#TheWeekInCareers - Episode 92

Welcome to #TheWeekinCareers! If you are a first-time reader (and congratulations if so, you are now part of a 4600+ 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!

This week's newsletter is something of a double-edged sword - after attending the brilliantly delivered #CareersFest2024 event from Caroline Green (RCDP, MCDI, Assoc. CIPD) last Friday, there is a note of celebration to our main item, but it is tinged with caution, as events elsewhere in the #Careersphere are causing (in my view) understandable concern amongst the careers community when it comes to the subject of whether our expertise is valued and how it is being ignored (and even supplanted by others) in relation to high-profile issues that seem tailor-made for our profession to have significant input into (from GenAI and recruitment to the multi-generational workforce and personalised career guidance). I've talked previously in the newsletter about celebrating the value of what we do but today's newsletter poses a different question - do we need to be more proactive in asserting our expertise about particular issues and if so, how do we do this in a positive and productive way?

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! ??

Taking a Stand: Why it really feels like crunch time for CDP expertise... ?

ICYMI, last Friday saw one of the highlights of the careers calendar for many CDPs - the #CareersFest2024 event from Caroline Green (RCDP, MCDI, Assoc. CIPD) at The Talent Cycle , an online affair featuring a range of brilliant speakers from across the global career development space, including a number of us who made the pilgrimage to the UCAS studio in Cheltenham in order to record our segments in-person!

Now, I mention this for two reasons:

1. It was a really cool experience! I genuinely felt like I was having a mini-careers day myself, as we got a tour of the UCAS offices and a behind-the-scenes look at how their production team puts together the content used by the UCAS for Advisers team (who, by the way, are a lovely bunch!)
2. The production values for the whole event were genuinely impressive and more akin to something like the excellent Breakfast News events from Group GTI than some of the other online conferences I've attended previously within our sector. With the support of the UCAS for Advisers team, Caroline was able to move slickly between in-person studio segments (shout-out to Danny Mirza FRSA, MSc, MA, MBA for joining me in Cheltenham on the day to talk all-things AI x Career Development!) and virtual panel discussions, which led to a fast-paced event and an audience that were clearly engaged across all of the sessions, if the Zoom chat thread was anything to go by!

I remember the UCAS for Advisers team being relatively surprised by how excited we were about the production quality of the event, and explaining to them that sadly, this just wasn't a typical experience for many folks in our profession, in terms of having access to the funding, equipment or expertise to deliver our messages in such a modern and professional way. Now this is in no way an explicit criticism of any individual or organisation in the career development sector (or indeed a generalisation, as some CDPs do produce content with much higher production values - see our #BestOfTheRest for an example of this!), but it was interesting how much more of a buzz I felt watching the event on Friday as it was delivered in a way that felt congruent with both the importance of the topics being discussed (which included the role of mental health and wellbeing in career development, international perspectives on careers work and different approaches to engaging our audience) and the professionalism and expertise of the speakers present.

The other key takeaway that came out of my conversations with the UCAS for Advisers team was just how receptive they were to hearing the insights from the various speakers who supported the event, particularly those of us who made the journey to the studio in Cheltenham (shout-out to Jessica Pieri RCDP , Elizabeth Lloyd RCDP , Danny Mirza FRSA, MSc, MA, MBA , Jake Richings and of course, Caroline Green (RCDP, MCDI, Assoc. CIPD) !) - the careers profession can sometimes feel quite small and somewhat insular, depending on the scope of our networks, and I'm often concerned that I operate in something of an echo-chamber when it comes to my views on particular topics, so it was gratifying to speak with the UCAS for Advisers team and remind myself that as CDPs, we have SO MUCH expertise and value to share with colleagues in adjacent professions (Education, HR, Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development etc.) that isn't necessarily common knowledge and vice versa, there is much we can draw on from their expertise, skills and experience (high-quality produced content being just one aspect of this!)

So where is all of this going, you might ask? Well, as I alluded to in the intro to today's newsletter, as much as #CareersFest2024 gave us plenty to celebrate (including worthy #CareersFest Award winners Keely Madgin , Samantha G. , Michelle Powell RCDP MCDI , Progress Careers , Jessica Pieri RCDP / The Careers People and Careers Legend Liane Hambly (she/her) ! ??), it also reminded me that as a profession, we don't often get the chance to share our expertise and insights in such a slickly produced medium, particularly when it comes to the public domain.

Why does this matter? As I've written about regularly in the newsletter, if careers professionals aren't able to claim the space available when it comes to discussing, debating and commenting upon key issues related to career development in the public sphere, it is likely that others will happily fill this space for us, and not always in a way that we may feel fully captures the nuances or complexities of the topics being discussed.

One topical example of this is the place of AI in the career development world - as Danny Mirza FRSA, MSc, MA, MBA and I were discussing as part of our #CareersFest segment last Friday, the open-source nature of GenAI and the fact we KNOW young people, jobseekers and professionals are using it means that arguments over whether CDPs should be using this technology are something of a moot point, the questions are arguably how/when/why/where rather than should (that horse has well and truly bolted). You don't have to look too far to see that a number of companies are already seeking to stake their claim in the land of AI-enabled 'personalised career guidance'. Organisations like imovum and urfuture are already incorporating AI as a tool for helping young people access personalised information and advice regarding career pathways and job opportunities, and the repeated use of language like 'Personalised Career Guidance' should be somewhat concerning to the careers community, given the potential for it to muddy the waters when it comes to how the various components of CEIAG are defined in the public domain. The type of support these AI tools provide is certainly not guidance as we would define it (if anything, it's more of a sophisticated job matching tool, which can then signpost individuals to the most relevant roles and resources, based on the data it receives from the user and its own database of content) and to be fair, these tools aren't necessarily positioned in this way (imovum are clear on their FAQs section that their tool is designed to complement careers professionals, not replace them), but nonetheless it's hard to argue that the careers sector doesn't have skin in the game when it comes to what's happening in this space.

This brings me back to a point that Danny Mirza FRSA, MSc, MA, MBA has made repeatedly, which is the importance of careers professionals becoming early adopters of tech like GenAI - this is not just about how we best serve our clients or stay on top of broader, world-of-work trends, it's also about being the sort of leading voice, established industry experts that mean we are consulted more frequently by companies and organisations who are considering using AI for career development related purposes. As well as Danny (who certainly falls into the category of leading the way for the career development sector when it comes to establishing our expertise around AI), individuals like Associate Professor Deirdre Hughes OBE and Alex Zarifeh are also doing important work in demonstrating to policy makers, employers and other stakeholders that careers professionals are a key voice in the room when it comes to discussing the applications and implications of AI in a career development context (including all of the necessary guardrails, signposting and ethical challenges inherent to this discourse). Both Alex and Deirdre have events coming up for the Career Development Institute to discuss the topic of AI in the careers space and how we as CDPs can prepare our clients for a future that seems likely to be heavily embedded with AI, which you can check out via the CDI website below ??

Of course, it's not just about AI - at present, myriad world-of-work trends seem to be getting their 15 minutes in the mainstream media, from the death of retirement and expansion of the multi-generational workforce to ongoing concerns about long-term sickness and the impact on both workers and the economy (see article below) and ever more concerning NEET figures, particularly when it comes to young men aged 18-24. All of these topics could clearly benefit from the lens of a career development professional (in terms of balancing the big picture with the experiences and needs of the individual, understanding of career theory and how individuals make career decisions, knowledge of the complex ecosystem of career starters/changers, employers and training providers, the list goes on...) but in how many of the aforementioned media pieces do we see an in-depth CDP perspective? I'll leave you to read the articles and judge for yourself...

You may remember in a previous newsletter, we highlighted the great work CERIC have been doing in the Canadian careers space when it comes to supporting careers professionals to assert their expertise, particularly their Media Relations Training Programme for Career Development Professionals (led by Keka DasGupta ), but arguably we are now in an era where social media relations training is equally important, given how much careers content is being shared/consumed via channels such as TikTok, Reddit and YouTube. While there are good examples of CDPs who leverage social media regularly as both a research tool and a platform for sharing their expertise ( Antony Adams , Jessica Pieri RCDP and Gina Visram are just a few that come to mind), it's probably fair to say that this is not necessarily commonplace across the sector, and given how the job market and talent recruitment/attraction is shifting in response to its intended audience (see the example below from Barclays - a classic case of short-form content built in the style typically consumed on TikTok on other channels, that is potentially a more likely go-to now than the company's website), it stands to reason that we also need to be cognisant of this, even if we aren't necessarily all rushing to set up our TikTok accounts:

As the established order of how individuals access careers information and advice is challenged and potentially reconstructed, it behoves us as careers professionals to consider our place in this system and how we can potentially break through and highlight the messages we feel are most important with prospective clients - after all, even if we don't feel that what is being provided on platforms like Reddit is 'career guidance' as we know it, that doesn't mean it might not feel/be useful to the individual recipient. I am planning to write about this more in a future episode of the newsletter, but I remain convinced that all careers professionals need to be researching the type of queries that are appearing and the careers advice that is being provided on platforms like Reddit, TikTok and Instagram, so that we have a better sense of how individuals are using these channels for careers support and how we might consider tailoring our own messages / adding our insights to these forums in order to assert our expertise in this domain:

I often use the final few lines of every newsletter segment to provide some thoughts on what a potential solution might look like when it comes to the issue I'm writing about, but this week I'd like to put the onus on you, dear #TheWeekInCareers readers - Caroline Green (RCDP, MCDI, Assoc. CIPD) has arguably shown us one way forward with #CareersFest, in respect of partnering with an organisation like UCAS (which have a more recognisable profile and the resources to improve the production quality of the messages we deliver as CDPs), but I'm interested to hear other perspectives about how we might assert our expertise as careers professionals in ways that some of us may not yet have considered. Answers, as always, on a #TheWeekInCareers postcard (Ed: Or more accurately, in the comments thread at the bottom of the newsletter...) but if you feel you have more to write on this subject, I'd also be delighted to feature a GUEST BLOG or two on the subject, for anyone who is potentially interested...??

Look forward to hearing your thoughts!???

On the subject of #CareersFest2024, if all this talk of the event has given you serious FOMO, then worry not, as you still have time get your hands on the recordings from the day! If you are interested in catching up on all of the sessions from the event, simply drop Caroline Green (RCDP, MCDI, Assoc. CIPD) a message on LinkedIn or get in touch with her via her website (see below) to purchase a retrospective #CareersFest ticket, which will include all of the video recordings and the virtual goodie bag from the day! ??

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

?? Expert CVs with ChatGPT: The Definitive Guide - First up this week (and on the subject of high-quality produced careers content), #CareersFest Award nominee Raj Sidhu is back with the latest video from his ace YouTube channel, which this time attempts to answer the question of whether ChatGPT is capable of helping Raj to produce a truly expert level CV. The iterative process Raj follows in prompting and collaborating with the GenAI tool to incrementally move a basic CV template closer towards what he would consider an expert level version, incorporating his own expertise and personal examples, is a brilliant case study of why a balanced approach to using AI for recruitment processes is so key - we certainly shouldn't underestimate the potential usefulness of AI, but nor should we become over reliant on this technology...

?? Ready for a FREE careers conference? - I've been talking a lot about a particular careers conference in this week's newsletter so I thought it was only fair that we plugged another upcoming conference to round things off for the week - the next Complete-Careers LLP Conference is taking place on Wednesday 20th November (ONLINE, via Zoom), is FREE to attend and will feature a range of fab speakers on the theme of 'Education is Careers Education', including Alex Zarifeh , Michelle Stewart and Career Development Institute Chief Executive David Morgan ! Places are limited, so book yours now by following this link!

?? Higher and Degree Apprenticeship Overview: What's happening across the country? - Next up, it's a shout-out to another careers legend who got some love at last week's #CareersFest event, Alan Bullock RCDP , who is back with his latest update on the Higher and Degree Apprenticeship picture across the UK - for those who haven't read Alan's apprenticeship blogs before, they are an essential insight into what is happening with apprenticeship vacancies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, featuring a detailed breakdown of both vacancy numbers by country and sector, and spotlights on specific sectors and employers who are recruiting for apprentices in 2024 and 2025. A must-read for all careers professionals wanting to stay up-to-date on apprenticeship LMI!

??♀? How do careers professionals feel about the Construction industry? - Next up, some valuable research from the CITB and Tristram Hooley regarding the perceptions that careers practitioners hold when it comes to careers in Construction - the research findings, taken from last year's survey, paint a broadly positive picture, with only 3% of CDPs surveyed rating themselves as having little knowledge of the Construction sector and 68% identifying that their clients saw Construction as an attractive field, although this is tempered slightly by concerns regarding the accessibility and inclusivity of the profession. If you are interested in participating in this year's survey, there is still time to get involved by following this link!

?? Green Careers Week: INCOMING! - We finish this week's newsletter with a reminder that there are less than two weeks to go until this year's Green Careers Week, brought to you by the team at National Careers Week - as always, there are a variety of resources you can download from the GCW website and it's also well worth following the #GreenCareersWeek hashtag on Twitter/X to keep up to date with any events, posts and content from GCW partners such as STEM Learning UK and the Department for Education , which as always will focus on debunking misconceptions of what 'Green' careers/industries/jobs look like and surfacing the sorts of opportunities that might be available to young people who are interested in this space, now or in the future!

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!

#TheWeekInCareers will be taking another enforced sabbatical next week (Ed: Does he ever work?!) for a much-needed long weekend away during the half-term break, but fear not, as the newsletter will return on Friday 8th November with another bumper edition of news and views from the #Careersphere!

See you in the #Careersphere in a fortnight's time for Episode 93! ??