Abstract:

Preparing students for the current dynamic world of work and its complex requirements is a hot task for higher education. This paper focuses on forming Career Management Skills under the subject called “Developing Managerial Potential” for students in the Honors Academia Program at University of Economics, Prague. Honors Academia is an above-standard educational and training program held by the Faculty of Business Administration, UEP, Prague. It is designed for students who are interested in further development of their skills and knowledge and who study for a Master’s degree.
“Developing Managerial Potential” for HA students is a subject teaching them new skills and knowledge aiming at purposeful coping with professional career and preparation for future managerial work. It also focuses on forming their active approaches towards their education and future career and assuming responsibility for it. The subject is based on the concept of career development seen as a lifelong process aimed at cultivating the individual’s work. Besides teaching new knowledge, the subject includes parts focused on developing career management skills such as self-awareness (e.g. better understanding of oneself in career-related terms), opportunity awareness (awareness of what employers look for, enhanced ability to articulate career plans and evaluate own personal priorities), decision making (e.g. identify the steps necessary for reaching future career goals) and transition skills (e.g. networking skills as a tool for finding job opportunities, self-coaching for making decisions, balancing work and life). Developing career management skills is facilitated via different tools:
1) Students can participate in a half day development centre, which is a combination of model situations and psychometric testing (namely Golden Profiler of Personality),
2) On the basis of feedback received from the developing centre they formulate their personal development plans, including their professional, study and personal goals,
3) They become familiar with coaching and tools for self-coaching through workshops
4) They attend a model coaching session with career coaches and peer coaching (i.e. an individual training focused on elementary coaching skills in groups of three).

This paper summarizes the experience hitherto using these tools and HA students’ reactions. On the basis of their analysis it presents recommendations for developing career management skills during higher education through coaching and other methods.

Keywords:

University students, career management skills, coaching, personal development plans.