1. Career
Development in
the 21st Century
Exploring the Effect of Technology on
Student Career Development Practices in
Selective Liberal Arts Colleges
By Megan Brew
The College of William & Mary

2. Introduction
The introduction of technology into student affairs provides
professionals new, unique opportunities to educate students. This
study focuses specifically on the role of technology in the career
services field. Professional organizations have identified technology
adoption as a priority in the field, as expressed in the National
Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE) standard to “use
technology to enhance the career development process” (NACE,
2014). Integrating technology into career services allows students to
engage in career development anytime, anywhere by “offering these
services in alternative time frames and delivery modes” (Venable,
2010). The use of technology in student career development can
enrich the career development process by providing consolidation of
information and increased access to career exploration experiences.
Research Objectives
The purpose of this study is twofold: 1) to advance
practitioner understanding of relevant technological tools and 2) to
accurately describe the current state of career services offices to
understand how needs can be met by technology. To best understand
the work of career development professionals, this project focuses on
two parts of the career development process: self-assessment and
placement skills. Self-assessment occurs in the beginning phases of
career development, providing the student an opportunity to identify
their interests and skills. Developing placement skills requires
students to take the next step to pursue and explore their interests
and strengths. These experiences involve relationship building
through exercises such as informational interviews, employer
information sessions and networking events. To better understand
the intersection of technology and student career development, I
designed a qualitative study to gather insights from career
development professionals.
Methodology
To best understand the implications of increased
technology use in career centers, I conducted a series of in-depth
interviews with career services professionals. In an effort to capture
the importance of career exploration, I focused on liberal arts
colleges. Liberal arts colleges prioritize academic and extracurricular
exploration for their students, a priority that carries over to career
development. For the purpose of this study I narrowed my sampling
frame to the 37 member schools of the Liberal Arts Career
NetWORK (LACN), a consortium of highly-selective liberal arts
colleges. I developed my sample by cross referencing the list of LACN
schools with the list of Top Liberal Arts Universities published by
annually U.S. News and World Report. I generated a list of eleven
schools and received responses from eight career center directors
from the following universities: Amherst College, Bowdoin College,
Pomona College, Middlebury College, Haverford College, Vassar
College, Colby College and Hamilton College. I emailed the career
center director at these institutions to schedule a 30-minute
interview. After the interview with the career center director, I
followed up with the corporate relations director at the same
colleges. For the purpose of these interviews, I developed an
interview schedule more specific to relationship-building and
connecting with alumni, parents and employers. I interviewed six
corporate relations/employer relations directors from the following
universities: Bowdoin College, Pomona College, Haverford College,
Vassar College, Colby College and Hamilton College. Upon
completion of fourteen interviews, I listened to the recorded
interviews to develop themes and draw conclusions about technology
in career development.

3. Results
As I reviewed the recorded interviews, I developed codes based on
reoccurring themes across the fourteen interviews. The most
prominent themes are discussed in the section below.
Self-assessment Tools
Self-assessment tools provide students an opportunity to think
critically about their stills and interests in preparation for a strategic
career search/
Career center directors provided information about the self-
assessment tools used in their office, as outlined in Table 1.
Table 1
Career center adoption of self-assessment tools
Self-Assessment Tool Colleges Utilizing the Tool
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI)
Haverford, Amherst, Pomona,
Vassar, Hamilton, Middlebury
CareerBeam Haverford, Amherst, Pomona,
Vassar
STRONG Interest Inventory Haverford, Amherst, Pomona,
Vassar
FOCUS2 Haverford, Vassar, Colby,
Hamilton
StrengthsQuest Haverford
SkillStand Hamilton
Tight Focus Middlebury
Career Cruising Bowdoin
Pymetrics Bowdoin
Self-assessment review strategy.
The majority of career services directors discussed the
importance of workshops or one-on-one consultations for students to
interpret their results. As evidenced from the above table, the
Myers-Briggs is the most popular self-assessment tool in these career
centers. First published in 1962, the Myers-Briggs is the oldest of the
listed resources and arguably the most widely used. The Myers-
Briggs incorporates psychological theory into a simple survey to
identify consistencies and patterns in personality traits (Myers-
Briggs Foundation, 2015). In order to conduct the Myers-Briggs
assessment, there must be a certified administrator on staff. Given
the complex nature of the Myers-Briggs assessment, colleges are
exercising more guidance over use of these tools. Stacy Bingham,
Director of Career Development and Pre-Law Advising at Vassar
College, commented that students need to make an appointment
with a counselor to review their MBTI results (S. Bingham, personal
communication, March 27, 2015). By reviewing assessment findings
with an advisor, students are less likely to misinterpret their results.
Other tools such FOCUS2 or StrengthsQuest are less rigorous and
detailed; therefore, most career services professionals will post these
assessments on their websites for students to take on their own time
The simplicity and immediacy of results allow students to continue
to engage in self-assessment remotely.

4. Results Continued
Advancement of Assessment Technology.
While students are gaining increased access to these self-
assessment tools via online availability, the capabilities of self-
assessment tools are also evolving. Several career center directors
mentioned a new tool, Pymetrics. Pymetrics is an online series of
games and surveys that identifies strengths based on cognitive skills
(Pymetrics: Beta, 2015). Of the eight colleges represented in this
study, only Bowdoin has adopted Pyometrics technology (T. Diehl,
personal communication, March 30, 2015); however, many
universities are considering a pilot of this tool. When considering the
adoption of Pyometrics, Tim Mosenhauer, Associate Director of
Professional & Career Development at Middlebury College,
commented that “students are not just learning about themselves but
employers can also get data about prospective candidates” (T.
Mosehauer, personal communication, March 27). A tool like
Pyometrics signifies a shift in the career development process.
Instead of defining self-assessment and placement skills as
completely distinct stages of career development, a tool like
Pyometrics blends the two steps by giving the students the option to
easily share their assessment results with employers.
Placement Skills
Developing placement skills requires the student to explore and test
career options based on their interests and skills. Technology plays a
role in facilitating these exploration experiences in a variety of ways
including: providing direct access to internship or job application
opportunities, consolidating contact information for professionals in
a desired field and providing remote face-to-face communication
between students and professionals.
Difficulty with Job/Internship Posting Site.
The most consistent trend throughout the interview
process was the difficulty with the Symplicity job/internship posting
system. Each college customizes their Symplicity interface for the
purposes of their institution; however, career services professionals
argue that the site is “too customizable” and becomes difficult to use
(U. Olender, personal communication, March 25, 2015). Instead of
effectively facilitating opportunities for students to apply and pursue
experiences, the Symplicity site can hinder career center operations.
Cate Ashton, Associate Director of the Colby Career Center at Colby
College, explained how her office abandoned the multi-step event
registration feature on their Symplicity site. Googleforms replaced
the Symplicity event registration resulting in a notable uptick in
workshop and event registration numbers. From the student
perspective, the Symplicity interface “feels like a clunky website” (A.
Taylor, personal communication, Hamilton College). Collectively,
career services professionals highlighted an important underlying
theme: students have come to expect ease of use and straightforward
delivery when it comes to online tools. Career services professionals
anticipate a transition to Handshake software which will allow for
more organized, streamlined connection between students and
employers.
Coupling of Alumni Database and LinkedIn.
Every school participating in this study reported use of an
alumni directory. These alumni directories varied in sophistication;
however all of the alumni listings were developed to assist students
in connecting with professionals to learn more about a desired field
or career path. Todd Herrmann, Associate Director of Employer
Relations at Bowdoin College, described these databases as
“comprehensive but not up to date” (T. Herrmann, personal
communication, April 10, 2015). Many career services professionals
echoed this sentiment, expressing that they handled the challenge of
outdated information in alumni directories by simultaneously
searching through LinkedIn. While an alumni database can quickly
lead a student to a point of contact, and in some cases allow the
student to directly message the alumni through the database,
LinkedIn details a professional’s career history. By using an alumni
database in conjunction with LinkedIn, students can directly contact
the alumni while learning about the steps taken to reach their
current profession (J. Bell, personal communication, April 13, 2015).
Therefore, alumni directories simplify the process for students
connecting with professionals and LinkedIn details career progress
of professionals to inform students of possible paths to their desired
career goal.

5. Results Continued
Relevance of Web Conferencing for Remote Communication.
Career center professionals provided information about the web
conferencing tools used in their office, as outlined in Table 2.
Table 2
Career center adoption of web conferencing tools
Web Conferencing Tool College Utilizing the Tool
Skype Haverford, Amherst, Vassar,
Bowdoin, Pomona, Hamilton
GoogleHangout Amherst, Vassar, Pomona
WebEx Hamilton, Colby
GoToMeeting Vassar, Pomona
Livestream Amherst
Adobe Connect Middlebury
The majority of the schools participating in this study are
small institutions located on remote towns in New England. The
combination of travel difficulties and limited number of student
applicants makes it difficult for employers and alumni to justify the
trip. The introduction of web conferencing has increased
opportunities for students to converse with alums through industry
panels or workshops and engage with employers through off-site
interviews. Haverford College regularly utilizes this technology with
their weekly Fords on Friday program where the alumni will Skype
students gathered at the Career Center (K. Cleary, personal
communication, March 17, 2015). Improvements in web conferencing
technology include WebEx, a tool that allows multiple people to call
in for a group chat which can be recorded and distributed to students
who were not present (C. Ashton, personal communication, April 3,
2015). Lastly, advancements to web conferencing now include online
career fairs where students can virtually connect with recruiters (S.
Bingham, personal communication, March 27, 2015). Web
conferencing is a convenient, cost effective way for students to
converse with alumni and employers without the hassle of travel.
Additional Technology Trends Affecting Career Services
Not all themes developed from interviews related directly to self-
assessment or placement skills; however, these insights provide
valuable information about future improvements for the career
services field.
Evolution of Mobile Technology.
Director of Employer Relations at Hamilton College Abby
Taylor commented on an important trend throughout society today
when she noted that “we live in a world now that you have to be
available all the time” (A. Taylor, personal communication, April 21,
2015). Students are accustomed to immediate responses and this
trend is carrying over to the career development process. Career
services professionals are interpreting this trend in different ways,
some eager to develop mobile apps while others are less convinced of
student demand. When discussing the switch from Symplicity, the
mobile-friendly adaptation of Handshake was mentioned in a
positive light (C. Ashton, personal communication, April 3). Some
colleges are already exploring the use of mobile technology in career
development. At Pomona College, students can access the alumni
database from their phone (S. Parks, personal communication, April
1). In a society that is consistently on the move, mobile technology in
student career development is a critical trend to consider.

6. Results Continued
Inconsistent Assessment of Technology in Career
Services.
Career services professionals are constantly on the go
between counseling students, connecting with employers and
building relationships with alumni. The chaos of each day does not
leave much time for assessment. The assessment strategies for
technology in career centers were varied. At some institutions, the
tools were tested and evaluated prior to purchase to see how they
would address student needs (M. Raymond, personal communication,
March 26, 2015). Ashton (personal communication, April 3, 2015)
and Bingham, (personal communication, March 27, 2015) report
using student focus groups and post-workshop surveys to evaluate
technology. Some career services professionals mentioned the
support of the LACN technology committee in providing accurate
information about potential resources; however, many noted that
they needed to do more work with assessing the effectiveness of
technology in their office.
Future Research
This research project provided a macro-level perspective of
how technology has influenced the career development process of
college students. Future research should focus on how students
understand and utilize technology to develop their career plans.
Interviewing students or observing how they engage with technology
will deepen the understanding of the role of technology in career
development. In addition, future research should focus on emerging
trends, particularly the evolution of mobile technology in career
development and the role of assessment of technology in college
career centers. Tracking the adoption of mobile apps in career
services will reveal how career development coincides with societal
trends of immediate response and access to information. By
inquiring about assessment strategies in career services, a set of best
practices can be established for evaluating technology in the field.
Motivations and Subjectivities
The College of William & Mary stresses the importance of
undergraduate research as an opportunity for students to take
ownership over their own academic experience. I was able to craft
my own research project with the help of my advisors to address my
personal interests in student affairs and technology. As a qualitative
researcher, I recognize that my own assumptions and biases shape
how I interpret the data; therefore, I will discuss my motivations for
this project.
I developed an interest in student affairs the summer after
my freshmen year when I began to think intentionally about my own
career exploration. Upon returning to school my sophomore year, I
scheduled informational interviews with just about any student
affairs professional who agreed to meet with me. After countless
conversations with administrators, I kept revisiting my discussions
with staff at the Cohen Career Center. I was excited by the prospect
of helping students transition out of college to an equally fulfilling
post-grad existence where they could build on their skills and
interests. I applied for a Student Marketing Assistant position at the
Cohen Career Center to gain a deeper understanding of the career
development process. While working at the Career Center, I
observed the use of various technology from LinkedIn to Skype. After
reading several articles about the Massive Open Online Course
(MOOC) revolution and the role of technology in shaping higher
education practices, I began to ask questions about how technology
affects career development.

7. References
Myers-Briggs Foundation (2015). MBTI Basics. Retrieved from
http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/
National Association for Colleges and Employers (2014). Professional
standards for college and university career services 2014. (1st ed.).
Bethlehem, PA.
Pymetrics: Beta (2015). Home. Retrieved from https://pymetrics.com/
Venable, M. A. (2010). Using technology to deliver career development
services: Supporting today’s students in higher education. The Career
Development Quarterly, 59(1). Retrieved from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2161-
0045.2010.tb00132.x/epdf