Professional Career Development of University Students: Current Approaches

Abstract

Many factors are effective in the process of choosing the department that students study. Today, digital technologies are used effectively in the field of education, and the importance of digital technologies in the career choices of students is very high, because many professions for human needs have emerged with digital technologies. Some of these professions can be counted as artificial intelligence specialist, digital literacy, technology designer, digital game development, social media specialist. Digital technologies have affected the career choice and career development of university students. The aim of this research is to contribute to the field regarding the professional career development of university students. Qualitative research methods provide flexibility to the researcher in the conduct and design of their research. In the research, the data were analyzed with the content analysis technique. The participants of the research were students studying at a private university in the 2022-2023 academic year. In order to determine the professional career development of university students, a total of 40 participants, 25 female and 15 male, were included. These participants are people who benefit from digital technologies in their career development processes. When the reasons for choosing the departments of the participants are examined, it is seen that it is important whether it is suitable for them in the process of choosing a profession. In addition, the students participating in the study stated that their future careers are important in their career choices and that they are studying in the department they dream of. The majority of the participants stated that they were satisfied with the department they read and that they did not experience any anxiety about their departments. In addition, it was concluded that the participants had problems in their educational goals due to financial inadequacy. The participants who are not satisfied with the quality of the education and who oppose the view that the education provided is sufficient are worried that they will experience problems as regards their goals.