#TheWeekInCareers - Episode 86

#TheWeekInCareers - Episode 86

Welcome to #TheWeekinCareers! If you are a first-time reader (and congratulations if so, you are now part of a 4400+ 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!


It's been HOW LONG since the last edition of #TheWeekInCareers?! That's right, readers, a full month has indeed passed since I last graced your inboxes/notifications with my newsletter presence...and what a month it's been! At the risk of sounding unbearably smug, it was brilliant to take some time away from the day-to-day and swelter in the heat of Italy - a particular highlight was our stay on the beautiful island of Ischia, just off the coast of Naples; I highly recommend a visit if you ever get the chance!

First-person perspective photo - view of the sea and various greenery, trees and bushes, taken from a sun-lounger in Ischia, Italy.

As you may have seen me posting about on LinkedIn over the past couple of weeks, the next two episodes of the newsletter come as a pair, with a focus on what I have entitled 'Futuregazing' aka the often ill-advised task of attempting to predict what might be coming down the line for the career development sector for the upcoming academic year and beyond!

In Part 1, we start by reflecting on the recent Results Days in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and whether this year's media/public narrative contains more important messages than usual, with a newly installed government in place and the Higher Education sector in crisis, before moving on to look ahead to the impending relaunch of the Gatsby Benchmarks, the creation of Skills England and what the policy landscape might look like for careers professionals in the coming months. Stay tuned next Friday for Part 2, when we'll be exploring what the modern careers professional looks like as of August 2024, with a nod to GenAI, Chartership and 'Barry the Careers Adviser' (amongst other salient topics)...

As if all that weren't enough, this week's newsletter also sees the return of the GUEST BLOG! ? Our latest guest publication has been penned by careers education stalwart Johnny Rich of Push Talks fame (and wearer of many other hats), who reflects on his career in #Careers and why careers professionals and high-quality CEIAG are more vital than ever...

We conclude the newsletter in typical fashion with a jam-packed #BestOfTheRest (it's always SO hard to pick what to include in this segment, with the volume of great work being undertaken by careers professionals across the sector) for you to peruse alongside your weekend coffee (or hot beverage of choice) - as always, I hope you enjoy the newsletter and please do share your thoughts, insights or suggestions related to any of this week's items in the comments thread at the bottom of the newsletter!

Thank you as always for continuing to subscribe, read, comment on and support #TheWeekInCareers! ??


Futuregazing: Part 1 ??

I know, I know - we've spent a significant chunk of word count in this newsletter in the past chastising attempts to confidently predict the future of work/education/careers, so penning a two-parter on just this subject does feel somewhat hypocritical. However, I'll start my noting that both Parts 1 & 2 of #Futuregazing are rooted very much in the short term, looking ahead to academic year 2024-25, with any 'predictions' based largely on what we know (or are pretty confident) is coming down the line for the career development sector, rather than a series of long-shot speculations.

We start Part 1 of #Futuregazing by looking back to look forward...


Results Day/s 2024: The Fallout

If you've been in the UK during the month of August and have been anywhere near a television screen, news app or social media platform, you'll have struggled to avoid the myriad stories focusing on this year's 14-16 and 16-18 qualification Results Days, which have taken place across the month in various forms, with Scottish students receiving results for their Nationals, Highers, Advanced Highers, National Progression Awards, Skills for Work Awards and National Certificates on Tuesday 6th August and students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland receiving results for T-Levels / A-Levels / Level 3 VTQs and GCSEs / Level 1 & 2 VTQs on Thursday 15th August and Thursday 22nd August respectively.

As always, there has been the predictable deluge of famous (and not-so-famous) faces coming out of the woodwork to remind young people that 'results don't matter' and to give themselves a big old pat on the back for doing so well in their respective careers, although as Antony Adams rightly notes, how these messages actually help students receiving their results, many of whom have earned the right to feel proud of their accomplishments, is anyone's guess:

It is GCSE results day tomorrow. 

Let’s not tell kids “results don’t matter” and employers don’t care. You probably spent the last five years telling them to go to school, try their best, and they’ll get a good job. 

Students, their Teachers, and support network have worked so hard to get the best results they can. Some have climbed mountains without any prior experience. 

From someone who didn’t do that well; it’s all about your response to the results you get. Pass or fail.

As careers professionals like Antony Adams and Jessica Pieri RCDP have rightly observed off the back of this year's Results Days, 'success' and 'progression' look different for everyone, and the media would do well to focus more on this message in future years, as well as Antony's vital point that often, what matters most is how individuals respond to the results they receive, regardless of what qualifications they were taking or what outcomes they secured:

I wish schools shared their proper GCSE stories. 

Not the "we're so proud of Tom who was predicted eight grade 9s and got eight grade 9s!".

I want to hear about Abdul who arrived here knowing no English 3 years ago and got five 5s and 3 fours. Passing all his GCSEs in a second language? That's a success story.

I want to hear about Sarah who has crippling social anxiety and has found it really difficult to engage in a traditional school setting, but battled through, came in for her GCSE examinations and got her 4s in Maths and English.

I want to hear about Jerome who lost his mum at the end of Year 10 but kept going. Kept coming in. Kept working really bloody hard. Jerome passed all his key subjects and now he's staying at Sixth Form. His mum would be proud and his school is too.

Schools share the same old stories year in year out - the "top achievers" with the "top grades". Tell us about everyone. 

PS It's not that I DON'T want to hear about Tom, it's just that I want to hear abo

Fortunately, numerous careers professionals have been out and about during the various Results Days this August, offering support, guidance and an empathetic ear to myriad students across the UK, from the pleasantly surprised (who may suddenly have more options on their plate than they expected) to the initially devastated (who often desperately need both emotional support and calm impartiality to help them process the outcome of their results and consider what their possible next moves might look like). We've also seen a number of members of the careers community (and friends of the sector) secure the opportunity to share their expertise with the general public via media appearances during some of the Results Days, a welcome break from what often feels like an overreliance on headteachers and famous faces commentating on this particular topic every year. A BIG shout-out to the following careers professionals, who have represented the sector in recent weeks ??

?? Mark Anderson, Career Coach , who was able to get across some key careers-related messages during his appearance on BBC Breakfast for T-Level/A-Level/L3 VTQ Results Day last week!

?? Georgie Blackburn RCDP , who appeared on both BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Gloucester to share her insights and advice as a qualified careers professional!

?? Carolyn Parry , who shared her top tips for students receiving their results in Wales via the Cambrian News publication!

?? Gina Visram , who was excellent in discussing how young people can think about their next moves following Results Day, in conversation with Luxmy Gopal on BBC London News!

?? Josie Finch and Karen Cannard, RCDP AIEMA , who hosted the Drivetime slot on Suffolk Sound Radio this Results Day to talk all-things careers and post-16/18 destinations - fantastic to see members of the careers community getting so much airtime (both literally and figuratively!)

?? The Career Development Institute , who promoted the value of seeking out qualified careers professionals on Results Day via a number of channels, including FE News and Education Business UK!

[Ed: Please do let me know if there are any other CDPs I've missed from this list!]

But as positive as these media appearances have been, does it feel like the needle has moved at all this year in terms of the media narrative / public discourse around Results Day? From my perspective, the answer is a firmly fence-sitting 'maybe' - while there have been positive messages from recently installed Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson MP and other key figures celebrating the achievements of young people and reminding them of the careers support available from their school/college or the National Careers Service , as well as noticeably more focus on post-16/18 options like T-Levels and Apprenticeships (shout out to Ben Rowland for his own BBC Results Day appearance!), there have also been the usual slew of 'hot takes' regarding why 'the education system doesn't work' (with very little by way of genuine solutions, from what I've seen) and the prevailing sentiment (in the media at least) that A-Levels and University are still the de facto #1 option for many (with Gap Years conspicuous in their absence - keep an eye out for our next #WeAreCareers episode with Catherine Birkett from Yipiyap , dropping next Wednesday, for a deep dive into this topic! ??)

However, could this be set to change in future years? Looming in the foreground are two factors that could well change how we think about post-16/18 options in years to come - the financial (and PR) crisis engulfing the Higher Education sector, and the Labour government's plans for a shake-up of the skills landscape in England. Let's get stuck in...


HE in Crisis and the Birth of Skills England - is change afoot?

Like many areas of the career development world, if you don't work in Higher Education it can be easy to miss a lot of the goings on across this part of the sector - however, even careers professionals relatively unconnected with the HE space will have been unlikely to miss the spate of restructures and redundancies that have been afflicting the sector this year (and across a number of previous years), with a significant number of universities (70 and counting as of August, based on some sources) making staffing (and course) cuts, and predictions of possible bankruptcies for some institutions in the years to come, as 40% face budget deficits, according to the Office for Students' financial projections:

While there are myriad factors that have led to the precarious financial position many universities now find themselves in, including former governments' decisions to decrease grant funding for HE, freeze tuition fees in England in 2017 and more recently, create a somewhat hostile atmosphere for international students, it must be noted that some problems have been of the sector's own making. As Jim Dickinson from Wonkhe has observed in a number of articles and threads on Twitter/X, universities have to bear some responsibility for how the student experience for both UK and international students has changed over time (particularly as more and more students have entered HE), with commentators like Alan Preece also quick to point out that for all the positives that the HE sector are keen to highlight, fundamentally there are some serious issues with the current business model that need addressing, not all of which are beyond the control of the institutions themselves:

As many readers of #TheWeekInCareers will be aware, I currently work in the HE careers space and while you'd be hard pushed to get me to agree with the statement that university no longer holds the same value for students that it used to (I've seen first hand that HE is still transformative for individuals from a variety of backgrounds, whether they are career starters or career changers), it certainly feels like we have reached an inflection point regarding this subject that might have seemed unthinkable even as recently as a decade ago (or less). For me, the issue is not necessarily about whether Higher Education should be considered a viable option for individuals (after all, it's an extremely broad space, encompassing distance learning, apprenticeships, micro credentials, HTQs and other forms of CPD/lifelong learning, not just on-campus undergraduate/postgraduate degrees!) but rather:

A) How we devise a business model for HE that recognises the various stakeholders that benefit / should have skin in the game when it comes to paying for a University education. As a number of commentators have observed in recent months, while the university finances debate has rumbled on, it's all well and good to suggest that the UK needs more graduates but if the financial burden/risk is then placed disproportionately on the individual, it doesn't feel a particularly fair way of solving this skills equation (more on this later...). Some, such as this week's guest blogger Johnny Rich have called for the creation of a Graduate Employer Levy to both balance the way that HE funding is generated and create even more connectivity between universities and how what they teach connects with the graduate labour market:

B) How we support individuals to decide if University is the right option for them at any particular point in their career. As alluded to earlier in the newsletter, we know this is already happening in many cases, thanks to the commitment and dedication of qualified careers professionals and educators around the country, but we also know that in the main, young people are often forced to make decisions about their future in a highly-pressurised, time poor environment, which does not always provide the space for individuals to think as clearly as they need to about what next moves might be best for them (Alan Preece's comments in his blog about Clearing, linked above, are cuttingly accurate when it comes to what this process can be like for many students). As the financial cost to the individual (and institutions) associated with a traditional, on-campus University degree continues to ratchet upwards, it's only right that we discuss the potential drawbacks of this pathway, as well as the many benefits that can be realised for individuals of all ages:

There has been a lot of (for want of a better expression) guff talked about the University sector by our previous government in recent months (not least the endless accusations of 'Wokeism') but one aspect of the discourse that seems to have survived the recent transition of power is the lack of government interest when it comes to increasing funding within the HE sector - while Bridget Phillipson has certainly spoken more positively about the sector than her predecessor in the Department for Education, she appears to be resolute in her promise not to increase University tuition fees or funding, and the Office for Students' open tender to undertake financial risk assessments and transformation planning for universities seems to open the door to a reality where certain providers really will be allowed to fail, with all of the uncertainty, unemployment and damage to local communities that this could bring:

Of course, amongst all of the disruption in the University sector, there remains the salient point that universities were and are changing anyway - in addition to offering a much broader suite of courses than populist narratives would have you believe (including distance learning, business development/support, higher and degree apprenticeships, industry CPD etc.), many institutions are extremely cognisant of the need for their offer to be congruent with the modern world of work, and for this reason frequently partner with employers, local schools/FE colleges and other organisations to deliver industry-informed curriculum content, applied projects, placements, internships, mentoring programmes, knowledge exchange partnerships and other valuable opportunities for students and internal/external stakeholders.

And this brings us nicely to arguably the biggest policy shake-up the Labour government have announced so far when it comes to the education and skills space - the creation of Skills England, a new body to bring together central and local government, businesses, training providers and unions to meet skills needs across the UK:

The central premise behind Skills England is that it will bring together all of the stakeholders who are currently involved in managing and using funding from the various skills and education pots, in order to take a more coordinated approach when it comes to determining what training programmes will receive funding, ensuring this is aligned with the needs of the economy on a local, regional and national basis. In practice, this will mean things like the IfATE (Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education) transferring their functions to Skills England over time, as well as the body having decision making powers in relation to devolving adult education and skills budgets to Mayoral Authorities and determining which training will be eligible for funding from the newly announced Growth and Skills Levy:

There are a few reasons why careers professionals should be cautiously optimistic about the launch of Skills England and the Skills England Bill / Growth and Skills Levy, IMO:

? It feels like an opportunity to foster greater parity amongst both education/training pathways (e.g. T-Levels, A-Levels, VTQs, HAPs, DAPs, HTQs, UG/PG degrees, Skills Bootcamps) and providers (e.g. ITPs, FE/HE colleges, Universities), as the focus of Skills England should in theory be on assessing the most appropriate way to meet national/regional/local skills needs, rather than fixating on an either/or approach (e.g. what we've seen in the past with the binary 'University vs Apprenticeships' discourse). Naturally, the challenge here will be to ensure that the body doesn't end up becoming too siloed or focused on one part of the skills landscape over another, with so many competing interests at play...

? There is an opportunity for Skills England to create a greater level of consistency when it comes to not only how we frame 'Skills' but also how we pay for the development of these skills in individuals in a more equitable way - as Dominic Atkinson (Stay Nimble) notes in his recent LinkedIn post, the 'Skills Gap' in this country is not something that we are likely to be able to solve without greater financial input from employers, the very organisations that require the skills we are currently asking individuals and education/training providers to develop for them...

? For careers professionals, the intention of Skills England to create a more joined-up approach to training provision and funding across the country suggests a possible opening for conversations about funding a true, all-age careers service - yes, I know we've been here before with the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (which may still be on the table, as far as we know / don't know) but I'm nothing if not an optimist...

? There is a very real possibility that if delivered the right way, the agenda from Skills England could lead to a much more devolved approach to the way funding is allocated for training provision across the country, meaning that the role of careers professionals in their respective regions could become more crucial than ever in helping both individuals and training providers/employers navigate this landscape (and of course, will mean additional CPD needs for our community!) Throw in a proposed 'national framework for skills' and you can already see how different the education/skills space might look over the course of this government, depending on how quickly Labour move forward with their plans...

Granted, there is still plenty of road to run until we know for certain exactly what impact the creation of Skills England will have on the education/skills/careers space but as Associate Professor Deirdre Hughes OBE wisely notes in her recent piece for FE News, it feels like an opportunity and a 'precious moment in time' for all stakeholders associated with this policy shift to come together, in order to ensure that what emerges from this agenda is a positive move forward for the career development sector and the myriad partners we work with to support clients of all ages:


Gatsby 2.0 Incoming - What could this mean for careers education?

While there are still a number of unknowns when it comes to how the current situation with HE and the development of Skills England will pan out, one part of the careers landscape that it feels slightly safer to prognosticate on is the relatively imminent release of the updated Gatsby Benchmarks, which is reported to be taking place sometime this Autumn (September/October are coming up commonly, based on a number of folks I've spoken to across the sector). For context, last year the Gatsby Charitable Foundation undertook a significant consultation exercise (including a survey of 1200 education and business stakeholders) into the current Gatsby Benchmarks (first launched in 2014) and how they might need to be changed/updated to ensure they are fit for purpose over the next decade and beyond:

Based on the consultation that took place last year, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation seem to feel pretty confident that the Benchmarks are here to stay (something I think most careers professionals would probably concur with), with key take-aways from the report being that:

? "The Gatsby Benchmarks are universally supported - 94% see them as a valuable framework for career guidance".

? "Every Benchmark is highly valued as part of the overall framework - the value placed on each of the eight Benchmarks individually ranges from 96% to 99%".

? "The vast majority (88%) of secondary school and college leaders say that the Benchmarks have had a positive impact on their students".

? "These findings, together with all the other evidence we have seen, have encouraged us to focus on stability. The Benchmarks are highly respected and are having an impact. We have therefore concluded that radical changes to the Benchmarks are not needed".

That last bullet point in particular gives us a pretty clear indication that we are unlikely to see any significant changes to the Benchmarks if/when they are updated this Autumn, although notes from the report and conversations with a couple of folks involved in this area of work suggest that there might be a renewed emphasis on how school leaders can connect the Benchmarks with wider whole-school/college strategies and more content relating to parental engagement and how the Benchmarks interact with this key stakeholder group.

So, perhaps not the dramatic denouement I hoped to end on for this week's main item, but certainly something to keep an eye on for careers professionals working in schools, colleges and independent training providers (ITPs) - while Labour may well be planning a significant shake-up of the skills landscape in England, it appears (for now, at least) that the careers education sphere and the domain of the CEC, Careers Hubs and Gatsby Benchmarks is keeping things business-as-usual...


What did you think of #Futuregazing Part 1? Some reasonable predictions for the academic year ahead or somewhat off the mark? And are there any key issues you feel I've skirted over in my analysis? Answers, as always, on a #TheWeekInCareers postcard! ?? (or more accurately, via the comments thread at the bottom of the newsletter...)


GUEST BLOG - Reflections on a Career in Careers... ?

It feels like AGES since we last had a guest blog feature in the newsletter (May, to be precise!), so the piece below, penned by Johnny Rich , is superbly timed, both for the nature of its content (touching on the ongoing value of CEIAG amidst a changing educational policy landscape) and to give you all a merciful break from my waffling! Read on, and enjoy...

Back in 1992, I started a business called Push, providing careers information and advice. Around 15 years ago, it became a not-for-profit and refocused its attention on award-winning sessions in schools and colleges supporting young people’s choices, employability and study skills.

We became well known for our unique blend of high-octane delivery and expert careers advice. The idea is that, if you can engage even the most disengaged student in the room through comedy or storytelling, then you can challenge their assumptions about themselves and their futures.

In even a short session, you can disrupt a default pathway by inspiring a deliberate choice, giving the young person agency over their lives. Of course, disruption only works if it’s followed up over time with continued support within their school and beyond, but Push’s goal is to make that careers support more effective, especially for disadvantaged students and those who need help most.?

So now I’ve had a career in careers for more than three decades.

During that time there have been monumental changes in our sector –?the domination of the internet and digital tools, rising levels of recognised professionalism among practitioners, the decline of the career for life and the 9-to-5 job, and the fourfold expansion of higher education.

I could list others, but more than seeing the changes as an ever-rising tide of progress, my experience has often felt like, when it comes to government policy towards careers and the value afforded to careers professionals, we’re swept along in an ebb and flow.

Some changes have been positive, of course, such as the Gatsby Benchmarks and inclusion of careers provision in Ofsted inspections. And nowadays schools are required to nominate a careers lead. But funding, in particular, remains an afterthought. Given the choice between a Maths teacher who’ll help deliver school league table performance and a professionally registered careers guidance counsellor, few schools opt for the second. Those trade-offs are real in our schools and they are holding back a fundamental mission for education.

It's not just funding that’s gone through cycles of squeeze, but the regard for careers professionals, who, if you ask me, should be held in similar esteem to GPs, as people on whose skills, care and expertise lives depend – not in terms of medical survival, but the quality of life and the fulfilment that their clients find.

Through my work with Push and in various other roles, I’ve been privileged to have the opportunity to press government ministers and explain that high-quality CEIAG means students make better choices, choices that they’re properly invested in. When students have deliberate goals, rather than default pathways, they’re more likely to pursue them with intent and to succeed. In turn, that means that spending on education becomes more efficient and more people end up in roles they want. That delivers productivity, opportunity and growth – economic and social goals that all governments, and explicitly this new one, want.

It's always seemed strange to me that governments don’t recognise that even modest public spending on CEIAG is just about the best opportunity to invest that they have. Like infrastructure investment, the returns keeping coming for decades, but, unlike infrastructure, investing in people directly improves those individuals’ lives.

However, because most of the returns take longer than the electoral cycle to show, my pleas have often fallen on deaf ears. There are notable exceptions. David Blunkett and Justine Greening both tried to revolutionise careers provision, but when they left office their strategies and charters gathered dust. Nicky Morgan, in establishing the Careers & Enterprise Company created something of worth, even if the reason was to give a £20 million sop to those of us complaining about the hundreds of millions that had been cut from the careers sector in the early 2010s, the departure of more than half the workforce, and with them the loss of their millennia of experience.

We’re yet to see what the new government will do for careers. The launch of Skills England and the ‘pause and review’ of BTEC defunding suggest that they recognise there are problems to be addressed, but there’s no sign yet that they recognise the role high-quality careers support should play.

I’m hopeful that the tide may again be rising for CEIAG, but I’m equally sure that there will come a time when it shall fall again. In the meantime, those of us working to support young people’s careers will get on with the job, learning how to do it better (often with less), improving as we go, knowing that every young person we encounter is a life we will change, perhaps only minutely, but sometimes it will be transformative.

That’s why, after so long, I’m still dedicated to the good that Push can do in the world. When a pupil rushes up after a session, boiling over with questions or simply wanting to share a new enthusiasm for their future, that’s a rush like no other. It’s why we do what we do and why we won’t stop.


A massive thank you again to Johnny Rich for sharing his reflections from three decades of work in the careers space and his thoughts on the significant impact that high-quality CEIAG can have on the lives of young people - music to the ears of many #TheWeekInCareers readers, no doubt!

If you'd like to learn more about Johnny Rich and his work, you can connect with him via LinkedIn or check out his bio below! ??

Johnny Rich is Chief Executive and founder of Push. He is also Chief Executive of the Engineering Professors’ Council, an author, a policy consultant and a school governor.

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! ??


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

?? GTI Breakfast News: A View from the Top - Up first this week, it's the return of the always valuable GTI Breakfast News; if you've not attended one of the Breakfast News events previously, they are an accessible 90-minute deep dive into a particular issue impacting early-career recruitment / employability, featuring input from employers, early-career specialists, students/graduates/apprentices and other stakeholders. The latest GTI Breakfast News event will be taking place on Thursday 7th November (from 09:30-11:00) and is all about the C-Suite (e.g. CEOs, CFOs etc.) perspective on retaining apprentice/graduate talent, a viewpoint we are not always privy to, suggesting it'll be another valuable watch! If you're interested in attending (either online or in-person), you can register for FREE via the link above!

?? Don't swerve the shortcuts... - Up next, it's the latest edition of Pondering Careers from Lucy Sattler , which this time around focuses on how careers professionals can learn from common heuristics (aka mental shortcuts, such as the 'Availability Heuristic', which might influence the careers we talk about because we are more aware/familiar with them) to consider how we approach the subject of decision making with our clients. It's a really interesting piece, encompassing not just a number of examples of heuristics that affect career decision making but also some valuable commentary on why it's important for CDPs not to be biased towards Type 2, rational decision making when it comes to supporting clients navigate a way forward. Well worth a read this weekend!

?? Give your Netflix account a break; tune into THIS instead! - You wait a couple of months for a new Raj Sidhu YouTube video and then three come along at once! After returning from holiday last week, I was delighted to see that Raj had released three new videos over the past fortnight, focusing on how to write a career change CV, things to remember when considering a career change and the impact of GenAI on recruitment and applications! As always, Raj's videos are succinct, digestible and super useful for sharing with colleagues and clients, as they helpfully condense complex topics into need-to-know info to kickstart career conversations in these areas! If you've not yet watched any of Raj's videos then put down the remote this weekend and head on over to YouTube!

?? The Textures of Groupwork - Next up, it's a must-read piece in Prospects Luminate from Sue Edwards for careers professionals interested in group career guidance, a subject Sue has been researching in-depth for her PhD. In the article, Sue surfaces not only the general benefits of considering group career guidance as an approach but crucially, provides a continuum model for CDPs to reflect on when thinking about their delivery, based on the type of careers content we might be delivering, the nature of the setting/group and the focus/ownership of the session (e.g. practitioner or client led). It's a hugely valuable, well-researched piece which will hopefully help the careers community to experiment with group career guidance more widely and take stock of different considerations when it comes to delivering careers support in a group setting.

?? LMI've got a great resource for you! - We finish this week's newsletter with a superb LMI-related resource that has been created by the fab Lis McGuire RCDP - after collating all of the various CPD resources relating to LMI that she has been using in 2024, Lis has generously put together this practical and extremely digestible introduction to the subject of the labour market, including an overview of what we mean by 'labour market information', where to access different types of LMI and signposting to a variety of credible sources of data, including information encompassing both UK and global labour markets. A cracking toolkit to help CDPs get their LMI resources in order ahead of the start of the new academic year!


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 in the #Careersphere next week for?Episode 87 (and Part 2 of #Futuregazing)! ??

Chris Webb - thank you for giving Johnny the first blog spot since May. Push will continue supporting those students who need us the most with our funny and disruptive outreach ?? ?? ????

Sue Edwards

Senior Lecturer & Innovative Career Development Professional (RCDP) | Creator of the Career Decision Triangle & Textures of Groupwork Continuum | PhD Researcher in Group Career Guidance

3 个月

Great newsletter Chris. On point as usual. And thank you for linking to my Prospects.ac.uk article - The textures of groupwork. Very much appreciated!

Raj Sidhu

Careers Consultant @ University of Cambridge

3 个月

Awesome coverage Chris. Lots of stuff I didn't realise?- particularly the evolution of Labour's position on university financing and I enjoyed?hearing your view on the?distribution of financial burden from HE. Massive subject - and massive implications on careers perspectives!? I was also very pleased to see one of my favourite words featuring in the newsletter "guff" :-D? P.S Thanks for the mention ... and I hope Italy rocked!

Karen Cannard, RCDP AIEMA

Registered Career Development Practitioner; Careers Adviser & creator of Joining YOUR DOTS. Freelance researcher & writer in sustainability & zero waste. Columnist for the Bury Free Press. Presenter at Suffolk Sound

3 个月

Really great to have you back, Chris Webb and wow what a return. Thanks so much for the mention. Now going to grab a cup of tea to accompany the full read. ??

Lis McGuire RCDP

?? Level 7 Qualified Registered Career Development Professional (RCDP) ?? Personal and group guidance for individuals, schools, and charities ?? Career education workshops ?? Creator of Shape of Career Cards ??

3 个月

#Futuregazing Part 1 is very useful, thank you Chris. When I read your work, I feel assured I’m getting as much insight as possible into what is going on. If it’s known, it’s in there. Thank you.?Also it's a gentle reminder to myself to circle back to things I want to read - like Sue Edwards' excellent continuum piece. Great blog from Johnny Rich too. It's helpful to hear from someone who has seen the changes over the years and I enjoyed the reflections on what it can be like in the room. Thanks for highlighting Raj Sidhu's videos too -they are next level. Once again, thanks also for sharing my LMI resource - it's a huge honour to be featured in #TheWeekInCareers

要查看或添加评论,请登录

社区洞察

其他会员也浏览了