Chapter 24: A Comprehensive Career Counseling Model in Higher Education

An earlier chapter in this text book presents a traditional Career Counseling Department in higher education and a description of counseling services. After reading and editing that chapter, the authors realized that there is much room for improvement to the typical career counseling center at a 2-4 year higher education institution. This is not to say that there are not some stellar programs already in existence. However, we think it is appropriate to propose a general outline for a comprehensive career counseling program that can be implemented in most institutions. We drew from many different current programs and also incorporated innovative concepts as well. The strength of this program lies in its comprehensive nature, taking a student through developmental steps throughout the four-year degree, each step building upon the previous acquired knowledge. In addition, this program has some contact with every student each semester. The career counselors will need to work closely with both students and academic advisors to maintain continuity of services. In our minds, a great deal of growth and learning is acquired throughout a 4-year college program. However, the ultimate goal of any degree is to obtain a job and/or a career upon graduation. This comprehensive program with both enhance the career counseling process, help students to acquire a dedicated degree major, and we hope, lead to more successful job searches.