#TheWeekInCareers - Episode 93

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 contains a cornucopia of careers-y goodness, as I've opted to keep my input limited to just one item, a review of the latest edition of the always excellent Career Matters magazine from the Career Development Institute , thoughtfully collated and edited by Dr Oliver Jenkin PGCE RCDP MNCPS (Acc.) FNICEC and featuring a range of really valuable pieces from authors across the #Careersphere. This item aside, I've handed over the reins to today's newsletter to a couple of guest publications, which I hope #TheWeekInCareers readers will find interesting additions to our usual content - up first, it's the launch of a new segment, The Secret Careers Adviser, with our first mystery author serving up a fascinating provocation regarding the potential earning power of careers professionals, and this is followed by a seriously topical GUEST BLOG from Leigh Fowkes on the subject of TikTok careers advice, who is giving it and whether any of it actually offers much value to consumers of this content.

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! ??

The Secret Careers Adviser: On the earning potential of CDPs... ??

Shamelessly following in the footsteps of popular social media accounts (and now, literary figures) The Secret Footballer and The Secret Barrister, I felt it was time the career development sector got in the act, via a new segment of the newsletter I've imaginatively titled...The Secret Careers Adviser! The principle of this item is simple - a wholly anonymised column, penned by a member of the careers community and featuring a provocation that they feel other careers professionals would benefit from engaging with, whether they agree or disagree with the perspective being shared. Our inaugural entry from The Secret Careers Adviser focuses on the ever thorny topic of pay for careers professionals and raises a challenge to our sector regarding how we are valuing our services, in monetary terms. Read on and see if you agree or disagree with this week's mystery careers writer...

Careers Development Professional jobs are not a viable option for graduates because there is no formal pathway into the profession and salaries are not on a par with other sectors including banking, business, and some healthcare professions.

I believe Careers Advisers could and should earn a minimum of ￡50,000 across the country and more if they live in London and the South East.

To be in the top 5% of earners in the UK you need around ￡82,000 per year in income.

Let's assume you are living in London on Student Loan Payment Plan 2 and you are paying 7% into your pension.

This will leave you with ￡4,279.01 after deductions on a ￡82,000 per year salary.

• 1 bed flat rent ￡2,000 - Zone 1- 4 average flat
• Bills including council tax, electricity, water, gas, broadband ￡400
• Food ￡200 - that’s a conservative ￡6ish per day
• Public Transport ￡200
• Insurances ￡80
• Hobbies and interests ￡200
• Socialising ￡200

This doesn’t include saving for holidays/emergency funds/clothes. It does not include childcare arrangements.

Total ￡3,280

Leftover ￡999.01

You then might have a desire to own your property. You will need a 5% deposit on an average house in London ￡500,000. So you need ￡25,000 at least. Based on what you save and have left (￡999) over you will need 25 months to save - around 2 years. It would be unlikely that a bank would take you seriously for a ￡500,000 mortgage with a salary of ￡82,000 and a small 5% deposit.

The likelihood of a new graduate becoming a CDP is highly unlikely. Pay is the root cause of the reason why people are not drawn to the profession.

It is possible for a CDP to earn ￡50,000 a year and more.

Ways to achieve this:

Option 1

You would need 100 people paying you ￡500 for careers coaching services. If you are charging ￡50 per hour that would be a total of 25 weeks of work at maximum capacity. Unlikely. Across 32 weeks - very possible. And if the per hour charge was ￡80 per hour then you would need to do less work and have more time. It is possible to charge more than ￡80 per hour.

Option 2

Diverse income streams - contract for schools / colleges / training providers / universities / employers on a day rate of ￡400. You look at your calendar and say I am going to work 190 of 260 working days per year. I am going to earn an average of ￡400 per day by charging schools circa ￡300, employers ￡500 and so on.

Option 3

Complete a public speaking course and become the best public speaker you can be. Charge ￡500 per day for speaking at a school/organisation. You would need to do 100 of these across the year to earn ￡50,000.

Option 4

Take a combined approach but focus on the things you are good at.

To end.

Careers Advisers and Career Development Professionals can earn a considerable amount more than they currently do. Arguably, an average salary needs to be circa ￡50,000.

I hear you might be thinking “But schools don’t have money and it isn’t ring fenced”. They do have money. The belief that schools (and other organisations) don’t have money may in fact be what is holding you back.

What do you think? Is The Secret Careers Adviser on to something here in regards to the amount of money careers professionals could/should be earning, or is there any important context missing? Let us know your thoughts in the comment thread at the bottom of the newsletter! I'm keen to continue running The Secret Careers Adviser as a regular item in the newsletter, so if you have an opinion piece relating to our sector that you'd like to share anonymously via #TheWeekInCareers, then please reach out!???

Career Matters in Review: October 2024 edition! ??

It’s November, which can only mean one thing for Career Development Institute members – we've all recently received the latest copy of the CDI’s quarterly Career Matters magazine, which as always contains a veritable cornucopia of thoughtful articles, occupational insights and diverse perspectives from a range of careers professionals. As usual, #TheWeekInCareers has spotlighted our three favourite pieces from the latest Career Matters, along with a breakdown of what else you’ll find in the publication this time around…

?? Up first, it's a really important piece from Dr. Lynne Barnes and Dr Liz Dinse RCDP that explores the challenges and opportunities that come from working with Deaf clients. Since getting to know the inspirational Ruth McAteer RCDP , I've spent more time trying to increase my understanding of the systemic barriers that many Deaf / Hard of Hearing individuals face and this article helps to provide practical steps careers professionals can take to better support Deaf clients, as well as surfacing some of the issues CDPs might not be aware of, such as disparities in translation between verbal feedback and the BSL interpretation (particularly as for many individuals English will not be their first language) and ensuring that your online set up on Teams/Zoom is optimised to make it as user friendly as possible for a client. A highly recommended read for all careers professionals!

?? Many of us in the sector have been eagerly awaiting the results of the CDI's commissioned research into public attitudes towards careers guidance and thankfully, Steve Plimmer (Research Manager at the CDI) is here to help, breaking down some of the key takeaways from the YouGov survey of 5004 adults aged 18-65 which posed the question 'What exactly does the UK adult population believe about career guidance?' If you're attending the CDI National Conference later in the month, you'll no doubt be hearing a lot more about these results but in the meantime, Stephen's article provides a useful overview of the key themes, including ample evidence to support the case for a lifelong career service, reinforcement of the connection between happiness in career and happiness in life (although one might argue the two are inseparable regardless) and a reminder that while users of our services often feel they receive excellent value (8/10 adult users of careers services within the UK reported a substantive benefit), we still have a significant problem as a profession with cutting through to the public when it comes to increasing understanding of what it is we actually do (53% of respondents were clear about what a careers professional might be able to offer them, with only 14% 'very clear'). Much to ponder over your weekend brew...

?? My final pick for this issue of CM is a topic that is close to my heart - harnessing the power of Alumni to enhance careers education! To highlight the power of engaging former students as part of a programme of career learning, Sue Riley FRSA and Victoria Geary (she/her) take us through some of the work that Future First are doing in this area to support state schools and colleges in engaging their former students, the benefits that can arise from leveraging alums within careers education (including relatable alumni panels, talks, work experience opportunities...) and a detailed case study of how St. Bonaventure's School in London are currently working with their Alumni to provide an insider view of different industries to their current students, identify new work placement opportunities and even generate additional funding for the school via an alumni fund! As someone who works closely with Alumni in my day-to-day role, this article really resonated with me and I'd highly recommend checking it out yourself, particularly if you are interested in tapping into the awesome power of alums!

That's just a flavour of what is in this issue of Career Matters, as October's edition also includes the following:

? There's a celebration of this year's UK Career Development Awards winners, including Iffat Ahmad , Rebecca Auterson , Associate Professor Deirdre Hughes OBE and Jan Ellis !

? As ever, there are some seriously interesting LMI pieces to dig into, including deep dives into Accounting (from Emily "M" Coltman FCA ), the Water Industry (from Alistair Lloyds and Meg Ginsberg ) and career paths in Financial Advice (from Gee Foottit CMgr FCMI DipPFS )

? Lis McGuire RCDP reflects on the crucial role that safeguarding plays in personal carer guidance

? Luisa Moreno and Sue Edwards tell us what's new with the updated CDI Code of Ethics

? Belinda Nuttall and Karen Cannard, RCDP AIEMA both offer suggestions for how careers professionals can make careers education 'greener' for the clients they work with

? Rob Bracey , Careers Adviser at MMU, showcases an innovative approach to helping Psychology students brush up on their interview skills

? Peter Stewart highlights the challenges involved in supporting refugees with employment and education options

? The latest CDI Big Listen results are in and David Morgan has broken down the key takeaways, including issues around member satisfaction connected to the recent website challenges and increased recognition from members that the CDI is playing an important role in publicly championing the profession. The next Big Listen will go live in early 2025 - please do consider taking some time to share your views with the CDI once it's out in the wild!

? As always, there are a range of excellent book and website reviews from members of the careers community, including Charlotte Whitehead RCDP, MEd, PGDip reviewing John Lees ' latest offering, How to get a job you love: Find a job worth getting up for, Alison Williams (QCG) summarising Kate Daubney PFHEA FRSA 's Careers Education to Demystify Employability: A guide for professionals in schools and colleges, and a range of website reviews, including Generation Logistics, My First Job in Film and Technicians Make The Difference.

? The Last Word for October's issue of CM goes to another recent UKCDA winner, Sianell White BSc (Hons) , who reflects on the language we use when providing career guidance - is it better to describe it as a careers chat, interview or something else?

Kudos as always to Dr Oliver Jenkin PGCE RCDP and the Career Matters Editorial Board for putting together another fantastic edition of the magazine, which continues to be a vital read for the membership!

CDI members can read the full Career Matters magazine at their leisure by heading to the CDI website and logging in to the members area – if you are not yet a CDI member and are potentially interested in joining the professional body, all the relevant information on how to do this can be found below!???

GUEST BLOG: TikTok careers advice - is it actually any good? ??

The GUEST BLOG is back in business and this edition is one I've really been looking forward to, as it hits on a topic that is becoming increasingly more prominent in discussions amongst careers professionals, and is an area that I often feel less knowledgeable about - how careers-related content is being consumed through social media channels and what the quality of this output is actually like. To help us dig in to this meaty subject matter, Leigh Fowkes has generously shared reflections from his recent research into the topic of careers advice on TikTok, a longer version of which you'll be able to read via Leigh's blog site in the not-too-distant future...

Is TikTok a global phenomenon that could actually help tackle the issue of engaging young people with career advice? For Gen Z and Gen Alpha, it’s clear TikTok has potential, but what does it really offer in terms of reliable careers guidance?

TikTok’s reach and influence

With approximately 1.5 billion monthly users globally as of 2024, TikTok is especially popular among younger demographics. In the UK alone, 60% of users are Gen Z, with 85% of 16- to 24-year-olds actively using the platform. This broad reach into a youth demographic makes TikTok a tempting space for offering career-related content, but questions remain around the quality and reliability of the advice available.

Over the past six months, I’ve observed TikTok’s careers content, using hashtags like #careertok and #careeradvice to explore a variety of accounts. This exploration was non-scientific but aimed to give a broad perspective on the different types of career advice available on the platform. Here’s what I found.

Who is offering #careeradvice on TikTok?

1. The industry insiders

These are professionals in specific fields who use TikTok to share insights about their roles, often in popular industries like technology, healthcare, and finance. Typical content includes ‘day in the life’ videos and live Q&A sessions where viewers can ask questions about their professions.

• Pros: Authentic insight is valuable for those curious about certain fields. These first hand accounts can offer a candid, if personal, view of various professions.
• Cons: One person’s perspective can be biased and unrepresentative. The viewer has little way of knowing if the creator’s experience reflects the industry broadly, and verifying the creator’s professional background can be challenging.

2. The Recruiters

Recruiters and early talent professionals are also prominent. Their content mainly focuses on the hiring process, often giving tips on CV writing, interviewing, and applicant tracking systems (ATS).

• Pros: Some of this advice can be highly relevant and practical, especially for job seekers needing guidance on the basics of job applications and hiring.
• Cons: The advice can be overly generic, assuming rigid “rules” without acknowledging variations across industries and locations. This can make it difficult for viewers to gauge which advice applies to them.

3. The unqualified ‘experts’

These individuals often claim expertise in careers advice without any official credentials. Quick checks reveal some are unqualified but offer guidance, sometimes even selling related products or services.

• Pros: Occasionally, this group does offer sound advice from experience alone, and TikTok’s open platform provides opportunities for diverse voices to share insights.
• Cons: The major risk is unverified expertise. These creators often leverage an appeal to authority, presenting themselves as experts without formal credentials. This can be misleading, especially for younger viewers, and may be a ploy to sell additional services.

4. The careers professionals

This group is composed of qualified career coaches and advisors who use TikTok to provide practical guidance. They often link to their certifications and are clear about their expertise. These professionals generally work as freelancers or offer private services.

• Pros: In most cases, the content is high-quality and transparently credible. Some even stress the limitations of TikTok, framing their advice as informational rather than comprehensive guidance.
• Cons: In Live sessions, the fast-paced Q&A format can lead to generalised advice and even guesswork. This is potentially problematic, as viewers may take this guidance as definitive answers on complex career questions.

Final thoughts

Discerning between credible information and advice is likely to be problematic for viewers given the time and informational literacy needed to check the provenance and creditability of creators. Nonetheless the platform has tremendous reach, especially in certain demographics and could be useful in filling the gaps between other forms of face-to-face and online careers provision.

The average length of video creates a double edged sword to balance between engagement and quality. Careers guidance is often spread over a long period of time which presents challenges to individualised and nuanced support.

This theme of personalised tailoring is what sets professional careers guidance apart yet this is easily undermined and challenged by unqualified advice. That is not to say the careers profession own all forms of careers advice and neither should that be preferable. It is more a case of adapting practice to different forms of media and their respective affordances. As ever it is useful to pay attention to trailblazers forming a path to a wider audience.

If you'd like to learn more about Leigh Fowkes and his work, you can check him out via LinkedIn , X , his blog site and/or the 'about' section on our Foresee Framework website ! (the AI professional development framework created by Leigh and myself!)

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???

?? The Budget is HERE: What have we learned? - First up this week, it's been near impossible to avoid commentary and analysis relating to the Labour government's first Budget of their new regime, and there is plenty for careers professionals to chew over - this article from FE Week provides a useful overview of how the Budget is set to impact FE and Skills (including a ￡300m additional cash investment for HE, ￡40m for Foundation Apprenticeships and another delay to the Lifelong Learning Entitlement) while as ever, Wonkhe is a valuable read for analysis related to the planned undergraduate tuition fee rise, and FE News has you covered in terms of reactions to the NI rise and the possible implications for apprenticeships and business sentiment. Lots to unpack now and over the coming months, as the consequences of the Budget are realised...

?? Job hunting: Quality or quantity? - I feel like barely a week goes by without #TheWeekInCareers recommending one of the latest Raj Sidhu YouTube videos, and with good reason, as Raj has truly been on a tear recently with the quality of the output on his YouTube channel. His latest two videos, entitled Is Job-hunting truly a numbers game? and The Shocking Effects of AI-use on Hiring Chances (New Research) , are well worth watching in tandem, as they touch on a topic many careers professionals will have been discussing with their clients - why demonstrating an authentic voice in the application process is more vital than ever. Give them 5 minutes of your time this weekend and don't look back!

?? AI and Recruitment: Is a tipping point approaching? - Whether it's the fact I've been delivering a number of careers education sessions on AI and recruitment in recent weeks or a genuine reflection of how hot this topic actually is, it definitely feels that the impact of AI in the recruitment space is approaching something of a tipping point, whether it's the ISE's jaw-dropping data about graduate application numbers or Arctic Shores ' call to action for TA teams to rethink their recruitment processes in the age of the AI-enabled candidate. For a useful primer on this topic, look no further than Lis McGuire's excellent LinkedIn post and accompanying comments thread , which features perspectives from both careers professionals and recruiters regarding AI-generated CVs and what the risks and benefits are for candidates who might be using this tech to support their applications.

?? Spooky Careers and the importance of getting serious about non-traditional jobs - Halloween may be in the rear-view for another year but I couldn't resist sharing the latest offering from Lucy Sattler 's Pondering Careers newsletter, which focuses on 'Spooky Jobs' you might not have heard of, from an End of Life Doula / Soul Midwife to a Forensic Pathologist. Beyond the topical and light-hearted tour of spooky job roles, there lies a valuable message from Lucy regarding the biases we may unintentionally hold about particular job roles and the importance of presenting all career pathways in a way that doesn't necessarily invite specific preconceptions, either negative or positive.

??Repackage your PhD: How to pitch your skills to any employer - We finish this week's newsletter with a typically value-laden blog from the fab Holly Prescott , who this time around writes about how to repackage your experience for employers as a PhD candidate - in the blog, Holly starts with the creative analogy of a PhD being not unlike a multiple-use drug (e.g. it can be both used and sold to others in different ways) and goes on to surface three specific examples connected to a PhD researching the role of sex hormones on the heart for different types of roles, including an editorial role with a medical education company and a position in the aerospace sector. It's a creative and fascinating look at just how important it is to consider how you talk about your knowledge / skills / experience on a CV or application, as well as what you choose to talk about - well worth a read!

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 time around for Episode 94! ??