Date of Graduation

5-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Adult and Lifelong Learning (EdD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Counseling, Leadership, and Research Methods

Advisor/Mentor

Grover, Kenda S.

Committee Member

Roessger, Kevin M.

Second Committee Member

Maddox, James F.

Keywords

Career coaching; intercultural competence; college education; career readiness; career satisfaction

Abstract

As the cost of a college education continues to increase dramatically, both policymakers and the general public have begun to question the return on investment in higher education. In response, post-secondary institutions have substantially invested in their career development offices in an effort to improve graduate career outcomes. Among the most widespread of the career services offered to college students is career coaching, which the literature supports as having a substantial impact on increasing starting salaries and job offers for new college graduates. Despite being more likely than their peers to utilize their institution’s career development offices, college graduates belonging to historically marginalized groups have lower starting salaries and fewer job offers at graduation than their non-marginalized counterparts, in addition to reporting lower levels of career readiness and career satisfaction. Empirical evidence in the fields of career counseling and education demonstrates that people from historically marginalized groups benefit substantially from career counselors and educators who are interculturally competent. Although career coaching is closely related to and shares many professional competencies with these fields, no research to date has been conducted to determine the impact of intercultural competence on the career coaching experiences of diverse students. This qualitative case study seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the ways that college students from historically marginalized groups perceive the effectiveness of their post-secondary career coaching experiences and the extent to which career coaches’ demonstrated levels of intercultural competence may influence those perceptions.

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