Career Guidance at University: Design and Evaluation of an Interactive App

Abstract

Career guidance is virtually unknown to university students, and their professors are reluctant to offer this possibility, even though the professional profiles associated with the Degree in Advertising and Public Relations have been transformed by the impact of technology. Accordingly, the aim of this research is to analyse the creation of a visual, interactive application that can channel the skills, competencies, and interests of students toward specific careers, and can tailor their vocational preferences to integrate these into their personal, educational, social and labour development. Based on the Design Based Research (DBR) model, the methodology used includes a survey of the students that focuses on the state of their career orientation, an analysis of the content involving job offers on the specialised portal known as domestika.org, and an examination of the development of a career guidance app, evaluated using focus groups and eye-tracking. A total of 71.90% of the students do not know which career they want to engage in professionally, and 87.72% feel that they have received no guidance. Most of them aspire to work in creative roles, with only a scant preference for the digital marketing profession due to its precariousness, despite the greater number of jobs offered in that field. The app known as GoalPro (https://goalpro.ucmbrandlab.com) gives students the option to receive career guidance autonomously.