Entrepreneurship Policy Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

In this study, how the innovative career counselling at the career offices of the different universities affects the university students in their career path was critically analysed by studying the different cases of the world universities in the US and in Turkey. The changing atmosphere in the higher education and job environment had critically changed the university students' decision-making processes. Today, the new career counselling approach is needed and called "talent management" in search of alternative perspectives (Capelli, 2008). As Berger and his friends (2011) mention that even though the current talent management literatüre has a too narrow and one-dimensional approach, the innovative career counselling offices develop talent management in order to decrease career conflicts by helping the students in their career decisions. İn the new talent management, the three dimensions are taken into considerations which are namely, majors, talents, and skills. The new perspectives in the career counselling are not only valuable for the development of the students in their fields in general but also essential for the success and reputation of the universities in different contexts. İn order to understand the real effects of innovative career counselling in decision making process of the university students while decreasing their conflicts, the data were collected by using a phenomenological analysis (Moustakas, 1994, p. 2). Hence, the original data were gathered from "naive" descriptions by asking open-ended questions and dialogue. The researcher described the experiences based on reflection and interpretation of the research participant's story. İn this study, the university students (n=48), who studied from seven different universities in the US and in Turkey had participated and answered semi structured interview and focus group questions. Since a few universities had been using talent management, there were some limitations in sampling. Additionally, ali the students were Turkish due to the limitation in reaching ali the students in the US. Furthermore, the results were finalised by processing Atlas.ti 6 in order to understand deeply the complex structure of the role of the career counselling offices on career decisions and career conflicts among the students. As a result, the data show that the new career counselling called in general as talent management had inevitably affected decision making process of the university students in many ways. Even though most (83%) students were happy to contact and to work with the career counselling offices since they had become good in adapting quickly in the changing conditions of the market. The large number (98%) clarified that they had conflicts in choosing right career path, and they tried to choose majors to earn money rather than learn. Hence, in this career decision process only (96%) agreed that career counseling
offices were very well structured in helping to integrate and penetrate into the market. The data showed that the career counselling offices in the US were significantly different than those in Turkey, particularly in understanding the needs and the talents of the students by giving different assessments and in developing the social network with the business world. Even though the students in Turkey had same kind of interests, skills, and talents, they had been living significant conflicts due to the lack of proper career counselling at their universities called "talent management." İn this context, ali the students who study in Turkey were not happy and satisfied and that mentioned that they were living deep career conflicts in the 3rd and 4th grade. However, those students, who studied in the best universities in the US where career-counseling offices were active and well organized, had better self-confidence. In one of these universities, new approach of the career counselling had been using innovatively by taking holisticaily the concept of the career conselling so that all the students clearly mentioned that they did not have negative experience or conflicts in their decisions. They had been involved in their career decision activities while they were studying at the universities by attending actively in workshops, counselling sessions, assessment process, and mentoring. Berger, L A., & Berger, D. R. (Eds.). (2011).
The Talent Management Handbook: Creating a Sustainable Competitive Advantage by Selecting, Developing, and Promoting the Best People. McGraw-Hill. Cappelli, P. (2008). Talent management for the twenty-first century. harvard business review, 36(3), 74. Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. SAGE Publications, Incorporated.
Key Words: Talent Management, Innovative Career Counselling, Career Counselling Offices, Career Conflicts, and Career Decisions