3 Strategies to Help College Students Find Employment

Source: NileshV/pxhere

It is imperative that we train college students on how to seek employment, and not just for after graduation. In 2018, approximately 10 million college students (57 percent of all students) were employed, with nearly 4 million (24 percent) working at least 35 hours/week. As of June 2020, unemployment has spiked to over 21 percent among young workers; thus, students are probably looking for jobs right now, or they might not be our students for much longer. Moreover, the estimated 4 million people who will graduate from college this year face the highest unemployment rate for recent grads (8 percent) since the 2008 recession.

What may make the difference between a student landing the job they need versus un- or under-employment is not the quality of their resume or the verve they bring to the interview, but rather the efficiency and diligence of their job search. Psychologists for decades have studied the negative impacts of unemployment and tested strategies for helping people find new jobs. What’s surprising is that very simple, low-cost interventions can motivate people to engage in more efficient and more lucrative job searches, and ultimately help those at the highest risk for chronic employment to find work.

Here are three strategies for encouraging students’ job search that complement the traditional ways of supporting students, such as utilizing career counseling, educational workshops, and career fairs.

1. Self-reflection

Colleges are great at training students for the job hunt: resume workshops, cover letter reviews, mock interviews, etc. But absorbing those lessons may be easier for students following self-reflection on where they are in the process.

In a study of over 25,000 young, unemployed Austrians, the researchers randomized the order in which participants viewed a video designed to increase job search self-efficacy, and completed a set of self-reflective questions about their job search progress and goals. Only when the survey preceded the video did the researchers observe a significant increase (+3½ percentage points) in 6-month re-employment among the group most at risk for chronic unemployment. The self-reflection triggered by the survey appeared to make those individuals more receptive to the job advice conveyed by the video.

How can you translate this idea into practice? Begin training sessions or career events with written or oral reflection on students’ goals for their job search and what they’ve accomplished thus far. Taking stock of where they’ve been and where they want to go will help them integrate what you have to teach them into their job search plans.

Also, encourage students to interleave their job search with lessons and feedback from Career Services, professors, or other support staff. As teachers and learners, we tend to frontload training like supplies before a journey, with no intention to stock up along the way. Lessons about writing a good cover letter or acing an interview will mean a lot more to students after they’ve tried (and maybe failed) a few times.

2. Making a plan

It may seem like common sense for students searching for a job to make a plan, but that can be easier said than done. In a study of over 1,000 unemployed South African young adults, some were asked to fill out a weekly chart with specific times they would spend on job searching. For each block, they also indicated how and where they would use that time, known formally as an implementation intention. They also set weekly goals for the number of hours spent searching, the number of opportunities discovered, and the number of applications submitted. These plans worked: within 3 months, those individuals received 30 percent more job offers and were 26 percent more likely to be employed.

When I was a senior at Albion College (Go Brits!), the best advice I received was to think of the time commitment to apply to graduate schools as a fifth class. You can encourage students to do the same with job searching. Have them reserve time on their calendar just as they would for any course, and divvy up those hours between research and completing applications, just as they would divide study time between reading and completing homework. Adding details to their plans, like where they’ll be and whom they’ll be with, will increase students’ likelihood of following through. You can add another layer of motivation by introducing students to if-then plans: Have them explicitly consider things that could mess up their best intentions and come up with a Plan B ahead of time.

3. Expressive writing

Searching for a job is not just a ton of work, but it can also be emotionally draining. Students who need a job immediately risk dropping out of college and losing their investment, not to mention feelings of embarrassment, shame, or regret. Those about to graduate feel pressure from themselves and others to start their careers and make college “worth it.”

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One way to process these negative emotions is through expressive writing. In a study of recently laid-off middle-aged professionals, half were asked to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings about unemployment on five consecutive days. Those who did so were at least twice as likely to be re-employed eight months later (and were drinking less in the interim, a good side effect for college students.)

Five minutes of expressive writing is something you can add to the beginning or end of a career counseling session, resume workshop, or career fair. Moreover, you can teach this skill to any student on the job market. It can be used preemptively to alleviate the anxiety that comes with getting started on job searching and submitting applications. It can also be something students do chronically to cope with the stress of waiting for replies and the inevitable disappointment of rejection. And it can help students deal with other stressful situations, such as major exams.

The Power of Nudges in the Job Search

There are many reasons why these motivational nudges are very exciting. First, several studies showed that increasing students’ motivation didn’t increase the time they spent job searching; rather, it increased their efficiency. For example, the plan-making intervention led people to submit 20 percent more job applications per hour, and nudged them to find opportunities via formal channels (e.g., job boards, search engines) on top of informal channels (i.e., asking family and friends).

Second, these interventions didn’t nudge people to take worse jobs than they otherwise would have, as they often earned more than individuals in the control groups who found similar employment. Finally, as I mentioned above for the self-reflection study, several interventions had their biggest impact on those most at risk of chronic unemployment. Incorporating these techniques into your students’ job search training may increase equity for those individuals traditionally excluded from the labor market.

So as you plan your next job-seeking event or training session, consider ways to add these simple motivational exercises to the agenda. Moreover, these strategies can help students in any competitive application process, such as for internships, graduate schools, or professional schools. Taking just a few minutes to allow students to self-reflect, make a detailed plan, or write about their feelings could greatly enhance the efficacy of your programs and, ultimately, the success of your students’ efforts. And, of course, the same goes for you the next time you hit the job market.