Equitable career development: Dismantling sociocultural barriers that create disenfranchisement 

Recently, while teaching a workshop on reflective career planning, a student asked a question that left me without words: “If racism and discrimination exist within hiring panels, what are you doing about it?” This question was posed by a student who was in the process of applying for a job and who continued to experience rejection despite her employable credentials. She was feeling hurt, angry and ultimately was experiencing the beginning stages of disenfranchisement. Her question left me thinking about how career development practitioners uphold racism and systems of oppression and how we can better support those who experience this type of discrimination. 

Individuals who are navigating their career development during pivotal stages of transition, such as high school and university students, often begin with ambitious ideas and plans (Brown & Segrist, 2016). As students start to experience the realities of transitioning into the workforce, their aspirations decrease. Racialized students experience the largest decrease in aspirations as they often are faced with higher rates of rejection, unemployment and increased interactions with sociocultural barriers (Brown & Segrist, 2016). It is well understood that inequities exist for racialized and marginalized people. Discrimination remains dominant on hiring panels (Zschirnt & Ruedin, 2016) and corporate policies on equity, diversity and inclusion often feel like more symbolic declarations than practical applications. As students’ aspirations decrease, their self-efficacy often decreases as well, which can result in feelings of disenfranchisement and overall lower cultural identity (Byars-Winston, 2010). 

Career development is not only defined as the process of supporting individuals to find an occupation, it can be defined as “the process of assisting individuals in the development of a life career with the focus on the definition of worker role and how the role interacts with other life roles” (Tovar-Murray et al., 2012). Career development has a larger focus on change management and life-role adaptability (Bocciardi et al., 2017). With this in mind, working with students by addressing the barriers that exist is then an essential part of effective career development, as it creates a stronger focus on how to adapt to one’s career and life roles. Without appropriate awareness sociocultural barriers, individuals will likely experience lower career decision self-efficacy and lower vocation outcome expectancy (Conkel-Ziebell et al., 2019). 

Ignoring the barriers only perpetuates the inequities that occur for populations who experience marginalization. Social cognitive career theory and self-management model in career counselling suggest that inquiring about individuals’ experiences and beliefs with career aspirations and discrimination are effective practice when working with people of colour (Conkel-Ziebell et al., 2019). Engaging in conversations about attitudes toward career decision-making and experiences of discrimination will likely support students in developing strategies for coping with the barriers they face (Conkel-Ziebell et al., 2019) and create a more equitable relationship between the practitioner and participant. Building a stronger awareness of sociocultural barriers, as well as engaging in inquiries about participant’s attitudes toward their career aspirations, can support stronger self-efficacy and greater ability to manage barriers they may face. 

“If racism and discrimination exist within hiring panels, what are you doing about it”? To answer my student’s earlier question, I can respond by acknowledging the struggle, inquiring about experiences with discrimination and racism, and further inquiring how to better support students through this. I hope to bring greater awareness to the inequities that exist to better support my students in building greater self-efficacy in managing their careers and life transitions. 

Caileigh Wilson is currently working on her MA in Counselling Psychology at Simon Fraser University. She is conducting research both in career development and mental health and exploring the access barriers that exist for refugees resettling in Canada. Caileigh also works as a career development practitioner at Simon Fraser University. 

References 

Bocciardi, F., Caputo, A., Fregonese, C., Langher, V., & Sartori, R. (2017). Career adaptability as a strategic competence for career development: An exploratory study of its key predictors. European Journal of Training and Development, 41(1), 67–82. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-07-2016-0049 

Brown, D. L., & Segrist, D. (2016). African American Career Aspirations: Examining the Relative Influence of Internalized Racism. Journal of Career Development, 43(2), 177– 189. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845315586256 

Byars-Winston, A. (2010). The Vocational Significance of Black Identity: Cultural Formulation Approach to Career Assessment and Career Counseling. Journal of Career Development, 37(1), 441–464. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845309345847 

Conkel-Ziebell, J. L., Gushue, G. V., & Turner, S. L. (2019). Anticipation of racism and sexism: Factors related to setting career goals for urban youth of color. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 66(5), 588–599. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000357 

Tovar-Murray, D., Jenifer, E. S., Andrusyk, J., D’Angelo, R., & King, T. (2012). Racism- Related Stress and Ethnic Identity as Determinants of African American College Students’ Career Aspirations. The Career Development Quarterly, 60(3), 254–262. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-0045.2012.00021.x 

Zschirnt, E., & Ruedin, D. (2016). Ethnic discrimination in hiring decisions: A meta-analysis of correspondence tests 1990–2015. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 42(7), 1115– 1134. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2015.1133279