Off the Diving Board: Making the Transition to Work

 

What are the variables that influence the transition from higher education to meaningful career? How can career development professionals help? Susan Forseille shares the results of research she undertook during her MEd studies.

diving board_forseille

 

A student about to graduate from Thompson Rivers University (TRU) told me that education “is a diving board: through our coursework, we slowly make our way to the end of the platform, where we are expected to dive or jump into our career… but we don’t know how to dive, if we can swim, or if there is even water in the pool!” This metaphor brought up profound images for me, making me wonder why some students seem to transition so easily from education to meaningful career, while others really struggle. This led to questions on what career educators can do to better support students in their transition from post-secondary education to meaningful career.

This graph offers a visual image of the most studied variables that influence the transition from post-secondary education to meaningful career, clustering them into like-minded groups. I administered a survey to TRU alumni, asking questions about the variables that influenced their own transition, and also conducted interviews.

Variables influencing career transitions_forseille_for online version

 

Analyzing the results from the surveys and interviews led to some fascinating insights, which can be effectively demonstrated through two very different career transition stories, Dan and Wendy’s (fictional names).

 

Dan’s career transition story

Dan graduated from TRU in 2007, one year before the recession hit. As a first-generation student, he believed that, once he obtained his degree, he would be guaranteed a better career. As a first-year university student, Dan thought he wanted to be a pharmacist or physiotherapist and took science classes, but he found himself gravitating toward the arts a lot more, particularly history and political science. While studying, he worked different summer jobs in retail and sales.

Upon graduating with a BA, Dan decided to move to Edmonton to begin his career and pay off his student loan. Dan applied to career-oriented jobs he found online, but didn’t secure work related to his degree. Through a friend, he found work as a labourer. Within months, he quit his job to move back to Kamloops, feeling disillusioned with his degree and the lack of career-related work he found with it.

 

Dan career map_forseilleDan’s career map

 

Upon reflection, Dan said that, as a recent graduate, he didn’t understand the skills he had to offer, who to offer them to, or how to leverage them effectively.

Finally, Dan applied for a job with British Columbia’s Ministry of Social Development and was offered an interview, where they asked him questions on his critical thinking, research and communication skills – attributes he had enhanced significantly as a student, yet hadn’t been able to effectively articulate or leverage in his work search until this point. It took Dan a few years to understand that his interest in Canadian policy development as a student could be part of his career path, and he is hoping to eventually secure work in this area. In his own words, it has “always been in the back of my mind, right, but I have never had a clear direction of how to get there, you know?” This career development knowledge is there now.

 

Wendy’s career transition story

Wendy’s story is very different. She also began her post-secondary education uncertain of what she wanted to do. She considered becoming a lawyer or perhaps a surgeon – she liked the wages and status that came with these professions. Next, she considered careers in computing science, business and the Canadian Armed Forces.

Wendy was actively exploring career options, asking herself valuable questions that offered insight into a career that was in line with her interests, values, aptitudes and employment opportunities. For each of these career considerations, Wendy conducted research online, spoke with career educators, her parents, professors and people working in industry. Through this analysis, she realized there were communalities in her career considerations that included working with people, counselling, advising, planning, business development, etc. When these pieces came together, Wendy decided that a career in human resources was a very good fit.

From there, Wendy looked for ways to be competitive in the labour market when she graduated. She volunteered for a local fire department, working on their recruitment and retention plan. She located and met with various career mentors and conducted informational interviews. She competed in Excalibur, a student HR case competition, and she joined the local British Columbia Human Resource Management Association. Lastly, she looked for ways to enhance her transferable skills in her job as a lifeguard and signed up for a post-baccalaureate in human resources.

 

wendy career map_forseilleWendy’s career map

 

This intentional effort as a student paid off for Wendy. She understood the labour market well, knew how to leverage her skills and experience, knew who was hiring in HR and the skills and experience they were looking for, and could articulate this well in her cover letters, resumes and interviews. The result was that she was offered a position as an HR co-ordinator before she graduated with her post-baccalaureate.

 

Lessons and insights

Dan and Wendy’s career transition stories echo the findings in the survey and the remaining interviews. The results of this research can be summed up in four points:

  • The more variables alumni had in their favour, the more likely they described their school-to-work transition as successful.
  • Specific variables were identified as being more influential in the transition than others. These include a strong understanding of the skills one has to offer and which organizations hire these; the ability to develop professional documents such as customized resumes and cover letters; and the ability to articulate this information effectively in a job interview.
  • This career knowledge understanding is significantly developed in students who take an active role in their own career management. Many of these students had participated in career education programs such as co-op, sought out career experts for one-on-one career advising, participated in a career mentoring program and in other similar activities where they acquired a robust understanding of the labour market, and gained valuable work experience.
  • The last consideration alumni identified as an important variable in their successful transition was the feeling of control they had in their career success.

 

This means that there is specific information and experience that can greatly impact students’ transition from education to meaningful career, and there are patterns in the variables that influence this transition. As career educators, we need to explore how to best put this understanding into practice to improve our graduates’ transition to meaningful careers. We need to ask what more we can do to educate students, university administrators, employers and government officials on the values of implementing career education initiatives, thus enhancing career support, helping students feel more confident and be more successful when they are “diving” into their career.

 

For the past eight years, Susan Forseille, MEd, has worked as a Career Educator at Thompson Rivers University. Through this time, she has become very passionate about career stories, research and the transition from post-secondary education to meaningful career. She was thrilled to have the opportunity to delve into these topics through both her MEd thesis and hopefully her PhD studies. She can be reached at sforseille@tru.ca.

 

 

 

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Hot Sites

 

My Career Info is a new initiative from the Council of Ontario Universities that provides career planning guidance to students, new grads and entry-level jobseekers.
mycareerinfo.ca

The Potentiality presents articles about the competencies at the basis of personal and professional success.
thepotentiality.com

The Career Professionals of Canada blog publishes articles that speak to the work of career development professionals in Canada.
careerprocanada.org

Jobs for Immigrants is the only job directory in Canada that focuses on connecting immigrant jobseekers with employment.
jobsforimmigrants.ca

Adventures in career development is the blog of UK-based careers expert Tristram Hooley, where he posts about career guidance, career education and related subjects.
adventuresincareerdevelopment.wordpress.com

Fast Company presents innovative and disruptive ideas, many of which pertain to careers and the workplace.
fastcompany.com

 

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Employability ePortfolios for Adults in Transition

By Don Presant

There’s more to online resumes than LinkedIn. Based on his experience at Career Portfolio Manitoba, Don Presant discusses the various options available for your clients wishing to take their career development online.

The Internet has had a big impact on career development and employment. In your work, you are probably starting to answer a lot of questions about the advisability and best practices for using ePortfolios, or similar solutions under different labels: online resumes, web CVs, personal career websites, video resumes, LinkedIn profiles, etc. This article, based on our experience with Career Portfolio Manitoba, should provide you with a useful framework for considering the available alternatives.

ePortfolio: shop window or workshop?

Your clients and colleagues may have different ideas of what an ePortfolio is, so it’s good to get everyone on the same page. There are three different models for conceptualizing the purpose of an ePortfolio.

First, you can use it as a “shop window”, a targeted communication tool which contains assertions of knowledge, skills and ability, backed by authentic evidence. Targeted purposes may include the recognition of prior learning (for instance, for admission to education programs) or improving a job candidate’s employability.

However, the ePortfolio can also be used as a private workshop for deep learning. This “learning” ePortfolio is based on reflection, and its creation is akin to doing a “workshop” in private, where the individual makes connections between learning experiences, whether formal or not. Deep learning can also apply to pre-employment training programs or, even after hiring, as an employee development tool.

In the third model, the ePortfolio can be used for both display (shop window) and learning (workshop). The shop window is just the tip of the iceberg, hiding such things as:

  • A virtual storeroom for stuff that may be showcased later
  • Personal reflections about your experiences
  • Learning goals and personal development plans
  • Continuing professional development
  • Performance support tools, such as guides, checklists and answers to interview questions

The more learners think of their ePortfolios as “lifelong learning companions,” the more they will get out of them.

More than a scanned binder: advantages of the “e” in ePortfolio

The ePortfolio shares a lot of characteristics with its predecessor, the paper portfolio, but it can be a much more effective communication tool. For one thing, they are easier to share and improve: different versions can be viewed by many people at once, enabling jobseekers to target their ePortfolio to every organization they apply to. Also, advisors can comment and make suggestions privately. ePortfolios can also embed multimedia evidence, link within themselves and to other sites, and help build a positive, purposeful online digital identity.

Make your own!

In determining your approach to your own ePortfolio, you need to find your own comfortable mix of cost and control. Since users normally register themselves for these services, your role as a career advisor may be limited to suggesting the best platform for them to use. There are many free web applications out there, including Google Apps, Evernote, Weebly, Pathbrite and YouTube (for video resumes). Some people maintain that LinkedIn is all you need for an ePortfolio; our strategy is to show users how to embed their LinkedIn profiles in their larger ePortfolios.

There are also many available applications for purpose-built ePortfolios, including proprietary systems (Digication, PebblePad, eFolio, iWebfolio, Taskstream, LiveText, Chalk & Wire, etc.) and open source systems (Mahara, ELGG, ePEARL, etc.). Content management systems (CMS), such as WordPress or Drupal, can often replicate many of the features of a purpose-built system.

It is possible to combine some of these tools to build a personalized platform. For instance, Career Portfolio Manitoba shows its learners how to embed LinkedIn profiles, Google Apps, YouTube videos, images from Flickr and other content into their online ePortfolio (purpose-built with the open source Mahara platform). You should be able to do this with most CMS and free website applications, depending on their configuration.

 

Moving forward

Perhaps you’re considering implementing your own ePortfolio program, or at least planning to create a list of dos and don’ts for your clients. I hope this article has helped. Although it’s in the technology section, you can see there’s more to it than that!

 

Don Presant is President of Learning Agents (learningagents.ca), founded in 2000, which provides consulting, hosting, training, and support services for ePortfolios and eLearning. Learning Agents has a knack for working with smaller institutions and organizations on effective and sustainable pre-employment, career development and workplace training solutions. Don’s own ePortfolio may be found at bit.ly/DonPresant_ePortfolio

 

About Career Portfolio Manitoba

Career Portfolio Manitoba (careerportfolio.mb.ca) is an ePortfolio solution funded by Workplace Education Manitoba and WPLAR. It is designed to meet the employability needs of adults in transition using an essential skills framework. We help our clients build authentic, employer-friendly portraits of their transferable knowledge, skills and attitudes built through their lifetime experience, backed by multimedia evidence.

 

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10 Questions for Gray Poehnell

Poehnell_Gray_10 questionsGray Poehnell is an experienced author, trainer and presenter interested in holistic approaches that cultivate hope, practical spirituality, creativity and career integrity. He focuses on developing alternative career approaches, especially for those outside the mainstream. Gray currently trains career practitioners both nationally and internationally.

Gray will be a keynote speaker at the New Brunswick Career Development Action Group conference in November 2013 and will also present at Cannexus in January 2014.

 

In one sentence, describe why career development matters.

Crafting a career matters because it is about hope; hope for individuals, families and communities who want to find practical, realistic and holistic paths to meaningful lives, regardless of their life circumstances.

 

Which book are you reading right now?

I’m currently reading Daring Greatly by Brené Brown; it addresses vulnerability and shame issues. For the last few years, I have been focusing on books that summarize the research and practical implications of self-defeating mental processes that can take away hope and result in people giving up. The better I understand how to help people change their thinking to thinking that cultivates hope and keeps people going, the better I can be in helping people find hope in their lives.

 

What did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was young, I didn’t really think much in terms of a “career.” I tended to have escapist fantasies, such as discovering I was really an alien from another planet who would be rescued from the mess of my life. I did my undergrad degree in mathematics, thinking I would be a mathematician hiding away from people. My career journey, however, has been one serendipitous event after another; I’m a poster boy for chaos theory and planned happenstance. The paths I have taken have always led to destinations I would never have imagined or even thought possible. I’ve learned to do what I believe is right at the time and then be open to wherever that leads.

 

Name one thing you wouldn’t be able to work without?

I need something (whether it be scraps of paper, my iPad or my computer) to collect and explore ideas through scribbling, doodling, mind mapping or just plain jotting things down.

 

What activity do you usually turn to when procrastinating?

This really depends on the time and my mood: more energetic – walk or bicycle; thoughtful – research and more research; practical – cooking; escape – TV or movies (especially romantic comedies).

 

What song do you listen to for inspiration?

The first song I remember inspiring me was “To Sir with Love” by Lulu, and it is still inspiring me 46 years later. It was the closing song in the movie starring Sidney Poitier. Poitier unexpectedly finds himself working with troubled youth who had been written off as hopeless by others and by themselves. Rather than giving up in discouragement and cynicism, Poitier saw something different, and so was willing to creatively try something different. I didn’t have anyone like that when I was young, but I certainly want to be that kind of person as I work with others.

 

Which word do you overuse?

I’m sorry to say that the word I most overuse is the word “sorry.” In my mind I know better, but too often my mouth is faster than my mind and I find myself apologizing for things I shouldn’t. The good thing about the word slipping out is that it is a constant reminder to keep on confronting my perfectionism and low self-esteem issues.

 

Who would you like to work with most?

To be honest, I think I’m already working with him. I’ve had the privilege of working with Dr Norm Amundson since 1989. Norm has generously shared his wisdom, integrity, creativity and life with me. What more could I ask for?

 

Which talent or superpower would you like to have?

Even though I’m quite musically challenged, I collect world percussion instruments as I travel. I would love to have the musical ability to actually be able to play them.

 

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Sometimes I think my greatest achievement is that I’ve learned how to plod and keep going. Others often tell me that I’m good at seeing things in different ways and then making complex concepts accessible and practical to “ordinary” people. But I would rather think in terms of my greatest gifts that have enabled me to keep going; God has brought so many incredible people as gifts into my life upon whose support I am very dependent: my lovely wife Trish, my daughters, my partner and mentor Norm Amundson and many true friends.

 

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Calendar – Calendrier

 

To have your event listed in this section, add it to the Event listing on contactpoint.ca/events

NCDA Regional Career Practitioner Institute: Practical Techniques and Strategies for Career Development Service Providers
OCTOBER 17-18, 2013
Denver, CO, UNITED STATES
associationdatabase.com/aws/NCDA/pt/sp/cpinstitute

2013 Ability Axis Employment Expo
OCTOBER 23, 2013
Winnipeg, MB, CANADA
abilityaxis.com

NBCDAG-CERIC Webinar – Effective Needs Assessment: A Starting Point for the Assessment Process
OCTOBER 24, 2013
Online
effectiveneeds.eventbrite.com

Ontario Cooperative Education Association (OCEA) Fall Symposium 2013
OCTOBER 27-28, 2013
Collingwood, ON, CANADA
ocea.on.ca

Aboriginal Entrepreneurs Conference and Tradeshow
NOVEMBER 4, 2013
Gatineau, QC, CANADA
aboriginalhr.ca

2013 New Brunswick Career Development Action Group (NBCDAG) Conference
NOVEMBER 4-6, 2013
Moncton, NB, CANADA
nbcdag-gadcnb.ca

Educating for Resilience Conference
NOVEMBER 4, 2013
Toronto, ON, CANADA
positivepsychologycanada.com

Legitimate Opportunities to Work from Home – Train the Trainer Webinar Series
NOVEMBER 6-20, 2013
Online
http://bit.ly/1177Rsy

Skills and Post-Secondary Education Summit 2013: Developing the Talent We Need for a Competitive Nation
NOVEMBER 6-7, 2013
Toronto, ON, CANADA
conferenceboard.ca/conf/13-0067/default.aspx

Ontario School Counsellors Association (OSCA) 2013 Conference
NOVEMBER 10-12, 2013
Toronto, ON, CANADA
oscaconference.ca

The Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD) Conference and Trade Show
NOVEMBER 13-15, 2013
Toronto, ON, CANADA
cstd.site-ym.com

ICERI2013 – 6th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation
NOVEMBER 18-20, 2013
Seville, SPAIN
iated.org/iceri2013

24ème congrès de l’Association francophone de Gestion des Ressources humaines
NOVEMBER 20-22, 2013
Paris, FRANCE
bit.ly/8XQQpi

The 2nd Hong Kong International Conference on Education, Psychology and Society
DECEMBER 19-21, 2013
HONG KONG
hkiceps.org

Cannexus14 National Career Development Conference
JANUARY 20-22, 2014
Ottawa, ON, CANADA
cannexus.ca

 

 

 

 

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Career Briefs

 

Vote in the National Challenge!

In celebration of the Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling’s (CERIC) 10th anniversary in 2014, The Counselling Foundation of Canada has provided a grant to facilitate an online competition to increase the recognition of the value of career counselling as well as career development professionals in Canada.

A panel of judges consisting of prominent members of Canada’s career professional field will shortlist up to 10 ideas that the Canadian career development community will then vote for online. The three entries that receive the most online votes will each receive $5,000 and a free registration to attend the Cannexus14 National Career Development Conference! The winning entries will be announced on January 6, 2014.

Vote for your favourite ideas on ceric.ca/nationalchallenge between November 4 and 29, 2013.

 

A reality check for new grads

A BMO Bank of Montreal survey released in September shows an important gap between new graduates’ salary expectations and the realities of an entry-level position.

Post-secondary graduates expect to earn an annual salary of more than $50,000, on average, for their first job after graduation. In reality, according to Statistics Canada, these grads earned $45,000 annually, on average, after two years on the job.

In addition, the survey found a gap between men and women’s salary expectations. While both genders’ salary expectations were above reality, men generally expect more: $52,938, on average, versus $48,096 for females. However, Statistics Canada reports that, after two years on the job, men and women can expect to earn, on average, $48,000, and $43,900 respectively.

The press release, which can be found at marketwired.com/press-release/-1829852.htm, also includes a breakdown by field of study of the average salary a post-secondary graduate can expect two years after starting employment.

 

Plan to attend Cannexus14

There are so many ways for you or your organization to get involved at the next Cannexus National Career Development Conference, to be held January 20-22, 2014 in Ottawa: as a delegate, exhibitor or sponsor!

More than 800 attendees are expected this year—making the networking possibilities alone well worth the admission price! Featuring keynotes from Stephen Lewis, Jacques Demers, Valerie Pringle and Rich Feller, as well as an Exhibitor Showcase, Cannexus is the gathering place for learning and professional development. With more than 130 education sessions, there is truly something of interest to everyone across the career counselling and career development spectrum.

Add a pre-conference workshop (or two!) to maximize your Cannexus experience. Register as a delegate or an exhibitor before November 4, 2013 to benefit from the Early Bird rate! Visit Cannexus.ca for more information.

 

National Household Survey results rolling out

Statistics Canada has started to publish the results of the 2011 National Household Survey, which replaced the long-form census. Here is a sampling of the information gathered:

  • A greater proportion of Canadians are completing high school and post-secondary education, but the share of the population with a trades certificate continues to decline.
  • The share of older workers (those aged 55 and over) in the labour force was higher at 18.7%, compared with 15.5% in 2006, confirming the demographic trends.
  • The gap in labour force participation between men and women narrowed since 2006, but this is mainly due to a decline in men’s participation rate. Women also continue to have a lower unemployment rate than men (7.4% vs 8%).
  • The unemployment rate of recent immigrants was a full 5% more than for all immigrants, and almost twice the rate of the non-immigrant population. Even worse, the higher their education level, the more this gap widens.
  • Women of all age are still underrepresented in many high-profile occupations; however, this gap narrows considerably when looking at 25-34 years old women only. Startlingly, while only 39.9% of all specialist doctors in 2011 were women, this number jumped to 57.7% when considering only the 25-34 years old cohort.
  • The unemployment rate of Aboriginals (excluding the Métis population) was twice that of the non-Aboriginal population, however the most significant gap is between on-reserve Aboriginals (unemployment rate: 25.1%, participation rate: 35.6%) and off-reserve Aboriginals (unemployment rate: 13.0%, participation rate: 47.5%).

 

You can browse through the survey results at www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm.

 

Canada’s Career Imperative goes west and east

CERIC’s cross-country roundtable discussions are continuing this fall with stops in Regina, Montreal, Vancouver and Moncton. In early 2013 CERIC began hosting a series of events across Canada to discuss fixing our “talent disconnect,” where individual skills and interests don’t always line up with emerging career options or what regional job markets immediately offer.

The goal of Canada’s Career Imperative is to bring business, education and government together for a conversation about how to “develop, connect and retain the best of our talent” to meet the ever-changing needs of disruptive markets.

Discussion so far has focused on the need for student to undertake earlier career exploration, the value of co-ops, internships and work experience programs whether for graduates or newcomers, and the desire for employers to be inclusive with hiring and to provide on-the-job training.

The Canada Career Imperative is also heading to the national stage with a plenary panel of high-profile leaders at Cannexus14.

You can read reports from all the roundtables at ceric.ca/talentdisconnect.

 

Adzuna arrives in Canada

This UK-based job board aggregator is particularly interesting for the job market information that’s provided on search results pages. Adzuna offers useful data on what the market is currently paying in Canada, among other factors.

Data at the moment include the top five companies hiring for the position searched for in your region and a graph comparison of the position’s average salary in your region, compared to the rest of Canada. This information can be useful to jobseekers as well as career-shifters.

As mentioned on Adzuna’s blog, “Knowing market pay rates also empowers you at the salary negotiation stage, either with your current employer or a new one.” The information provided can also help jobseekers to make more informed decisions on whether to move cities to facilitate their job search. Adzuna found this summer that the best place to be looking for employment in Canada at the moment is Saskatoon (the worst is the St. Catharines/Niagara region in Ontario).

You can experiment with Adzuna yourself at adzuna.ca.

stats_career briefs Source: adzuna.ca/blog

 

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The Art and Science of Finding a Good Vocational Fit

By Addie Greco-Sanchez

Sometimes temperament and skills blend together perfectly; but often, potential is diminished when it slams up against barriers of attitude, discipline and cultural expectations. Addie Greco-Sanchez gives an introduction to the science – and the art – of vocational evaluation and its contribution to career development.

It’s been said that art is I and science is we. In vocational evaluation, science consists of tools, processes and protocols proven through years of experience and thousands of applications to distil ability to its key dimensions. Art is how an individual, a beautiful oddity, can be reconciled with standard vocational test scores.

Practitioners in vocational rehabilitation don’t always agree on whether vocational evaluation should be termed assessment or evaluation. Assessment comes from the Latin assidēre, meaning to sit beside and suggests the placement of an individual on a continuum where there is no right or wrong position. Evaluation implies a top-down judgment with value attached and is commonly used because evaluation is how schools and industries determine performance.

Both assessment and evaluation have their merits as descriptors, with assessment denoting the co-operative art of interacting with clients, and evaluation denoting the scientific rigour with which results are examined. As a society, we tend to stress objective science over the subjectivity of art, therefore vocational evaluation is the most commonly used term.

But vocational evaluation goes beyond administrating, scoring and interpreting scientifically-proven tests. The cost of a vocational misfit is great, both to society and the individual, therefore the definition of vocational evaluation developed by the Vocational Evaluation and Work Adjustment Association (VEWAA) is necessarily broad:

A comprehensive process that systemically uses work, either real or simulated, as the focal point for assessment and vocational exploration, the purpose of which is to assist individuals with vocational development. Vocational evaluation incorporates medical, psychological, social, vocational, educational, cultural and economic data into the process to attain the goals of evaluation.

The comprehensive evaluation process refers to data collection methods – usually standardized testing – used to gather information about individual interests, abilities and aptitudes. The goal is to explore possibilities and to provide information to help people gain insight about their vocational potential.

Evaluation is a method of acquiring information and a process to assist individuals in identifying their functional competencies and disabilities. It evaluates factors such as vocational strengths and weaknesses, which can be assessed in the areas of personality, aptitude, interest, work habits, physical tolerance and dexterity. There is also an element of fortune-telling involved because vocational evaluations attempt to predict a person’s future and to advise as to how barriers may be overcome.

Evaluation can generate a course of action for people with disabilities that may range from competitive employment to personal activity outside employment. Not all individuals are able to move toward competitive employment, therefore recommendations for productive living at home can be included within the goals of assessment.

To ensure positive outcomes for the individual, attention must be directed to the appropriate choice of tests, the prudent use of administration procedures and the enlightened interpretation of results. People bring a variety of individual traits, competencies and limitations to rehabilitation opportunities. These include distinctive cultural backgrounds and individual expectations, attitudes and values that emerge from their ethnicity.

Frequently, factors such as motivation, interests, ethnicity and work tolerance may be just as important to reaching rehabilitation goals as the qualities of intelligence and learning-related aptitudes; this is where the art of vocational evaluation comes in. Determining the barriers to career choice and satisfaction is just as important as uncovering the opportunities. In vocational assessments, as in life, understanding what you can’t do is just as important as understanding what you can do.

Aptitude and interest-based testing uncovers a range of possibilities; habits and attitudes narrow the options. Taking the science of testing and applying the template of temperament is where art meets the science of vocational evaluation.

Here is perhaps the most frustrating diagram you face as a career development professional: the individual potential that is blocked by habits of behaviour or attitude that can be extremely resistant to change. Balancing aptitude and attitude to present a realistic survey of vocational options is the measure of a wise evaluator. Balancing aptitude and attitude to survey ourselves is the measure of enlightenment.

 

Author Bio

Addie Greco-Sanchez is President of AGS Rehab Solutions Inc. She holds a passion for vocational evaluation and has been in the field of vocational rehabilitation for 25 years.

 

Sidebar

According to Vocational Rehabilitation Association Canada, vocational rehabilitation specialists “(…) serve clients with a wide range of disabilities across the lifespan. These disabilities are the results of impairments due to any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure or function. [They] advocate for the recognition of the rights and the accessibility to appropriate services for persons with disabilities [and they] work with persons with disabilities to enhance their power and control over their own lives.”

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Canadian Career Service Professionals: How They Differ by Sector

 

When it comes to educational background, aspirations to join management or social media savvy, responses to CERIC’s survey varied according to work setting

 

by Mario R. Gravelle

(A detailed Sectoral Analysis from CERIC’s Survey of Career Service Professionals can be found on the ceric.ca web site.)

The Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling (CERIC) undertook a recent survey to uncover the opinions of career service professionals. Released in 2012, the survey delved into professional development, research, career competency and mobility, and technology issues. A total of 1,013 respondents from the field completed the online survey.

This articles explores differences between sectors engaged in career development – corporate, government, secondary education, post-secondary education, private, registered charity or a non-profit organization (non-charity) – based upon the findings of CERIC’s Survey of Career Service Professionals. The comparative data shows that some notable demographic differences exist between the different sectors. Attitudinal differences about professional development, career competency/mobility as well as issues around technology also emerge when comparing data by sector. Here are some of the main findings:

 

Demographic information

A total of 27% of survey respondents indicated they were from the post-secondary sector compared to 23% from a non-profit organization (non-charity), 19% from the private sector (including career management/transition firms and independent career professionals), 14% from government, 12% from secondary education, 9% from a registered charity and 2% from the corporate sector. Seventy-seven survey respondents noted “other”. One key demographic difference that emerges in the survey data is that the secondary education sector has a significantly higher proportion of younger practitioners than the other sectors in the field. While only about a third (38%) of practitioners in the secondary education sector are 45 years and over, the average in the other sectors is closer to two-thirds. The corporate sector has the highest proportion of older practitioners as 74% are 45 years and over. The private sector has the second highest proportion of older practitioners as 69% of those in this sector are in the 45 and over age category.

 

Differences in level of education are also apparent when comparing data by sector. It is noteworthy to mention that the field is relatively well-educated compared to the general population. However, the overall high levels of post-secondary education attainment among practitioners in the field is largely due to the fact that career service professionals in Quebec are required to have at least a master’s degree to be part of the province’s Ordre des conseillers et conseillères d’orientation du Québec. Consequently, 82% of survey respondents from Quebec indicated they have a master’s degree compared to 35% of those from Atlantic Canada, 32% of those in Ontario, 24% of those in the Prairies and 33% of those in British Columbia. That being said, over three-quarters of respondents across all sectors had at least completed a bachelor’s degree. Those working in the secondary and post-secondary sectors have completed the highest level of education in the field. The secondary sector has the highest proportion of practitioners with at least a bachelor’s degree (89%). The post-secondary sector is the next closest at 88% followed by the corporate sector at 86%.

 

What is your highest level of education completed?

Differences by sector also emerge when looking at the findings from the question “what was your main area of focus in the highest level of post-secondary studies applicable to the career services field?”. While roughly one-fifth of respondents across all sectors concentrated their studies on “career development and counselling/educational psychology”, those in the secondary sector were more than twice as likely as their peers to have focused on “education” before becoming career service professionals. Those in the corporate sector were a lot more likely to have focused their studies on “organizational behaviour/human resources” before becoming career practitioners than those in the other sectors (26% versus an average in the other sectors of less than 10%).

 

The survey data does however show some commonalities across sectors in pathways to working in the career services field. Specifically, “educational background” was the most common response (this was the answer of choice for most respondents in five out of seven sectors) when we asked “how did you find yourself working in the career development field?” While “fell into it” was the second most likely answer choice across a majority (four out of seven) of sectors, “worked my way up” was the least likely career path (it was ranked last by five out of the seven groups).

 

Professional development and learning

The survey included several questions delving into professional development and training interests. We asked respondents to tell us which area of professional development they would like to focus upon over the next year. The resultant data shows that all sectors share a common opinion about professional development priorities. “Career assessment tools” was chosen most often by respondents across all sectors followed closely by “career and labour market information”.

“Group facilitation skills” and “ethical/legal issues” were chosen the least often irrespective of sector allegiance. There is also cross-sectoral agreement about the leading challenges to training opportunities currently available in the field. A majority of representatives from six of the seven sectors noted that costs are the primary impediment to accessing training opportunities. This is less of a concern for those in the corporate sector as they feel that their primary obstacle is the fact that the training opportunities do not address the skills/knowledge gaps relevant to them. A lack of time was the second most common answer across a majority of respondents by sector (five out of seven). Only a majority of those in the respective private and corporate sectors mentioned that time constraints is not a significant obstacle to being able to meet their training needs. It is important to note that a lack of time is the most common answer across all sectors to the follow-up question about obstacles to meeting research and information needs. No other factor was within 10 percentage points irrespective of the sector of the respondents.

 

Career competency/mobility

Our survey data about the importance of professional certification showed some interesting differences by respondent sector group. Those in the corporate sector were the most adamant about the importance of being professionally certified. Over half of respondents from this sector answered that being professionally certified was “very important”. Conversely, only 23% of respondents from the registered charity sector answered the same while 15% of them stated it was “not at all important”. The latter is at least one-third higher than the rate in any of the other sectors. Greater consensus can be found across sectors regarding interest in becoming a manager in the field of career development. The survey findings show that very few career practitioners are interested in ultimately taking on a managerial role in this field. While “not at all interested” was the first choice for respondents in five out of seven of the respective sectors, “very interested” was the last choice for six out of the seven groups. Respondents from the corporate sector contradicted their peers as this group had the highest proportion of “very interested” (22%) and lowest proportion of “not at all interested” (17%).

 

Technology: access and awareness

The last section of the survey explored technology issues. Different attitudes exist between sector groups about the significance of social media as a career service tool. Most notably, those in the other non-profit organization (non-charity) sector are quite convinced that social media is important in terms of the work performed by career service professionals. Over two-thirds (75%) believe it is “very important” or “important”. Respondents from the secondary sector are less convinced as only 13% of them answered the former and 32% answered the latter.

 

How important is social media in terms of the work performed by career service professionals?

 

It is interesting to note that the same respondents from the secondary sector use social media for professional purposes by far the least compared to their colleagues in other sectors. Less than one-fifth (16%) of secondary sector career service professionals indicated using social media tools in the work that they do “often” or “always”. The average for the entire field is nearly 30%.

More detailed findings by sector and across the entire field can be found on the CERIC website (ceric.ca). A comparative report examining the findings of this survey against data from similar surveys CERIC undertook in 2007 and 2006 is also available along with breakdowns by regions.

 

Mario R. Gravelle joined The Counselling Foundation of Canada in early 2011 as Learning & Innovation Analyst. His responsibilities include instituting and overseeing knowledge capture and knowledge transfer activities about projects that the foundation supports. Gravelle is completing his doctoral dissertation in history at York University (BA from Concordia University and MA from the University of Ottawa).

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A New Map for Great Careers in Canada’s Green Economy

 

 

by Angie Knowles

Turn on the news or open the papers, and one is bound to come across a reference to the greening economy in Canada. This transition is about more than just economic growth or environmental protection. With more businesses incorporating environmental practices into their day-to-day activities, the shift to a greener economy means that the actual quality of many available jobs has improved.

A perfect example of this can be seen in the high rates of professional engagement and motivation amongst green workers. Compared to 64% of the general Canadian workforce, 78% of environmental employees felt engaged in their work according to ECO Canada’s 2011 Professional Engagement report. This meant that these workers were more likely to go above and beyond their job’s requirements, feel that their contribution was valued, and recommend their company as a great place to work.

 

A New Map for Great Careers in Canada's Green Economy-Photo2

The Green Jobs Map helps address some of the misinformation and lack of information on available jobs and required skills for work in Canada’s green economy.

 

There is also a strong, growing demand for green workers. Over the span of just three years, the number of organizations in Canada who had environmental professionals on staff jumped from 105,221 in 2007 to 318,000 in 2010 (2010 Profile of Canadian Environmental Employment, ECO Canada).

Clearly, job seekers who have their sights set on a green career don’t have to choose between a job that is in high-demand or a job that is deeply rewarding – they can have both. Thus, the real challenge for career counselling professionals is not so much about convincing their clients of the value of green jobs as it is about providing up-to-date insight on green employment trends. Green careers offer numerous opportunities, but since these jobs are part of highly dynamic and constantly changing industries, more information is needed on the types of jobs available and the skills that professionals require in order to be employable in these positions.

The Green Jobs Map: Tracking Employment through Canada’s Green Economy was designed to meet this need for clear and practical guidance on green jobs in Canada. This study addresses three crucial career planning questions regarding green employment: where are the most job openings, what education and experience are required, and which skills are in the highest demand?

 

Where are the most job openings?

In the report, researchers conducted a detailed analysis of job vacancies that were linked to eleven contributing sectors in Canada’s green economy. The results of this analysis came as a surprise. Contrary to a lot of the existing literature on projected green employment, sectors such as green manufacturing or carbon and climate change mitigation only accounted for a small percentage of new green job vacancies. Instead, established sectors such as environmental protection and resource conservation actually represented the lion’s share of green job postings. Environmental protection had 37% of green job listings and resource conservation had 21%. Renewable/Green Energy completed this list of the top three hiring sectors, with 11% of recent green job openings.

 

What education and experience are required?

High levels of education and experience were paramount for work in the Canadian green economy. Only 2% of the green job postings mentioned a requirement for a high school diploma or less, while a hefty 78% of these jobs required at least a Bachelor’s degree. Many employers were also looking for significant levels of experience in job candidates, with 44% of job openings listing a requirement for 5 to10 years of relevant work experience.

 

Woman engineer or architect with white safety hat and wind turbi

Job seekers who have their sights set on a green career don’t have to choose between a job that is in high-demand or one that is personally rewarding – they can have both.

 

Which skills are in the highest demand?

If there is just one major take-away point from The Green Jobs Map, it is the fact that employers are really looking for professionals who can integrate environmental knowledge into business planning and development. The study found that 32% of green job postings requested competency in corporate environmental program planning and implementation, while 31% of these same job ads also mentioned a need for proficiency in environmental business, technology and product development. In order to be marketable to today’s green employers, job seekers clearly need to demonstrate their ability to bridge the gap between environmental expertise and business savvy.

As Canada’s green economy continues to transform the way that many companies now operate, the need for skilled professionals who can support this transition will be greater than ever. Armed with new information on the latest green labour market trends, career counsellors can help ensure that great professionals are matched with great careers in a field as exciting and dynamic as the environment.

 

Angie Knowles is with ECO Canada, a not-for-profit organization that supports Canada’s environment industries by communicating with industry leaders, conducting labour market research and creating the necessary tools to address the human resource needs of this dynamic sector. Learn more about ECO Canada’s national research at eco.ca.

 

Interested in knowing more about green jobs? Check out the Emerging Green Jobs in Canada report, a project partnership between CERIC and the Green Skills Network. This report provides career counsellors with information regarding entry-level employment opportunities in the renewable energy and energy conservation sectors of Canada’s emerging green economy.

 

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Remote Employment 3.0: Legitimate Opportunities to Work From Home?

 

by Anne-Marie Rolfe

Work from home: scam or opportunity? That was the question that clients posed. We did not have an answer, so we clicked, emailed, live chatted, and Skyped our way to an answer. Yes, there are legitimate opportunities for remote employment.
The opportunities available include telephone-based work, transcription services, virtual assistant services, online tutoring and teaching, careers in e-learning, technology, design, editing and writing, to name a few. What we did not find was the ability to make a living playing video games, or any legitimate opportunities to stay home and get rich quick!
What we did find is real businesses, with legitimate human resourcing needs, looking to work with those who have a self-directed work style. Some businesses do take you on as an employee, some as an independent contractor, and in some cases you set yourself up as a freelancer. The distinctions have implications for income tax and other deductions, however there are plenty of resources to help understand and set those up.
These opportunities are of tremendous benefit to those living in rural areas with available Internet infrastructure, or those with disabilities who need to manage their own environments as part of their wellness. Add to that caregivers with a need to be home for little ones, or aging loved ones, this is a trend that will continue to rise. All of these job seekers have skills and abilities to contribute to the Canadian labour market; remote employment connects the workers to the work, without all the bother of heading to a physical location.
However, remote employment is not for everyone. The truly social and gregarious amongst us may find the isolation of working from home daunting. Reality is there is nothing between the employee and the temptations of home life but the motivation to get the work done. To be successful, self-discipline is required. The reward is a work schedule that allows flexibility for other commitments while earning money.
There are benefits for both employees and employers in remote employment. According to the Teleworkresearchnetwork.com, the following are the benefits to employers:

  • Save money
  • Reduce employee work-life conflict
  • Increase employee engagement
  • Increase employee loyalty and reduce turnover
  • Attract and retain talent
  • Reduce absenteeism
  • Increase productivity
  • Reduce healthcare costs
  • Slow the brain drain associated with retiring Baby Boomers

 

Interested? Go ahead and do searches on terms like “remote employment”, “work from home” and “virtual work”. Numerous sites will be available but proceed with caution and research those of interest carefully. If the site asks you to send money, don’t. If it asks you for too much personal information up front, do not provide it. If it offers the opportunity to get rich quick, do not believe it. Bottom line, where there are legitimate opportunities, there are also those willing to prey on the unsuspecting. So suspect everything! Research and validate the links you find. You can use tools such as the WHOIS database to validate website registration or do a search on the particular company and check with the Better Business Bureau online to see if there are complaints.
So while no legitimate positions to get paid to play video games all day panned out, there is a labour market ready for willing, entrepreneurial spirits yearning for an independent lifestyle.

 
Anne-Marie Rolfe is the Manager of Special Projects at the Employment and Education Centre, where she works to identify creative ways to connect employers and employees. She is currently working on her MEd with a specialization in distance education. She loves doing high-quality research and sharing it with others.

 

 

Interested in learning more about remote employment? Check out Polly Smith’s article on self-employment. Also, stay tuned for the CERIC webinar “Remote Employment 3.0: Legitimate Opportunities to Work from Home”, facilitated by Anne-Marie Rolfe, on February 26, 2013. More information available on cericwebinar4.eventbrite.com.

 

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