Cloudy1′s Blog
Just another WordPress.com weblogHow career advisers should work in the future? – 17 May 2009
Ideally I would like our role to involve more than just Careers advice - I don’t think we should shy away from other factors that people have to face in order to become able to progress through their lives.
All too often people state that they only deal with careers so that’s all that they will talk to the individual about – how can you do this? In previous classes when discussing theories we all agreed that the influences faced by people has a huge impact on who they are and how they perceive their life and that of those around them. Therefore if we truly believe this we need to be able to offer more than careers support, we need to think in a more holistic capacity. Now don’t get me wrong I don’t think we should be or even claim to be experts in other fields such as psychology I just think we should have some knowledge which will help that initial meeting flow better and allow the individuals to tell their story without feeling the person doesn’t want to listen because “they don’t do that side of things”. In order for this to happen more information/training needs to be given to students to allow them to understand areas such as mental health issues, cultural issues – in other words gain a more rounded knowledge and awareness of what people can and do face in the pursuit of obtaining a job. This knowledge will also allow the adviser to know who they can turn to for further support, support that is appropriate for the individual concerned.
This would also lead to better links being formed with other organisations, who we can learn from and they can learn from us – the value of sharing information should not be undermined.
More peer mentoring/support would be encouraged in an ideal situation, after all we do this informally at tea break or lunch time, why is it seen as so alien to continue it in the actual workplace? At least then you would know that the feedback you were receiving would be from someone who also knows the job and not from someone who “shuffles paper”. In my previous job I was a Manager, however I had started from the bottom and worked my way up and I continued to process work just to ensure I kept my knowledge up and was able to understand the pressures placed on my team. This proved invaluable as my team respected me more for this and my opinion was valued. This should happen as a matter of course in all organisations especially in guidance, after all did the manager not enter the world of counselling to help people rather than to fill in forms?
The use of technology should be increased, however most people will log on out of hours, how could they get information relevant to them at a time when they need it? Does this mean we need to have advisers waiting at their PCs 24 hours a day to answer questions that may be asked or do we stick to the generic Q &A’s that are available on current websites? I know that Connexions are using web-cams to allow people to speak to advisers, and I think this is great for those who can’t get to the office as it still allows them to have contact with a human, all be it via technology! The Construction Skills used Beebo for students to ask questions of current employees, but now that is overtaken by Face Book and now more commonly Twitter! We shouldn’t lag behind or we will lose touch with people and be seen as the old service that is too tired and a bit embarrassing to admit you use! How I make this work – will be something I continue to think about – as I’m sure many current providers are - (a few University’s are currently changing their websites to increase use).
Although we joked in lectures about the “rapid response unit” I do think we need to get out of the offices and go to where we are needed especially at times of credit crunch redundancies! We can send leaflets out or advertise in local press but being seen out in the area would make people take notice and raise awareness. I do also think this type of venture would work best if there was a partnership between careers advisers and other agencies who could also help at these times e.g. CAB, financial advisers, grief counsellors (after all they are suffering a loss) etc.
The local communities (or any one who uses the service) should be asked their opinion on how well the agency is doing – not just by the old faithful feedback forms but through in depth discussions and really acting upon the information obtained at these sessions.
I suppose many people will think of similar ideas – maybe we have influenced each other in lectures or at breaks more than we thought – proving again that your community (in this case our student community) is mighty powerful!!!
I love the rapid response unit idea. Really fun. I think it would encourage alot of different people to engage with the services. It could be a really reassuring presence.