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Johannes KatsarovNicosia, December 11, 2015
Innovation in Career Counselling
Something to think about…
A couple of quotes, which I have heard in the past years:
“Career counselling only deals with role‐based problems of people – not existential problems, which concern the full person. It is always possible for people to opt out of career problems.”
(university professor)
“Unhappy clients don’t suffer from bad counselling – at least not much more than from a bad haircut.”
(career counsellor)
“Career counsellors aren’t necessary – all that’s needed is to bring children and employers together.”
(high‐ranking official)
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Something to think about…
Do these people seriously believe…
� That it is not an existential problem to deal with unemployment, or to have a job, which makes you depressive? Can people really just “opt out” of their career problems, e.g. by quitting their job?
� That the possible consequences of bad advice in career questions won’t cause any serious damage – for example having chosen the wrong field of studies, or not having studied at all?
� That the average employer is the right person to help a young person make initial career decisions, which will have an impact on the rest of their lives?
Unfortunately, they do…
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A question of responsibility
We all believe that people are generally responsible for their own decisions… � This belief in individuals’ autonomy and responsibility is central for an open,
democratic society, where people have the right to determine their own path of life (while respecting the rights of others)
However: � How can people be held accountable for their decisions, if they lack relevant
information and education, or – even worse – if they make their decisions based on false information and stereotypes?
� Don’t we need professionals and institutions who make sure that citizens reflect and learn about these questions?
� Isn’t career support needed at a time when people can still avoid some mistakes, which they might regret some day in the future?
� When people face a deep crisis in their career, e.g. long‐term unemployment due to structural problems… don’t we need people who help to motivatethem, to open up new perspectives, to engage in learning and change and re‐build their careers?
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A question of responsibility
� In our current day and age,� Considering the individual autonomy and freedom of citizens,� and the complexity of the world of work, educational and
vocational decisions, and career development…
A responsible society needs to organise career guidance and counselling for all citizens
� Indiscriminate of their age, ethnicity, religion, gender… � These career services need to be accessible for the relevant
target groups (including people with low incomes)� And their quality needs to be assured
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Three levels of responsibility for career counselling 6
CounsellorsClients/Citizens
Client Interaction
Organisational Context
Societal Context
Solution
Clarification
Relationship
Career services need to be organised well: ‐ Infrastructure‐ Employees
‐ Access to informationetc.
Professionals careercounsellors need to be able to:‐ Help clients identify their
problems and solutions‐ Work with relevant
knowledge etc.
Regulation and institutions are needed to secure:
‐ (Co‐)funding of services‐ Quality of services
‐ Qualification of career counsellors etc.
Graph: Systemic Context Model by Christiane Schiersmann (2013)
Why do we need innovation in career counselling? 7
1. Because the world keeps posing new challenges.Yesterday’s answers won’t solve all of tomorrow’s problems.
2. Because there will always be ways to improve our services and secure their quality.
New media for career education
Improved counselling techniques
Integration of refugees Computerization of labourCoping with structural unemployment
Refined assessment and evaluationapproaches
Three levels of innovation in career counselling 8
CounsellorClient/Citizen
Client Interaction
Organizational Context
Societal Context
Solution
Clarification
Relationship
Innovation of career counselling organisations
Innovation in the work with clients: approaches, tools,
techniques…
Innovation of relevant regulations,
institutions + cultural norms
Graph: Systemic Context Model by Christiane Schiersmann (2013)
Some examples for innovative approaches
Innovation in client interaction (career counselling) 10
Career Counselling
Career Education
Social Systems Interventions
Career Service
Management
Career Assessment & Information
CGC
Group career counselling
Partially, the mutual support of people facing the same situation and the readiness to speak and think about career
challenges grows significantly.
Solution‐centred counselling
Focusing on strengths, helping people to
mobilise their resources and setting small,
achievable goals are aspects of this approach.
Innovation in client interaction (assessment & information) 11
Career Counselling
Career Education
Social Systems Interventions
Career Service
Management
Career Assessment & Information
CGC
Cooperation with employers
Representatives of vocations can provide up‐
to‐date information about the vocational training and careers, which they offer. They can also offer visits, internships and
presentations at the career counselling
centres.
Competence validation
With tools like the French ‘bilan de
competence’ or the German ‘ProfilPass’, you help people to assess
their own strengths and motivations systematically
Innovation in client interaction (career education) 12
Career Counselling
Career Education
Social Systems Interventions
Career Service
Management
Career Assessment & Information
CGC
Career management competences
Training people to think ahead about their careers, inform
themselves about different options, and make smart decisions
Positive psychology
E.g. fostering and strengthening hope, resilience and other positive
attitudes to learning, career development and dealing with change
Innovation in client interaction (social systems interventions) 13
Career Counselling
Career Education
Social Systems
Interventions
Career Service
Management
Career Assessment & Information
CGC
Career education events for parents
By working with multipliers and key influencers, it is
much easier to reach some target groups – and to counter‐act stereotypes and misinformation.
Outreach to marginalised groups
E.g. meeting with children and parents at relevant community centres or at
home
Innovation of career services 14
Career Counselling
Career Education
Social Systems
Interventions
Career Service
Management
Career Assessment & Information
CGC
Collegial counselling & peer learning
Joint reflection about career counselling with
colleagues (from the same or other organisations) can
facilitate individual learning. But it can also help to share good
practices across teams or even across different
organisation.
Quality management & enhancement
Going through regular cycles, career services can
be improved by (1) analysing what could be
better, (2) finding solutions, (3) planning for change, (4) implementing
and evaluating the success of the change
effort
Innovation requires a lot of work 15
CounsellorClient/Citizen
Client Interaction
Organizational Context
Societal Context
Solution
Clarification
Relationship
Organisational innovation requires the learning of people + new ways of working together (new goals, different rewards…)
Innovation of counselling requires reflection, learning and lots of practise
Societal innovation requires the learning of many individuals +
collective action + new policies (e.g. standards, new funding schemes)
Graph: Systemic Context Model by Christiane Schiersmann (2013)
Career counsellors need to be involved actively in all three forms of
innovation!
And innovation requires competent career professionals 16
Career Counselling Competences
Career Education
Competences
Social Systems Intervention Competences
CareerService
Management Competences
Career Assessment & Information Competences
Generic ProfessionalCompetences
Graph: Task Profile behind the European Competence Standards (NICE 2015)
Career Counselling• Creating a safe environment to speak with clients• Getting an idea of the options and challenges a client is facing• Supporting clients in clarifying their career‐related goals, needs, options and challenges within their life contexts
• Building constructive counselling relationships• Supporting clients in tackling challenging projects of personal change and coping with transition phases
• Supporting clients in the interpretation of complex situations• Supporting clients in exploring options, making and implement career‐related decisions
Career Education• Supporting clients in preparing applications• Facilitating basic learning about general educational and vocational options
• Assessing clients’ career management competences
• Facilitating learning for clients to improve their career management competences
Career Assessment & Information• Guiding clients to use self‐assessment tools and sources of career information
• Identifying informational needs of clients• Providing clients with relevant information and sources of information, including assessment tools
• Investigating clients’ interests and resources
Career Service Management• Assisting in the development of career services• Marketing career services for particular target groups, including outreach to marginalized groups
• Coordinating own work effectively and efficiently• Building partnerships with clients and other professionals
• Assuring the quality of their work according to standards and target‐group needs
Generic Professional Tasks• Promoting the benefits of professional career services• Engaging in continuous reflection and development of their own practice
• Dealing with role and value conflicts effectively
Social Systems Interventions• Facilitating placements of clients in a career‐related experience
• Making referrals to Career Professionals and other services, if advisable
• Developing and coordinating interdisciplinary networks to draw on helpful connections in case clients need additional support
• Advocating on behalf of clients to promote their career development when they face strong opposition or social constraints
• Mediating career‐related conflicts
European Competence Standards
�For this reason, NICE proposes that all people practicing as career guidance and counselling professionals in Europe should engage in specialised academic training as an entry requirement for their practice.
�To embrace innovation, All career practitioners should also engage in continuous professional development and lifelong learning.
�Reflected practice should be part of any form of training and certification.
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