#TheWeekInCareers - Episode 53

Welcome to?#TheWeekinCareers! If you are a first-time reader (and congratulations if so, you are now part of a 3000+ 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!

Peer-to-Peer in Careers: A call to the #Careers community... ??

As Bella Doswell CCDP, RCDP observed in her CDP Thought for the Week earlier this week, there has been some spirited debate in the #Careersphere over the past few days concerning the subject of student peer-to-peer careers support programmes, which have become a more common and widely publicised element of what university careers services offer in the UK in recent years. There have been a wide variety of perspectives shared on this topic from CDPs and other professionals involved in the design and delivery of these types of programmes, both this week and historically, ranging from evangelists and supporters to curious bystanders and downright naysayers, with advocates of this approach keen to emphasise the benefits to student engagement and scalability (amongst other factors), while critics caution the potential risk to the careers profession and the quality of CEIAG delivery if these programmes are not managed ethically. With all this in mind, I thought it was a good opportunity for #TheWeekInCareers to bring some of these threads together and explore what 'good' might look like in relation to the world of peer-to-peer careers support...

Peer-to-Peer Careers Support: What does it all mean?

An important caveat to start with is that 'peer-to-peer careers support' does not have a singular meaning in the context of what we'll be discussing in this segment; similar to other aspects of career development work, such as employer engagement, peer-to-peer activity can take a number of different forms, from student careers ambassadors/assistants facilitating events and webinars for a careers service, with the support of a qualified CDP (see this post from Marc Steward at the University of Leeds for a helpful recent example of how the Peer Support Assistants at Leeds created and led a webinar for other students on how to prepare for a careers fair) to more holistic models where students are employed and trained as frontline careers support, with a view to providing students with basic careers information/advice and then triaging more complex queries to guidance appointments accordingly (University of Liverpool and Staffordshire University being two high-profile examples of institutions who have adopted this model in recent years).

Now, peer-to-peer models of careers support are not something that have sprung up out of nowhere and indeed, many universities, schools and colleges across the UK have engaged in collaborative work with students for a number of years (whether through hiring paid or volunteer career ambassadors, co-delivering careers workshops and events or using the expertise of students to enhance engagement with their core client base, particularly in the case of social media) - however, the Career Studio model adopted by the University of Liverpool (which has been likened to the Career Studio approach at the University of Nevada) is more intensive than any of the examples above, with a public space and frontline careers support offer that is student-led (and supported by careers professionals, rather than co-delivered), through the work of student 'Career Coaches' (who run drop-ins and online appointments for students) and 'Digital Coaches' (who provide training in digital skills such as Coding, AI, Copywriting and Social Media). And this is where the conversation around peer-to-peer in careers support begins to get tricky - at a time when the careers sector is suffering from a recruitment and retention crisis and attempting to fight threats to our profession from misguided tech solutions to the rise in unqualified, unsolicited 'careers advice' on social media, is peer-to-peer a sustainable and student-centred answer to scalability issues, a slippery slope to de-professionalising aspects of career development work, or something in-between?

Examining the evidence base...

Part of the challenge when it comes to answering the question above (which, to be perfectly clear, I do not believe has a simple answer!) is accessing the evidence of why peer-to-peer careers support is a model worth adopting for careers services. Finding the 'Why?' behind adopting this approach to careers support delivery is arguably the easy part:

• Partnering with students to help engage their peers feels like a natural solution to the perennial challenge faced by careers services in engaging their student population.
• There is numerous research available that indicates students will often reach out to peers as a trusted source of advice regarding their careers (such as this DfE report from 2017), so why not leverage this ourselves?
• Universities have an easily-accessible pool of intelligent, innovative talent at their disposal, in the form of their student body, many of whom are seeking the opportunity to work for their institution - by 'growing their own', careers services are potentially shoring up their own talent pipeline for the future.
• The majority of careers services are constantly seeking to improve the quality of careers support they deliver to students and graduates - collaborating with students is a straightforward way to gain insights and feedback regarding the support they offer, and at the same time make their service more student-centred.

However, it can be trickier to get a sense of the outputs when it comes to peer-to-peer careers support models - on first glance, there appears to be plenty of positive anecdotal feedback available, from increased student satisfaction scores to greater levels of student engagement with the wider careers service, but from what I have seen to date, there is less by way of published research regarding the effectiveness of these models. This report from Prospects Luminate, published in 2020, indicates the potential benefits of peer-to-peer careers support from a 'Nudge Theory' perspective, although it is worth noting that the research was undertaken by the same institution who were using this approach and focused on student satisfaction responses around how likely they were to engage with the service or other areas of the university following an intervention, and whether they took a career-related action following their interaction with a peer coach, rather than anything related to increases in students' career management skills or other criteria that might demonstrate the quality of the careers interventions concerned. There is also a worrying line in the report indicating that peer-to-peer career interactions '...replace a traditional careers consultation interview...' (albeit not all aspects of career development work, such as curriculum consultation), which potentially lends credence to some of the concerns careers professionals have expressed publicly regarding the peer-to-peer model opening the door to reducing the role of qualified CDPs (NB: As I'll mention a few times in this segment, if you are a careers professional involved in this type of peer-to-peer careers initiative and feel I am wildly off-base with any of my assertions above, please feel free to dive in and correct me!)

I am the first to concede that peer-to-peer careers support programmes have been something of a blind spot for me in recent years (I've been involved in a number of 'students as partners' projects at Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Huddersfield, but nothing comparable to the Career Studio at Liverpool or Peer Support Assistant approach at Leeds), so am aware my perception regarding a lack of peer-reviewed research in this space may be just that. There is certainly relevant content out there - one example is York University in Toronto, Canada, which has previously written about its Career Lounge model (a peer-led career coaching/education approach) and shared findings from their initial pilot in 2018-19, which saw a range of benefits to the model reported, including an increase in the number of first-time student visitors to the careers centre, a greater number of recommendations/referrals to the service after students had interacted with Career Peer Educators and enhanced skill development for the students who took on these roles:

It's also important to note that with peer-to-peer models in the UK, and examples from North America (where peer-to-peer careers support seems to have a higher profile in the HE sector than it does this side of the pond), such as the Career Lounge approach at York University mentioned above, that implementing student-led careers provision on a frontline basis does not necessarily equate to a reduction in the number of qualified careers professionals that a careers service may recruit - indeed, many of the arguments made in support of peer-to-peer provisions revolve around freeing up careers professionals to deliver career development activity where they can make more of an impact, from increasing the availability of 1:1 guidance appointments to spending more time embedding good practice within the curriculum via consultancy and partnerships with academic staff. However, at present, my experience of the resourcing question when it comes to HE careers services utilising peer-to-peer models is largely anecdotal, so I would be interested to hear from any individuals who have been involved with or experienced the implementation of a significant peer-to-peer careers support model at their institution and have insights to share regarding how they have seen this approach potentially impact the recruitment, deployment and retention of qualified careers professionals within their service.

Quality Assurance and Professionalism: Core Tenets

So, while it may be fair to say the evidence base for peer-to-peer careers programmes is not yet comprehensive (which in fairness, is why events like the Peers in Careers Conference exist within the HE sector, in order to further discussion and exploration of these approaches), there are nonetheless plenty of supporters of this model within the careers community and elsewhere, based on some of the potential benefits to careers services surfaced above. So, why the scepticism from some corners of the career development profession?

As stated above, while some of the concern regarding peer-to-peer models has its origins in understandable fears of job displacement for qualified careers professionals, the majority of challenges to the peer-to-peer approach that I have heard have centred around the twin pillars of Quality Assurance and Professionalism. When it comes to core career development activity, such as the delivery of 1:1 guidance and group guidance, we have well-established quality assurance documentation from organisations like the Career Development Institute that help practitioners establish if what they are delivering meets the high standards of the profession, and also provides a mechanism for peer-reviewing our interactions with clients. Moving forward, should something similar be created for peer-to-peer careers support models, so that careers professionals and clients are aware of how this approach to careers support is being quality assured? And what is the current approach to quality assurance and training for peer-to-peer models, as things stand?

The other aspect of concern that I've seen surfaced by a number of careers professionals is that of Professionalism - members of our sector have lobbied hard to ensure that access to independent and impartial guidance from qualified careers professionals is a core part of the DfE statutory guidance for schools and colleges when it comes to the provision of CEIAG, and this distinction is crucial for safeguarding the professionalism of the sector, so that career guidance does not simply become an activity that is reduced in scope and delivered by anyone who has an interest in this area, regardless of their level of training. This argument is not about gatekeeping career development knowledge and support as the sole preserve of a niche professional class - it is about acknowledging that while there are areas of careers support that can absolutely be delivered and supported by individuals at different stages of their journey within and outside of the careers sector (such as the provision of careers information and specific advice via social media, events and workshops, application support, co-delivery of more in-depth careers activity in a supervised setting etc.), the provision of careers guidance in particular is something that should be delivered by individuals who have qualified to L6 or above in the field of Career Development / Guidance / Coaching (and in many cases, continue to demonstrate their commitment to professionalism through maintaining Registered Career Development Professional status and/or by regularly undertaking ongoing CPD via organisations like the Career Development Institute and AGCAS ), in recognition of the theoretical knowledge, counselling/coaching skills and understanding of how to practically apply this with clients which a CDP acquires during their training.

We also have evidence that the much-touted operational benefits that come from models like peer-to-peer and 'digital first' approaches, which may lead to a decrease or shortening of core activity like 1:1 guidance appointments, can have a significant impact on the quality of the careers support that students receive - this seminal research from Emily Róisín Reid on the impact of shortening career guidance appointments demonstrates that not only do students want more guidance, not less, guidance itself has a range of 'immediate, intermediate and more long-term outcomes' which are not necessarily realised within shorter, less intensive careers interactions. Given current conversations around the potential use of generative AI to tackle scalability challenges in the provision of careers support, the research below is arguably as relevant today as it was at the time of its publication in 2018:

Now, with all of the commentary above comes a significant caveat - the relative merits, effectiveness and ethical principles of peer-to-peer careers support programmes are not something that can be summarised in a humble weekly newsletter and indeed, deserve much more in-depth conversation, debate and research moving forward. Careers professionals I have spoken with who are involved in delivering, supporting or engaging with these types of initiatives at their own institutions, such as Matthew Howard , have talked in glowing terms of the impact that student collaborators and partners have had on their careers service (from helping careers professionals better understand the challenges faced by students to revamping the service's approach to engaging students with careers-related activities) and how these benefits are bolstered via quality assurance from trained careers professionals, ensuring the service can maximise the positives and reduce any potential risk to quality of careers provision that might come from a peer-to-peer approach. Even members of the careers community who have concerns regarding elements of the peer-to-peer approach are often experienced in collaborating with students and effusive regarding the benefits of co-creation/delivery, so I believe it's important to end by noting that the peer-to-peer discourse should be just that - a conversation within the careers community that is neither for or against, but rooted in a desire to better understand the potential benefits of this approach, safeguard against any risks to the profession and surface best practice so that other careers professionals and services can decide if peer-to-peer models are the right option for their practice/setting.

Do you have experience of peer-to-peer careers programmes in the Higher Education sector or elsewhere? Based on what you've seen to date, what do you feel are the benefits/challenges of this type of approach and are there any useful case studies or pieces of research you'd recommend careers professionals checking out to find out more about this area of practice? Let us know your thoughts in the comment thread - I'm interested to hear from any and all members of the #Careers community on this topic, particularly our colleagues in Canada and the US, where I'm told the peer-to-peer model is more commonplace! ??

GUEST BLOG - The Graduate Mindset??

The GUEST BLOG submissions are coming thick and fast at the moment, a bonus for both my leisure time and #TheWeekInCareers' long-suffering readers, who I'm sure are no doubt appreciative of the more varied literary diet! This week's GUEST BLOG comes from Laurie Stewart ?? , the Founder of Mindless Academy , who tells us more about the work of Mindless and a new, free resource they have created to support graduates with the transition beyond university...??

At Mindless Academy, our passion is to empower students and recent graduates with the Mindset, Skills + Experience they need to navigate their careers with confidence. Since May 2020, we have partnered with universities across the UK, US, and Europe to provide over 5,000 virtual work experience opportunities worldwide with a particular focus on supporting underrepresented groups. Almost 80% of our cohorts to date have been made up of Widening Participation, GEM, disabled, neurodiverse and vulnerable participants, highlighting our effort to drive accessibility and inclusivity at the fundamental stages of career development.

Our experience supporting students' transition beyond Higher Education has provided us with insights into the challenges graduates face. Here’s a little bit more about those challenges, and what Mindless Academy is doing to help.

The Graduate Challenge

Graduation is a major achievement, marking the end of an era and the beginning of a new adventure. However, as graduates step into the professional world, they often encounter a host of challenges that can knock their confidence. Based on our experiences working closely with recent graduates, here are some common hurdles they face:

1.???? Experience Dilemma: We hear this one the most. It's the classic Catch-22 – graduates need experience to land a job, but they can't get that experience without a job. This situation can dent their self-esteem and dampen their job search enthusiasm.

2.???? Career Goal Uncertainty: Many graduates are unsure about their career goals and the path they want to pursue. Having a degree is great, but connecting it with their passions and interests can be a bit like searching for a needle in a haystack.

3.???? Interview Nerves: The thought of job interviews can send shivers down anyone's spine, but for graduates, it can be especially nerve-wracking. Fear of not making a great impression during interviews can hinder their job hunt.

4.???? Networking Jitters: Building a professional network is vital, but it's often easier said than done. Graduates might not know where to start, who to connect with, or how to forge meaningful connections that lead to opportunities.

5.???? Resume and LinkedIn Blues: Crafting a compelling resume and sprucing up a LinkedIn profile are skills that graduates often lack. These are their first introductions to potential employers, and anything less than stellar could cost them interviews.

6.???? FOMO: Last but definitely not least is the FOMO created by social media. Graduates often voice that their peers seem to be trailblazing ahead, while they feel stuck or left behind. While what they see on screen may not always be real, the fear of missing out definitely is.

Mindless Academy's Impact on Graduates

At Mindless Academy, we've got our sleeves rolled up, ready to help graduates tackle these challenges head-on. Our virtual work experience programmes are like a bridge between academic learning and real-world application. Here's how we partner with leading universities to make a lasting difference:

1.???? Real-world Experience: Our immersive virtual work experiences give graduates hands-on experience in their chosen field. Through simulated projects and scenarios, they build the confidence and skills needed to shine in their careers.

2.???? Career Coaching and Mentorship: At Mindless Academy, we make mental health a number one priority. Each week throughout our programmes, participants have access to mindset coaching designed to deepen self awareness and develop career-critical soft skills such as emotional intelligence, confidence, motivation and resilience.

3.???? Social + Environmental Impact

4.???? Resume and LinkedIn Workshops: We organise specialised workshops to help graduates craft stellar resumes and supercharge their LinkedIn profiles. These tools are their secret weapons for making a killer first impression.

What's Next? The Graduate Mindset

But that's not all we do! When two of our former interns turned freelance team members, Katie and Lillie, voiced how challenging it was to transition into the world of work, we knew we had to do something. If they were struggling, even with access to our team, our coaching, our mentorship and support - then graduates everywhere must be having a tough time too.

We're thrilled to introduce "The Graduate Mindset", our upcoming FREE monthly mindset series designed to help graduates past, present, and future conquer the challenges they face. This series is a testament to our unwavering commitment to personal transformation through mindset coaching and career development.

The "Graduate Mindset" will feature monthly mindset coaching with our Founder, Laurie, our Head Mindset Coach, Dekan, and the rest of our team. Topics will span a wide range, from conquering imposter syndrome to mastering the art of networking, building resilience in the face of rejection, and nurturing a growth mindset for long-term success.

With "The Graduate Mindset", our aim is to arm graduates with the tools and inspiration they need to navigate the tricky job market with confidence. We believe that a strong mindset is the key to success, and we want every graduate we work with to have that winning mindset.

You don’t need to have taken part in our virtual work experience programme or have studied at one of our university partners to take part. You may not yet have graduated, you have just thrown your cap into the air, or you may have left the university world a long time ago. Anybody is welcome at The Graduate Mindset. All you need is access to LinkedIn and you’re good to go!

?? Date: Wednesday 1st November

? Time: 6pm GMT

?? Location: LinkedIn LIVE - sign up Here

We know that the journey from graduation to a fulfilling career can be tough, but with the right support and resources, graduates can overcome these challenges. Mindless Academy remains firmly committed to empowering graduates and boosting their career confidence. We're grateful for the continued collaboration with all our university partners and look forward to making a lasting impact on the lives of graduates, together!

Connect with Us:

Website: www.mindlessacademy.com Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: Mindless Academy

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/laurie-elizabeth-stewart/

Ewa Tkaczyk - Partnerships Director

Georgia Knell - Partnerships Manager

Dekan Apajee - Head Mindset Coach

A massive thank you to Laurie Stewart ?? for taking the time to tell us more about the work of Mindless Academy and their upcoming CPD series for graduates, The Graduate Mindset! If you'd like to learn more about Laurie Stewart ?? and her work, check out the bio below! ??

Laurie Stewart is the Founder of Mindless Academy, an empowerment + employability platform partnering with universities, charities and responsible brands to level up nextgen talent with the Mindset, Skills + Experience they need to navigate their careers with confidence.

With over 15 years' international experience working with global brands in roles spanning supply chain, marketing, business transformation and eCommerce, she recently left behind her global role at The LEGO Group to follow her heart and go 'all in' on Mindless.?

I'm keen to showcase as diverse a range of perspectives as possible in the newsletter, so if you are potentially interested in putting together a?GUEST BLOG?on a careers-related topic of your choice at some point in the future, please just drop me a line! ??

Follow 'em Friday Returns! ??

Inspired by the #FollowFriday or #FollowBackFriday trend, which is a medium for encouraging folks to follow others (or simply show them some love) on X and other platforms, we are back with the second edition of #TheWeekInCareers' own Follow 'em Friday, where we spotlight professionals who are currently providing value across the #Careersphere and beyond with the content they create on social media and elsewhere! So without further ado, here is our latest edition of Follow 'em Friday, with three new recommendations to check out...??

?? William E. Donald - Up first, one of the careers community's most prolific contributors and advocates, William E. Donald is an Associate Professor in the field of Sustainable Careers and Human Resource Management and writes regularly on a range of career development-related topics, including sustainable career ecosystems and models of career 'capital' - like all great academics, William E. Donald 's content is accessible for careers professionals from research and practitioner backgrounds alike and he is a regular poster, commenter and sharer on LinkedIn, so is always worth a follow!

Get started by...Checking out William E. Donald 's FREE paper regarding the Employability Capital Growth Model (ECGM), which he co-authored with Professor Yehuda Baruch and Associate Professor Melanie Ashleigh :

Find out more by...following William E. Donald on LinkedIn and keeping an eye out for his content and conference contributions for career development bodies such as AGCAS , the Career Development Institute and CERIC !

?? Anne Wilson SFHEA - Next up, we have the ace Anne Wilson SFHEA , who not only posts regularly on LinkedIn regarding her work as Head of Careers at 英国华威大学 but also produces The Career Catalyst, a fantastic blog that delves into career development from a variety of angles, exploring topics such as How to establish yourself in a new job and How to improve communication by understanding people. Anne Wilson SFHEA is also a passionate champion of women in the workplace and has some penned some excellent pieces challenging gender biases at work.

Get started by...Reading this brilliant blog from The Career Catalyst archives on how to make the most of your unique qualities:

Find out more by...Checking out The Career Catalyst blog site and subscribing to the newsletter so you receive all of Anne Wilson SFHEA 's latest blogs directly to your inbox!

?? Raj Sidhu - Regular readers of the newsletter will know that I'm forever extolling the virtues of Raj Sidhu 's YouTube channel and his slickly edited, concise and high-value videos, which encompass a range of career development topics, drawing on Raj's experience as a Careers Consultant at the 英国剑桥大学 - what is particularly impressive about Raj Sidhu 's video content is not just the way he intelligently condenses complex subject matter (such as how to make intuitive career decisions) into engaging, 3-5 minute morsels, but also the standard he sets for other careers professionals when it comes to creating professional, modern careers content, that is cleverly edited and supplemented with thumbnails and video titles that really hook the viewer in.

Get started by...Watching this video from Raj Sidhu on why 'follow your passion' is bad advice...according to science! It's a fun, innovative take on a subject that comes up regularly in the careers world and a great example of the engaging style and quality content you get from Raj's videos:

Find out more by...Checking out Raj Sidhu 's YouTube channel, which is picking up more and more subscribers by the day! ??

Do you have any recommendations for Follow 'em Friday? This could be yourself (I am nothing if not approving of a spot of self-promotion!) or a careers professional / someone external to the sector you follow who you believe is worthy of as much airtime as possible! Let us know, either via a comment in response to this newsletter or by dropping me a DM to discuss! ??

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

Education ‘hackathon’ could test AI role in EHCPs and careers advice - First up this week, a number of careers professionals have raised concerns regarding the latest initiative from the DfE, which has commissioned tech firm Faculty AI to run a 'hackathon' with cherry-picked school trusts and the National Institute of Teaching, with the intention of generating possible use cases for generative AI within schools, with suggestions so far including (worryingly, IMO) the provision of careers advice to students and summarising/making recommendations for Education Health Care Plans (EHCPs). As Associate Professor Deirdre Hughes OBE has rightly observed, hackathons can be a brilliant way to encourage innovation around a particular topic but this approach from the DfE feels very rigid (e.g. no tender process for the lead contractor, school trusts seemingly selected in advance) and many of the comments around how AI could be used in schools seem reductive and over simplistic, with limited understanding of the issues involved. If you're at a loose end next Wednesday evening, I'll be appearing on Teachers Talk Radio to discuss the hackathon and why AI cannot simply be used as a cheap alternative for funding qualified careers professionals in schools!

The Truth about Lying to Get a Job – Up next, an interesting piece of research from ResumeLab in the US regarding the extent to which individuals stretch the truth in order to secure work - the research, which draws on insights from 1900+ US-based workers, notes that 7/10 respondents confessed they had lied on their CVs, with 37% admitting they lied frequently and common fibs typically involving embellishing their job title or the duties involved in their previous roles (both 52%). With the usual caveats that this is simply one piece of research and not necessarily representative of the overall picture when it comes to individuals' approaches to applications, it is nonetheless a fascinating exploration of the subject of dishonesty in the recruitment process and a great discussion prompt for a careers education session (particularly in terms of why individuals might choose to be dishonest on an application and what this can tell us about the self-awareness/self-confidence of applicants).

The Diary of a CEO: How to find fulfilment at work w/ Marcus Buckingham - Regular readers of #TheWeekInCareers will know I'm a big fan of Steven Bartlett 's The Diary of a CEO podcast and this recent episode of the US version, featuring business author and speaker, Marcus Buckingham, is a must-listen - there are some absolutely fascinating insights regarding topics such as what makes a strength, how recruiters code/assess open-ended questions at interviews, the biggest predictors of employee satisfaction and the crucial nature of teams, and the pace of the discussion and Marcus' clarity and engaging conversational style leave you feeling that 100 minutes just isn't enough.

Secondary school teachers and careers: Implications for training and CPD - Fresh off the back of the recent government response to the Select Committee report into CEIAG and Ofsted's thematic review of career guidance, David Andrews is here with a guest post on Tristram Hooley 's Adventures in Career Development blog, which explores the role of secondary school teachers in supporting careers education and guidance and considers how initial teacher education and continuing professional development could support teachers in this role. In the article, David breaks down the current state of play in regard to where careers content features within Initial Teacher Training (ITT), why this matters and what could be changed moving forward (such as incorporating training on the teacher's role in career education and guidance into the Early Career Framework for new teachers) in order to increase the baseline careers knowledge of the teachers we work with as careers professionals.

Retrain Expo (22nd and 23rd November) - FREE tickets available! - We finish this week's newsletter with a heads-up regarding the Retrain Expo that is taking place at the ExCel in London on 22nd and 23rd November - the event is a showcase for any individuals who are looking to re-evaluate or change their career and features a range of speakers, masterclasses and exhibitors offering training and development opportunities, with tickets free to register for via the link above. One worth sharing with any clients who are currently planning a career change and are seeking further inspiration!

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 54! ??