Career Aspirations of Social Work Students from Romania

Career anchors are quite a new concept in career development. Studies have indicated that how youth anticipate and plan for their future career is greatly influenced by the particular context in which they are placed, but most of the research in this area has been conducted with subjects from western cultures. As Romanian senior students face a complex set of uncertainties when starting their professional life, what are the self-perceived attitudes, values, needs and talents that they developed so far and which when developed, shapes and guides potential career choices and directions are important questions of interest. Using COI instrument, this study is an attempt to capture and give meaning to the students’ self-perceived attitudes, values, needs and talents that will shape their future career option. Results show that social work students have as dominant career aspirations service/dedication to a cause, lifestyle and pure challenge. Although the study was carried on a small sample of subjects, the findings add valuable new knowledge that can foster future career development support practices for social work students as well as career counselling and guidance services concerned with promoting individuals’ employability in the current times.

Keywords: students, social work, career aspirations, career anchors