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© 2022. This work is licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Purpose: Employers place emphasis on graduates’ work experience and interpersonal skills while academia mainly focuses on developing students’ learning ability. One proposed strategy is through career guidance by universities; however, supportive evidence is lacking. This study explored the career readiness of pharmacy students for the Saudi job market. It also examined the availability of career guidance services for pharmacy students and alumni in Saudi Arabia and the impact of such services on recipients’ career path choices and development of competencies.

Subjects and Methods: This cross-sectional study utilized an online-based survey. Pharmacy students in the last three years of their program and recent graduates participated in the survey. The study used descriptive statistics to describe participants’ demographic data. Respondents were asked to rate aspects related to career readiness on a 5-point Likert scale, and their responses were reported as frequencies with percentages or means as appropriate. Comparisons between groups were made using t-test or one- way ANOVA as required.

Results: A total of 576 responses were collected. About 25% of participants acknowledged the career guidance services provided at their pharmacy college, whereas the majority indicated that they have never reached out to a career counselor at their university (89.6%). The highest level of disagreement was noticed in impact of career guidance services on participants’ establishment of their CV/portfolio (50.7%). Using the work readiness scale, the lowest mean was seen in the social intelligence domain (3.64 ± 0.94).

Conclusion: Although substantial proportion of students reported the presence of career guidance services in their university or college, very few stated that they had utilized such services. This could have impacted the students’ career readiness for the rapidly changing Saudi job market. Therefore, proper measures to advertise the availability of career guidance services in Saudi pharmacy schools have to be implemented.

Details

Title
Career Readiness Among Saudi Pharmacy Students: Exploring the Need for and the Impact of Career Counseling Services
Author
Almalki, O S  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Alqarni, T A; Alharthi, R M; Algarni MA  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Mohamed Ibrahim MI  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Asiri YA; Fathelrahman AI  VIAFID ORCID Logo 
Pages
1267-1277
Section
Original Research
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Ltd.
e-ISSN
1179-7258
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2725144866
Copyright
© 2022. This work is licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.