Great expectations and misunderstandings of the career guidance and development profession

I read something online last week about careers advice in schools where the writer stated they felt that careers advisers weren’t very good at what they do, have no ‘real-world’ experience, and should be replaced by professionals from specific sectors. They felt it was they who should be ‘telling’ young people what they should be doing to get into a certain career. As a career guidance professional myself, I found this viewpoint really interesting given it was such a general sweeping statement (with an added eye-roll at the use of ‘telling’). Then, post gin and tonic, it got me thinking about the profession which I have loved and continue to be passionate about since the day I entered into it from said ‘real-world’ (how ironic). I thought about how much the profession has changed and continues to grow and evolve, from the age-old image it can’t seem to shake off in some people’s eyes.

Careers advice or the term ‘careers adviser’ really does get a bad rap sometimes. For many people, this stigma is well deserved, based on the ‘bad’ careers advice they received 20 or 30 years ago at school, college, university etc (myself included). We do tend to form judgements based on our previous experiences. Then we may go round telling people how rubbish something is based on said experience (or someone else’s experience), and this is natural. But jobs and professions do evolve. The career guidance (or more recently career development) profession is no exception, and has come some way from the traditional image of the lonesome and staid careers adviser sitting in an office telling students to complete a questionnaire to tell them what they should be doing with their life (I remember at school mine came out with ‘car mechanic’ ??).

I don’t think anyone would argue with the need for good and effective careers advice and guidance. There is no dispute that careers support could be improved at various stages of education, and which is massively affected by some of the structural and policy issues in England (e.g. funding, resources, priority levels for careers support, pressure due to institutional targets and employment outcomes etc). There are also examples of good and bad practice in many professions, and career guidance is no different in this. However, the purpose of my musings here is really wanting to give my own personal take from a number of years in this sector, to consider the key role that trained career guidance and development professionals play as part of a wider career education process (the ‘guidance’ bit I feel tends to be a bit misunderstood sometimes). It’s probably partly our fault, maybe we don’t speak out enough about what we do and may be that’s on us.

Most careers professionals I come across (and I’ve come across a fair few as a careers consultant and as someone who now teaches careers professionals) who train in career guidance and coaching, come with wide and varied career experiences of their own. I came from recruitment, but I’ve seen HR, education specialists, scientists, engineering and counselling professionals to name just a few, move into career guidance and development roles in a range of settings. This experience brings great value and knowledge of the culture and practice within certain career sectors and organisations. It can bring labour market intelligence, and other professional contacts which can be leveraged in facilitating careers education, and to help students (or other clients) to move forward and take steps in their career.

The view that industry professionals should be providing careers advice, is something I personally agree with. If you take the ‘I’ and ‘A’ bit of Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG), the employer view is crucial. They give the insight into companies and sectors where careers professionals simply do not have the level and depth of knowledge. They can provide the gateway in which work experience and paid employment can become accessible to a student or career changer. They can offer advice about recruitment stages. Career guidance and development professionals often act as the key lynchpin in this process. They build their knowledge of the labour market, key sector issues and challenges, learn about employers and recruitment practice, and leverage their networks to work collaboratively with a range of professionals to connect them with the very people they are supporting. I’ve seen amazing examples of this in practice across schools, colleges and universities, and this can be transformative for students or clients when done well.

Individual sector professionals may be able to explain to a room full of students a route into their company, or offer advice and tips on the application or interview process. However they may not have all of the up-to-date knowledge of educational or training routes into a specific profession. Again that’s where an effective career guidance or development professional comes in. They can facilitate careers education to provide a more objective view of a range of routes into employment for their students. Whether done through working one-to-one, or through careers education in the classroom and collaborating with a range of employers, this can provide a balanced view of available career entry options and available opportunities.

Where a sector professional can offer their advice in a classroom, it is usually based on the individual’s subjective experience. This is great, and is very much needed. But this is only one part of the process of CEIAG. They won’t typically sit with each student individually. They won’t get to actively listen to each student and unpick their layers of psychological barriers preventing them from moving forward with their career plans based on their previous experience or personal circumstances. They won’t typically discuss all other options available to individual students, and explore with them whether or how the student may pursue them on a practical level. If a professional has had a positive experience in terms of their work and career trajectory, they will naturally have a bias towards their profession/route etc. Again this subjective viewpoint is crucial to careers education. But this is also where effective impartial career guidance and coaching with a trained professional comes in, which to me underpins the whole process of careers education, information, advice and guidance.

To hold space for students, allow them to tell their stories when they may never have done so, and through the use of techniques of guidance and coaching (the ‘G’ bit of CEIAG), this can facilitate them to move forward in their career planning. Career guidance or coaching professionals are trained in these skills which are employed when needed. In my opinion, when these are applied in a setting, it can really help students and clients to become ‘unstuck’ and gain clarity to take action. This is not to say career guidance should be ‘fluffy’ or vague. Not every student needs this depth of interaction. Career guidance and development professionals should be able to flex and move into providing more targeted and tailored practical advice regarding the job search and application process, and articulation of skills and experiences etc.

The role of career guidance and development professionals has evolved massively from the ‘old days’ and has become truly multi-faceted. The role has morphed into a mixture of trained guidance, coaching and counselling skills, and the requirement to understand the very complex nature of the students and clients careers professionals work with. In addition to this, consultancy and project management skills have become very important. Also the ability to understand careers education from a learning and teaching perspective for incorporation into the student curriculum is increasingly in demand (especially in higher education). The ability to build networks of professionals at varying levels of seniority across a range of employment sectors is key, for the purposes of facilitating and connecting the people they support, with the world of work. Add to this, the need for up-to-date labour market intelligence; what sectors are recruiting and where, as well as employer requirements and recruitment processes.

There is no doubt that the career development and guidance profession needs improvement, for example in some cases, addressing training and upskilling needs in a constantly evolving landscape, and where there are wider political and financial issues which hamper, or which can even dilute its impact, across all levels of education and various settings. Also in my view careers professionals should never stagnate and should actively endeavour to grow, learn, develop and adapt themselves according to the changes in the sectors in which they are working, and to constantly look for ways to improve their practice. Career guidance and development professionals also need all the other key stakeholders in the CEIAG process (employers, teachers, academics etc), and vice versa. Each brings something different and valuable to facilitating the career development of the very people they are supporting. As the role of a career guidance and development professional continues to evolve, I think they can continue to add massive value to the lives of the individuals they support.