Redefining Recruitment: SPS Helps Students Choose Degrees with Purpose
Choosing a degree is one of the most consequential decisions students make, but too often recruitment conversations begin with program lists, application requirements, or checklists rather than with the student themselves.
At the KU School of Professional Studies (SPS), recruitment now starts in a different place: helping students understand who they are, what they do best, and how those strengths connect to meaningful careers. By centering recruitment on career clarity and self-awareness, SPS is helping students make more confident, informed decisions about their academic paths.
Putting Career Goals First
As part of this student-centered approach, SPS recruiters now guide prospective students through structured, strengths-based career conversations early in the recruitment process. These conversations help students identify the work activities that energize them, the environments where they thrive, and the careers that align with those strengths, before selecting a degree program.
Students begin by completing a short assessment that generates a ranked list of their top “Agilities,” clusters of work activities drawn from national labor data across nearly 1,000 occupations. Rather than pointing students toward a single job or major, the results open the door to exploration and possibility.
Students walk away with a personalized map that highlights:
- What they naturally do well
- What energizes and motivates them
- How their strengths appear across real careers
- The education and credentials required to pursue those paths
This gives undergraduate, graduate, and certificate-seeking students a powerful starting point as they consider their next academic step.
“Recruitment should empower students, not overwhelm them,” said Deb Carter, associate director for admissions and enrollment. “Starting with a student’s strengths and career goals leads to better program fit, greater confidence, and a clearer path forward.”
Career Literacy as the Foundation
To support this shift, members of the Professional Studies recruitment team, Carter, Julie Myer, and Megan Borocki, completed specialized training in structured career coaching using a nationally recognized, research-driven framework developed by The DeBruce Foundation. The training equips the recruitment team to guide students through a process of becoming aware of, affirming, and activating their strengths.
Rather than beginning with transcripts or applications, recruitment conversations now start with deeper, student-centered questions:
- Who are you as a learner and future professional?
- What work activities do you naturally excel at?
- What careers align with those strengths?
- What academic pathways can get you there?
“This approach flips the traditional recruitment model,” said Myer. “We’re not asking students to fit into programs. We’re matching programs to students based on their strengths, interests, and long-term goals.”
Supporting Diverse Learners at Every Stage
This strengths-based recruiting approach benefits a wide range of learners, including:
- First-generation undergraduates building academic confidence
- Transfer students realigning their goals
- Military-connected learners translating experience into career language
- Graduate students preparing for advancement
- Returning adults navigating career transitions
With greater self-awareness, students are better positioned to explore careers using labor market data, including job demand, salary expectations, and required credentials. Abstract ideas become actionable plans. Uncertainty becomes direction.
“Students deserve clarity,” said Borocki. “Everything clicks when they see the connection between their strengths, a future career, and the academic program that will help them get there.”
Why This Matters for SPS Students
By integrating structured career coaching into recruitment, the School of Professional Studies is reshaping the student experience and strengthening alignment with KU’s broader advising and student success efforts.
“It gives prospective students greater clarity and confidence,” Carter said. “It supports diverse learners at every stage and creates a clearer path from interests to careers.”
Most importantly, students gain the tools to ask, and answer, a critical question early in their journey: What future am I building, and which academic program will truly help me get there?
