#TheWeekInCareers - Episode 22

Welcome to?#TheWeekinCareers! If you are a first-time reader (and congratulations if so, you are now part of a 1700+ strong community!), this newsletter is my attempt at summarising some of the key?#Careers-related news from across the?#Careersphere?each week, along with some of the talking points I feel are worthy of further debate amongst the?#Careers?community! So, without further ado, on to the news!

What sort of careers professional are you, anyway? ??

As careers professionals, we regularly speak with clients (and each other!) about the importance of self-reflection (both personally and in terms of our practice) but when work schedules become packed, this can often be one of the easiest things to drop from our to-do lists, as it requires both time and thinking space. With this in mind, Chris Targett RCDP and the good folks at CXK have developed a handy tool for accurately and regularly reflecting on our careers practice, which they are kindly gifting freely to the global career development community!

The core concept of the CXK Reflective Practice Tool for Careers Practitioners lies in helping careers professionals understand the different aspects of our careers practice that we may tap into during our work with clients - these focus areas, or 'loci', may be used to different extents in each careers intervention depending on the needs of the client, and span the following four categories:

I. Information – foundation building.

A. Advice – providing direction.

C. Counselling – self-insight building.

Co. Coaching – goal setting and motivation boosting.

By considering our main focus areas (or 'loci') during our careers practice, we are able to establish a better understanding of our approach to working with clients and how we identify our role as a careers professional e.g. Careers Counsellor, Careers Coach, Careers Adviser, Careers Information Specialist etc. Naturally, our approach may shift depending on the type of clients we are working with and the context we are working in but the tool is designed to help us develop greater self-awareness of when and where this can happen and to encourage us to consider not just how this may impact our work with clients but also how we might describe ourselves to clients in a way that accurately reflects the support we provide - a topical consideration, given the current dialogue within the #Careers sector around how we socialise what careers work is with external stakeholders.

So, how do I use the tool?

Fortunately, using the tool is extremely straightforward! I've had a go myself this week, using the following breakdown provided on the CXK website:

• Following a session with a client, add the percentage of time you felt you spent within each locus, to build a visualisation in the pie chart of your practice (it doesn’t have to be exact).
• Consider the pros and cons of the results, as you reflect on your practice in the additional narrative fields.
• Save a copy of each reflection in a safe place, to build a library of reflections to inform your practice.

My Experience

I road-tested the tool this week during one of my guidance appointments with a 1st year university undergraduate student, who was interested in changing their degree course and had previously seen a colleague of mine within the university's careers service around November 2022 but had not really followed up on much of what they had discussed. On reflection, it felt like the first half of the appointment had a strong bias towards counselling/guidance, as I encouraged the student to peel back their rationale for wanting to change course and why they felt they hadn't taken this further since they originally discussed this as a possibility, with the second half of the appointment taking much more of an information/advice/coaching orientation as we re-contracted and agreed on what the student felt they needed to consider in order to move forward.

The process of reflecting on the four areas and considering the pros and cons of my approach to this particular careers intervention was extremely useful and really highlighted to me that my approach as a practitioner tends to follow a pattern of 'initial guidance/exploration' followed by a 'summarising/re-contracting phase' and then a 'bias to action' stage, which incorporates more of the information/advice/coaching aspects of my practice. I'm not sure I had ever taken the time to really look at my practice in this way previously and it has raised a number of CPD considerations for me, not least the need to be more aware of this pattern in future careers interventions, in order to ensure I do not fall into rote routines of careers delivery and approach each client from the perspective of tailoring my practice to their needs, rather than tailoring their situation to how I might feel comfortable working with them.

The main benefit I found with the tool was that it challenged me to be much broader with my reflective thinking regarding how I approached the aforementioned careers intervention. I find it is sometimes tempting to analyse 1:1 appointments through the narrower lens of 'Guidance vs Direction' (e.g. was I supporting the client to explore options and discover potential solutions themselves or moving too quickly to giving advice?) but the tool forced me to consider other aspects of my careers practice that I brought to this particular intervention, particularly coaching (which, on reflection, I have been using more since starting a Coaching and Mentoring course through the university), and how this might have been valuable or detrimental to the support I provided. I intend to continue using the tool on a more regular basis moving forward to reflect on my 1:1 appointments with clients and keep a record of the percentages I score myself based on the type of client/intervention, as a way of both capturing how my approach/practice changes in different contexts but also to build a clearer picture of how I see my role as a practitioner, whether that is more orientated to one or more of Counselling / Coaching / Information / Advice or if I see myself as more of a 'Pluralistic Practitioner' (which Chris Targett RCDP defines as 'a mixture of each without one prime locus').

The tool has been based on a model for practice called Orientations for Careers Work and developed with the support and feedback of other careers professionals ( Liane Hambly (she/her) , Dr Oliver Jenkin PGCE RCDP MNCPS (Acc.) FNICEC , Katherine Jennick RCDP , Vicki Love and Rosy Taylor RCDP), with the backing of the Career Development Institute in its use by both trainee careers professionals and experienced practitioners.

You can access the CXK Reflective Practice Tool for Careers Practitioners via the link below - if you have any feedback regarding the tool, please do drop Chris Targett RCDP a line!

#MyWeekInCareers Vol. 2 ??

It's time for another edition of #MyWeekInCareers! For those unfamiliar with this new segment, it's an opportunity to hear more about the day-to-day reality of careers work from different careers professionals delivering quality CEIAG with clients in a range of settings! This time around, we hear from Alyce Harris , another school-based careers professional with a seriously packed schedule!

Name:? Alyce Harris

School/Company: 5 Dimensions Trust?????

Position: Pathways and Employability Lead

Priorities for the week / Must do this week:

• Finalise plans for the Year 13 Apprenticeship Trip on Tuesday.
• Produce the new Pathways and Employability resources requested by the MFL team.
• Write the Newsletters for this half term.
• Send resources to Parents and colleagues for National Apprenticeship Week.
• Year 11 1:1 Pathways Guidance Meetings.
• Meetings with Subject Leaders regarding Careers in the Curriculum.
• Check on Year 9 Unifrog form time activities.
• Deadline for Year 11 Sixth Form applications.
• Send resources to Year 9 Progress Leaders for Form Tutor 1:1 pathways meetings.
• Move plans for Year 10 drop down day forward.
• Deadline for Year 10 Work Experience placements is approaching!
• National Apprenticeship Trips on the 15 and 16 March.
• Quality in Careers Standard.

Monday

Started the day by supporting our Year 9 Form Tutors with students' first day of Unifrog activities. Each form group had been allocated an IT room for the week and I had created 4 short PowerPoint presentations for Form Tutors to present.

I’d previously prepared a PowerPoint presentation with pre-recorded audio to celebrate National Apprenticeship Week and so I sent this out to our parents and carers across the Trust to provide information and raise awareness of apprenticeships.

Held 1:1 Year 11 Pathways Guidance meetings, which I really enjoy. Students have started updating me at movement times around the school about their progress, such as “Miss, I’ve applied for the college course!” as they are making their way to the canteen – must remember to make notes ??

I also met with a Year 11 student to help him prepare for an apprenticeship interview, it sounds like the interview went well, fingers crossed!

Caught up with our fantastic Work Experience Co-Ordinator to discuss the Year 10 programme. The deadline for students to hand in completed placement forms at Shenley Brook End School is Friday 3 February and so we spent some time identifying students who needed a little bit more support to get them over the line. Work Experience is such an important and valuable part of our students' pathway journey but it is also a huge administrative undertaking, it’s never a small task!

Tuesday

Had a great morning meeting with Year 11 students for 1:1 Pathways Guidance meetings. Panic had set in for a few as the deadline for the school’s Sixth Form applications was looming but it was great to help them make confident decisions about subject choices and next steps.

We headed over to a Careers Fair in the afternoon with Year 13 students from across the Trust and it was lovely to see colleagues from other schools, catch up with existing business contacts and meet new connections, the students enjoyed it too, so everyone was happy!

Wednesday

I spent time with colleagues discussing a group of Year 11 students who are at risk of being NEET. My headteacher told me that one of our parents has printed off their Pathway Action Plan and displayed it on the door of the family fridge as an aid to keep the student motivated and on track. Feedback like this means so much, let’s hope we can get the student successfully transitioned to post-16 education and training! ?

Held further Year 11 1:1 Pathway Guidance meetings and moved plans for the Year 10 drop down day in May forward.

Produced the resources requested for MFL and passed them to the Subject Leader.

Must move forward with the Quality in Careers Standard…

Thursday

I spend Thursday and Friday of each week based at our partner Trust school and managed to spend most of Thursday catching up, which was incredibly useful! Produced Pathways Action Plans and arranged meetings for next week. Managed to complete the trips paperwork for the visits to the National Apprenticeship Show in March.

Sent the resources for the Year 9 1:1 Form Tutor Pathways meetings to relevant Progress Leaders.

Arranged some further meetings with Subject Leaders regarding Careers in the Curriculum.

Also managed to meet with Finance regarding the payments for the Quality in Careers Standard and completed the self-assessment framework document so looks like we are good to go!

Almost there with the plans for Year 10 drop down day – we are going to take a whole year group out to different HE/FE providers in May so it’s basically ten trips on one day.

Occasionally, I really need a day like this, left school feeling positive and organised which is always a good sign!

Friday

Half termly Newsletter is ready to go, really thankful for my amazing colleagues in Reprographics who wave a Graphic Design wand to make it look fab.

The deadline for Year 10 Work Experience Forms is here! Will be great to catch up with colleagues at the end of the school day to review progress but also take a pause to celebrate everyone’s achievements in reaching this point of the programme.

Our Year 7 students at The Hazeley Academy had their first speed networking event this morning, which was amazing! I popped into the gym to see the event and there was a lovely buzz in the room, it was great to see!

The main focus of the day was 1:1 Pathways Guidance meetings with Year 11 students. I’m always so impressed with their focus and the research that they have undertaken when planning their next steps. It really reinforces that the whole school programme is working, and our students understand the education and training landscape, qualification levels, destination options and how to plan their pathway journey with confidence.

Reflections...

I absolutely love working within busy secondary schools but the unpredictable nature of working with students means that often my to-do list becomes disrupted by unplanned events. I have learnt to be as flexible as possible and plan far ahead with events and activities, but it is still tough to fit everything in and meet the needs of individual students. There are also so many fantastic opportunities available to schools regarding engagement with the world of work and the number of emails I receive daily offering opportunities and CEAIG products and services can be overwhelming at times. Even with the support of colleagues across the curriculum, we are unable to be involved in so many of these.

It’s great to put the half termly newsletters together as a reflection tool as it allows me to consider everything that has been achieved and take a pause before moving forward with the next stage of the academic year.

A massive thank you to Alyce Harris ?for being the latest member of the?#Careers?community to share her?Week in Careers?via the newsletter - it sounds as though your whole-school approach to CEIAG is really starting to pay dividends! ??

I am very keen to use this segment in the newsletter to highlight just how diverse the?#Careers?sector is in terms of job roles and the work that we do, so if you are interested in sharing your?Week in Careers?as part of a future newsletter, please just drop me a line! ??

From the Archives... ??

In all of the excitement of last week's #SoMuchMoreThanTalkingAboutJobs campaign, I realised that I had missed some brilliant content that was released to recognise Time to Talk Day, which took place on Thursday 2nd February and is all about bringing people together to talk, listen and start meaningful conversations around mental health. This then chimed with me again as I was co-delivering some alumni mentor training earlier this week, as we discussed the natural fluctuations in our mental health and how these can impact our mindset when entering into a coaching/mentoring intervention. I mentioned the brilliant work of Rob Stephenson? ?? and FormScore and the value of regularly reflecting on how we feel in order to normalise these fluctuations and it took me all the way back to an article I wrote for Medium/Now Then Magazine in the Summer of 2020, which expands upon the idea of Form Score and explores whether we might be able to effectively apply this concept from a career development perspective. I hope you find this a useful and topical stroll down (my) memory lane! ??

Is Your Career On Form?: Using 'Form Score' to track our relationship with work

Having spoken to many individuals over the past few months about how the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown has impacted them, both personally and professionally, a common response has often been that they have become more acutely aware of the importance of their own mental health and wellbeing.

As someone who has often been guilty in the past of neglecting their mental health on a professional level, I decided to use the month following Mental Health Awareness Week to start recording my 'form score' on a daily basis, a method of reflecting on your mental health championed by?Rob Stephenson, a prominent mental health campaigner and CEO of?Form Score. This was partly out of curiosity (I very rarely consider my mental health in relation to work), but also to see whether recently-observed phenomena like the 'coronacoaster' - the amplified ups and downs that have come with living through a pandemic - were genuinely having an impact on my life during lockdown.

I was surprised by the results. Having always considered myself as someone on a fairly even keel, whose mood doesn't alter greatly from day to day, the chart below depicts a spiky profile for my mental health over the course of the month, with relatively few consecutive days with the same score and a number of peaks and troughs brought on by a combination of the continued transition to remote working, a busy work schedule, and the stresses and strains of house hunting.

In addition to reaffirming for me that mental health is an ever-changing picture and not something that is just 'good' or 'bad' for extended periods of time - a key tenet of the form score concept, in my view - doing this also led me to some other reflections about how I manage my mental health at work.

• Despite considering myself a natural optimist, I recorded 'low form' or 'very low form' on a few occasions over the month. Typically, I would never describe myself as feeling this way, but by taking my form score one day at a time, I was able to be more honest about how I was feeling.
• The visualisation of the peaks and troughs I experienced over the month from May to June challenged my self-image as someone who always feels the same no matter what challenges I might be experiencing. Even relatively minor, short-term deprivation - like not being able to see friends and family - combined with the stress of adapting to new ways of working, has made me feel a deeper empathy to individuals who experience more pronounced struggles with their mental health regularly.
• By looking back at the full chart of my month's worth of form scores, I was able to visualise where I had felt most positive and negative and reflect on the factors that contributed to this. As an exercise, this has better equipped me to recognise when certain things are impacting on my mental health and prepared me to face them.

All of this got me to thinking. If recording my form score helped to enhance my self-awareness in relation to a professional and personal blind-spot - mental health and wellbeing - could the same approach be applied when considering our career development?

While the use of scaling (asking individuals to score their career confidence or feelings about the future on a scale of 1-10) or charting career highs and lows (for example, drawing a graph of your career to date in order to identify the parts that made you feel most energised or drained) may be a practice already familiar to those who have taken part in career coaching, it's not something all of us consider doing during our working lives.

Based on my experience with using the Form Score approach to reflect on my mental health at work, I believe that keeping track of our 'career form' - daily, monthly or at any pre-defined intervals - could have a positive impact on career development in the following ways:

• Charting what makes us feel more positive or negative about our work can help us reflect better on what motivates us and give us a better idea about what key things we really want within a job or career pathway, like autonomy, work-life balance, financial security or creativity.
• Acknowledging the ups and downs of working life can help bring a valuable realism to how we view our career, particularly in the era of social media, where it's easy to feel that you're not doing enough in comparison to others.
• Visualising our career journey as it happens can help us to better understand the nature of career development as non-linear and provide us with greater agency in our own working lives. If we can reflect regularly on what work-related activities caused us to record a particular 'career form score', we are better equipped to take the steps needed to move towards the things that energise us and prepared to face, or cut out, the things that drain us.

I would love to hear from jobseekers, career professionals or anyone who is interested in the idea of 'career form' or has experimented with this approach previously, so please reach out to me on?LinkedIn?if you would like to discuss further! ??

In the meantime, I'd like to raise a call to action for anyone reading this article who hasn't considered their 'career form' previously: why not try giving yourself a career form score daily for the next month and see whether reflecting on your results provides any career development-related revelations for you!

The Best of the Rest: My Hot Picks from the wider?#Careersphere

#NAW2023 in the news! - To celebrate this week's #NationalApprenticeshipWeek, there has been a smorgasbord of the usual public-facing events, activities and news stories that detail the power of apprenticeships as a vital mechanism for career development. It would be a struggle to highlight all of these, so just two quick recommendations from me - for a chance to hear the inimitable Janet Colledge share her take on the current apprenticeship landscape, check out the following BBC Radio clip (Janet's contribution starts from around 5:31) and for a glimpse into UCAS' plans to advertise apprenticeships alongside university courses as part of the UCAS platform, the following FE News piece is well worth a read! As a wee bonus, I'd be remiss not to mention the following apprenticeship vacancy with 亿滋食品 which has been doing the rounds on social media this week - it's only a Chocolate Research & Development Degree Apprenticeship! ??

Introducing the Career Clusters?-?Those of you who already follow Lucy Sattler and Study Work Grow will doubtless be familiar with the Career Clusters concept/resource (and if not, stay tuned for our next #WeAreCareers episode on 22nd Feb @ 12:00, when Lucy Sattler will be joining us live from Australia to discuss!), which aims to challenge the way we talk about and socialise work with young people. This webinar from Lucy Sattler provides a perfect intro to the Career Clusters concept, the theory behind this approach and how interested careers professionals around the world can get their hands on the free resources!

A treasure trove for fans of coaching and podcasts!?- With thanks to Liane Hambly (she/her) for spotlighting this fantastic resource on LinkedIn earlier in the week (via Maxine Bell!), if you're a fan of podcasts then you'll love this collection of free pods from the Association for Coaching (AC) , which includes interviews with a range of coaches covering some fascinating topics linked to the subject of coaching, including creative coaching, team coaching, coaching for wellness and coaching psychology, to name but a few!

The Employability Lab: Find out what you missed!?- If you missed the recent Employability Lab 2023 virtual conference from the good folks at Handshake and Gradconsult then fear not, as all of the recordings from the event are now available to access for free via the YouTube playlist linked above! There are a range of really valuable sessions to watch back, regardless of whether you are an HE careers professional or work in a different setting, including a fascinating keynote from Aranee M on Inclusive Curriculum Design, reflections from Helen Hughes on the way that social interactions influence and shape jobs/careers, a discussion between Rebecca Fielding and Rosie Tressler OBE on mental health, wellbeing & graduate transitions and more!

Credit where credit is due: Considering the potential impact of the Lifelong Loan Entitlement?- We finish this week's newsletter with an excellent piece from Eve Alcock in Wonkhe , which digs into the detail behind the government's Lifelong Learning (Higher Education Fee Limits) Bill, that will introduce considerably more flexibility into the student loans system than has existed previously and will, in theory, provide individuals with the opportunity to use four years' worth of funding for any form of approved credential/qualification at Level 4 and above throughout their lifetime. As Eve notes, the devil of this policy will, as always, be in the final detail but the LLE certainly raises a significant number of questions for careers professionals, including the more prominent role that microcredentials may play in the future of lifelong learning and if/how the government will fund/structure the careers support needed for all individuals to take advantage of what will no doubt be a more complex decision landscape for prospective students once the LLE comes in.

I'm always keen to hear what people think of this weekly newsletter format (e.g. Is it helpful? Does it add value to what is already out there on LinkedIn? What might make it better/more digestible?) so please do drop me a DM if you have any thoughts!

See you all in the?#Careersphere?next week for?Episode 23! ??