Introduction

This report is designed to share information on the career advisor (CA) program in the Florida State University Career Center. Career advisors have been part of the FSU Career Center for more than 25 years. In fact, training career services practitioners is included as part of the Center’s mission statement (Career Center, 2000b). The FSU Career Center’s use of paraprofessional career advisors has been documented in several publications (Lenz & Reardon, 1997; Peterson, Sampson, & Reardon, 1991; Reardon, 1996; Saunders, Reardon, & Lenz, 1999). For purposes of this document, the career advisors who work in the Career Center are considered paraprofessionals. There is some disagreement about the use of this term. Many career services offices use the term “paraprofessionals” only in reference to undergraduate students working as peer advisors in their center. In some settings, graduate students are considered pre-professionals. As Norm Stahl, Counseling Supervisor in the UCLA Career Center noted: “We do not consider our graduate counseling interns as ‘paraprofessionals’, but new professionals getting their final polish before they step into full-time work” (personal communication, July 28, 2000). Because our career advisors have not yet received their degrees and completed their formal training, we still consider “paraprofessionals” an appropriate term. The author hopes that the information shared in this document will help other career services centers in adapting aspects of this staffing model for use in their setting.

Recruitment and Selection

FSU is fortunate in that its College of Education’s career counseling Master’s/Specialist program (http://www.coe.fsu.edu/departments/hss/ccnslng.html ) plays an important role in attracting graduate students who are interested in becoming career advisors. The Master’s program in career counseling is one of only 5 CACREP (http://www.counseling.org/cacrep/directory.htm) accredited programs in the country, and for that reason it attracts persons with a particular interest in becoming career services practitioners. Career Center staff do very little formal recruiting for career advisors, except for occasional presentations in the counseling program’s Foundations of Career Development class and the Higher Education Student Development class. Most prospective career advisors learn about the program through contact with faculty members in the College of Education’s Human Services and Studies department or the Education Leadership department. Prospective CAs are asked to complete a brief application (see Appendix A) and submit it with a cover letter and resume. Once these are received, prospective CAs are invited to participate in a 30 minute interview, usually with the Associate Director and one or more Assistant Directors. The interview may be face-to-face or if the candidate lives some distance away, there is an option for a telephone interview. Typical questions asked in the interview can be found in Appendix B. We are particularly seeking candidates who already possess basic human relations skills and who have a clear interest in career services as part of their future career goals.

The Career Center will accept CA applications at any time during the year, but most new CAs are accepted for training beginning in the summer so that they can become part of the paid staff at the start of the fall semester. As indicated above, the majority of the Center’s career advisors are graduate students, both masters and doctoral level. On a few occasions, undergraduate students have been chosen as career advisors. These undergraduates generally meet two criteria: (1) they have successfully completed FSU’s three credit career planning class, and (2) they are majors in the Rehabilitation Services program. These individuals seek to work as a Career Center career advisor as part of the internship requirement for their rehabilitation services degree.

Training

Although there have been slight variations in training over the years, the Career Advisor training has consisted of essentially the same format. At various times there was a half day orientation provided to new career advisor trainees. This was dropped for a period of time because career advisor trainees were arriving at different times in the year. During the summer 2000, the orientation was reinstated and expanded to include two half day sessions. An outline of the orientation is included in Appendix C. All new career advisors are expected to attend the orientation session. Training was revised during the summer 2000, based on input provided by career advisors who had participated in training in previous semesters. A copy of the survey used in evaluating training can be found in Appendix D.

CAs receive a 55 page Career Advisor Guide which is theirs to keep. Appendix E shows the Table of Contents for the CA Guide. Career Advisors must complete three Training Checklists (see Appendix F). The checklists are designed to get them involved in a variety of training activities in the Center. These are generally completed in a self-directed manner, and no time limit is set for their completion. After the CA completes a checklist, a supervisor will review the checklist with the CA to process the activity and to answer any questions. The checklists have been regularly revised over the years to keep pace with changes in Career Center resources and interventions. After completing the checklists, new CAs are given a list of 50 “Resource Assessment” questions (see Appendix G). The questions reflect the kinds of situations a CA might encounter while working in the Career Library during the Center’s drop-in hours. These questions are like a “take home, open book, final exam” for a CA in training. The questions are processed with one or more staff members as a small group activity. The questions are randomly drawn out of a bowl or similar container to approximate the varied nature of actual questions asked of staff. CAs may refer to their notes. Staff also take turns at answering the questions to model how they would typically respond. At the end of this session, new CAs receive their career advisor name badge while the staff hums an off key version of “Pomp and Circumstance.” These badges include the staff member’s name and the title “Career Advisor” only. For drop-in career advising, there is no distinction with regard to title between student staff and professional staff, which helps to reinforce a team approach to service delivery.

One aspect of the Career Advisor role that is stressed is ongoing training and development. This goal is accomplished in several ways. Generally once a year, CAs complete a “Training & Development” survey (see Appendix H). The information gathered from this survey is used in planning weekly CA staff meetings. These occur every week for an hour on Fridays. CAs are paid to attend this meeting. The focus of these meetings may include presentations by staff from other campus offices, presentations by Career Center staff, processing of client cases, and/or more activity focused sessions such as relays involving use of various features on the computer-based guidance systems, scavenger hunts to locate various resources in the library, etc. Some examples of these are included in Appendix I. These weekly meetings play an important role not only in skill building, but in team building as well. One of the ongoing challenges of these meetings is presenting material that is helpful to both new and more experienced CAs. Experienced CAs are often used as facilitators in small group activities, and CAs who are completing internships are encouraged to develop a topic to present at one of the weekly meetings. Non-student professional staff members are welcome to attend weekly CA meetings, but attendance is optional. In addition, CAs who are completing internships are invited to attend the Center’s administrative staff meetings that are held once a month. These meetings include all permanent and support staff.

In addition to these staff development meetings, CAs meet with their supervisors on an individual basis to discuss training survey topics that reflect skill or knowledge areas they hope to improve in. These meetings are important because not all of the training survey topics can be covered in weekly staff meetings. Topics on the survey may be the focus of a supervision session. In consultation with their supervisor, all CAs complete an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) for themselves, indicating activities they will pursue during the semester to improve their skills and knowledge (see Appendix J).

Roles & Responsibilities

The primary role of the Career Center paraprofessional career advisors is providing direct services in the Career Library during drop-in hours, 9:00-4:30. CAs who are appointed as graduate assistants, work 8 ½ hours in the Center, have ½ hour of individual supervision and attend a one hour staff meeting, making a 10 hour weekly commitment. Some CAs in the counseling program are completing 20 hour per week internships and their schedule may vary slightly. Interns have the option of also offering individual counseling appointment slots and their supervision includes an hour of individual supervision and an hour of group supervision. Each semester, career advisors are given a form and asked to provide the assistant director with a copy of their schedule, including class commitments, preferred hours, and other fixed commitments. The assistant director creates a master schedule to cover the drop-in career advising times from 9:00 to 4:30, Monday through Friday. The student CAs work alongside permanent staff members who are asked to work in the Career Library providing a minimum of two hours of drop-in career advising each week.

During drop-in hours, CAs see a diverse array of clients. While the primary clientele are university students, other individuals using the services include high school students, alumni, and members of the community and surrounding region. One of the unique aspects of service delivery in this setting is that CAs work from an integrated theoretical perspective that includes Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) theory, developed by faculty at FSU (for more information see the following: http://www.career.fsu.edu/techcenter/practitioner.html), and the theory of John Holland (1997). The CIP model serves as a guide when CAs are working with individuals (see Appendix K for a description of a Career Advisor’s duties and responsibilities). Career advisors must understand how to effectively use the Career Library computer-based system, Career Key, as well as the Internet. The Career Center uses a variety of career screening and assessment tools, including the Career Thoughts Inventory (Sampson, Lenz, Peterson, Reardon, & Saunders, 1996), My Vocational Situation (Holland, Daiger & Powers, 1980), the Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1994), card sorts and computer-based guidance systems. CAs also assist individuals with a variety of job search concerns, including interview skills, resume and cover letter development, and developing a job search strategy.

Career advisors are trained to make referrals to the Career Center’s individual counseling appointment schedule when the issues presented by the client are beyond the scope of brief-staff assisted interventions (Sampson, Peterson, Reardon, & Lenz, 2000). The majority of the Career Center’s individual counseling appointment slots are staffed by master’s and doctoral level students from the College of Education’s Psychological Services in Education program which offers Master’s degrees in mental health, school, and career counseling, and a doctoral degree in counseling and school psychology. The doctoral students complete a 2-semester practicum in the Career Center. In addition to taking individual appointments, they also staff drop-in hours during part of their scheduled time.

As with many Centers, there are slow times in the Career Library during drop-in hours. During these slow times, career advisors complete activities on their ILP, as well as assist with library projects, coding and processing materials, updating resource guides, etc. They may also review new software systems, CD-ROMs, and/or Internet sites. Part of the philosophy of the Career Center’s training mission is that these students may some day be managing their own center, so they need to be aware of the variety of tasks involved, beyond one-on-one counseling and advising. In addition to providing career advising in the Career Library, interns with a 20 hour week commitment will often work in other units of the Career Center (e.g., coop-internship office, career placement services) to help with various services and special projects such as career expo planning, on-campus interviewing, program evaluation, development of career resources, etc.

CAs are also given the opportunity to be involved in Career Center outreach activities, both Career Center sponsored presentations and external requests for workshops. Similar to other career center settings, CAs are encouraged to first observe other staff, assist with a presentation, and then assume primary responsibility for a presentation. Most of the Career Center’s primary presentation topics (e.g., resume writing, interviewing, choosing a major) have prepared materials (PowerPoint presentations, hand-outs, etc.) that can be used to structure the presentation. In addition to formal presentations, most of the CAs assist at the Center’s career expos and information tables (e.g., summer orientation, parents’ weekend, senior day, major fair, and related events).

In addition to counseling, advising, and outreach responsibilities, graduate student CAs also have the option of helping teach a section of the University’s three credit career planning class (http://www.fsu.edu/~career/sds3340.html). This class is managed by a Career Center staff member who also has a faculty assignment in the College of Education. After teaching the course for a semester on an unpaid basis while they learn how the course functions, these career advisors are paid a stipend of $500 or more to be a member of a teaching team for a section of the course. After serving as a teaching team member for a minimum of two semesters, career advisors with doctoral level status can serve as a lead instructor for a section of the course and are paid $1500 or more per semester.

Many CAs also play an important role in the Career Center’s research and development activities. These activities are primarily directed by staff in the Center for the Study of Technology in Counseling and Career Development (Tech Center: www.career.fsu.edu/techcenter/) which is housed in the Career Center suite. CAs have typically been involved in research on the use of CACG systems, applications of CIP theory, including the use of the Career Thoughts Inventory, the use of the Self-Directed Search, and Career Center web site development.

Finally, an additional activity of graduate student career advisors is serving as a peer career liaison to selected schools and colleges. CAs can work 5-10 hours per week as a peer career liaison in conjunction with a “permanent” staff member assigned to that school or college. Typical peer career liaison activities are described in Appendix L. Depending on the number of hours they choose to work, they are paid an additional $640-1280 per semester.

Supervision/Evaluation

Supervision of career advisors is provided primarily by the Associate Director for Career Advising, Counseling and Programming, the assistant director, and a coordinator of career development services. On some occasions, CAs are supervised by the Career Center Director who is a licensed psychologist. Some of the career advisors who are completing Master’s degrees in both the career and mental health counseling tracks benefit from supervision provided by someone who is licensed. All of the other supervisors are nationally certified counselors (NCCs). As noted above, career advisors who are employed as graduate assistants receive supervision informally while they are working in the Center and during a one half hour weekly supervision session. Other CAs may be completing an internship or practicum in the Center. Master’s level interns and practicum students have an hour of individual supervision, an hour of group supervision and are expected to keep a journal (see Appendix M). They also on occasion make audio tapes of their individual sessions and these are reviewed by their supervisor during individual supervision. The Career Center’s current facilities do not include an observation room or a room set up for videotaping of counseling sessions. Access to these type of facilities would greatly enhance the supervision process for centers involved in training future practitioners. Group supervision sessions for master’s level practicum and intern students are held once a week for an hour and are typically facilitated by a senior Career Center staff member. Doctoral practicum students meet separately for group supervision which is provided by a faculty member in the College of Education’s Psychological Services in Education program.

As part of their CA Guide, Career Advisors receive a performance appraisal form (see Appendix N) that reflects the National Career Development Association’s Career Counseling Competencies (http://ncda.org/about/polccc.html). As part of their Individual Learning Plan, CAs are encouraged to think about competency areas that they would like to develop or enhance. One recently initiated evaluation activity involves asking CAs at the end of each semester to complete this form on themselves. Staff members also complete this form on each CA that they supervise directly. These evaluations are subsequently discussed in an individual meeting. CAs are also asked to compile a list of their activities and accomplishments for the semester. This document is not only useful in the evaluation process, but it also assists CAs with their resume building. CAs who are completing internships also have academic departmental-specific evaluation forms that are completed. These generally include both a mid-term and end-of-term evaluation.

Funding/Pay

The primary funding source for career advisors working as graduate assistants is the Center’s expense and operating budget. The Center receives approximately $49,000 in what are called OPS (Other Personnel Services) funds. These funds allow the Center to appoint temporary staff, which includes not only the career advisors and career peer liaisons, but also students working in other areas of the center as technical assistants, graphic assistants, and related clerical support positions. The minimum salary per semester for ¼ time graduate assistants of $1500 is set by the University. In addition to the salary, graduate assistantships come with a tuition waiver that covers typically 9-12 hours. After the initial semester, the pay rate is increased to $1550 per semester. CAs who are completing a 20 hour per week internship are paid as a graduate assistant for 10 hours. These paid hours cover the time they spend providing drop-in career advising coverage and attending the weekly staff meeting. The remaining 10 hours for other internship activities are generally unpaid, unless they are also teaching and/or working as a career peer liaison.

On some occasions, when OPS funds are depleted, funds from the Center’s auxiliary account are used to appoint career advisors. These funds are generated primarily through student fees charged for access to the web-based registration and interviewing system or fees charged to employers. Those career advisors completing higher education internships or a doctoral practicum provide their services as unpaid staff. Some higher education interns and doctoral practicum students are offered graduate assistantships after completing a semester as an unpaid career advisor trainee.

Conclusion

The Florida State University Career Center has long had a commitment to not only providing quality career services to its clients, but also to training the next generation of career services providers. While many career centers have relied primarily on undergraduates to work as paraprofessionals, FSU has been able to draw upon graduate students enrolled in its master’s level career counseling and higher education program, who have a demonstrated commitment to career services. Through the creative and ongoing efforts of many individuals over the years, the Career Center has developed a successful paraprofessional training program that not only equips career advisors with the skills and knowledge that will help them launch their professional careers, but also enhances the services of the Career Center by creating a quality team for providing direct services to its clients.

References

Florida State University Career Center. (2000a). Career advisor guide. Tallahassee, FL: Author.

Florida State University Career Center. (2000b). Office manual. Tallahassee, FL: Author.

Holland, J. (1997). Making vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3^rd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.

Holland, J. (1994). Self-Directed Search. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.

Holland, J., Daiger, D., & Power, P. (1980). My Vocational Situation. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.

Lenz, J., & Reardon, R. (1997). Improving career services: A student affairs and academic affairs collaboration. Australian Journal of Career Development, 6(3), 3-4.

Peterson, G., Sampson, J. P., Jr., & Reardon, R. C. (1991). Career development and services: A cognitive approach. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks Cole.

Reardon, R. (1996). A program and cost analysis of a self-directed career decision-making program in a university career center. Journal of Counseling & Development, 74, 280-285. [Rayman, J. (1996). Apples and oranges in the career center: Reaction to R. Reardon. Journal of Counseling & Development, 74, 286-287.]

Sampson, J. P., Jr., Peterson, G. W., Lenz, J. G., Reardon, R. C., & Saunders, D. E. (1996). Career Thoughts Inventory. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.

Sampson, J. P., Jr., Peterson, G. W., Reardon, R. C., & Lenz, J. G. (2000). Designing career services to cost-effectively meet individual needs. Unpublished manuscript, Florida State University, Center for the Study of Technology in Counseling and Career Development, Tallahassee [On-line]. Available: http://www.career.fsu.edu/techcenter/BOOKSUMBnew.html

Saunders, D. E., Reardon, R. C., & Lenz, J. G. (Summer 1999). Specialty training for career counselors: Twenty-five years at Florida State University. Career Planning and Adult Development Journal, 15, 23-33.

Appendices

Appendix A

CAREER CENTER CAREER ADVISOR APPLICATION

DATE:____________________________

NAME:______________________________________________________________

CURRENT ADDRESS:_________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

PHONE NO:(H)_________________________(W)___________________________

E-mail:_______________________________________________________________

DEGREE & MAJOR AREA you anticipate pursuing at FSU (if any):

____________________________________________________________________

1. Please discuss briefly your interest in the career services area.

2. Describe how your previous academic/work experience is relevant to working as a career advisor. What skills have you developed that are relevant to this position?

3. What are your short and long-term career goals?

Please attach a cover letter and resume to this application & return them to Dr. Janet Lenz, Career Center, Florida State University, University Ctr., A4101, Mail code: 2490 or email to: jlenz@admin.fsu.edu, as soon as possible.

Appendix B

Florida State University Career Center

Career Advisor Interview Questions

How does being a career advisor fit in with your overall career plans?

What skills and experiences do you bring from your past that might serve you well as a career advisor?

When you take on a new job, how do you best learn how to function in that job?

How would you handle an adult client who felt you were too young to relate to his or her career concerns?

What skills and qualities do you think are needed to be successful as a career advisor?

What skill areas or weaknesses do you think being a career advisor could help you improve on?

What would you do if a client asked you a question you didn’t know the answer to?

How do you think working with college students might be different from other types of individuals you’ve dealt with (e.g., high school students, young children, etc.)?

What strategies do you use to get better at a particular job you hold?

Describe a past experience where you took the initiative to accomplish something you’re proud of?

How would you deal with a situation where you thought another career advisor who you were on duty with was engaging in inappropriate behavior?

How would you handle a client that is frustrated, upset, or extremely emotional?

Under what kind of supervision do you work best?

Appendix C

CAREER ADVISOR ORIENTATION SCHEDULE

Thursday, August 3

Time Activity Leader(s)

1:00-1:15 Welcome/Introductions Janet

Overview of Schedule/Topics

1:15-1:30 Ice Breaker All

1:30-1:45 History/Purpose of CCIS Janet

What We Are & What We Are Not

1:45-2:15 Career Center Tour Jill

2:15-2:30 Break

2:30-3:00 The FSU Approach/CIP/ILPs Janet

3:00-3:15 Role of the Career Advisor Corey

Expectations/Responsibilities/Typical Day

What Makes for a “Good” CA

3:15-3:30 Rapid Response Questions CAs

3:30-4:00 Career Advising Simulations Jill/Corey

4:00-4:15 Wrap-Up/Questions

Friday, August 4^th

8:30-9:00 Coffee and Goodies/Meet the Staff All

9:00-9:15 Review/Preview Janet

9:15-10:00 Career Library Susan

10:00-10:15 Break

10:15-10:45 Career Placement Services Myrna

10:45-11:30 Case Scenarios All

11:30-11:45 Beyond Initial Training/Indiv Staff Dev Janet

11:45-12:15 Questions/Wrap-Up All

12:30-1:30 Lunch with Current CAs All

Appendix D

Career Advisor (CA) Training Evaluation Survey

As someone who has been through the FSU CA training, we are interested in your reactions, suggestions, and ideas that can be used to further enhance and refine the CA training. We would appreciate your responses to the items below. You do not need to identify yourself and feel free to type your responses on a separate sheet. Please complete and return to Janet’s box (or send via e-mail: jlenz@admin.fsu.edu) no later than July 13th. Thanks for your input!

What, if anything, did you like about the CA training? (please be specific here)

What, if anything, did you dislike about the CA training? (please be specific)

What information/services do you think need to be emphasized more as part of training?

What information/services do you think need to be emphasized less as part of training?

Please suggest any other types of CA training activities/experiences that should be included.

What, if anything, do you think needs to be added to the CA guide?

Other comments/suggestions:

Please feel free to continue on the back or on a separate page.

Appendix E