Cyberspace, the New Frontier

Abstract

The article examines the impact of technology on career services practitioners and administrators, our customers, the educational system, and the society in general. It attempts to identify some of the different paths along which technology is moving, and how these different paths will impact our profession, delivery systems, and the need for training on one hand, and on the other, how we communicate, live, and survive in our ever changing society. Technological advances may not follow what we think should happen, nor can we undo what has already happened, so our focus will be on the future, or what could happen. The authors present a description of some of the uses of technology in career services, like virtual fairs, job posting programs, chat rooms, resume programs, work study employment, and basic career service web sites. They also address concerns regarding who is attempting to provide services to our students, what credentials and/or training those individuals possess, and the purpose of their efforts.

Electronic Mentorship with Mentee Perception

“…In e-mentorship programs, where all the activities are applied online, e-mails (Echavarria, Mitchell, Newsome, Peters & Wentz, 1995), online discussion groups, online texting and conversation (Stevens & Lundberg, 1998), notice boards (Miller & McDaniels, 2001) video conferencing, blogs and wikis (Lipscomb, 2010) are some of the commonly used tools.…”

Virtual Career Fairs: Perspectives from Norwegian Recruiters and Exhibitors

“…Barriers to labour mobility in numerous countries make it more likely that regional, rather than global, career fairs will achieve successful employer branding and recruitment outcomes, especially since the large majority of employers are not global players but often small and medium enterprises located in specific regions of the world. And second, it is likely that the demand for more and more niche-oriented career fairs will increase as employers seek specific talent in highly specialized job markets [24,25]. This suggests that a one-size-fits-all approach is misplaced.…”

“…First, the exhibitors' perspective has already been studied in relation to virtual trade shows and virtual marketing [14], but not to date with regard to virtual fairs. Second, most information on virtual fairs is available via press reports, university websites and various blogs rather than academic journals [24,25]. In practice, the knowledge gap is still pronounced, particularly in terms of the role of recruitment and employer branding as related to virtual fairs.…”

Board 48: Connecting STEM Scholars with Employers Worldwide

“…While VCFs use web-based platforms instead of a face-to-face meeting, platforms allow employers and students to perform similar functions. To replace a face-to-face interview or meeting, employers may meet with students using chat rooms or video conferencing [4]. In addition to performing similar functions, research shows that the two fairs may complement one another.…”

“…In addition to performing similar functions, research shows that the two fairs may complement one another. Both Miller [4] and Leece [1] acknowledge that offering both fairs is a benefit for employers and students.…”