify people
within particular industries. Whether you know them or not, the information you find can do
a lot for helping your child understand the realities of a profession! Enter search criteria for
industry, location, even school. The more you define, the more selective the results. Select a
professional profile of interest to view their:

46. Groups:
Groups provide one more avenue to explore a career, including the roles
and responsibilities of the people in that career, where they work, and
their thoughts about the industry. Learn about three professional groups
with 100+ current members. Access, through “Interests”, through the
professionals you find or through a general search, and view. All info will
be accessible if the group is open (or you may join them if appropriate).

47. Targeted Local Search:
Search for professionals in industries your child is interested in who are actually
in your vicinity. Students may want to reach out to them to set up informational
interviews or shadowing opportunities. As most professionals display their work
emails, students can contact them directly!

48. Exploring colleges:
Under “Interests”, click on “Education”. Scroll to “Prospective Students” and
input names of schools to begin exploring. There you can find out about:

49. Any information found can be shared with your child or others!
ANY QUESTIONS???