Bridging Research and Practice in Career Education: The Role of Ankara University Career Planning and Human Resources Application and Research Center (KARMER) and the “Adaptation to Professional Life” Course

Abstract

Context: Ankara University Career Planning and Human Resources Application and Research Center (KARMER) has the advantages of functioning both as a research center and a career services office within a Higher Education Institution, which allows it to directly facilitate the transfer from research to practice in the career development field. KARMER aims to contribute to the theoretical and practical fields while offering support to the students and graduates of our university through their transition to work life. KARMER’s core services include: Individual Career Counseling personalized guidance to improve workforce skills and job placement. Consulting and Training Services support for private employment agencies and job seekers on CVs, interviews, labor market trends, and soft skills. Scientific Research and Academic Activities conferences and events to promote career development knowledge and collaboration.

KARMER collaborates with universities, public/private employers, and is regulated by Turkiye Presidential Human Resources Office (CBİKO). It partners with The Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR) to provide career counseling and group training, coordinating through faculty Career Coordinators and instructors.

Approach: In line with its mission, KARMER developed the online course “Adaptation to Professional Life” for third-year university students to boost their career readiness by helping them identify skills, values, and providing practical career planning tools. The course uses digital resources like videos, e-books, İŞKUR media, and labor market platforms such as Talent Gate[1], with over 10,000 students expected to participate. This article discusses the course design and implementation process, institutional collaborations, and plans for future quantitative evaluation of its impact on students’ self-awareness and career planning skills. The course development involved collaboration among CBİKO, İŞKUR, faculty, and instructors, building on existing digital career education materials and incorporating feedback from İŞKUR and academic staff to tailor content to diverse student needs. The program is designed to help students increase their self-awareness about their interests, skills, personality traits, and career values, allowing them to be able to make well-informed career choices in the future. It highlights career planning as a vital lifelong process, encouraging students to set both short-term and long-term career goals and create practical plans to achieve them. Students will learn about the advantages of participating in national and international exchange programs for personal and professional growth. Additionally, the program focuses on developing key employment skills, including crafting effective CVs and excelling in job interviews. It also underscores the importance of internships for career exploration and job opportunities, as well as the value of engaging in extracurricular activities to enhance their overall university experience.

Findings: In order to systematically evaluate the course’s impact on students’ self-awareness and career planning skills, quantitative assessments will be conducted using entrance and exit surveys. Student demographics to be collected via survey include: Age, Gender, Use of KARMER services, Course Related Expectations and Course Related Suggestions. The Career Decision-Making Self Efficacy Scale (CDSS) (Ulaş & Yıldırım, 2016), is also utilized as basis for a 30-item questionnaire focusing on students’ career competencies in the areas of Job/Vocational Information, Self-Recognition, Career Preference, Ways to Create a Career Plan, Following Occupational Updates. The structure of the aforementioned scale is based on Crites’ (1978, 1969) Career Maturity Model and aims to adapt this model to the Turkish context. The data to be collected from the pre- and post-application surveys will be utilized in future years as part of a longitudinal study to assess the career needs and development of our students throughout their academic journey.

Conclusions: As part of our trajectory, we seek to continue and expand collaboration with academic units, administrative departments, and industry partners to strengthen the course’s impact and sustainability. We will keep working towards building stronger relationships with internal stakeholders (faculty, advisors, management) and external stakeholders (employers, non-governmental organizations, alumni) to keep the course aligned with changing career trends and expectations. In addition to helping meet these objectives, the course “Adaptation to Professional Life” helps us gather and analyze annual student feedback to assess course effectiveness, identify improvements, and guide data-driven updates that meet student and educational needs. At this early stage, the Adaptation to Professional Life course offers a compact tool for educators and Career Guidance Services providers with elements of both research and application by evaluating students’ needs and competencies as well as providing the necessary tools to develop those while also connecting students to a wider ecosystem of employers and academia.