A Five-Module Course for College Student Career Wellness

Entering the workforce can be a daunting experience for recent college graduates. A May 2024 Student Voice survey by Inside Higher Ed and Generation Lab found 68.9 percent of current students are at least somewhat stressed when they think about and prepare for their life after graduation.

Working in a career that resonates with their interests is also a goal for students: Two-thirds of young people globally say they want their job to be meaningful and make them happier than they were last year. Of respondents’ top three work ambitions, young people in the U.S. identified financial stability (65 percent) and achieving work-life balance (52 percent) as priorities.

To help students engage in career wellness, a group of students from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona—supported by advisers from Cal Poly Pomona—created Tune In to Strive Out, which encourages students to channel their inner potential for future success and collective well-being.

The program, housed at the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT) at Madison, includes student resources and facilitator training. The initiative launched in spring 2022 and has supported over 150 students to date.

How it works: The Tune in to Strive Out Career Wellness Program guides students through practices that build their self-efficacy and understanding of their wellness. The goal is to bridge theory and practice in ways that are applicable and flexible to various circumstances students may be in.

The intervention can be offered as a stand-alone program or integrated into existing courses.

Tune in to Strive Out includes five modules, rooted in the radical healing framework, which focus on students’ development of values, career goals, resiliency and senses of hope and community. The program includes a supplemental tool kit of resources for students to explore as well.

“The program addresses unique challenges individuals face by emphasizing the importance of community and cultural strengths in healing and strategies to foster radical hope to persist in the face of barriers,” said Mindi Thompson, executive director of CCWT.

To guide practitioners on delivering the intervention, the center provides a three-hour facilitator training, which costs $30 per person and fulfills continuing education hours for National Career Development Association credentials.

Once training is completed, a facilitator receives access to a portal containing the detailed facilitation manual, a student workbook and presentation slides.

The impact: Seventeen students from three different postsecondary institutions participated in a pilot study, which has since been scaled to involve more than 150 student participants and 90 professionals who completed the facilitator training to deliver the program.

In the future, CCWT hopes to further scale and reach practitioners with the resources so they can better support student success.

Do you have a career-focused intervention that might help others promote student success? Tell us about it.