1. Career Management & Work-Life Integration Course Overview and Student Feedback

2. Why this is important
[It] can be just as, if not more devastating than the mid-life crisis. It may be the single most concentrated period during which individuals relentlessly question their future. It is what we call the quarterlife crisis… [it] occurs precisely because there is none of the predictable stability that once existed. After 20 years in a school setting, goals were clear and ways to achieve them mapped out distinctly. But after graduation, the pathways blur… what once was a solid line has now disintegrated into millions of different options.
Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenge of Life in Your Twenties Robbins and Wilner

3. Career Management Program
Protean Career Concepts
Career best managed & success best assessed by individual
Sees career in work / life context
Requires commitment to rigorous self-assessment process
Two critical meta-competencies:
Identity: clear self-concept
Adaptability: Ability to adapt to changing professional and personal circumstances

4. Traditional vs. Protean Career
Issue
Traditional Career
Protean Career
Who’s in charge?
Organization
Person
Core values
Advancement
Freedom and growth
Work-life integration
Degree of mobility
Lower
High
Key attitudes
Commitment to organization
Commitment to profession
Work satisfaction
Work to live not live to work
Success criteria
Position level / title
Salary
Psychological success
Meaningful work

5. Identity: Who am I, what am I good at?
Autobiography (reviewing the past)
Peak Experiences (high points)
Identities Exercise (sub-identities)
Strong Interest Inventory (interests)
Career Values Card Sort (values)
Lifestyle Representation (lifestyle)
Interview with Others (skills)
10 Years Out (personal vision)
Synthesize Self-Assessment

6. Adaptability: Managing career over time
Finding & pursuing the right opportunities
Making good career choices
Advancement vs. Alternative Career Paths
Organizational Career Development Systems
Couples & Family Issues
Flexible Work Arrangements
Careers over the Lifespan
Developing and implementing a career plan

7. I learned a great deal

8. Academically valuable course

9. Instructor Rating

10. I enjoyed learning subject matter

11. Helped my personal development

12. Student comments on course
This course should be part of the MBA core-curriculum
Most useful & interesting course I’ve taken in this program
Amazing course which should be part of the management practices offering
Great class, probably one of the better electives offered
Honestly the only course I didn’t want to end – we could have used even longer to really develop this topic
I really loved this course and felt I got so much out of it
I would highly recommend this class to anyone who is considering marriage and children while pursuing a career
Very enjoyable, an excellent experience

13. Student comments on professor (2008)
Brad is a great speaker, he keeps the class engaged and he knows his subject very well.
Prof. Harrington is a great lecturer. He did a great job explaining the material and keeping the class engaged.
Excellent professor. Great industry experience and academic knowledge. Exceptionally good at engaging the class in discussion.
Great experiential teaching - great job of demonstrating how to apply theory. Made theories practical.
Prof. Harrington brings a blend of real world & academic experience that he intertwines into class. His personality and class structure make the time go by quickly

14. Student comments on professor (2008)
I was told I would be doing myself a disservice graduating from BC’s MBA program without taking Prof. Harrington - would love to take another course with him.
Professor Harrington was the best professor I have had at BC. I did not realize when I signed up for the class, but quickly realized that almost 90% of the students had signed up for the course because of the instructor.
Harrington was a referred professor and not at all disappointing. His enthusiasm for the subject while being in touch with reality of corporate life is a unique mix at Boston College. He is an asset to the Carroll School g Management and the MBA program

15. Follow-up study
Two years after the initial course offering was completed a follow-up study was done to see what lasting impact, if any, the class had on the students who had taken it

16. Can this course help person manage careers/lives more effectively?%

17. Comments from former students
Wonderful to have experience apart from standard curriculum, focused on life, job, family
It’s a great way to look at all aspects of life and think about how a career fits in
We learned great tools – this course really helps you learn about yourself
Hope the class is continuing its success
One of the most rewarding courses in the program
This should be a required course