How does Social Media influence career decisions? Robert Marzell Otto Pompe

How does Social Media influence career decisions? Robert Marzell Otto Pompe

Content A. Decision pattern B. Parameters C. Influencing factors for decision making D. Conclusion and need for action

The decison for a profession (study programme): Three steps lead to a decision!

Bringing own moral values and goals to mind and evaluate Self-reflection via: Conversations with friends, parents, teachers, advisors and others are in the fore. (Who am I, what can I do, where do I want to go?) Contemplate Result: Temporary direction becomes clear!

After making a temporary decison for a field of study, the informing phase begins. A number of parameters have to be clarified here:

B. Parameters Admission requirements (Graduation, Numerus Clausus, deadlines, regulations in individual federal states) Academic options (Specialisation and divergence) Academic funding (Social origin, funding possibilities)

B. Parameters Choice of location (Mobility, expense factor) Academic success rate Career outlook and job market

C. Influencing factors for decision making Parents Siblings and relatives Friends Career advisors Career advisors at universities Social networks and communities Teacher

Influence of the following persons on academic choice (n = 971) 9

parents 1% 16% 14% 30% 39% very high moderately low not at all no answer 10

siblings and relatives 2% 5% 29% 22% 42% very high moderately low not at all no answer 11

19% friends 2% 7% 29% 43% very high moderately low not at all no answer 12

Career advisors 5% 4% 13% 48% 29% very high moderately low not at all no answer 13

Careers advisors in Germany Career advisors for academic professions of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (Federal Employment Agency) These mainly include cost free guidance offered by the German employment agency. As a rule, each advisor for academic professions supervises between 5-8 schools in their district. They are supported by a psychological service, where respective study aptitude tests can be performed. Private (commercial) advisors Advisors of employer s or employee s federation, Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), Chamber of Handicrafts etc. 14

career advisors at universities 10% 4% 19% 45% 23% very high moderately low not at all no answer 15

Career advisors at universities University and University of Applied Sciences central course guidance. - Free guidance for students about an institution s degree programme, current degree problems, change of the degree, university dropout 16

social networks and communities 5% 1% 10% 32% 52% very high moderately low not at all no answer 17

teacher 4% 2% 16% 46% 33% very high moderately low not at all no answer 18

Influence of following persons on academic choice? (n = 971) teacher social networks and communities careers advisor at universities careers advisor friends siblings and relatives parents 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% very high moderately low not at all no answer 19

Influence of following factors on academic choice (n = 971) 20

Methods of getting informed - University website - information portals - University rankings - Situation of current labour market - Admission restriction - Work placement/internship - Alumni report 21

university website 12% 4% 11% 33% 40% very high moderately low not at all no answer 22

information portals 14% 2% 8% 33% 43% very high moderately low not at all no answer 23

Examples: www.studienwahl.de www.hochschulkompass.de www.derberufsberater.de www.studies-online.de www.studieren-medizin.de etc. www.studieren-in-holland.de etc. www.unispiegel.de And many more. 24

Media use analysis (Survey Dunkhase) Information portal based on their PIs 2008 for people interested in Bachelors: Spiegel-online.de 130,8 Mio., studies-online.de 46,5 Mio., studieren.de 30,5 Mio., Zeit.de/campus 27,6 Mio., karriere.de 17,1 Mio., studienwahl.de 15,5 Mio., einstieg.com 2,4 Mio., studieren in 1,2 Mio. Conclusion (Dunkhase): - The usage of information portals strongly depends on Google-PageRank and the search terms; - Over 50% of the users use at least one out of the 13 most important information portals; - The usage of specialist portals is on the increase. 25

university rankings 4% 6% 35% 25% 30% very high moderately low not at all no answer 26

Example: www.das-ranking.de 27

situation of labour market 28

admission restriction 29

Example: - A lot of degree programmes at German instututes are admission-restricted. There are 5 times more applicants than places for medicine every year. - Sports, art, music or theater also require passing aptitude tests alongside the Abitur - Number of applicants winter semester 2011: Uni Hamburg: 53.314 for 8.473 places at university Uni Münster: 71.509 for ca. 5.000 places at university Important: Easily accessable knowledge about the application process is a prerequisite to successful enrollment. 30

work placement/ internship 4% 14% 25% 29% 29% very high moderately low not at all no answer 31

alumni report 32

Alumni Report So far, few universities use this form of information. Example: University of Osnabrück: http://www.campus-lingen.hs-osnabrueck.de/absolventen_bachelor.html University of Münster: https://www.fh-muenster.de/wirtschaft/alumni/portraet.php 33

Influence on academic choice (n = 971) alumni report work placement/internship admission restrictions situation of labour market university rankings information portals university websites 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% very high moderately low not at all no answer 34

D. Conclusion and need for action University s websites play the most important role in both the process of gathering information and application Improve and standardise structures on university sites. High quality, but manageable information. Texts tailored to students experience and vocabulary.

D. Conclusion and need for action Parents play one of the most important roles in the degree programme choice. Greater integration of parents in the information process through offers and explanation. This should also be taken into account in the design of the hompages and information events. Important criteria for parents: Recognition and value of the final degree, academic financing, career opportunities. Outlook: We assume that parents will become more influential in the time to come, because the entry age in Germany is sinking further because of shorter secondary programmes as well as omission of the military and community service.

D. Conclusion and need for action Application and selective procedures are especially influencial for academic choice. Clearer information, better structured and foreseeable choice criteria for specific degree programmes. More transparency!

D. Conclusion and need for action Social networks and communities still play a subordinate role in the choice of a degree programme (for now). More important for gathering information. Careful: Frequent negative comments toward universities or degree programmes can influence the choice of the degree programme and location of the university!

Summary: Similar to the authors of the HIS-Study, the Edu-Con-Study 2011 also comes to the following evaluation: The internet is not only the most used information source, but from the point of view of academic beginners, it s also the best information source with regard to quality: 84 % of the first year students who used the internet rated it as highly influencial for academic choice. Possibility to search in a targeted, customized way, as well as the enormous variety of online possibilities such as university websites of the universities, information platforms and communication possibilities of social netzworks for higher education contributed to this development significantly. (Willich, Buck, Heine, Sommer, 2011,113)