Results of CERIC 2015 Survey of Career Service Professionals released

The 2015 CERIC Survey of Career Service Professionals – recently completed by more than 1,000 respondents across Canada – paints a picture of a female-dominated field that is highly educated but only modestly compensated. These career professionals report that the top issue “keeping them up at night” is the public’s lack of understanding of career service interventions although close to 60% state that the perceived value of career professionals has improved in recent years.

The online survey, which took place October 19-November 20, 2015, provides a demographic snapshot of Canada’s career services community and examines professional development needs and research trends as well as delving into current challenges facing the sector. Conducted every four years, the survey serves to identify sector realities and inform CERIC’s programs.

Among the key demographic findings are that females are disproportionately overrepresented in the career services community at 82%. Just over one-third have a Bachelor’s degree as their highest level of educational attainment while another 41% possess a Master’s degree.

Slightly less than 30% work in the post-secondary sector while 35% are in a job at a non-profit organization. Reported gross annual salary or income reveals that the most commonly reported remuneration is between $40,001 and $55,000 annually.

About one-third of career services professionals indicate they are troubled that the public does not understand career development or the value of career interventions. However 6 out of 10 in the field believe that, in the past few years, an increasing segment of the public has grown to understand and appreciate the value of their work. Other concerns noted by respondents are uncertain/inadequate funding and working conditions (i.e. low salary, workload and little room for advancement).

Those in the career service community have very broad professional development interests. Learning about career and labour market information is a high priority for 66% of respondents. The same proportion (62%) are interested in enhancing their “essential skills needs assessment” approaches and their competencies related to “working with diverse populations.” It is worth noting that those in the field receive limited financial support from their employers to undertake professional development with nearly one-third having no professional development budget.

Career service professionals are involved in a myriad of research activities yet evaluating the impact of their work is less pervasive. Compiling program administrative data is the most prevalent form of data gathering (45%) followed by exit surveys (42%) and intake surveys (38%). A significant minority of career counselling/career development programs or services do not evaluate the impact of their work. Nearly 40% of survey respondents stated that they do not have procedures in place to gauge the influence of their career-related interventions.

Professionals in the field are interested in seeing more research on a number of career development-related topics “practices, approaches, techniques or tools in career development” is by far the most common area of proposed research attention. Some specific examples in this category include: pre-counselling assessment and materials; resilience in career development; as well as how social exclusion impacts career development strategies or tools. Career service professionals are also quite interested in seeing more research into the impact/value of career counselling practices including: what type of information/engagement is most effective with high school students; which interest inventory tests work best with mid-career adults in career transition; and what are the comparative benefits of group counselling vs. one-on-one interventions.

The survey Highlights Report is now available. Watch for further analysis of the survey to be released over the coming months.