What Do University or Graduate Students Need to Make the Cut? A Meta-analysis on Career Intervention Effectiveness

The usefulness of providing career interventions in the transition from university to labour market is more and more advocated, in order to increase young people’s competencies about career management and entrepreneurial skills. The present paper aims at focusing on the effectiveness of career interventions for university or graduate students and on its relationship with some study design and intervention characteristics. A meta-analysis was conducted on studies published between 2000 and 2015 which complied with the following inclusion criteria: university or graduate students as target population, the evaluation of specific career-related interventions or programs, and an experimental or quasiexperimental design. The selection procedure resulted in 9 eligible studies – overall assessing 12 interventions – out of 823 examined articles. The results indicated, on average, a large effect (weighted ES = .80; 95% CI = .54, 1.06) better outcomes from socio-constructivist interventions compared to those based on social cognition theory and person-environment fit model, and higher impact on the reduction of career indecision than on the increase of decision-making self-efficacy. Some recommendations for researchers and policy makers are provided, as well as methodological issues and practical implications for career interventions are discussed.