FEBRUARY 19-25, 2007, CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS, HIGHER EDUCATION
Students seeking career counseling to sort options
By SHANNON MORTLAND
smortland@crain.com

Judy Eskin’s daughter Lauren is confused. The Pepper Pike student plans to go away to college next
fall but has no idea what she wants   to major in or the career she wants to pursue. And, if Lauren doesn’t
figure it out after her freshman year, Mrs. Eskin plans to put her in career counseling. “You would hate to spend
$40,000 a year to send a kid to college and three years through, she decides to do something totally
different,” Mrs. Eskin said. “What’s another $500 (for private career counseling) for my kid to figure out
what she wants to do?” Lauren Eskin is like many college-bound students who don’t know what they want
to do upon high school graduation.

As a result, more students are seeking career counseling at an earlier age, or their parents are finding
career counseling for them to avoid paying tuition longer than they have to, said Paul Klein, director of
the Career Services Center at Cleveland State University. “People are starting to think of careers
earlier now,” he said. “It’s pretty overwhelming for high school students.”

However, career counseling can be done too early, cautions Sunny Lurie, founder of Fast Focus Careers,
a career counseling workshop in Cleveland. Though she sees more parents trying to put their teenagers
through career counseling prior to college, she said she often tells them to wait until the student has
a year of college under his or her belt before exploring career options. That was the advice she gave
Lauren and Judy Eskin, who know Dr. Lurie on a personal level. “It makes such practical sense to
get this figured out at 16, 17 or 18, but the reality is they need a couple of years of experience,” Dr.
Lurie said. “Most are just not there yet emotionally.” She said the most popular time for students
to get career counseling is after their freshman year in college so they can see what’s offered at
college and get feedback from other students, she said. Give and take feedback and advice from fellow
students seems to be popular.

Kent State University in January launched a career services web page on the university’s intranet system
that allows students to share their experiences about jobs, internships or exploring careers, said Carla
Owens, assistant director of career services at Kent State. “We find that a lot of students learn more
from their fellow students than from (the career services office),” she said. The web page, which had
7,000 hits in the first week, also includes information such as résumé tips, job fairs and opinion
polls, Ms. Owens said. Cleveland State’s Mr. Klein said students can never be too prepared and they
should at least have an idea of the career direction they want to take early in college. “You have to
make decisions pretty early, or else it’s possible you may lose time,” he said.

Cleveland State is creating a program called “Exciting Careers in the 21st Century,” which it hopes to
launch next October, Mr. Klein said. As part of the program, employers would set up booths on
campus to display their products and projects so students could learn more about that
company or that profession. He said the program would not be a job fair; rather it’s more of an
information session to teach students about the types of careers that are available. He said
many students automatically bypass certain careers because of preconceived notions about
what that job entails. Cleveland State also wants to introduce students to career options
through a career orientation class it hopes to pilot next fall, he said. Though it’s still in
development, he said the class likely would be an Internet-based course that would earn
students one college credit. The university is talking with several local high schools, which he
would not name, to offer the class to a total of 75 to 125 students, Mr. Klein said. Some
local high schools already are taking a step beyond having students meet with their
counselors in an effort to give those students a leg up when they’re considering colleges
and careers. All juniors at Westlake High School must take a semester-long course
in which they explore careers and create a plan for after high school graduation, a
portfolio and résumé, said Dave Titterington, a teacher and chairman of the business
and vocational department at Westlake High School. While the program contains
tried-and-true activities, such as college visits, the school also provides field trips that
focus on certain industries and invites speakers to talk to the students about careers, he said.
“The first step in career development is to understand who they are, what they like, what
they’re good at and what they value,” Mr. Titterington said.