Career Planning Abilities and Career Readiness of College Students

This study focused on the relationship between the students' level of career planning abilities and their career readiness at Dongguan City University. The students' career planning ability was assessed to be of a moderate level. Moreover, their career readiness was determined and was found to be at a moderate level. It was also discovered that there are significant relationships between the students' level of career planning abilities in terms of knowing oneself, knowing the environment, goal setting, action planning, and problem solving and their level of career readiness in terms of communication, teamwork and interpersonal relations, leadership, creativity and problem solving, professionalism and work ethics, global/intercultural perspectives, and career management. The study also documented the problems and challenges participants encountered in their career planning preparation included a lack of self-awareness and clarity in career goals, limited skills in accessing and processing career information, inadequate goal-setting and self-motivation, insufficient action planning for career development, a lack of problem-solving skills, and poor communication and coordination skills. This study concludes that the higher the level of career planning abilities of the students, the higher the level of their career readiness.