Open Letter to college students about how to make career planning more effective from a freshman

Dear college students,

Hello, I am a freshman in Zhejiang University. Recently, I participated in the activity of career planning month organized by my school, and I have listened to relevant lectures in high school. By now, I have some understanding of career planning, such as the steps of self-analysis, how to make career choice and introduce about employment environment. I think career planning is very necessary to provide information and direction for [FR1] college students so that they can have a clear learning goal, not wasting time in school, and they can have more opportunities in future development. However, some people think that the current method is not efficient enough, and students still cannot have a clear understanding of their future career after participating in activities. Inefficient activities only kill students' time and reduce their enthusiasm for later activities, thus forming a vicious circle. It is not conducive to the cultivation of students. More effective methods s[FR2] hould be proposed besides lectures and field practice like students' self-analysis and positioning.

The current approach may lead to confusion for students rather than a clear career direction. The present way is mostly making students aware of the current situation by lecture. But letting students passively receive information during lectures is inefficient if it fails to motivate them. One team found that if students are more motivated and engaged, their grades will rise by nearly half a grade and their attendance would improve (Bajak). Similar to major class, passive acceptance of information makes students feel confused. It is more effective to guide students to actively seek out information and teach them how to process it so that they can learn more about their major and target careers.

In addition to lectures, on-site internships will be organized for students to experience the working style of relevant majors and positions. It gives students some insight into their future jobs. Students can find out what skills are required for the position and know direction for future study plans. However, it is difficult for students to find a corresponding position if there is no company to cooperate with college for a long time (Kubwa). Also, the number of students far outstrips the number of internships that are available. This method requires event organizers to have extensive contacts and knowledge of a wide range of specialties, because the organizer needs to invite professors of relevant majors and managers of corresponding positions. One way to solve this problem is increasing the connection between colleges and companies, which is a win-win process, colleges can increase the employment rate of students and the company can get excellent employees. Therefore, educators should strengthen cooperation with industry. For students, it is important to improve enthusiasm and value the initiative to learn in internship.

After activities such as lectures and internships, current organizers mostly use questionnaires to get feedback, but can't process the data effectively. Some studies systematically analyze this problem[FR3] . Through the modeling of the model, the realization of the algorithm, the case test of the prediction method and other relevant studies, the research figured out that if the educators carry out follow-up guidance to college students, such as the prediction of the future career development direction, it can provide objective and simple data support and theoretical basis for the educators, which can help them smoothly implement the education guidance to further tutor students (Cai et al.). So, using big data, such as e-portfolios is effective for educators to provide personalize tutoring for students, which can help college students make correct self-assessment and career positioning.

       For career planning organizers, helping students gain a clear understanding of their future careers is a fundamental goal. So the organizer should improve the efficiency by changing the method. First, change the way delivering information and help students organize information by themselves to improve their motivation. Secondly, cooperate with industry to provide more internship opportunities and employment opportunity. After these activities, the organizers should be responsible for students' follow-up. This can not only provide further guidance to students, but also collect data to improve future career planning mentoring activities. To increase efficiency, educators can build algorithms and large databases.

       Besides giving information, practice and passively receiving instruction, for students, they are suggested to improve their self-initiative and make self-analysis. In self-analysis, students should objectively analyze their strengths and weaknesses, neither exaggerating nor denying themselves too much. And under the guidance of educators, students can correctly understand their own personality qualities, digging their both existing and potential resource advantages. Educators should help students self-value orientation, face up to the gap between personal goals and reality, rather than overachieving. Secondly, self-analysis can make students more planned and purposeful. A clear self-positioning can make the plan more feasible, which enhance their competitiveness and have more opportunities for future development.

Truly,

Chen Sihan