Career Guidance...What do you believe?

The topic of career guidance has been on my mind for quite some time. However, the last few years have seen me becoming ever more vocal about increasing the quality of guidance that young people are offered in secondary schooling. Why? As a parent and a practitioner, I am conscious that encouraging young people to be ready for their future involves preparing them for the career journey. The career choices young people make today will likely influence their future quality of life. In my interviews with professionals worldwide, I recognise that an individual's career will impact the quality of their life. For example, in my discussions with guests who either retired or wanted to retire, stories of regrets and the wishes that they could have been given better guidance as a teenager indicated that one's career choices can positively and negatively impact one's outlook on life.

The concept of career guidance is a complex one. Researchers such as Robertson et al., (2021) discuss the complexities of career guidance. In addition, my experiences as a school career coach and an independent career consultant have shown me that not all career guidance for students is the same. For example, when speaking with counsellors, teachers and school leaders, some may consider career guidance to be preparing a student for post-secondary education such as a university. Whereas for others, such as employers and talent finders, career guidance is much more complex and not limited to a student's academic study. Career guidance is debatable, and the onus is yet to be agreed upon by professionals, researchers, parents, students and employers. However, researchers can agree that career guidance is a complex process but have yet to find a globally agreed-upon consensus. As I ponder the necessity of career guidance consensus, I ask myself, who wins if a student receives career guidance? The student? The parent? The future employer? Furthermore, if consensus is possible, how does one unwrap the complexities to ensure that all students are prepared for future employment? For the context of this article, I will not define career guidance because I want to hear what you think it should be. As you share your career guidance perspectives, our combined voices can begin the process of supporting the youth with career readiness. However, it is not enough to define career guidance without including the initiatives one believes are essential to ensure that a young person is ready to gain employment in the future. In addition, a competitive labour market that increases their likelihood of earning an income that can provide a healthy quality of life that should also include their satisfaction with their chosen career, which does not leave them at the poverty levels that many university graduates face today, as described by Godden and DeLuca (2021).

This article aimed to inspire your curiosity and encourage you to reflect on the career guidance your children or students are currently receiving. I want to tap into your career journey. Did your career guidance help or hinder your progression? Did it make it easier, or did it challenge you? You may have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into your child's schooling as a parent. However, did you invest that money hoping that your child would 'just wing it' in their future career, or did you assume that high-quality education would give your daughter/son a better career outlook?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Do you believe that career guidance is essential to a young person's future career success? If so, how do you define career guidance, and what can we do better to prepare young people for their future careers?

References:

Godden, L., & DeLuca, C. (2021). Policies to enhance transitions into work: A case?study in Canada. In Young Adult Development at the School-to-Work Transition: International Pathways and Processes. (pp. 172–201). London, UK: Oxford University Press.

Robertson, P. J., Hooley, T., & McCash, P. (2021). The Oxford Handbook of Career Development. Amsterdam University Press.