By Darlene Foster
People often wonder why they get passed over for promotions. What they fail to realize is that getting promoted doesn’t just happen; you have to work at it. Here are a few tips to help propel your career within the organization.
By Cheri Butler
The Career Practitioner Supervision curriculum was developed by the National Career Development Association (NCDA) with Sandy Manoogian as the lead author and Judy Hoppin serving as consulting editor at the request of the Japan Career Development Association (JCDA). The intent of this professional supervision training, to be released in the fall of 2011, is to introduce the practice of clinical supervision to career practitioners.
The Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC) has released findings of a survey conducted by Environics Research Group asking Canadians about their job satisfaction, their perceptions about their workplaces and performance management, and the tools and resources they turn to when looking for a job or building a career. This project is a follow-up to a benchmark initiative completed in 2007 that asked similar questions. This article is an excerpt from the 2011 survey report. For methodological information, please see below.
Canadian workers are not entirely clear on what they need to do to advance in their organizations. With the exception of two in ten who strongly agree (19%) that they know what they need to do, most Canadians either have only some idea (49% somewhat agree they know what to do) or little at all (19% disagree somewhat/6% disagree strongly). Quebec workers are disproportionately more likely to better understand what they need to do to advance in their organization (86% versus 68% of Canadians overall).
Notably, those satisfied with their jobs are much more likely than those who are not to feel they know what they need to do to advance (75% versus 38%). Indeed, knowledge of how to advance produces a larger gap between canadians satisfied with their job and those who are not than remuneration or recognition received on the job.
Notwithstanding that slightly more non-visible than visible minority workers strongly agree they know what to do to advance (20% versus 10%), both groups of Canadians generally display a similar sense, or lack thereof, of what they need to do to advance in their organization. As well, men and women express a similar level of understanding.
Q.5p Please indicate how strongly you agree or disagree with the following statements
Subsample: Those who are employed full-time or part-time
Canadians diverge more when asked if they feel others have better opportunities for advancement. Overall, Canadians are less likely to agree (35%) than disagree (60%) with the statement “I feel others have better opportunities for advancement” (4% are unable or unwilling to offer a response).
Demographically, a similar minority of Canadians across age, gender and household and education levels feel others have better opportunities. Regionally, consistent with their greater knowledge of how to advance in their organizations, Quebecers (21%) are least likely to feel others have better opportunities for advancement.
However, visible minority Canadians and those born outside Canada are more likely to agree others have better opportunities for advancement. Half of visible minority Canadians agree others have better opportunities for advancement (16% agree strongly, 37% agree somewhat), compared to one-third of non-visible minority Canadians. As well, those born outside Canada, albeit a minority, are three times as likely as those born in Canada to strongly agree others have better opportunities for advancement (23% versus 8%).
In short, visible minority Canadians and immigrants share a similar level of understanding as the Canadian population-at-large of what they need to do to advance, but they are much less convinced there’s a level playing field to do so.
Furthermore, when posed directly with the statement “I feel my ethnic or cultural background has hindered my career advancement,” visible minority Canadians are five times as likely as non-visible minority Canadians to agree (37% versus 7%). Among those who disagree, visible minority Canadians are far less certain than others (28% strongly disagree their ethnic or cultural background has hindered their advancement, compared to 69% of non-visible minority Canadians).
Findings from the Environics Research Group survey were released in January 2011. A total of 1,202 Canadians aged 18 years or older provided their input to the on-line survey conducted between November 3 and 11, 2010. Age, gender, and regional quotas were placed to ensure that this sample reflects the Canadian population. Data gathered can therefore be extrapolated to the full population with a reasonable degree of confidence, and permitting analysis by important subgroups. Furthermore, this sample size was chosen as it can provide meaningful and statistically reliable results for important segments of the population, whether this is by region, community size, household type or relevant demographic characteristics such as education level and family size.
By Tibisay Bermudez
I always wanted to have an adventure of living in another country along with my two kids. I had high expectations and a romantic view of a better life and better opportunities.
We welcomed Paula to the CERIC team this March. As ContactPoint’s new web content administrator, Paula will be responsible for future Bulletins as well as all other ContactPoint resources and services.
By Mark Swartz, MBA, M.Ed.
Question: Dear Mark, I work in a large firm that prides itself on setting up “Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR) initiatives that help its many stakeholders. For example, we were the first in our industry to go green with our production process, we have negotiated “fair labour” contracts with indigenous populations in less developed countries, and we insist that our major suppliers adhere to high levels of environmental and social ethics. I have been leading up a fair number of these programs over the last two years and feel that there is a bright future in this area. But do you think that our economic slowdown will cause employers to cut back on CSR for now?
Rashid D., Edmonton, Alberta
New Zealand Association for Cooperative Education 2010 Annual Conference
April 14 – 16, 2010
Massey University, Palmerston North, NZ
by Shawn Bakker
Psychometrics Canada surveyed Canadian HR professionals to find out what they see as the strengths and weaknesses of leaders in the workplace. Five hundred and seventeen professionals provided a broad and insightful look at the positive influence that leadership has at work as well as the developmental needs of many of today’s leaders.
Review by Tami Ali
Dee Dee (Diana) Kay MC., C.I., C.T. & Lynn Ashley Davis Ph.D., R. Psych.
H.O.P.E. Incorporated Calgary, Alberta
ISBN 0-9813625
Although this book was written with psychological counselling professionals in mind, it is easily adapted to career counsellors. It is designed for professionals who are unfamiliar with the Deaf community or culture. It gives great insight into how Deaf people view themselves.