An Experientially-Mediated Career Development Group Increases Core Competencies and Career Readiness in University Students

University students (n = 26; M = 24.7 years) attended an experientially-mediated career development intervention in small groups. Programming was psychoeducational and process-oriented (i.e., presentation of career-related information, individual career-related assessment and interpretation, hands-on learning activities). Twice during the intervention, attendees completed measures of career-related dysfunctional thinking, hope, and self-awareness. The control group who did not attend the intervention (n = 22; M = 22.3 years) twice completed the same measures approximately six weeks apart. Analyses of pre- to post-scores indicated that more attendees reported increased hope-action competency for career self-management, increased career-related self-awareness, and less career confusion relative to the control group (p’s < .05). Our findings underscore the value of EL as a career development tool as well as the cost-effectiveness of providing a limited number of small group career sessions. Moreover, our findings help validate our conceptual model of how experiential learning (EL) can support undergraduate students to develop the core competencies necessary for workplace success (Bowering et al., 2020).