2020

Graduate students apply by March 31 to compete for GSEP Award

February 5, 2020By

If you are a full-time graduate student whose academic focus is career development or a faculty member working with full-time grad students in career counselling or a related field, then you want to know about the CERIC Graduate Student Engagement Program (GSEP). Applications for 2020 are due by Tuesday, March 31.

CERIC encourages engagement of Canada’s full-time graduate students (Master or PhD level) whose academic research is in career development or a related field. Research areas such as Education, Sociology, Social Work, Counselling Psychology, Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Business with a focus on Human Resources or Organizational Behaviour are strongly encouraged to apply.

Through this program, graduate students will be introduced to CERIC and invited to:

Interested in getting involved? Complete and submit this quick GSEP application form. If you are also interested in competing for the GSEP Award, please submit a one-page article on a career development-related topic of your choice (including a 60-word bio) to Marilyn Van Norman, Director, Research Initiatives, at marilyn@ceric.ca by the same March 31 deadline. To support you in sharing this opportunity with students and colleagues, GSEP information can be found at ceric.ca/grad_program and this printable GSEP handout.

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Client Side: Wading through grief and rediscovering my career passions

February 4, 2020By
After experiencing a devastating personal loss, a dissatisfied business consultant decides to take her happiness into her own hands – with the help of a career counsellor

In this Careering feature, jobseekers reflect on successes and struggles in their career development.

H.M.S. Power*

When we lose someone we love, to say our world gets turned upside-down is an understatement. I lost my beautiful mother almost a year ago from an aggressive cancer in a matter of six weeks. Losing your mother is like training for a grief marathon you never signed up for. There is no planned route or finish line. There is no seamless linear transition between the stages of grief. It is more a tangled ball of yarn, where you bounce erratically between stages, returning to some more often than others.

When you are confronted by tragedy and grief, it really puts things into perspective – including what you value in your career. Things that used to seem so important now are trivial. You learn to draw hard lines and say no as you realize your own mortality and become less willing to put up with situations and people that drain your happiness. My mom was only in her 50s when she passed, so I learned the hard way that life is short. Why spend a second of it doing anything other than what you love? I started to question where I was in life, the experiences I’d had, and what was and wasn’t making me happy.

Sifting through career dissatisfaction

My mom was a workaholic. I watched her through the years sacrificing all her energy and happiness in careers that made her miserable. I saw similarities in my own life. I hadn’t been happy at my current position for years, but always viewed it as temporary and never as a career that I would stick with. Much like the accounting degree I obtained, I sort of fell into the job.

My current position as a senior business consultant involves very little work-life balance. I’m required to travel to client sites from Monday to Thursday every week. My increased desire to be around my loved ones and familiar settings after my mother’s death has made me even more dissatisfied with my demanding travel schedule.

Check out some of our past Client Side articles:
What I learned from quitting my job to study cannabis in my 30s
It’s a small world after all – reflections on a career coaching journey
How I found my career fit in science

My lack of passion for the subject matter is also a challenge. The focus of my job is consulting with clients who are in finance and insurance, which doesn’t interest me. An integral part of my profession is constant learning and growth, as there are endless advancements in financial regulations and technology. Forcing myself to learn about topics that I viewed as tedious had me grasping at motivation and dedication I just didn’t possess any more.

Before business consulting, I travelled down a variety of career paths, none of which had to do with my degree in accounting. They ranged from producing large-scale paintings for company lobbies, modelling and styling, working as an esthetician, owning my own cake business and, finally, to my current side gig as a musician. I realized my current career dissatisfaction stemmed from not embracing my creativity. My demanding work load was leaving me very little room to pursue creative endeavours. Because of this realization, I decided to consult with a career counsellor. I needed to weave passion and breathe life back into my career.

Finding the right fit

After much research on Toronto career counselling services, I landed at CareerCycles. Many of their counsellors had 10+ years in career coaching in addition to psychology backgrounds, which I thought would be beneficial, given my emotional state. I started with an introductory consultation with the Practice Leader and President, Mark Franklin. We chatted about my challenges, interests and goals. The next step was placing me with a counsellor who would fit with my personality, creative objectives and had experience in what I was searching for. I was placed with Kerri Brock, who was a perfect fit. We shared many beliefs and a love for creation, and she had experience in a variety of sectors she could draw on to help me explore my options.

Our sessions began with a clarification phase: asking vital questions on what possibilities would be a better fit, translating past experiences into new opportunities, and matching strengths and desires. I didn’t realize how many options I had available to me. I was concerned my degree in accounting and current employment experiences were going to hold me back from the creative options I was seeking. This wasn’t the case at all.

“I needed to weave passion and breathe life back into my career.”

In the next exploration phase, we examined possibilities that tied in with my desires. We talked about my passion for music and how I was writing and performing with my partner, Shane. Our band was ramping up and I had accomplished a lot to get us there. I designed and built our website, created our logo, developed a brand blueprint for consistent social media creation, and devised a release and business plan. After hearing how much I had enjoyed this process, Kerri suggested what seemed to be a perfect career option for me: artist branding and development.

Next steps

I am still with my employer, but I am job searching for placements directly in line with developing skills for artist branding and development (eg, content creation, social media management, website design, writing, etc.). I am also actively seeking clients to build up a portfolio. I have already connected with artists within my network who are interested in working with me and have a project on the go with a company that provides workshops for positive life changes in adolescents and adults. As for our band, we have released our first single on streaming platforms and our EP is scheduled to come out in January.

In an ideal situation, I would replace my current salary with one stemming from music. Musicians are entrepreneurs, but it’s a concept few of us embrace. At the moment, though, our band and artist brand are so new that it will take some time before I can fully transition into entrepreneurial work. However, the option of helping other artists with branding and development would intertwine my passion and creativity in a way that would produce a revenue stream. Career counselling helped me make that discovery.

H.M.S. Power has an eight-year consulting background in accounting and finance. Now a Toronto-based musician, she is leaving the world of banking and finance and actively pursuing a career in music along with artist branding and development. She has a passion for travel, photography and cooking.

* H.M.S. Power is a pseudonym used at the author’s request to allow her to speak candidly about her employment experiences.

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Careering

Case Study: Job-shadowing program helps LGBTQ2+ students navigate workplace concerns

February 4, 2020By
A University of Alberta program is connecting professionals with students to share career experiences through an identity-related lens

Amy Roy Gratton

headshot of amy roy grattonMore post-secondary institutions are developing resources to support career questions from LGBTQ2+ students who feel the stakes are high as they prepare for their careers and sometimes their first entry into the workforce. LGBTQ2+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, queer, questioning, pansexual, intersex, asexual, non-binary, unlabelled) jobseekers can face discrimination in job search and at their places of work, which can lead to negative mental and physical health outcomes. Making sense of career information can be confusing, and not every well-meaning career advisor – even those who are strong allies – can adequately address the complexities of identity in the workplace and what it means to be LGBTQ2+. Often, it is those with lived experience who can offer the most insightful and honest guidance. Our job in career services then becomes helping students connect with the wisdom in the workplace.

The University of Alberta Career Centre’s job-shadow program is a vehicle through which students can connect with professionals from all industries. Professionals share their career stories and a day in the life of their work through workplace visits, career information interviews and hands-on work activities. We have found our job-shadow hosts are willing and eager to address how their personal lives intersect with career.

How the program works

Since its inception in 2010, this bi-annual program has connected over 2,000 students with professionals in the community who volunteer their time as job-shadow hosts.  The host creates a profile and they are matched by Career Centre staff with a student who has submitted an application. Students are required to attend a mandatory training session to help make the most of their job shadow, and afterward, the job-shadow host and student complete evaluations.

As part of the registration process, job-shadow hosts list typical career information such as their job title and a description of their average day, and how to best prepare for the job shadow. In addition, hosts can indicate whether they are willing to discuss identity-related experiences with such statements as:

  • I am a minority in my workplace and I can talk about my experiences.
  • I am balancing child or elder care with work and I can talk about managing multiple priorities.
  • I am the first person in my family to go to university and I can talk about the challenges.
  • I am LGBTQ2+ and I can talk about careers with this lens.

For this Case Study of our job-shadowing program, I reached out to our hosts to ask them to reflect on what it meant for them to share their career experiences through an LGBTQ2+ lens.

Check out our previous Case Study articles:
Helping a client conquer doubts and determine next steps after post-secondary
Bridging the gap through profession-specific mentor matches
Building confidence to tackle a mid-life career transition

Reflecting on challenges, sharing advice

Talking to “out” professionals can help students understand that they are not alone in their concerns or experiences and connect with advice on how to navigate challenges.

One professional, who works in the non-profit sector, shared their experience of coming out as a student and how that differed later in the workplace. “There’s a misconception that ‘coming out’ is a single event when in fact we’re ‘coming out’ over and over and over again,” they said. The host offers advice to students on how to navigate what can be “difficult conversations” in the workplace. “Initially I worried about how people would react when I shared my identity because I knew I had to see them day after day. My advice to [students] is don’t start with an apology. I am living a normal life of a professional person, and I have found a way to be comfortable with that and I encourage them to do the same.”

This host also acknowledged that the social aspects of work can be challenging. Colleagues may make unintentionally offensive remarks; learning how to positively challenge their language doesn’t have to create friction. The host advises students to develop resilience as a way to help navigate such conversations.

This host also advises jobseekers on how to identify workplaces that are safe spaces for LGBTQ2+ people; non-profits linked to social missions may have more inclusive environments, and larger organizations may have more formalized diversity and inclusion practices and programs.

“There’s a misconception that ‘coming out’ is a single event when in fact we’re ‘coming out’ over and over and over again.” – Job shadow host

Demonstrating leadership

Hosts are also able to serve as role models for students by demonstrating leadership.

One host from the City of Edmonton said he supports his job-shadow participants by “try[ing] to be as out as possible” at work with “moments of fabulous flamboyance.” He has also asked his supervisor to refer to his husband in casual conversation to help make their office a safe space and respect diversity.

Another job-shadow professional in the non-profit sector who is out at work said that as an introvert, he has found more conservative ways to advocate for the LGBTQ2+ community, such as joining the board of the Pride Centre of Edmonton.

Having examples of leadership among LGBTQ2+ professionals can help combat isolation. For instance, one host shared the hurdles she faced as a young woman working in the male-dominated science field. While people would discuss balancing family with work, she said, no one talked about being LGBTQ2+ in the workplace. “For me, the silence on this issue was deafening.” What helped was finding a mentor outside of her immediate area of study.

Feedback from students has reinforced the value of the program. In one student’s application, she described her fears that her identity would prevent her from forming relationships with co-workers. “It puts a big smile on my face to see people who are openly LGBTQ2S+ leading successful careers,” the student said. “Getting to see part of yourself in someone is an inspiring experience.”

Conclusions

Work search is more than just the logistics behind the work search process. Knowing how to navigate work culture, conventions and social environment is lacking in formal career education and we’re grateful to our hosts for sharing their perspectives and experiences from an LGBTQ2+ lens. Career advisors can be allies and should advocate for allyship in the workplace, but what we have found at the University of Alberta Career Centre is that hearing from professionals who can relate first-hand to the experiences of being LGBTQ2+ in the workplace is the most powerful way we can support students.

Amy Roy Gratton is a Career Education Co-ordinator working with students, alumni and postdoctoral fellows at the University of Alberta Career Centre. The Career Centre gratefully acknowledges the contributions made by their hosts to this article and to the job-shadow program.

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How to engage in ethical advocacy work in career development

February 4, 2020By
When encouraging client self-advocacy or advocating on a client’s behalf, it is vital that career professionals be aware of ethical considerations such as informed consent

Andrew Bassingthwaighte

While career development practitioners (CDPs) help clients navigate their career journeys, often we are also called upon to help these individuals deal with other issues that may impede them on their path. These issues can range from housing to immigration support to discrimination, to name a few; in each case, there is often a desire either from within us or from the client to act as an advocate.

Advocacy is a long-recognized concept in career development, and many professionals are aware of the value of this process, especially when the goal is to help clients access supports and resources that will further their economic and social well-being. Many of us engage daily in promoting self-advocacy – or the ability of our clients to make choices and decisions that affect their lives. Sometimes, though, there is a need to engage in further advocacy work on behalf of a specific client or community.

No matter the type of advocacy that we engage in, it is essential for CDPs to recognize two issues when engaging in this type of work. The first is to respect the dignity of clients with whom we work. The second is to be aware of any ethical considerations that could affect our work or profession.

Forms of advocacy

Advocacy looks different depending on the client or community that we are supporting. There are four main types of advocacy that could intersect with career practitioners’ work:

  • Self-advocacy: This involves empowering the clients with whom we work to make choices and decisions that affect their lives. Self-advocacy is regarded as an ideal form of advocacy as well as one that CDPs are most trained to engage in (Cadenas, 2018). Supporting clients in this type of advocacy requires establishing trust between the career practitioner and the client. This approach should incorporate cultural humility and sensitivity (Anderson et al., 2012, Cadenas, 2018).
  • Professional advocacy: Career practitioners serve as a bridge between their client and those in positions of power – such as people working in housing organizations or disability services – to make them aware of the client’s needs. It is essential when engaging in this type of advocacy to recognize that we are working with the client and give them space to speak and be heard (Mitcham et al., 2012).
  • Citizenship advocacy: Career practitioners expand their roles beyond the services they offer and act as a resource to communities that may face marginalization or discrimination within different sectors. The goal of this advocacy is to be a resource to those in the community and support their efforts. Community organizations such as immigration employment councils can support this work.
  • Public advocacy: In what is seen as the final level of advocacy (Cadenas, 2018), career practitioners work with both institutions and groups to draft public statements and inform policy processes. CERIC, for example, seeks to catalyze conversations around the economic and social impact of career development at a national level.

What all these advocacy models have in common is that they encourage practitioners to go beyond their typical daily tasks and engage in the process of challenging social justice issues that many of their clients face daily.

Read more on CERIC’s CareerWise website:
Moving toward emancipatory career guidance
Advocating for career development helps Canadians thrive

Engaging in advocacy: What to be aware of?

For those wanting to engage in advocacy efforts, the Canadian Standards & Guidelines for Career Development Practitioners – Code of Ethics highlights several areas that practitioners should be aware of in their work. Chief among these is the notion of informed consent.

Informed consent

The Code of Ethics framework (CCCD, 2004) prioritizes informed consent in several areas concerning how information is collected and used, but also with respect to the individual and their rights. At all times within our advocacy efforts, we need to ensure that we are putting the rights of the client first and taking the time to engage them in the process to identify their level of comfort with any steps taken.

However, there are times when, despite a client’s insistence on confidentiality, action is required (for example, where there is evidence of imminent danger to the client or others) (CCCD, 2004). In a CERIC blog on “The Ethics of Advocacy,” Roberta Neault (2012) gives a compelling overview of the debate that practitioners face when dealing with these concerns, which I encourage all practitioners to review.

Your comfort level

Further to recognizing the client’s comfort level when engaging in advocacy, as practitioners, we need to be comfortable in our abilities to do this type of work. The national Code of Ethics (CCCD, 2004) is clear that we must recognize the boundaries of our competencies, especially when dealing with issues that involve legal or other advice that may be outside of our areas of expertise. Alongside this, though, are personal competencies and boundaries. In becoming involved in advocacy work, we need to recognize our capacity and resilience when dealing with potentially stressful or traumatic issues.

Conflicts of interest

Our efforts may come into conflict with the agencies, organizations or funders that we work with each day. In some cases, this can be beneficial, as our advocacy work might identify opportunities to fill gaps or provide tailored services to individuals or groups. In other cases, though, our work may come in direct conflict with organizational policies or the practitioner’s personal beliefs or value systems.

It is vital that practitioners inform clients up front about the limitations of our services, alongside disclosing any potential conflicts of interest that might arise. In instances where a conflict arises and we need to step aside from the process, it is imperative to work with the client on what happens next (ie, referral to another organization), so the client is not left struggling with a lack of agency.

Conclusion

Engaging in advocacy is a critical but also enjoyable element of a career practitioner’s work. While there are several ethical considerations to bear in mind when engaging in this work, we need to understand that we are not alone. Not only are there groups and organizations that can help support the clients we work with, but as practitioners, we can also access these groups to learn from them, the issues that they face, and how we can support and walk alongside them as allies.

Andrew Bassingthwaighte is a Talent Development Specialist and Master of Arts – Social Justice and Equity Studies candidate at Brock University in St Catharines, ON. Having worked for almost 20 years in the UK and Canada providing employment counselling, training and mentoring to individuals from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, he now has the privilege of serving on Brock University’s President’s Advisory Committee on Human Rights, Equity and Decolonization (PACHRED).

References

Cadenas, G. (2018). Advocacy in career development with immigrants. Career Planning & Adult Development Journal, 34(4), 7–20.

Mitcham, M., Greenidge, W., Bradham-Cousar, M., Figliozzi, J., & Thompson, M. A. (2012). Increasing career self-efficacy through group work with culturally and linguistically diverse students. Journal of School Counseling, 10(22).

Anderson, S. K., Peila-Shuster, J. J., & Aragon, A. (2012). Cross cultural career counseling: Ethical issues to consider. Career Planning & Adult Development Journal, 28(1), 127–139.

Canadian Council for Career Development. (2004). Canadian standards and guidelines for career development practitioners: Code of ethics. Retrieved from
career-dev-guidelines.org/the-standards-guidelines/code-of-ethics/

Neault, R. (2012, October 31). The ethics of advocacy: A Canadian perspective. [Blog post]. Retrieved from ceric.ca/2012/10/the-ethics-of-advocacy-a-canadian-perspective/

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10 Questions for the Fogo Island Inn’s Zita Cobb

February 4, 2020By

Zita Cobb is Innkeeper of Newfoundland’s Fogo Island Inn and Founder and CEO of Shorefast, a registered Canadian charity with the mandate to promote cultural and economic resiliency for Fogo Island. She previously worked with JDS Fitel, subsequently JDS Uniphase, where she contributed to building the company into one of the most successful high-tech innovators in history. She firmly believes the success achieved by Shorefast illustrates that reviving small communities is possible: there is inherent value in rural places that can be reclaimed and made relevant for 21st-century life.

Cobb will be delivering the opening keynote address at CERIC’s Cannexus conference on Jan. 27, 2020. Cannexus is a bilingual, national career development that explores innovative approaches in the areas of career counselling and career and workforce development.

In a sentence or two, describe why career development matters.

It is always important to be present and playing an active role in one’s life and the world; this includes your career.

Which book are you reading right now and why did you choose it?

I just finished The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli. I chose it because it’s important for us human beings to understand what is going on with our emotions, and what is going on with our brains. It’s about cultivating awareness in support of cultivating a balance between reason and emotion in our own minds.

What was your first-ever job and what did you learn from it?

My first “real” job was at the IGA grocery store on Elgin Street in Ottawa, where I moved for university after graduating high school on Fogo Island. Every walk of life was represented among the customers there … it was an interesting way to get insight into these different lives. There was something affirming about seeing humanity represented in this way.

What do you do to relax and how does it help you?

I enjoy hiking and being by the sea. Nature knows everything … there is comfort in that.

What is the one thing you wouldn’t be able to work without? Why?

I couldn’t work without physical notebooks. I still really prefer to write things down.

What is the most unusual interview question you’ve ever been asked and how did you respond?

I always find it strange when people ask me about risk. They ask me questions such as, “Wasn’t it risky to spend all that money on building the Fogo Island Inn?” But I don’t see it as risky. Money is just a thing; it has no inherent value. What was much more daunting was the idea that we might lose our community and our culture by doing nothing. That’s a real risk.

What’s something you want to do in the next year that you’ve never done before?

I want to start a community economics institute as the next phase of our Shorefast work.

Who would you like to work with most and why?

Elinor Ostrom … she was tenacious and logical in disproving the notion of the “tragedy of the commons.” I like working with people like that who don’t accept things at face value.

Which talent or superpower would you like to have and how would you use it?

I’d like to be able to take the time from one person and give it to others. There are so many people in the world doing good things who don’t have enough time to do those good things – and many others who aren’t using their time in service of the best things.

What do you consider your greatest achievement and why?

Everything Shorefast has done on Fogo Island to bring attention to the importance of place and community, in a time when the notion of community is at risk of being lost.

Enjoyed this 10 Questions? Check out some of our previous interviews:
10 Questions with Senator Murray Sinclair
10 Questions with Dr Chris Wood
10 Questions for the Rt. Hon. David Johnston

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Ethical considerations of internet usage: A career guidance perspective

February 4, 2020By
Career professionals need to consider how the online world affects clients in terms of their data, social equity, privacy and access

Tom Staunton

The internet and its effects on society are rarely out of the news. From the impact it has on young people, to its place in fostering extremism, to how big tech firms do (or don’t) pay taxes, the internet is continuously the subject of debate. Despite such controversies, it is ingrained in our everyday lives. This means that, as careers practitioners, we can neither just get on with using the internet without asking any ethical questions, nor can we assume that the right thing to do is to retreat from technology. The world we live in means we have to use the internet, but as career practitioners, we still need to engage with associated ethical questions. This article will explore several ethical considerations related to the internet from a career guidance perspective.

Interactional ethics

Medical ethics is governed by the principle of doing no harm or “nonmaleficence.” This means the first duty of someone working in medicine is to not harm anyone under their care. I think this is a helpful starting point for thinking about career guidance practice. Career guidance practitioners need to make sure that their use of the internet does no harm to their clients or any third parties.

The internet’s potential for harm is often connected to data. The same data that makes the internet’s existence possible also makes the individuals who use it vulnerable. Data that is created through Skype interviews, online forums, message boards, online courses and even email exchanges is often sensitive and can leave clients vulnerable to having their private information made public. These are vital ways individual practitioners and careers services should be thinking about data:

  • Security: Is the data the career professional/career service generates about clients/students kept secure?
  • Transparency: Do clients know what data is collected about them and how it will be used?
  • Platforms: Increasingly, the online world is mediated by platforms (eg, Facebook, Skype, Dropbox, etc.), so career professionals need to know and communicate to clients how these platforms may make use of data.
two people looking at computer screen together
iStock
Equity ethics

Career professionals also need to be concerned with how the online world affects our clients in terms of social equity. While the internet may appear free and easy, career professionals need to think more critically about whom it includes and excludes, and how they can help individuals make use of it.

Firstly, we should be cautious about lauding the benefits of technology to people who might be excluded from it. People who are economically disadvantaged may be able to afford less technology, both in the form of hardware and in the form of data and internet access. Similarly, some people with disabilities may find it harder to access the internet without assistive technology. Talking about the internet as essential to a career may end up excluding these populations. This observation might also encourage career professionals to consider advocating for increased technological access for clients with whom they work.

“Career guidance practitioners need to make sure that their use of the internet does no harm to their clients or any third parties.”

Secondly, we need to remember what the internet costs people. Though online tools may often be free (which is a significant part of their attraction), at point of access they often require individuals to subject themselves to surveillance. This is worth reflecting on, partly because we increasingly live in a society where individuals’ data is the means by which companies make profit. Career professionals might find that their actions do more to facilitate private profit than benefit their clients. This is not a straightforward issue but it’s helpful to recognize some of the ethical complexities that are at stake.

More significantly, career professionals need to think about the consequences of surveillance for their clients. Platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook can be used by recruiters to screen candidates. This can lead to individuals being assessed based on their beliefs, their politics, their social life or even aspects of their identity such as their gender, age or ethnicity. Importantly, digital technology enables this discrimination. Though this discrimination is not created by technology, it can make it harder to combat and counter.

Read more on CERIC’s CareerWise website:
Canada’s lack of digital accessibility is robbing its workforce of resilient talent
How virtual reality is transforming career development
The role of career practitioners changes as recruiters turn to social media

Radical ethics

Radical career guidance looks at how careers practice can engage with transforming and changing society. This argues that ethics does not just involve avoiding negative actions, but includes proactive positive actions to make the world more ethical. We can see the influence of the internet as a place to engage with social change in examples from outside of the world of career guidance, such as the Arab Spring or the #MeToo movements.

The internet can allow individuals to develop relationships and access information that they would not have had access to before. People are often bound by their family backgrounds and their locations when it comes to accessing career-related support and information. The internet has the potential to transform what individuals can access and make use of for their careers. Career practitioners can pursue ethical agendas by helping clients make use of the internet to overcome disadvantages they might face.

From a more radical point of view, the internet can also create spaces where careers work can engage with issues that might improve individuals’ working lives, such as highlighting poor conditions, unethical working practices or discriminatory recruitment policies. The internet can spread stories and allow people with shared interests to network and organize around issues. Career practitioners should think through how they can develop skills to support these sorts of activities or equip their clients to do the same.

In conclusion, these three positions create different but overlapping starting points for individuals approaching how the internet and ethics interact within career development.

Tom Staunton is a Lecturer in Career Development with the International Centre for Guidance Studies based at the University of Derby. His main teaching and research interests are career guidance theory, technology and career guidance, use of LMI and social justice. 

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Infographic: CERIC 2019 Survey of Career Service Professionals

February 4, 2020By

View PDF here: CERIC 2019 Survey of Career Service Professionals

Plain text below image.

infographic. text below image

CERIC 2019 Survey of Career Service Professionals

 What is the highest level of education you have completed?

  • Some high school 0.1%
  • High school diploma or GED 1.7%
  • CEGEP/College certificate/diploma 18.2%
  • Bachelor’s degree 41.3%
  • Master’s degree 35.3%
  • Doctoral degree 3.3%

What is your gross (before deductions) annual salary or income?

  • Up to $25,000 1.7%
  • $25,001 to $40,000 9.1%
  • $40,001 to $55,000 25.6%
  • $55,001 to $70,000 20.7%
  • $70,001 to $85,000 14.4%
  • $85,001 to $100,000 8.3%
  • $100,001 or more 6.8%

How many years have you worked in career development?

  • Less than 1 year 5.3%
  • 1 to 4 years 18.7%
  • 5 to 10 years 23.6%
  • 11 to 20 years 29.8%
  • More than 20 years 20.6%
  • Not applicable 1.9%

Thinking about your career, where do you see yourself in five years? (Top three responses)

  • Likely to be in a similar position/role within the same organization 33.5%
  • Working in a more senior position within the same organization 19.3%
  • Retired 11.1%

How much time per month would you typically spend on formal professional development?

  • < 1 hour 29.9%
  • 1 to 3 hours 38.0%
  • 4 to 6 hours 18.5%
  • 7 hours 13.6%

What is your yearly personal professional development budget as provided by your employer?

  • No budget provided 26.7%
  • < $500 21.6%
  • $500 to $1,000 19.5%
  • $1,001 to $2,000 8.6%
  • $2,001 to $3,000 5.3%
  • $3,001 2.9%
  • Not applicable 15.3%

What three topics would you most like to see career development-related research focus on?

  • Practices, approaches, techniques or tools used in career counselling/development
  • Labour market information
  • Mental health and career development

In the past few years, do you feel the public’s perception of the value of career service professionals has:

  • Improved 30.6%
  • Worsened 5.2%
  • Not changed 40.9%
  • Unsure 23.3%

When contemplating the next step in their careers, are Canadians that you advise mostly stressed about …

  • Fearful of AI/automation and what that means for their job prospects 3.2%
  • Uncertain of strengths/interests and anxious about making the right career decision 45.3%
  • Concerned about their ability to find decent-paying work 49.4%
  • Unclear about how to get a promotion or move up in their field 2.1%

What issues or challenges have you encountered or foresee encountering in hiring people with appropriate skills?

  • “There are not enough people with the appropriate skills.”
  • “Most candidates have limited counselling skills for working with marginalized, multi-barriered clients.”
  • “Difficult to attract qualified and experienced people with the compensation package offered.”

1,350 career service professionals completed the survey. The online survey took place from November 1 to November 29, 2019. For more information, visit ceric.ca/surveys

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Principles in Action: Environmental supports key to students’ self-directed career success

February 4, 2020By
Students should be the drivers of their learning and career planning, but that doesn’t mean they have to do it alone

Libby West

With a goal of bringing greater clarity and consistency to our national conversations about career development, CERIC developed a set of “Guiding Principles of Career Development” that have been enthusiastically embraced across Canada. These eight Guiding Principles are intended as a starting point to inform discussions with clients, employers, funders, policy-makers and families. Each issue of Careering features a Guiding Principle “in action,” exploring how a career professional is applying a Principle in practice. CERIC has recently released six Action Plans based on the Guiding Principles that provide any professional who delivers career supports with starter questions, practical interventions and fun exercises to apply with different client groups.

Guiding Principles: Career development should be self-directed. An individual is responsible for his or her own career, but is not alone – we all influence and are influenced by our environment. ceric.ca/principles

Staring at a mountain of colourful crafting supplies during a professional development activity, I was tasked with visually answering the question, “What is your greatest hope for student learning?” I settled on painting as my medium and the image of a strong, healthy tree came to mind, representing our students at the University of Toronto, full of knowledge and strength. I hadn’t intentionally planned the background I chose for my image: bright blue skies and lush green grass. However, through our post-reflection exercise, a colleague drew attention to it and we had a great discussion about the environment in which our students are meant to thrive, as well our role in shaping it.

Emphasizing student agency

This metaphor really resonates with this particular CERIC Guiding Principle of Career Development and one of the main programs in my portfolio. I am part of a large team at the University of Toronto that co-ordinates Work Study, which makes available 4,500 paid, on-campus positions that provide an opportunity for students to deepen their knowledge, strengthen their skills and explore how their academic studies translate to career possibilities.

At Career Exploration & Education, we have a set of values that underpin all of our programming – one of which is student agency. For us, agency (a synonym for self-direction) means ensuring the student is the driver of their learning; we want to meet students where they’re at and not make assumptions about their level of prior learning/experience and their needs.

Previously, our education-delivery model for Work Study was workshop-based. However, we recognized that not all students want to learn in that manner, need to learn that exact content or are available to attend in-person sessions. Students can be trusted with deciding what works for them, given they’ve been provided the necessary context to make an informed decision. In addition to the in-person sessions, we developed a series of self-directed resources for students (eModule Series and Professional Development Workbook) that provide the necessary structure to support their learning without dictating exactly what or how they should be learning.

Don’t miss our past Principles in Action articles:
Elementary career education equips students to navigate complex world of work
Change is inevitable in career development. Fear of it shouldn’t be
Embracing external influences to help guide career exploration

Building an environment for success

Although students have access to resources to support their professional development through Work Study, this alone is not sufficient. As the tree metaphor highlighted, we can’t expect a tree to thrive without the necessary sunshine, water and nutrient-dense soil. Similarly, it’s unfair to students to hold the belief that they’re solely responsible for their career success – the environment we as educators and practitioners can help shape significantly affects students’ career development. It is for this reason we developed training and resources for Work Study supervisors to highlight the importance and impact of supporting their students’ professional development through the setting of learning goals and reflection on those goals.

Attending to both self-directed resources and students’ learning environment has been essential to creating the necessary experience critical to students’ future employability; research shows that it’s not the duration of a work-integrated learning experience that best predicts future employability, but rather, the presence and quality of the structured learning support (Smith et al., 2014).

The impact of this approach has been significant. In April 2019, we administered a survey to Work Study students in the 2018-2019 program period and had 727 students respond.

Students were asked to check off which of the following activities they completed: set learning goals, mid-point check-in, final reflection or none of the above. A new independent variable was then created, grouping students who completed all three steps as one group and students who responded “none of the above” as the comparison group.

“… the environment we as educators and practitioners can help shape significantly affects students’ career development.”

Students who completed the three key steps were, on average, 26% more likely to “strongly agree” with the following statements compared to students who indicated they received “none of the above”’ learning support from their supervisors (each statistically significant using t-test analysis at the .05 level):

  • My work study position provided me with meaningful work experience
  • I feel better prepared for future opportunities
  • I gained a better appreciation of the concepts I learned in the classroom and their application to employment
  • I strengthened my knowledge and technical skills in areas related to my field of study
  • My Work Study position gave me a better idea of the type of career/work experience I want to pursue (or avoid) in the future
  • I felt involved and well-utilized at my job
  • I increased my awareness of my skills and/or strengths

Students were able to articulate the valuable impact of directing their learning in a supportive environment: “Setting goals and a mid-point check-in helped clarify expectations and keep me on track,” one student said. “Gaining feedback from my supervisor on my individual strengths and areas I can work to improve was also very helpful for my personal growth and career development.” Without the support of their supervisor, this student could have still set learning goals and worked toward them. However, they were really able to maximize their professional development because of the support and insights they received from their supervisor. This balance of self-directed learning with the necessary environmental supports is key to students’ career success.

Further considerations for a self-directed approach

Fundamental to this CERIC Guiding Principle of Career Development, students’ career development will always be a balance of their desires, actions taken and the environment they are navigating. Our Work Study program highlights the impact of self-directed resources and a supportive learning environment; however, the impact of the environment on students’ career paths goes far beyond our programming. From a social equity perspective, it is highly unfair to believe that given the same set of self-directed actions, all students have equal access to career opportunities; the levels of social and cultural capital, critical to academic success and employment, can vary drastically in marginalized groups (Bourdieu, 1986). For instance, people of colour who choose not to “whiten” their resume are significantly less likely to be called for a job interview, even by employers with organizational diversity statements on their website (Kang et al., 2016). As career practitioners, particularly those of us working at large institutions, we need to help shape the larger environment, be cautious of the language we use when talking about self-direction and responsibility, and consider these factors when developing our programming and resources.

Libby West has been a vocal advocate of the value of Work Study at the University of Toronto for the last three years in her role as Lead Co-ordinator, Peer and Work Integrated Learning Programs – working to update and create the resources necessary to ensure that students are gaining the maximum employment, personal and academic benefit from their Work Study.

References

Bourdieu, P. (1986) The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (New York, Greenwood), 241-258.

Kang, S., DeCelles, K., Tilcsik, A., & Jun, S. (2016) Whitened Resumes: Race and Self-Presentation in the Labor Market. Administrative Science Quarterly. 61(3)469–502.

Smith, C., Ferns, S., Russell, L., & Cretchley, P. (2014). The Impact of Work-integrated Learning on Student Work-readiness: Final Report, Curtin University of Technology, LSN Teaching Development Unit.

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Ethics in practice: A dynamic process in an era of career development professionalization

February 4, 2020By
Examining the ethical codes that guide Canadian career professionals and how to navigate ethical dilemmas in practice

Cassie Taylor and Roberta Neault

As career development is not yet a regulated profession outside of Quebec, formal career development training is not mandated throughout most of Canada, nor does it abide by a specific ethical code. With a current, co-ordinated national push led by the Canadian Council for Career Development (CCCD) toward professionalization, a cohesive definition of scope of practice, competencies and ethical practice is emerging. In the interim, five provinces (BC, Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) offer voluntary “certification” which, in most cases, requires a 10-hour ethics course. However, in the complex contexts within which today’s career development professionals (CDPs) work, navigating ethical dilemmas can be tricky.

In this article, we will introduce several ethical codes that guide Canadian CDPs. To illustrate key practice points, the ethical decision-making model will be applied to a case vignette, concluding with 10 tips for ethical practice.

Snapshot of career development codes of ethics

Some professional associations have adopted the existing Code of Ethics from the Canadian Standards & Guidelines for Career Development Practitioners (S&Gs, 2004), while others have customized their own. Here are some of the similarities and differences between codes.

Canadian Standards & Guidelines for Career Development Practitioners (S&Gs) Code of Ethics

The S&Gs Code of Ethics is the most comprehensive code for Canadian CDPs, comprising ethical principles for professional competency and conduct, career development practitioner-client relationships and professional relationships. Each principle is sub-divided into ethical constructs, which are described in detail. The code includes a four-step ethical decision-making model to guide CDPs in effectively navigating ethical dilemmas.

The Career Development Practitioners Certification Board of Ontario (CDPCBO, 2015) and New Brunswick Career Development Association (NBCDA, 2018) have adopted this code, as have some jurisdictions where voluntary certification is not yet in place (eg, Manitoba Association for Career Development, n.d.).

Nova Scotia Career Development Association (NSCDA)

The NSCDA (2013) CDP competency framework includes references to the Career Professionals of Canada’s (CPC, 2019) Standards & Ethics, briefly outlining 10 high-level ethical concepts derived from the S&Gs. Although CPC’s simplicity may be desirable, multiple relations and conflict of interest could be addressed in greater detail.

BC Career Development Association (BCCDA)

BCCDA’s (2019) brief Code of Ethics outlines 13 ethical guidelines; however, several concepts aren’t addressed, including marketing, information and communication technology. However, BCCDA does specifically reference skills related to training and instruction, whereas the S&Gs more broadly refer to knowledge/skills/competencies.

Career Development Association of Alberta (CDAA)

CDAA’s (2018) very brief Code of Ethics outlines four key guiding principles (eg, only do good, integrity). Although the introduction provides good context (ie, defines purpose and references CDAA’s vision, mission and values), it does not include detailed ethical strategies and doesn’t fully address professional relationships.

Institute of Career Certification International (ICCI)

Canadian CDPs may also look to international sources. ICCI’s (n.d.) Code of Ethical Practice identifies 13 statements of what professionals should do and specific examples of actions to avoid (eg, not hiring employees of customers, respecting copyright law). Although it covers a wide set of principles, professional relationships don’t seem to be fully developed.

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Ethical decision-making in practice

Although familiarizing oneself with ethical codes is important, codes don’t provide clear-cut answers and principles may contradict each other. Examining a case scenario is helpful to illustrate this complex process.

Your client is looking for volunteer positions – she needs new references after she was abruptly let go from her job in the finance sector after being accused of questionable bookkeeping practices. Although charges were never filed, she hasn’t explicitly disputed the accusations with you. She now wants to work with youth. You volunteer with the Girl Guides of Canada and know they always need help. She’s excited about that possibility and mentions her background would suit the vacant role of treasurer.

Using the scenario above, the four-step ethical decision-making model (S&Gs, 2014) may reveal the following:

  1. Recognize that an ethical dilemma exists.

Even though you don’t know the accusations are true, the client’s desire to get involved with finances makes you nervous. You don’t want to refer her and risk damaging your relationship with the Girl Guides of Canada.

  1. Identify the relevant ethical issues, all of the parties involved and the corresponding pertinent ethical principles from the Code of Ethics.
  • 1g Respect for Persons – Are you respecting your client’s career direction desires?
  • 2a Integrity/Honest/Objectivity – Is your client being honest? Are you being objective?
  • 2b Confidentiality – Should you share the accusations with the Girl Guides?
  • 2e Multiple Relations – How will you manage your own role as a volunteer?
  • 2f Conflict of Interest – Should you be making referrals at all?
  1. Examine the risks and benefits of each alternative action
  • A: Ask client if accusations are true – Risk: damage working alliance / Benefit: deepened understanding of client
  • B: Make the referral – Risk: damage relationship with Girl Guides / Benefit: support client’s goals
  • C: Do not make the referral – Risk: sabotage client’s goals and damage working alliance / Benefit: maintain relationship with Girl Guides
  • D: Suggest alternatives – Risk: sabotage client’s goals and damage working alliance / Benefit: maintain relationships with Girl Guides
  1. Choose a solution, take action and evaluate the results.

You decide to suggest alternative volunteer positions. To maintain the working alliance, you don’t want to demand details; however, you do advise that employers will likely want to know what happened and you can help her in crafting that message. You work collaboratively with the client to identify multiple sites with volunteering opportunities and help her evaluate the pros and cons as they relate to her career goal (eg, getting involved with the Girl Guides finances may not align well with supporting youth). You maintain your personal relationships with the Girl Guides by not referring someone who may not be a good fit.

Pause and reflect. Consider this same scenario and the ethical code – what else may be relevant here?

10 tips for ethical practice for CDPs

Maintaining ethical practice is complex; however, the following tips (Life Strategies, n.d.) can provide some useful strategies for navigating the murky waters.

  1. Understand the importance of ethical practice
  2. Review relevant ethical codes
  3. Ensure codes are put into action
  4. Make ethics dynamic
  5. Be proactive
  6. Recognize ethical dilemmas
  7. Follow an ethical decision-making model
  8. Acknowledge shades of grey
  9. Take action
  10. Engage in professional development

With the continued push toward professionalization, ethical practice is primed to take on greater importance for CDPs and CDP educators/employers. Be ready by making ethical practice a priority now.

Cassie Taylor, BAA, Manager of Life Strategies, provides support for ethics-related course/workshop development and writing projects.

Dr Roberta Neault, CCC, CCDP, GCDFi, President of Life Strategies and award-winning professional, writes, speaks and consults extensively on ethical practice. She develops/instructs ethical courses for CDPs, counsellors-in-training and practicing counsellors.

References

British Columbia Career Development Association (BCCDA). (2019). Code of ethics. Retrieved from bccda.org/membership/code-of-ethics

Canadian Standards & Guidelines for Career Development Practitioners (S&Gs). (2004). Code of ethics. Retrieved from bit.ly/2EgHPAC

Career Development Association of Alberta (CDAA). (2018). Retrieved from careerdevelopment.ab.ca/ethics/

Career Development Practitioners Certification Board of Ontario (CDPCBO). (2015). Ethics. Retrieved cdpcbo.org/certification/ontario/ethics/

Career Professionals of Canada (CPC). (2019). Standards and ethics. Retrieved from careerprocanada.ca/about/cpc-standards-ethics/

Institute of Career Certification International (ICCI). (n.d.). Code of ethical practice. Retrieved from careercertification.org/codeofethics

Life Strategies (n.d.). 10 tips for ethical practice. Retrieved from bit.ly/2rHLK6Z

Manitoba Association for Career Development (MACD). (n.d.). Ethics. Retrieved from bit.ly/36vyPnf

New Brunswick Career Development Association (NBCDA). (2018). Code of ethics. Retrieved nbcdag-gadcnb.ca/

Nova Scotia Career Development Association (NSCDA). (2013). Nova Scotia career development practitioner’s core competency profile. Retrieved from bit.ly/2Pgm7mK

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Career development and mental health: How can I practise ethically?

February 4, 2020By
Career practitioners can help generate positive mental health outcomes for clients without overstepping professional boundaries

Michael Huston and Dave Redekopp

There is an important premise with respect to the ethical implications of practising career development with mental health awareness: Whether intended or not, career development intervention brings about positive mental health outcomes. The focus of this perspective is on career development intervention as a booster of mental health – a state of well-being – and not as an intervention for mental illness, which is associated with distress and impaired functioning (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2015). This idea isn’t completely new, but it is rapidly gaining interest from a wide range of stakeholders including career development practitioners. This article will share some of the discoveries that informed our recently released, CERIC-supported book, Strengthening Mental Health Through Effective Career Development: A Practitioner’s Guide. This book was developed based on extensive literature research and on feedback from front-line career development practitioners in Canada and Australia.

Implications of practising with mental health awareness
Strengthening Mental Health Through Effective Career Development book
This publication is available for free download at ceric.ca/cdmh.

Our day-to-day activities change very little when practising with mental health awareness. The awareness implicates us and our profession in doing more to understand the issues and evidence and to communicate this information to our clients and stakeholders. We will continue to perform our career development work as we always have, except:

  1. We will be aware of the mental health impact of our work, and
  2. We will communicate the evidence about the positive mental health outcomes associated with career development.

The consultations leading to this book provided opportunities to hear practitioners’ reactions to the idea of career development intervention as a support for positive mental health. The most common fears we heard were related to competence and ethical practice, and the possibility of overstepping boundaries. Practitioners highlighted the following areas of concern:

  • You identify as a career development practitioner responsible for creating career development outcomes. You have not thought about mental health outcomes as part of your work. This idea is new, and it forces you to reconsider your professional identity and integrate different thinking about your work and its impact.
  • You are careful in all your work to not dabble in “personal counselling” and you therefore steer your clients away from talking about their personal concerns. Perhaps you have encountered an expert discussing how it is critical for career development practitioners to stay in the “career box” and leave personal content to other professionals.
  • Your employer reminds you of the clear separation between your role and responsibilities as a career development practitioner and those of a mental health practitioner. These reminders are common in institutions that provide separate career development and mental health services.
  • Your profession has not emphasized the mental health benefits of career development intervention. You have not had opportunities to learn how to integrate mental health outcomes in your practice. This area is new for most of us. Until recently, content addressing the positive mental health impact of our work hadn’t been included in education, professional development or practice guidelines for career development practitioners.
  • You recognize you are not qualified to work with mental illness concerns. Even though you recognize and understand the difference between mental illness and positive mental health, when you hear the words “mental health,” you, like most of us, automatically think of mental illness. Your training and professional experience have led you to steer clear of addressing “mental health” in your work.

More on mental health on CERIC’s CareerWise website:
Overwhelm and burnout – what’s the difference?
What it means to consider trauma within career development
To put youth on path to well-being, we need to talk to them about careers

What are we to do?

With the above experiences in mind, concerns about overstepping make sense. What do we need to do to ethically practice with mental health awareness? Our understanding of career development as mental health intervention will expand considerably over the next few years. Here are some of the ways career development practitioners and our profession will be affected by integrating mental health awareness in career development practice:

Knowledge and skills – Practicing with mental health awareness implicates career development practitioners in establishing:

  • an understanding of the evidence base supporting career development as a contributor to positive mental health,
  • a basic understanding of mental health and mental illness (not as psychiatric experts), and
  • skills for sharing this information with clients and other stakeholders.

Self-improvement – Practitioners and the field adapt to new information.

  • Career development practitioners are committed to considering, learning and integrating new evidence.
  • Our profession provides opportunities for professional development in the evidence about career development and mental health.

Boundaries of competence – Career development practitioners are clear that:

  • their focus is on career development, and
  • mental health and illness concerns are the professional domain of health-care professionals, but that doesn’t mean practitioners cannot discuss the mental health outcomes associated with career development.

Marketing – Evidence about career development and mental health outcomes is growing.

  • Practitioners are implicated in knowing the meaning of evidence and communicating it accurately.

Integrity, honesty, objectivity – Career development practitioners are accountable for providing accurate information to clients and therefore must know:

  • generally about mental health and have some understanding of mental health/illness concerns, and
  • the evidence well enough to communicate it accurately and clearly so clients can make informed decisions.

Confidentiality and private information – Sharing mental health benefits will lead to more conversations about mental health and mental illness.

  • Career development practitioners are clear and explicit about limits of confidentiality.
  • Private information is shared only with client permission.

Informed consent – Mental health benefits are and will increasingly be an “expected” outcome of career development intervention.

  • Career development practitioners are explicit and accurate about the nature of their services and their limitations.

Consultation – Working with mental health awareness will lead to more conversations about mental health and mental illness.

  • To ensure client needs are addressed, career development practitioners may at times need to consult with colleagues and other professionals.

Respect for other professionals – Many other professionals interact with the clients of career development practitioners.

  • Career development practitioners are clear about their own competence.
  • Intervention with mental health concerns and mental illness is properly the domain of other professionals.
  • Career development professionals refer as necessary.
  • Career development professionals have relationships with other professionals and organizations as well as other potential referral resources.

In this article, you will have noticed a few recurrent key ideas. The fundamentals of our work haven’t changed by adding mental health awareness and, even if we change nothing, we will still be creating positive mental health outcomes for our clients. However, we can be intentional and improve these outcomes by learning more about mental health and its relationship to career development. The new guide is, we hope, a good start to understanding the evidence and how to use it to support your career development practice. 

Michael Huston is a Counsellor and Associate Professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary. His research and work focus on counsellor training, career intervention strategies and outcomes, career development as mental health intervention, stress and coping, and work and well-being.

Dave Redekopp is President of Life-Role Development Group in Edmonton. Working for over 30 years in the wide-ranging career development field, he is still curious about worker-workplace relationships, work-life connections, psychological health, the quirkiness of human behaviour and more.

References

Public Health Agency of Canada. (2019). Mental illness. Retrieved from canada.ca/en/public-health/services/chronic-diseases/mental-illness.html

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