Differentiating career development practices based on students' profiles

The present research has two main objectives. First, to explore the main needs of university students in relation to the issue of future careers: from gathering information on available professional options to the conscious planning of a career path. Second, to verify that the mode of delivery of services offered to students in the area of career guidance is in line with the needs expressed by the students. I took part to two projects DYLMIC and OMNI-BEAST. These projects aim to provide students with tools to help them “BE Aware STudents" (BEAST project) and to plan a career in accordance with their aptitudes. The four concepts of job satisfaction, career awareness, employability and job orientation were explored. The state of the art in Europe was highlighted and it was framed in today's context in which most services are personalized, and also professions require adaptability and responsiveness to change. Within the literature, therefore, a gap has emerged between the world of extreme personalization of services and the orientation pathways that instead are standard, even in view of personalized work. In fact, according to what is said in the literature, there is no such thing as “a student”, but there are several students with different needs and aspirations, so we aimed at understanding what are the profiles of the students. With ethnographic and design research I identified 4 profiles of students, confirmed by a quantitative survey. Finally, in light of what emerged from the results of the research phases and the theoretical framework, it is discussed whether the modes of delivery of career services currently offered are in line with the needs of students.