In the following paper, Nicole Joron, the Career Educator and Peer Co-ordinator at York University introduces ‘The Career Lounge’.

I had the pleasure of joining York University’s Career Centre last summer with the exciting task of developing and launching a new career peer-education program.

The program is part of   a collaborative well-being strategy of peer-led stress-buffering programming across Health Education, Learning Skills, Student Financial Services and the Career Centre. The founding principles of the program were well-being, career self-management, peer education and universal design. After exploring a literature review and environmental scan of existing peer models alongside the needs of the department, we embarked on a mission to create our Career Lounge.

The Career Lounge Model

Adapted from The Studio Method at the University of Nevada, the Career Lounge Model has five components: invite, listen, connect, explore and own. Peers use a coaching approach to implement the model and support students and new grads in developing career self-management skills and confidence. “My role involved guiding students through their career questions and empowering them with the resources to navigate their career journeys,” said Zarlasht Jamal, Career Peer Educator and third-year Global Health student.

Career Peer Educators learn the model through a week-long training program with a combination of skill-building, career development content and experiential activities. Peers participate in weekly team meetings throughout the year where they engage in ongoing reflection, discussion and training.

• Invite: Peers welcome students, explain how the Lounge works and invite them to participate, starting with a welcome form.
• Listen: Peers use active-listening techniques to better understand the students’ needs and invite them to set a goal for the session. Peers are encouraged to ask at least three open-ended questions before starting to make connections as the students’ career question may evolve as they share their story.
• Connect: Peers connect students to relevant resources that they can use to build their skills, knowledge and confidence in exploring their career question. Connections are also facilitated between people: peer to peer, peer to student and amongst students.
• Explore: Students explore resources independently, with a peer and/or with other students visiting the Lounge (or a combination thereof). Students exploring similar resources are invited to sit near each other to facilitate co-exploring and making connections. While students are working, peers shares updates so that all peers working that shift know each student by name and what they are working on.
• Own: Peers use coaching conversations to facilitate self-ownership of career decisions throughout the connect and explore stages. As students prepare to leave, peers thank them for spending time with us and invite students to identify one next step they will own for their career journey, to complete a feedback form and to return.

Setting up the Career Lounge

To facilitate the Career Lounge Model, the physical space of the Career Lounge includes multi-format resources (worksheets, books, posters, desktops, iPads), multi-format workspaces (computer stations, round tables, bean bag chairs, a desk), and accents to help create a welcoming environment (coat rack, lamps, plants, pillows, candy bowls). The Lounge atmosphere was created by moving around furniture in an existing front desk space and multi-purposing an advising station. Peers helped to design the Lounge and selected the finishing touches to create an inviting space.

Navigating the Career Lounge Model

What is most unique about the Career Lounge is that it is not a traditional one-on-one appointment, facilitated group session or workshop. It is a new format entirely that I have been calling a “flexible hybrid.”

The Career Lounge Model strives to remove as many barriers as possible; procedures are minimal, and students are involved in co-creating their experience. Visitors have options for how they would like to navigate their time in the Lounge and are invited to make the experience their own. They can choose their preferred type of seating, resource and work style. Furthermore, they can move between options within one visit.

For example, within one visit, a student utilizing the Lounge for resume help may:

• Engage in a one-on-one conversation with a peer
• Explore the resume poster hanging up in the space with another student visiting the Lounge
• Work independently using a resume worksheet (paper or online)
• Work with a partner in the Lounge to compare ideas
• Practice accomplishment statements in a group discussion facilitated by peers
• Work independently to apply what they learned to updating their resume

Throughout, peers rotate around the room to check on students, ask coaching questions, offer encouragement and resources, facilitate conversation amongst visitors and host closing conversations with students as they leave.

Career Lounge pilot results (September 2018 – April 2019)

• Visitors were a mix of undergraduates, graduate students, PhD candidates and recent graduates.
• The number of visitors during a two-to-three-hour shift ranged from one to 18, with two Career Peer Educators.
• 60% of survey respondents were first-time visitors to the Career Centre; they found out about the Lounge from our website or word of mouth (staff, faculty, friend).
• While most visitors stayed for 15-30 minutes, visits ranged from five minutes to three hours
• 90% of survey respondents found the Career Lounge staff and space welcoming, felt that they were referred to appropriate resources and would recommend a friend to visit.
• Career Peer Educators reported building skills in coaching, assertiveness, reflection and career development.

Career Lounge challenges and benefits

The biggest challenge with the Career Lounge has been managing expectations and orienting visitors to the new Career Lounge Model. Peers also struggled at times to feel that they were providing enough support to each student without maintaining one-on-one contact. Secondly, the Career Lounge requires access to resources in the form of dedicated space, materials and staff (ideally two or more peers per shift).

The largest benefit of the Career Lounge was successfully reaching more students, and a new group of students who were not previously accessing the Career Centre. While many new services take time to grow, students were waiting for us to open on day one and keep coming back. The Career Lounge Model also advances just-in time, individualized service provision, shifts service delivery to peers as first point of contact and positively contributes to well-being outcomes.

John Krumboltz’s planned happenstance theory makes it OK to not always plan, because unplanned events could lead to good careers.

John Krumboltz is an established career theorist. He most recently developed ideas about supporting indecision in clients. He states that indecision is desirable and sensible, as it allows the opportunity for clients to benefit from unplanned events. This theory is called planned happenstance. 

This emerging theory specifically addresses the need for people to deal with change within the rapidly changing labour market. Managing life transitions is seen as an essential career management skill. Krumboltz’s theory offers insight on how to deal with the limited degree of control we have over some career experiences.

At the core of this theory is the fact that unpredictable social factors, chance events and environmental factors are important influences on clients’ lives. As such, the counsellor’s role is to help clients approach chance conditions and events positively. In particular, counsellors foster in their clients:

• curiosity to explore learning opportunities
• persistence to deal with obstacles
• flexibility to address a variety of circumstances and events
• optimism to maximise benefits from unplanned events.

Krumboltz states that people with these qualities are more likely to capitalise on chance events and turn serendipity into opportunity.

Furthermore, several factors have been highlighted as being helpful in career management, including:

• the commitment to ongoing learning and skill development
• ongoing self-assessment
• assessment and feedback from others
• effective networking
• achieving work-life balance
• financial planning to incorporate periods of unemployment.

These attributes and tasks enable you to turn chance encounters and occurrences into career opportunities.

Sources

• The Calgary Board of Education, (www.cbe.ab.ca/).
• Toews, M, ‘Planned Happenstance – Krumboltz: An Emerging Theory’, accessed December 2008, (www.cbe.ab.ca).
• The University of Hawai’i System, (www.hawaii.edu).

Frank Parsons developed the idea of matching careers to talents, skills and personality.

People perform best when they are in jobs best suited to their abilities

Frank Parsons is regarded as the founder of the vocational guidance movement. He developed the talent-matching approach, which was later developed into the Trait and Factor Theory of Occupational Choice. At the centre of Parsons’ theory is the concept of matching. 

Parsons states that occupational decision making occurs when people have achieved:

• an accurate understanding of their individual traits (aptitudes, interests, personal abilities)
• a knowledge of jobs and the labour market
• rational and objective judgement about the relationship between their individual traits, and the labour market.

This three-part theory still governs most current practice.

The trait and factor theory operates under the premise that it is possible to measure both individual talents and the attributes required in particular jobs. It also assumes that people may be matched to an occupation that’s a good fit. Parsons suggests that when individuals are in jobs best suited to their abilities they perform best and their productivity is highest.

In his book, ‘Choosing a Vocation’, Parsons maintains that personal counsel is fundamental to the career search. In particular, he notes seven stages for a career counsellor to work through with clients:

1. Personal data: create a statement of key facts about the person, remembering to include every fact that has bearing on the vocational problem.
2. Self-analysis: a self-examination is done in private and under the instruction of the counsellor. Every tendency and interest that might impact on the choice of a life work should be recorded.
3. The client’s own choice and decision: this may show itself in the first two stages. The counsellor must bear in mind that the choice of vocation should be made by the client, with the counsellor acting as guide.
4. Counsellor’s analysis: the counsellor tests the client’s decision to see if it is in line with the “main quest”.
5. Outlook on the vocational field: the counsellor should be familiar with industrial knowledge such as lists and classifications of industries and vocations, in addition to locations of training and apprenticeships.
6. Induction and advice: a broad-minded attitude coupled with logical and clear reasoning are critical at this stage.
7. General helpfulness: the counsellor helps the client to fit into the chosen work, and to reflect on the decision.

Much of Parsons’ work still guides career counselling today, though it is not without criticism. Matching assumes a degree of stability within the labour market. However, the reality is that the market’s volatility means individuals must be prepared to change and adapt to their circumstances.

Sources

• National Guidance Research Forum, ‘Guidance Practice – Matching Theories (Trait/Factor)’, accessed December 2008, (www.guidance-research.org).
• Parsons, F, ‘Choosing a Vocation’, accessed December 2008, (www.leonardoevangelista.it).

Watching what others do and the human thought process influences the careers we choose in Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory.

Summary

Albert Bandura is well regarded for his Social Cognitive Theory. It is a learning theory based on the ideas that people learn by watching what others do, and that human thought processes are central to understanding personality. This theory provides a framework for understanding, predicting and changing human behaviour. 

Attention

You need to pay attention to learn something new. The more striking or different something is (due to colour or drama, for example) the more likely it is to gain our attention. Likewise, if we regard something as prestigious, attractive or like ourselves, we will take more notice. 

Retention

You must be able to retain (remember) what you have paid attention to. Imagery and language pay a role in retention: you store what you have seen the model doing in the form of verbal descriptions or mental images, and bring these triggers up later to help you reproduce the model with your own behaviour.

Reproduction

At this point you have to translate the images or descriptions into actual behaviour. You must have the ability to reproduce the behaviour in the first place. For instance, if you are watching Olympic ice skating you may not be able to reproduce their jumps if you can’t ice skate at all! Our abilities improve even when we just imagine ourselves performing.

Motivation

Unless you are motivated, or have a reason, you will not try to imitate the model. Bandura states a number of motives, including:

• past reinforcement
• promised reinforcement
• vicarious reinforcement.

Albert Bandura has had a large impact on personality theory and therapy. His action-oriented, problem-solving approach appeals to those who want to make changes, rather than simply philosophise.

Sources

• Boeree, Dr George C, Shippensburg University, ‘Personality Theories: Albert Bandura’, accessed August 2015, (www.ship.edu).
• York University, Canada, ‘Theories used in IS Research: Social Cognitive Theory’, accessed December 2008, (www.istheory.yorku.ca).

Careers are determined by an interaction between our personality and the environment in John Holland’s Theory of Career Choice. We want jobs with people like us.

John Holland’s Theory of Career Choice (RIASEC) maintains that in choosing a career, people prefer jobs where they can be around others who are like them. They search for environments that will let them use their skills and abilities, and express their attitudes and values, while taking on enjoyable problems and roles. Behaviour is determined by an interaction between personality and environment. 

Holland’s theory is centred on the notion that most people fit into one of six personality types:

• Realistic
• Investigative
• Artistic
• Social
• Enterprising
• Conventional.

Realistic

Investigative

Artistic

Social

Enterprising

Conventional

Holland asserts that people of the same personality type working together in a job create an environment that fits and rewards their type.

Within this theory there are six basic types of work environment, which correlate directly to the personality types. Holland emphasises that people who choose to work in an environment similar to their personality type are more likely to be successful and satisfied. This idea is important as it shows Holland’s theory can be flexible, incorporating combination types.

Holland’s theory takes a problem-solving and cognitive approach to career planning. His model has been very influential in career counselling. It has been employed through popular assessment tools such as the Self-Directed Search, Vocational Preference Inventory and the Strong Interest Inventory.

You can explore Holland’s model below. Click on each personality type to read more about it.

• Download a copy of Holland’s model (PDF – 188KB) (Word – 191KB)

There is much research to support Holland’s typology. However it is not without criticism, the most common being the prevalence of females to score in three personality types (artistic, social and conventional). According to Holland this is because society channels women into female-dominated occupations.

Sources

• Jones, L, ‘The Career Key’, accessed December 2008, (www.careerkey.org).
• ‘Big Picture View of Career Development Theory’, accessed December 2008, (www.ccdf.ca).
• Savickas, M, and Lent, R, ‘Convergence in Career Development Theories’, Palo Alto, California, USA: Consulting Psychologists Press Inc.

There are numerous career theories and models, and no single one is sufficient to describe the broad field of career development.

Career theories typically fall into one of three categories which, while not mutually exclusive, can be a useful form of classification:

Theory of process

Theories of process relate to interaction and change over time. This can be characterised by theories in which there are a series of stages through which people pass.

Theory of content

Theories of content relate to the characteristics of the individual and the context they live in. The influences on career development are thought to be either intrinsic to the individual or originate from the context in which the individual lives.

Theory of content and process

Theories of content and process have been formed in response to a need for theory to take into account both of these key areas. These theories encompass both the characteristics of individuals and their context, and the development and interaction between them.

This timeline shows how career theories have evolved over time.

Early 1900s

Theory: Person-environment fit, trait factor

Names: Parsons, Williamson, Holland

Vocational guidance is accomplished first by studying the individual, then by surveying occupations, and finally by matching the individual with the occupation.

Late 1950s

Theory: Developmental

Names: Ginzberg & Associates, Tiedman, Super, Gottfredson, Roe

Career development is a process that takes place over the life span. Career development activities should be designed to meet the needs of individuals at all stages of life.

1960s

Theory: Client-centred

Name: Rogers

Career development is focused on the nature of the relationship between the helper and client. It encompasses the core conditions of unconditional positive regards, genuineness, congruence and empathy.

Late 1970s

Theory: Social learning

Name: Krumboltz

The individual’s unique learning experiences over their lifespan develop primary influences that lead to career choice. 

1980s

Theory: Post-modern

Name: Kelly, Cochran, Jepsen

Truth is discovered subjectively through dialogue rather than through objective testing. This approach emphasises the individual’s experience and decision making through exploring personal constructs and the client’s narrative about their life.

1990s

Theory: Neuro-linguistic programming

Names: Richard Bandler, John Grinder

A way of coding thinking, language and behaviour based on the principle that changing the way one thinks can change behaviour.

1990s

Theory: Happenstance

Name: John Krumboltz

Chance events play a role in every career. The goal for clients is to generate beneficial chance events and have the ability to take advantage of them.

1990s

Theory: Narrative therapy

Names: Michael White and David Epston, Gregory Bateson
Clients are encouraged to separate themselves from their problems (ie, the problem becomes external). The client makes sense of their experiences by using stories.

2000s

Theory: Coaching

A model of practice. All parts of the client’s life are taken into account through regular sessions.

Being unemployed tends to be bad for your mental health.

We know this from long-term studies which show that people’s mental health often deteriorates when they become unemployed and can improve when they get a new job. It can be a vicious circle, since people with mental health difficulties can also struggle to get hired.

When you don’t have a job, it tends to reduce your access to things that nourish mental well-being: a sense of identity, a sense of purpose, structure to the day, contact with other people and opportunities to use skills. Not to mention money, which is a big source of anxiety if you don’t have a decent supply coming in.

Young people are particularly at risk here, since they tend to be among the hardest hit when the labour market takes a dive. Indeed, it’s hard enough for them to find work when the employment market is buoyant. And this group have more than their fair share of other threats to their mental well-being. They have to deal with the worst of social media, early heartbreaks and combustible friendships. Many will be experimenting with drink and drugs, getting into conflicts with their parents and struggling to have enough money to stand on their own two feet.

In the UK, for example, around one in six people aged 17-19 have some kind of mental health condition, and the incidence among young people more generally has been steadily climbing. In the US, the suicide rate among 18- to 19-year-olds is up 56% in a decade.

Living with the scars

While many big categories of illness, such as cancers or heart problems, tend to present in mid to late adulthood, mental health conditions often appear when people are teenagers or in their early 20s. In many cases, they recur, and the consequences can multiply over someone’s lifetime.

Though most young people experience only passing phases of unemployment, for those who experience longer periods, there is emerging evidence that it can lead to what has been described as “scarring”. They are more likely to struggle to hold down jobs throughout their lives, for instance, and to earn less. There is also recent evidence from Sweden and the US of health effects well into mid-adulthood. From a broader perspective, this is a serious problem for the economy. It means lost productivity, lower tax revenues, and higher sickness-related benefits and medical/social care costs.

If this makes it obvious that we should do whatever we can to minimise youth unemployment, it’s easier said than done. This is a complicated problem that doesn’t lend itself to quick fixes. Yet one area that deserves much more attention is career guidance. People can sometimes be sceptical about its value, based on vague recollections of adolescent conversations with a career adviser that didn’t seem to make much difference to them.

Yet we mustn’t let this blind us to the potential. Like any kind of one-to-one help, career guidance provides a safe space to share worries and concerns. It helps people to review and recognise their strengths, injects hope by giving them a sense of their possible study and work options, and motivates and equips them to take action. Career guidance can help you figure out who you are, what your goals are, and how to get there – and this kind of clarity can act as a buffer against stress and uncertainty.

Above all, career guidance can prevent unemployment. It enables people to access life opportunities in work and education, and opens up all the benefits of participation. Some government initiatives put pressure on unemployed people to take the first available job, irrespective of its quality or relevance to their lives. But career guidance is about long-term planning based on what motivates an individual. Done well, it sets people on a path that can sustain them in the long term.

Room for improvement

The quality of career guidance varies considerably from country to country. Yet a recent OECD study found common problems around the world, including insufficient resources, inadequately prepared staff, and poorer services for students from disadvantaged areas. The study pointed to a number of problems in England, with students demanding “more and better” advice, while concluding that the service in Scotland was “well developed and comprehensive”.

Across the board, there’s much room for improvement. We need to recognise the role that career guidance can play as a public health intervention. It can potentially reach all young people through the school system, and has good access to the most vulnerable groups. It might help build resilience if combined with teaching young people important life skills, such as career management and stress management.

Career guidance may feel far removed from health, but we need to understand that illness has socioeconomic causes, and at least to some extent, socioeconomic remedies. I find that professionals in this field are slowly waking up to the mental health needs of their client base, but this has yet to filter through to many of those in charge of policy. They need to get the message that properly resourced and consistently delivered career services have the power to improve our mental health – both now and for years into the future.

The following article is by Christopher Mesaros

The best prognosticators of our time are struggling to predict career trends ten years from now, let alone offer concrete visions of the workforce when all of Gen Z comes of age.

The most helpful guesses point to freelance workers and positions that do not yet exist, which offers little clarity. It should not be surprising that college students could feel anxiety about having to define their professional identity for the rest of their lives as they are being told they could routinely live to age 120.

Chaos Theory of Careers (CTC; Bright & Prior, 2012) is a different approach to helping clients construct their identity and map out a potential path. Rather than insist that the world looks like the linear, trait-and-factor world of post-WWII America, CTC expects uncertainty. It is a better match for the reality that the students of today will face when they make their transitions. But how can future career counselors prepare clients for such a world? Prominent proponents of CTC recommend that counselors apply the following: Read more

If you currently deliver apprenticeship training as a trainer/assessor, your role is likely to be going through considerable change – writes Chris Cherry, Senior Associate, Strategic Development Network (SDN)

In the new world of apprenticeship standards, trainer / assessors need to:

• Design and conduct the training differently
• Integrate new assessment methods
• integrate the concept of grading within the training, and
• Prepare apprentices to meet the gateway and undertake end-point assessment.

This change is a huge amount to process for trainer / assessors.

So, to help, we’ve set out 15 quick questions to ask yourself to test whether you’re ‘standards ready’

15 quick check questions before embarking on the new trainer / assessor role Read more

Mental health has become a crucial consideration for career development professionals, whether examining how it relates to their clients’ career development or their own well-being. Following are links to the slides from several presentations at CERIC’s 2019 Cannexus conference that examined the topic from various angles.

CERIC is a charitable organization that advances education and research in career counselling and career development, in order to increase the economic and social well-being of Canadians.

Linking Improved Career Development & Mental Health Together – Clarence DeSchiffart

In reviewing mental health and career development concepts, it appears the principles are striving for the same outcome – helping someone to a better and happier life. This session offered a detailed examination and comparison of specific core mental health and career development principles. Read more