Effective Career Services Practices: The Case of Canadian Business Schools

Abstract

Perceived quality of a business school education is closely tied to student satisfaction with Career Services throughout the course of study. This is true for two reasons. First, students seek assurance that their educational investment will result in a secure future. Second, students often use business school ranks published in high profile magazines and newspapers such as Canadian Business, U.S. News and World Report and Financial Times. A significant percentage of the weight in business school ranks depends upon student and recruiter perceptions of the school’s career centre (CC). In this key informant study, practices used by Canadian business school CCs are reported and presented in the context of theory of best practices and studies of CCs in the US among top performing schools.  We find that despite their relative inexperience, rapidly increasing demands, and limited resources, that practices used by Canadian business school CCs are in line with the most successful CCs in the US and consistent with theory of effective practices. Structured telephone interviews were conducted with fourteen directors of CCs in Canadian business schools. Through an analysis of the interview text, five essential themes of the career centre practices emerged.