THE IMPACT OF INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEWING ON OCCUPATIONAL ENGAGEMENT AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF COLLEGE FRESHMEN

Abstract

Abstract Occupational engagement, a component of the trilateral model for adaptive career decision, is an important construct for the modern world of work where job change is the norm and career paths are nonlinear. Since institutions of higher education dedicate significant resources to facilitate the career development of their students, it is also important to develop and evaluate cost-effective career development interventions that reflect modern career development theory and the current economic climate. The present study had the following two general research questions: Does informational interviewing have a significant impact on the career development of first year college students (i.e. occupational engagement, career decision self-efficacy, career maturity)? and Does informational interviewing lead to greater life satisfaction, satisfaction with major, and generalized higher education gains? To address these two questions, 29 college students enrolled in a first-year orientation seminar were given the task of completing eight informational interviews over the course of the spring 2011 semester and blogging about their experience, as well as completing an online questionnaire assessing their career decision self-efficacy, occupational engagement, generalized higher education gains, life satisfaction, and academic major satisfaction. Their responses were then compared to a control group of students enrolled in the same course during the spring 2011 and summer 2011 semesters, who did not complete any informational interviews. While the intervention group showed greater gains on all dependent variables compared to the control group, the results were not statistically significant. An examination of the current research design and suggestions for future research are explored.