Educators are passionate people. It’s a hard job, but it can be so rewarding. Your task is to help each student find success in whichever path best suits their goals and desires.
You’ve taught them many important things along the way, and now it’s time to support your students post-graduation. However, this objective is far from easy or straightforward. How can you support your students’ post-graduation success in a modern world where education and work are evolving?
The Changing World of Education and Work
The “rules” around finding a career and pursuing higher education have changed dramatically over the past decades, especially in recent years. Traditional post-graduation frameworks were limited; the options were either to go to college or to work.
Now, more choices are widely available for students after their secondary education, which means you have the opportunity to support post-graduation success in a variety of ways. However, too many options can feel overwhelming for some students, making it difficult for them to know which path they want to take. It can be paralyzing and drive students to make decisions that may not be a good fit for them or an ideal option for their future. Additionally, almost every job requires some level of education after high school. Gone are the days when some could graduate one week and start a promising career the next.
As a result of these changing paradigms, educators like you have a new host of challenges to ensure post-graduation success. Understanding all these changes is vital for educators. Keeping up with trends and expectations from students and the companies that are hiring is critical.
If you can leverage resources and technology that help your students make impactful and well-thought-out decisions, you can feel more confident that they will thrive after they leave your environment. Let’s look at some ways to effectively and dynamically encourage your students’ post-graduation success for the new world of work and education.
5 Ways to Provide Support for Students Post-Graduation
What are the best ways to assist and advocate for students in their career journey? Here are some proven strategies and tools that can help.
1. Ensure students are real-world ready.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) states that critical thinking and problem-solving are two vital soft skills that prepare students for college and careers. In addition, those who are creative, excellent communicators, and great collaborators have the skills for success.
Consider how your curriculum and other initiatives can build these skills in students. For example, learning how to be an effective communicator can be part of any traditional course. Students can demonstrate this by presenting projects to inform the class on a specific topic.
2. Teach flexibility and adaptability.
For any student to do well outside the halls of high school, they need to be resilient.
Colleges and careers are environments where change happens quickly and often. Instilling the ability to be flexible and adapt will be crucial for post-secondary success.
3. Eliminate the “dream job” paradox.
Unfortunately, many people have misconceptions about life after high school. They believe they need a defined “dream job,” a concept that popular culture and society have emphasized.
Students don’t have to know exactly how their future will turn out or to have a lofty “dream job” mapped out. Instead, they need to understand the connection between education, work, and life. When they do, their “dream” becomes more sustainable and probable. It’s not about trying to diminish their vision of the future but rather ensuring it’s attainable and realistic.
4. Help them understand the multiple paths available to a career.
Be sure your students know there are many avenues to success. Most jobs require education and training, but that’s not always a four-year school. Trades are an excellent career path and in high demand, so make sure they know they have choices.
Although career readiness is part of every state’s academic agenda, a gap exists between this concept and what happens in the classroom. You’ll need better tools to develop sought-after, transferable skills for consistency around career readiness. It will be critical for educators to find new ways to tie these skills to technology, which is something most students are very comfortable with as digital natives.
5. Incorporate technology to address skill gaps and match students with career paths.
All the strategies above include skill development and understanding the connection between education, skills, careers, and goals.
One of the best assets any educator can apply is the pepelwerk career services platform. It delivers positive student experiences, allows you to measure outcomes, and enables job matching based on skills and passions.
Support Your Students’ Post-Graduation Success with pepelwerk
It’s time to try something new for your students to launch into the real world. Create an account with pepelwerk today to explore the platform and all it can offer you and your students—and to see how it can facilitate post-graduation success.
