Mentors Matter: Students Value Advice and Guidance from Faculty and Employers January 31, 2019 By Carol D’Amico, Ed.D. Read Time Center for Educat... Article Advising Career Connection Employers Navigating Education Engagement & ... ... January is National Mentoring Month and students have a message for faculty and employers: Your advice and influence matters. Perhaps more than you realize. Career mentoring is more important than ever in helping learners of all ages and stages navigate pathways between education and employment. Everybody needs the support of a mentor, from young adults entering the workforce to adult learners looking to advance professionally. Having a mentor can mean the difference between seeking more education to jumpstart a new career or settling for an at-risk job soon to be automated. At Strada Education Network, we are examining mentorship, its sources, and the vital role mentors play in the educational choices of consumers. In partnership with Gallup, we have listened to more than 300,000 individuals, from those who have never pursued education beyond high school to those with post-graduate degrees and everyone in between. We have learned that mentorship and career advice are in high demand but short supply. We’ve found that faculty are the predominant source of mentorship among college undergraduates. Nearly two-thirds of recent graduates who had a mentor in college say their mentor was a professor. Faculty mentoring is no longer as straightforward as giving a student advice about what jobs to look for or helping them to polish their resumes. By age 19, many young people are already on their employment pathway, whether they have been purposeful in choosing it or not. They are already working full or part-time, while balancing school, family, financial concerns, and everyday life. Faculty mentors are sought after because of the connection their advice has not only to students’ coursework, but also to their career paths and lives. This has important implications in engaging and integrating faculty as frontline career advisers and coaches – working together with career services to support students. At the same time, career advice from employers is highly valued. This makes sense, as the top motivation in pursuing more education – far exceeding all others — is to advance in a career or profession. More than 80 percent of college students agree that work-based advice from employers and colleagues on the job is helpful, more so than advice from any other source. However, only 20 percent say they have access to work-based advice. The demand for work-based advice is further reflected in the finding that two of the Big Six success factors essential for college students are internships and mentorships. For students today, success in college comes in part from success in work-based learning, along with guidance from mentors. Work-based mentors, along with internships, help build the human and technical skills all learners need as they launch a new career or advance in their current one. Unfortunately, only a quarter of college graduates strongly agree they had a mentor who encouraged them to pursue their goals and dreams. Among recent graduates, nearly three quarters (72%) of white students say that mentor was a professor compared to fewer than half (47%) of their minority peers. The numbers on work-based mentors are similar. Only one in five college students say they received career advice from an employer or work colleague about what to study. While more than half of college graduates have regrets about their education pathways, those who receive advice about their education have significantly fewer regrets. It’s problematic that, when all is said and done, only one-third of graduates say they feel prepared to succeed in the workplace. Mentors play a critical role in bridging the divides between learning and work. Institutions and employers who are already engaged in mentorship programs should be commended for their leadership. We need to share key learnings and scale successful models – which is a significant focus for us at Strada working with partners like the University Innovation Alliance, the Council of Independent Colleges, Jackie Robinson Foundation, Paul Quinn College, Excelencia in Education, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, and others to increase access to mentoring for more students. Many of us have a story about the life-changing advice we received from a valued professor and/or professional mentor. We can transform the education-to-employment trajectory for millions more Americans by listening to what learners are telling us: mentors matter and we need more from faculty and employers. Group 13 Group 11 Group 12 To create a PDF of the webpage, choose in opened window 'Save as PDF' option in 'Destination' select or something like that and click to save or print button. Got it Carol D’Amico, Ed.D. Executive Vice President, Learning & Policy Strada Education Network Learn More In the news from Strada April 8, 2021 Public Viewpoint — Alumni Perspectives: Are Student Loans Worth It? Over the past 15 years, the number of student loan recipients has increased by 51 percent and the debt associated with those loans has more than doubled. More Americans are borrowing more money to go to college Center for Educat... Article Measuring the Val... Pathways with Pur... Career Connection Completion Consumer Voice Navigating Education Value ... February 25, 2021 Public Viewpoint Takeaways: Helping Americans Get Back to Work Expert panelists discuss the value of short-term programs, employer investments, and skills-based hiring Center for Educat... Article Career Connection COVID-19 Employers Equity & Oppo... Navigating Education Nondegree ... May 26, 2020 Pandemic puts education plans in flux as Americans prefer nontraditional sources of continuing education After weeks of uncertainty, precaution, stay-at-home orders, and economic turbulence, Americans are beginning to plan for the next stage of their lives. For many, that means making decisions about whether to pursue education and training. In the eighth week of Strada’s Public Viewpoint survey centered around Americans’ attitudes during the pandemic, we gathered insights about Americans’ plans for their education and training, which groups are most likely to enroll, and who Americans are consulting for advice on their education plans. Center for Educat... Article Adult Learners COVID-19 Navigating Education Nondegree ... May 9, 2019 Intertwining Education and Career Paths Keeps Lifelong Learners Skilled and Employed In partnership with Gallup to interview more than 300,000 Americans between the ages of 18-65 about their expectations and experiences with post-high school education. Center for Educat... Article Career Connection Consumer Voice Value ... February 18, 2019 The Important Role of Minority-Serving Institutions At Strada Education Network®, we’re interested in supporting all students on their education-to-career journey and we are fortunate to have great partners in this work – partners who understand the value of engaging with students wherever they are on that journey and supporting their success. Center for Educat... Article Consumer Voice Employers Equity & Oppo... Value Engagement & ... ... January 31, 2019 Mentors Matter: Students Value Advice and Guidance from Faculty and Employers Career mentoring is more important than ever in helping learners of all ages and stages navigate pathways between education and employment. Everybody needs the support of a mentor, from young adults entering the workforce to adult learners looking to advance professionally. Having a mentor can mean the difference between seeking more education to jumpstart a new career or settling for an at-risk job soon to be automated. Center for Educat... Article Advising Career Connection Employers Navigating Education Engagement & ... ... October 21, 2018 Mentoring Matters This week, recent college graduates affirm a growing body of research: faculty-student relationships matter. At colleges and universities across the nation, professors play an important role as mentors providing both academic and career advice to their students. Center for Educat... Article Advising Career Connection Navigating Education ... September 7, 2018 America’s Employers Place Technical Skills and Work Experience Above College Rankings Important news for all students when it comes to getting a job: what you can do is more important than the ranking of the university you attended. Center for Educat... Article Career Connection Employers ... July 17, 2018 Students Are Consumers. It’s Time to Treat Them That Way. Your opinion matters. Tell us about your shopping experience. No sooner do we pay for coffee or exit an Apple Store, than we are inundated with questionnaires, surveys, or flash polls that solicit our views as consumers. Center for Educat... Article Consumer Voice February 13, 2018 Why Go to College? Student Perspectives on Higher Ed This article by Carol D’Amico originally appeared on RealClear Education. Center for Educat... Article Career Connection Completion Consumer Voice Value ... June 27, 2017 Building On-Ramps to Student Success Postsecondary training is an expensive proposition without a guaranteed payoff. To make matters worse, many students find themselves in the position of making large financial investments and never completing a degree, a near worst-case scenario that often leaves individuals with lots of debt and no credential to earn the wages needed to pay back those borrowed dollars. Center for Educat... Article Consumer Voice Navigating Education ... June 20, 2017 Strengthening CTE Opens More Pathways to Success for Students and Employers This week Congress will vote on a bill to reauthorize federal support for career and technical education (CTE). The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 2353) is a bipartisan effort to elevate these programs in our nation’s schools and community colleges and to better align them with in-demand, skilled jobs. Center for Educat... Article Career Connection Employers Nondegree ... June 9, 2017 Do You Regret Your College Choices? Research from Strada Education and Gallup finds 51% of Americans regret higher education decisions. Center for Educat... Article Advising Consumer Voice Navigating Education Value ... June 2, 2017 Empowering the Consumer Voice to Transform Postsecondary Education Strada Education Network is proud to partner with Gallup, the world leader in consumer insights, to launch the Education Consumer Pulse™. Center for Educat... Article Consumer Voice June 1, 2017 Second Thoughts About Higher Education Decisions "Most former college students say they would change either their major, college attended or credential pursued if they could do it all over again, survey finds." Center for Educat... Article Advising Consumer Voice Navigating Education Value ... June 1, 2017 Survey: Second-guessing Often Accompanies Degrees More than half of adults in the U.S. would change at least one aspect of their higher education experience, according to a new survey from Gallup and the Strada Education Network. Common regrets were choice of institution and major or field of study. Comparatively, relatively few regretted their degree type. Center for Educat... Article Advising Consumer Voice Navigating Education Value ... May 22, 2017 Institutions must think broader when utilizing analytics Forcing institutions into data-based accountability around achievement metrics is difficult due to a variety of factors that can make pushing students through a system difficult. Center for Educat... Article Value May 15, 2017 New data shows low-income students equally likely to thrive These students are just as capable of thriving as those from more affluent households, but institutions and policymakers must also consider that they may need more resources. Center for Educat... Article Equity & Oppo... Engagement & ... ... May 12, 2017 3 key questions to consider in building ‘on-ramps’ to higher ed success A panel of thought leaders at ASU+GSV tackled issues ranging from who's to blame for failure to the rising cost of tuition Center for Educat... Article Navigating Education February 16, 2017 The Intersection of Instruction and Outcomes What is the relationship between college instruction and student outcomes? Center for Educat... Article Navigating Education Engagement & ... ... January 27, 2017 Advancing the Higher Education Innovation Agenda Sixty years ago this October, the Soviet Union’s launch of a tiny satellite called Sputnik shocked the United States out of its complacency over the education levels of its citizens. Our nation responded with an array of innovative new policies and practices to enhance Americans’ skill levels — especially in science, math and engineering — and open the doors of higher education to millions of new students. Center for Educat... Education at Work Inside Track Roadtrip Nation Article Career Connection Consumer Voice Navigating Education ... May 20, 2015 Our Team Center for Educat... Article Completion