#TheWeekInCareers - Episode 70

Welcome to #TheWeekinCareers ! If you are a first-time reader (and congratulations if so, you are now part of a 3700+ 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!

To the surprise of absolutely no one, this week's newsletter focuses on one of the biggest week's of the #Careers calendar, National Careers Week , which has been taking place since Monday, involving a smorgasbord of events, activities and initiatives designed to celebrate the importance of careers education and guidance and provide young people, educators and parents/carers with a range of free resources to help individuals develop awareness and interest in possible future pathways. As always, the week takes on an even greater level of importance, given that it falls at the same time as International Women's Day (which takes place today!), World Book Day (which took place yesterday) and Scottish Apprenticeship Week (which spans the same period as NCW). For this reason, today's newsletter is very much a pick-and-mix of some of the best resources, posts and blogs that I've come across this #NationalCareersWeek, as well as some reflections on whether we currently leverage NCW enough to advocate on behalf of our profession, particularly in relation to the status of qualified career development professionals - look forward to hearing your thoughts, #TheWeekInCareers readers!

All this PLUS another jam-packed #BestOfTheRest to digest with your weekend coffee (or beverage of choice) - dig in, at your leisure...

I hope you enjoy this week's newsletter and thank you as always for continuing to subscribe, read, comment on and support #TheWeekInCareers! ??

National Careers Week 2024: A Review ??

As noted in the introduction to this week's newsletter, today's offering is very much a tapas of resources, blogs and social media posts that I have pulled together from across the #Careersphere during National Careers Week, as well as my reflections on what NCW means for careers professionals themselves when it comes to raising the status of our profession. Kudos to all of the careers professionals, educators and other individuals I have shamelessly pilfered from this week for putting together some truly inspiring content for NCW! ??

NCW - What's been happening?

As always, it's been nigh on impossible to keep up with all the goings on during National Careers Week, with careers professionals across the country blanketing the social media space with brilliant examples of activities, resources, events and initiatives they have been using to celebrate NCW with their clients or using the platform of NCW to raise awareness of particularly salient careers-related issues via blogs, webinars and posts. I've highlighted five of my favourite picks from this year's NCW but please feel free to share your own in the comments thread at the bottom of the newsletter, as there have been so many highlights to choose from! ??

?? Career Callings: Discover Your Purpose - Up first, it's a brand new career assessment tool from Career Callings, which prompts individuals to consider which of the 17 UN Global Goals they might be most interested in helping to achieve, which can then be used as a jumping-off point for career-related conversations connected to values and purpose. It's a simple assessment that doesn't take long to complete and a nice, visual way to start conversations around purpose and the sort of problems an individual might want to solve in their career, so well worth checking out!:

?? Careers x AI - I know, we talk plenty about AI in #TheWeekInCareers, and you've already been unable to avoid my writing on this topic during NCW (if you happened to catch my latest article for FE News , that is) but I want to highlight a blog from Chris Targett RCDP for the Careers Writers Association that takes a different tack to many articles on this subject, focusing instead on why the humanity and authenticity of careers professionals is ultimately not only our point of difference vs AI but is also the lynchpin of what makes our work so valuable:

? Asking the Right Questions - Up next, the fab Lis McGuire RCDP hits us with a fantastic visual resource for careers professionals that she shared earlier this week, which provides examples of different questions that careers professionals might ask their clients, connected to the particular career theory that links to this type of question. It's an excellent way to not only highlight the amount of theory that underpins our work as CDPs but also serves as a valuable aide memoire for any trainee or experienced careers professionals about the importance of connecting theory into practice:

?? BBC Bitesize Careers x NCW2024 - As regular readers of the newsletter will know, I'm a big fan of the BBC Bitesize Careers site/podcast/resources, and I'm pleased to say they've been sharing some really nice resources again for NCW this year, including three special episodes of the BBC Bitesize Careers podcast, a teachers/parents' guide and a 'Can you guess what jobs these people do?' quiz (which could definitely be reused outside of NCW), all of which can be accessed via the link below!:

?? AweHunters Primary Career Resources - I'm finishing my round-up of this year's NCW with a somewhat non-NCW item (but one that will nonetheless be of much interest to careers professionals), as Lucy Sattler has recently expanded into Primary Careers resources and is producing some fantastic posters and videos about the different types of work that people do, under the Awe Hunters brand - the last couple of years has seen the conversation and initiatives around Primary Careers in the UK gather momentum, so this is a great time to check out Lucy's resources as they develop, including the video below!:

How far have we come?

National Careers Week is always an appropriate time each year to focus on how our careers work may have changed over the previous 12 months, and The Careers & Enterprise Company clearly had the same idea, choosing to publish their latest report on the state of careers education in England, Careers Education 2022/23: Now and Next, at the start of NCW:

The report purports to be built on 'the biggest dataset available on what is happening in careers education today', with input from:

• 100,000 students, telling us about their career readiness and essential workplace skills 4,500 secondary schools and colleges, reporting progress in careers education.
• 340 employers who have shared data about their engagement with education.
• 1,100 business volunteers who have given us their assessment of the impact they are seeing.
• Data and insight on student post-16 and post-18 destinations, the Employer Skills Survey and UCL’s Millennium Cohort Study survey.

So, what do we learn from the report and what this could mean next for careers education in England? Well, the key takeaway appears to be that 'Gatsby is working', with the findings of the report reinforcing both the Benchmarks themselves and the CEC's current approach to helping schools deliver on them:

• 92% of schools and colleges are part of a local Careers Hub.
• More than 3,000 Careers Leaders have been trained and all of them are supported by digital tools and resources.
• The eight Gatsby Benchmarks of good career guidance are well embedded and guide the work of educators and employers across the system (with the average number of Gatsby Benchmarks achieved having risen from 2.1 to 5.5 (out of 8).
• Current levels of activity are saving the Treasury an estimated ￡150m per year in England in reduction of levels of young people who are NEET alone.

All of this leads the CEC to suggest that careers education is in a much better position that it was 5 years ago (offered without comment, as it's been exactly that length of time since I last worked as a careers leader/adviser in secondary education, so I will leave it to more learned colleagues to challenge/interrogate this claim...) and propose the following 'best next steps' for careers education in England, which are well worth careers professionals keeping a beady eye on...

1. From Coverage to Quality - It seems as though the CEC are going all in here on the peer-reviewed Careers Impact System, which has been designed to quality assure careers provision. If you want a third-party view on the system and where the challenges and issues may be with this approach, check out Janet Colledge 's excellent blog on the matter .
2. From Outreach to Intake - Focus shifts towards the quality of interactions with employers and other organisations, not just the quantity; check out the new CEC Employer Standards for an example of how the CEC are seeking to inform outreach work, particularly with SMEs.
3. From Interest to Uptake - This recommendation looks at converting awareness of different education/training pathways (such as apprenticeships, T-Levels etc.) to uptake from young people, via support with the transition process - check out the CEC's Apprenticeships and Technical Education Transitions Framework to get a better idea of their approach here.
4. From Margins to Mainstream - This recommendation is linked to the CEC's plans to transform work experience, again moving towards a 'quality over quantity' approach; examples of the approach include the CEC's Teacher Encounters programme (as a mechanism for developing more industry-focused curriculum content) and this recent piece from Zoe Healey on Reinventing Work Experience.
5. From Most to All - Focusing on equity in provision, this recommendation alludes to the recent training modules established by the CEC to help teachers, SENDCOs and other members of the education workforce feel equipped to have better career conversations with young people; you can check out examples of some of the resources via this link .

World Book Day meets National Careers Week...

Another celebration where there is ample crossover potential for careers professionals (books that influenced your career journey, describe your career journey in the format of your favourite story, careers in the book publishing industry etc.), World Book Day also allows me to celebrate members of the careers community who have recently become published authors, or for whom the world of books is a particular focus of their work. So with that in mind (and in no particular order), congratulations to....

• Carolyn Parry , for recently becoming an author for the first time with her book , Change Your Story!

• Liane Hambly (she/her) and Lorna Stalker , for their recently released book, Sailplaning: Creating a 4-D Life and Career !
• Naishadh Gadani , for his excellent The Big Book of Career Doodles: 87 visual ideas to inspire a great career! , which I still refer to regularly!
• JP Michel , for recently publishing The World Needs You: A New Mindset for Student Career Exploration , which partners really well with his excellent Challenge Mindset cards!
• Suzanne Collier RCDP of Bookcareers.com , for not only continuing to produce an excellent array of resources related to working in book publishing, but also for being shortlisted by the Career Development Institute for Career Coach of the Year (Private Sector) at the UK Career Development Awards for the third consecutive year! ??

IWD x NCW - A Celebration

This year's theme for International Women's Day is 'Inspire Inclusion', which is all about imagining a gender equal world, where difference is valued and the achievements of women are celebrated, something that I know many careers professionals will be seeking to highlight today via a variety of careers talks, events and activities bringing together IWD and NCW. Although we know there is still much to do when it comes to creating a world that meets the intention stated above (as our old friend, Gender Pay Gap Bot , will no doubt remind us this year...), I wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate the many, many women who have inspired and supported me through my career to date - a happy International Women's Day 2024 to you all! ??

Debra Norton Jacqui Jacqui Jameson Sue Edwards trish whittle Jodie Boyd Magdalena Mucha Helen Priest Louise Wilson Alison Kusinska Suzie Bullock Suzanne Finlay Ped Teresa Corcoran Liane Hambly (she/her) Katherine Jennick RCDP Bella Doswell CCDP, RCDP Sarah W. Lis McGuire RCDP Debbie Dymock RCDP, MIEP Ladi Mohammed-Chapman?? Jessica Pieri RCDP Victoria Geary (she/her) Janet Colledge Caroline Green (RCDP, MCDI, Assoc. CIPD) Carolyn Parry Farrah Morgan - The Grad Coach ?? Ife Obasa MeetSabiha . Claire Johnson Abi Blower Julie Bhagat Jo Timmins Claire Aydogan Claire Worley Rachael Leonard Rachael Frith Rachael Whittles Rebecca Fielding Rebecca Radford Gabi Binnie Ellen Logan Merryn McGregor Juliet Hayes Annie Gainsborough Annie Fonseca Sheryl Cruickshank Rachel Wells Rachel Gradwell???? Rachel Westwood Sara Sullivan Philippa Fairfax Karen Allan Maggie Bamford Hannah Watson Charlie Brown Jenny Sloan Seema Shoor Julie Poppleton Julie McLellan Paige Clarkson Nathalie- Tilly Neill Laura Dutton Catherine Bernet-Wilson MA RCDP and many, many more...

Exploring the possible futures for careers professionals...

Earlier this week, I got the opportunity to attend a brilliant FREE CPD session from CERIC , based on the recent research undertaken by Jessica Thornton and Heather Russek , entitled Navigating 2040 and Beyond: The Futures of Careers and Career Developer Roles - the session provided those of us who attended (representing careers professionals from Canada and all over the world!) with an opportunity to find out more about how the variety of social, technological, economic, environmental, political and values-based changes and trends identified in Jessica and Heather's research might potentially impact the career development profession and what these 'possible futures' could look like, oriented around the following three questions:

1. What are the macro factors redefining the changing workplace and career paths?
2. What is the future role and identity of career developers?
3. What career-oriented services and supports will people need in the future, and how will current services need to adapt to meet these needs?

Although many of the macro trends surfaced in the webinar/research (see below), such as AI & Automation and Generational Shifts, won't be hugely surprising to many people, the benefit of the webinar was that it broke down these macro trends in detail to consider what they might mean for careers professionals, prompting some super useful reflections and insights in the chat, including important points around the value of local labour market intelligence (LMI), even in a globalised world, and the challenge of managing your career in a time of economic precarity, global upheaval and increasing issues with mental health:

What I found particularly interesting about the webinar (and research) was the section on how the roles of careers professionals might change between now and 2040 (see image below):

As a number of us pointed out on the webinar, many of the roles associated with 'CDPs in 2040' were activities that careers professionals in 2024 are likely to be engaged in already, including providing AI-enabled support to clients, or serving as consultants for employers and policy makers, but as Jessica Thornton and Heather Russek noted, ‘The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed’ - We are constantly living through change, so even if we feel that the CDPs of 2040 may not be vastly different to who we are now, this may not be the case for everyone (e.g. some individuals may find this vision of career development work starkly different to their current set up) and it's important to note that lasting change often occurs gradually, even if it eventually feels like it happened all at once.

There's a lot to dig into within the research, so I'd highly recommend reading the full report (or checking out the recording from the webinar, linked below) when you get the chance - whether we are considering the changes that could impact our own profession or working with our clients to help them navigate the changing world of work, the concept of 'possible futures' is definitely one that I'll be referring back to more regularly in my work moving forward...

NCW as a platform for advocacy - are we doing enough?

A topic that comes up pretty much every year around National Careers Week is whether NCW actually helps careers professionals themselves when it comes to raising the status of the profession. Although the NCW website states - 'National Careers Week (NCW) is a one-week celebration of careers guidance and free resources in education across the UK. Our aim is to provide a focus for careers guidance activity at an important stage in the academic calendar...' - the week itself does not really focus on the role of qualified career development professionals and is more about celebrating the different career pathways and opportunities that are available for young people, as seen in the example below from the NCW Twitter/X account:

Now, I don't particularly have an issue with this - National Careers Week has a specific purpose that is well known and a model of promotion/engagement that has been consistent for a number of years, but for me, having a 'celebration of careers guidance' that doesn't really recognise or celebrate the individuals responsible for delivering that guidance does feel somewhat problematic.

But whose responsibility is it, really? After all, many NCW social media posts repost and share content celebrating the myriad individuals who give up their time during NCW to broaden the career horizons of young people across the country, including employers, alumni, educators, parents/carers and inspirational speakers, so perhaps we as careers professionals simply need to be more vocal when it comes to highlighting the work we do, not only as part of NCW but also more generally when it comes to supporting the career development of individuals of all ages? (something that may be easier said than done during NCW itself, given how hectic it is for careers professionals during this period...)

As the recent #SoMuchMoreThanTalkingAboutJobs campaign surfaced, there is so much brilliant work being undertaken by careers professionals across the country (and around the world!), so is there an argument for the #Careers community to use the more recognised platform of NCW to celebrate our own value as a profession, or would this be going against the spirit of NCW, which is often presented as a week focused more on supporting young people? (which some careers professionals might take issue with in and of itself, given the range of clients they support in the UK who are at different stages of their careers...)

Some organisations within the #Careers community have indeed taken the opportunity this year to use NCW as a platform for advocacy and lobbying - eagle-eyed readers may have spotted that earlier this week, AGCAS released their manifesto ahead of the next UK general election, entitled Career Guidance, Skills and Opportunity: A policy positions paper :

There's a lot in here to like, and much of it will be familiar to any careers professionals who've heard similar calls for increased investment in career development support from the Education Select Committee hearings into CEIAG in England , or from professional bodies like our own Career Development Institute - for example:

• Creating an industrial strategy that will join up the skills policy landscape in the UK and recognise the role that both FE and HE have to play in this space.
• Reform the Apprenticeship Levy in order to broaden out the types of training it could support, and review the Lifelong Learning Entitlement so that it is less rigid and easier for providers to implement in order to support employers and employees to benefit from for CPD purposes.
• Continue to devolve powers to metro regions across the country, especially skills budgets and strategies, so that these can be tailored for the local context.

Then there's the biggie that many careers professionals will be heartened to read:

"High quality careers advice and guidance can help people make informed decisions about their future, not only boosting their life opportunities and productivity, but also helping employers access talent. However, there is a shortage of qualified careers professionals, with nearly four in ten (39%) of AGCAS member institutions reporting that they find it difficult to recruit staff with the right skills"

The manifesto then goes on to include the following ask from AGCAS :

"Increase funding to support the training and retention of qualified careers professionals across the UK"

It is gratifying to see the subject of funding for qualified careers professionals feature prominently in the AGCAS manifesto, although we know there is much more to do when it comes to raising the status of qualified careers professionals in both the HE careers space and beyond - for example, while some HE careers services may indeed struggle to recruit qualified careers professionals due to a shortage of qualified individuals in this area, we also know that there are other services that actively recruit individuals without qualifications to take on career development roles that should require qualified personnel to deliver elements of the job (such as career guidance), so this is an issue that cannot simply be reduced to questions of funding (although to be clear, I am very much in agreement with AGCAS on the specific point of increasing funding to support the training and retention of qualified careers professionals across the UK!)

As Bella Doswell CCDP, RCDP has written/spoken about at length previously, the career development space is a broad church and as careers professionals, we should of course seek to recognise and celebrate the litany of other individuals and organisations that work with us to deliver effective careers education, information and advice, including employers, educators, parents/carers, HR professionals, early career talent specialists, student support professionals and members of the careers workforce who operate in trainee/development roles (such as Peer Career Coaches, Careers Information Assistants, Careers and Employability Advisers, Careers Marketing Professionals etc.). However, when it comes to delivering 1:1 / group guidance, insisting that we have qualified professionals (which is classified as working at L6 or above in England) undertaking the 'guidance' component of this work is a hill I am willing to die on.

In the post below, Ladi Mohammed-Chapman?? expertly breaks down the key differences between Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance, and why it's so important that the guidance component is delivered by qualified professionals who have the theoretical knowledge and practical skills/experience to undertake this activity with clients:

Careers professionals are not gatekeepers to the world of career development, far from it - we are in the main collaborative, creative and open-minded individuals, whose primary aim is to empower individuals to feel more confident and self-aware when it comes to managing their own careers - but it's vital that as a community, we ensure that we are protecting the value of being qualified when it comes to delivering career guidance (including working with stakeholders to clarify terminology, as Career Guidance is a term that is used for a variety of contexts, not all of which refer to 1:1/group guidance), and using platforms and opportunities like National Careers Week where we can, both to celebrate the fantastic work being undertaken to raise awareness of the myriad career pathways available for individuals of all ages (as seen in the round-up above) and to recognise specifically the career development profession and everything we do to facilitate the delivery of high-quality CEIAG in schools, colleges, universities, alternative provision, training providers, businesses, charities and other organisations around the country.

What did you get up to this year for #NationalCareersWeek? Were there any particular activities, events or initiatives you ran or took part in that felt especially valuable? Do you have any thoughts on how the #Careers community might be able to leverage NCW more directly from an advocacy perspective for the profession in future years? Answers, as always, on a #TheWeekInCareers postcard...?? (or more accurately, in the comments thread at the bottom of the newsletter! ??)

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

?? Careers expert reacts to the worst pieces of job advice from members of the public - First up this week, a nice story in Wales Online to mark National Careers Week 2024, as Catrin Owen, careers adviser with Working Wales , reacts to some of the worst pieces of careers advice she has heard in her time, including “Try and pick a career and stick to it after school”, “Follow money, regardless of whether you enjoy the job you’re doing” and that old faithful, “Just send the same CV out to everyone!”. It's heartening to see careers work being covered in the press in an engaging, light-hearted way, as it helps create a much more accessible entry point for the work we do, IMO - more of this sort of thing, please!

?? FREE Career Roadmap resource from Liane Hambly - Up next, the incomparable Liane Hambly (she/her) has generously gifted the following resource for careers professionals to use with their clients, along with this YouTube video explaining how the roadmap can be used - if you enjoy using the metaphor of 'the road' for exploring the idea of non-linear career pathways with clients, then check out the resource via the link above and Liane's tips on how to use the map and associated language (such as how you feel about being in the driving seat of your career) to help your clients reflect on their own career journeys. Thanks to Liane Hambly (she/her) for sharing this with the careers community!

?? Speaking the same (Skills) language - Fresh on the heels of last week's newsletter on Skills-Based Hiring , there have been two more excellent pieces around Skills published this week, by Lucy Sattler and Katherine Jennick RCDP respectively, focusing on the 'language of skills' and why it might be important for us to have consistent and relatable terminology for when we talk about Skills - In Lucy's latest edition of Pondering Careers , she breaks down the different skills taxonomies currently being used around the world and asks which Core Skills we should potentially be talking about, and in Katherine's contribution for this piece by Skills Builder Partnership , she makes the case for the terminology of 'Essential Skills', as well as detailing the steps that individuals can take to help young people recognise and build their strengths and skills. Check them out!

???? How to make every mistake and still have a career - Next up (with thanks to Darcey Gillie for highlighting this!), we have a super presentation from Paul Agapow (taken from a recent talk he gave at the University of Edinburgh for their careers service, which focused on career development for data-centric graduates), which he has kindly made accessible for anyone to read via LinkedIn/Slideshare . In the presentation, Paul reflects on some key takeaways from his career that will likely resonate or add value regardless of what stage of your career you are at, including the benefit of being someone who can solve problems and why having more options is a net positive for your career development. Well worth a read this weekend!

???? Destination? STEM! - We finish this week's newsletter with a nod to British Science Week 2024 , which takes place from 8th-17th March - just in time for BSW, STEM Learning UK have come through with a cool new careers site, Destination STEM , which contains a wealth of STEM-related careers resources, including virtual careers fairs for apprenticeships, school leavers and Green careers, profiles from professionals working in a variety of STEM roles, articles explaining to students why they might want to study particular STEM subjects, and opportunities to develop STEM-related skills and experience, including online mentoring, work experience and how-to guides! Take a look and get yourself in the mood for British Science Week!

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 71! ??