Summer Skills Academy – Assessing Assessment Tools: The Essential Guide for Career Practitioners
The world of work is changing and helping our clients find the best opportunities is challenging! In the two days of this seminar, a variety of both formal and informal assessment approaches will be reviewed. Participants will leave with the skills to choose appropriate tools to serve their client groups. Clients’ needs today are diverse. Some of the hurdles clients’ have and we must deal with are:
- Difficulty finding new work after years working in a dying industry
- Diverse ethno-cultural backgrounds
- English as a second language
- Experiencing pressure from others to do something they don’t like
- High educational background with no opportunities
- Long-term social assistance dependency
- New to Canada
- Physical or developmental challenges
- Struggling with life transitions
- Weak educational background
Selecting assessment approaches that help clients make effective career and employment choices is essential. In fact, deploying the right assessment instruments as part of an effective needs assessment is an essential component of every career practitioner’s skill set! This dynamic seminar is designed for those who want to understand what is “out-there” or enhance their knowledge.
There are several factors to consider when choosing tests and assessments, including reliability, fairness, validity and cost as well as whether the assessment meets the client’s needs. Cultural and social diversity issues must also be taken into account. Furthermore, the counsellor must be qualified to effectively administer and understand assessment results. If I am using a specific tool, what am I measuring and how can any results acquired from applying the tool be best interpreted?
We will examine both formal and informal tools and discuss the roles and responsibilities of applying these assessments and their results to clients.The seminar will cover the following categories of assessments:
- Personality Type & Temperament (e.g. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Personality Dimensions)
- Career Interests (e.g. Strong Interest Inventory, Career Exploration Inventory, Career Key)
- Projective Tools (e.g. Occupational card sorts, skills card sorts)
- Constructivist Assessment (e.g. storytelling, Life Role Analysis);
- Computer-based tools (e.g. Career Cruising)
Registrants will be sent a survey prior to the course start date to assess their current level of knowledge and experience. Final selection of tools will be based on this survey.
WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?
In this practical and hands-on seminar, you will learn to:
- Classify career assessment tools
- Understand the needs of the counsellor to deliver effect assessment, including ethical implications
- Identify the tasks required in career exploration
- Explore the role of technology in career assessment
- Choose career assessment tools to match the needs of a diverse client population
- Experience a variety of assessment approaches (including both formal and informal tools) with self and peers
- Find no-cost and low-cost assessment alternatives
- Apply different strategies for individual vs. group debrief of assessment results
- Assist clients in the identification of career and employment opportunities
- Identify opportunities for ongoing professional development around assessments
YOUR SEMINAR LEADER
Rob Straby has followed his passion for the innovation and development of state-of-the-art career development coaching, facilitation and training systems since 1986. He has delivered these services to individuals, teams and departments in corporations, human services organizations, educational institutions and government services.
Rob’s greatest teachers have been his clients. Over the years he has worked directly with a diverse group including:
Anishnawbe; Corporate professionals; Laid off factory workers; Lesbians, gays and transgendered individuals; New Canadians; Physically and developmentally challenged; Single parents; and Social assistance recipients.
Rob is a faculty member of the Career Development Practitioner program at Conestoga College. This unique program trains career development professionals across Canada via the Internet with interactive webinars.
Danny Cushing, BA (Trent University), Executive MBA (Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto), has over 10 years of experience coaching managers and teaching leadership development courses to senior global executives from a diverse range of business and non-business sectors. Danny focuses on developing the emotional and social intelligence of managers so that they can be more effective in leading high-performing cross-cultural teams, and most importantly, be more fulfilled personally and professionally…and have some fun along the way.
Description du projet
L’emploi est généralement reconnu comme une des pierres angulaires de l’inclusion sociale, car il permet de se forger une identité, de se fixer un but, de donner une signification à sa vie, d’établir des relations et de trouver les ressources nécessaires pour s’intégrer à la collectivité. Les personnes qui ont des problèmes de santé mentale ont le taux de chômage le plus élevé de tous les groupes présentant une déficience, et pour la majorité d’entre elles, le travail est un objectif illusoire. Être sans travail conduit aux difficultés matérielles, à la pauvreté, à l’affaiblissement de la santé physique et mentale, à l’augmentation des problèmes familiaux. Cela crée aussi un sentiment de honte personnelle. Bien que ces personnes veuillent travailler, elles constatent que leur stigmatisation, la discrimination à leur égard et les politiques publiques limitatives jouent un rôle crucial, qui va bien au-delà des frontières de leur maladie, dans leur mise à l’écart de la population active. Le gouvernement de Nouvelle-Écosse reconnaît l’importance de l’amélioration de l’accès à l’emploi pour les groupes marginalisés de manière à répondre au besoin croissant de main-d’œuvre de la province.
Le CERIC financera l’élaboration d’un manuel de formation en ligne destiné aux spécialistes de l’orientation professionnelle au Canada. L’objectif est d’améliorer les résultats scolaires et professionnels des personnes ayant des problèmes de santé mentale. Comment s’y prendra-t-on? En augmentant les connaissances, les habiletés et les compétences des spécialistes, en les convainquant que le rétablissement est possible et en revoyant les politiques régissant l’exercice de cette profession. Le matériel de formation sera rédigé à partir des conseils d’experts provenant d’organisations phares et de pratiques exemplaires en matière de santé mentale, de soutien par les pairs, de rétablissement et d’emploi. Les personnes ayant des problèmes de santé mentale seront une importante source de savoir expérientiel. Des vidéos à la première personne montrant différents points de vue permettront de transmettre les messages importants et de concrétiser le contenu de la formation.