The Center for Career Development has a long-standing commitment to fostering an inclusive environment where all UConn students feel comfortable and empowered to use our services. Recognizing that our diverse student body continues to face new and on-going challenges related to career planning, we initiated a longitudinal study in 2021 to continually examine the ways students’ identities impact their career development journey and how well our services meet their needs.
The Identity & Career Development survey consists of ~30 questions and asks students about their experiences seeking career guidance and making career decisions while at UConn and beyond. Many of the questions focus on identifying unique career experiences faced by specific affinity communities and ways in which the Career Center can provide support. The survey is completely anonymous, voluntary, and sent out to all UConn students every 3 years.
2024 Survey Results
In the spring of 2024, the survey received 1,489 responses from undergraduate and graduate students across all of UConn’s campuses. For a high-level summary of our 2024 results as well as a few key comparisons to our 2021 results, please view this presentation.
Key Takeaways:
- Students of color report needing career guidance at higher rates than any other affinity community, especially white students
- Since 2021, the percentage of students who feel aspects of their identity make them susceptible to negative career guidance decreased by 15 percentage points
- The top sources students turn to for career guidance overall are academic advisors, faculty members, classmates, and career services
- The affinity communities that engage with the Career Center at the highest percentages are international students and students of color
- The top reason students have not received career guidance while at UConn is because they don’t know who to ask
*Results broken down by affinity community will be available soon.
2021 Survey Results
In the spring of 2021, we ran the Identity & Career Development survey for the first time and received 1,538 responses from undergraduate and graduate students across all of UConn’s campuses. For a high-level summary of our 2021 results, please view this presentation or read this Identity & Career Development Survey: Results & Responses blog post.
To see the results broken down by affinity community, please view the slide decks linked below:
- Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander Students
- Doctoral Students
- First-Generation Students
- International Students
- Latinx Students
- LGBTQ+ Students
- Religiously Affiliated Students
- Students with Disabilities
- Women
Note: Data was also collected for Native American and Indigenous Students, Undocumented Students, and Veterans and Service Members in 2021, but results were not significant enough to report.
What has the data led to?
As important as it is for us to collect this data, it is equally as important for us to act on what we learn from reviewing it. A few key initiatives that have come from the survey results include the following below.
Affinity Community Webpages
The Center for Career Development now features a collection of identity-focused career resources called affinity communities. Affinity communities feature blog posts and events based on topics that surfaced in the survey.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Intern Program
Each year, the Center for Career Development hires a team of interns to focus exclusively on our diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Our interns help manage the affinity community pages, host drop-in hours in the cultural centers, and develop social media content among many other projects.
Finding a Workplace that Aligns with Your Values Modules
A major concern shared by students in the survey was finding a workplace that reflected their values, so we created a self-paced module with tips on how to do so. This module can be completed by students independently or integrated into a class by a faculty member.
Staff Training
To increase staff knowledge about the career concerns brought up by students in the survey, all new staff complete a DE&I-focused training module as part of their onboarding and participate in monthly live DE&I trainings. All new interns and graduate assistants also complete DE&I training during their first week on the job.
Longitudinal Study
When we analyzed the survey data for the first time in 2021, it was so helpful that we decided to make this a longitudinal effort. The Center is committed to running the survey and aiming to collect ~1,500 responses every 3 years moving forward.
This is just a short list of the ways the Center for Career Development has taken the results of the Identity & Career Development Survey into consideration. Please continue to follow our work to see the new and innovative ways we strive to provide equitable and inclusive career services.
