tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/career-counselling-16480/articlesCareer counselling – The Conversation2023-12-29T05:50:38Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2173832023-12-29T05:50:38Z2023-12-29T05:50:38ZTime to choose a career? A psychologist offers tips on the journey after high school<p>Pivotal decisions loom large for high school graduates and those with responsibility over them. The trajectory has been a fairly straightforward line until now – learning and more learning. Having completed high school, will the journey now lead directly to university? If so, what field of study? Will it be the technical training route? Or will it be perhaps a direct leap into a “dream” job?</p>
<p>Suddenly there are many options to choose from. It’s important to determine what’s advisable and what’s not. Some may benefit from parental guidance, others may not. Some guardians may be ill-equipped to offer proper guidance. Knowing when and from whom to ask for help can make a big difference. </p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://www.up.ac.za/research-matters/news/researchers/view-2999584-professor-kobus-maree">researcher and educational psychologist</a> with a particular interest in career counselling and helping people find their life’s purpose. I have previously worked with thousands of students who need to make subject choices, learners who need to make career choices with a view to tertiary studies and other students who are uncertain whether they are pursuing an appropriate field of study.</p>
<p>The focus of this article is to provide a compass for families navigating the labyrinth of decisions for their high school graduates. It becomes especially pertinent as the new year dawns and important choices loom ahead. I highlight four key guidelines.</p>
<h2>1. Coping with disappointing grades</h2>
<p>The final high school exam is water under the bridge. Not all will have attained their desired success, that’s for sure. But there are still ample reasons to remain optimistic about the future. First, let’s discard the term “fail” from our vocabulary. Your current marks may limit your acceptance into your preferred field of study, but they don’t dictate your overall success in life. They don’t limit your career prospects.</p>
<p>It is essential to step back emotionally and to approach the experience logically. Everyone encounters both successes and setbacks and this is entirely normal. If your results fall below expectations, view this as a manageable challenge. It’s an opportunity for personal growth and development, and for exhibiting resilience in rapidly changing and uncertain times. </p>
<p>In the face of disappointment, sadness, anxiety, or even depression following your exam results, dwelling on what might have been serves no purpose and offers little benefit. Instead, consider for example the fact that your parents, guardians or caretakers cherish you as precious and love you unconditionally. Foster open communication with them. Share your feelings with them through conversation or text, and actively listen when they express their thoughts. They are crucial pillars of your support structure. </p>
<p>It is crucial not to fixate on a preferred university, college or training institution. While research indicates that individuals with degrees often find employment more easily and earn higher salaries, university is not the only path to success. Non-university study holds its own value, and each study discipline and tertiary training institution should be evaluated on its merits.</p>
<p>Consider specialised diplomas and certificates, such as those in information technology (for instance, cyber security), or technical qualifications (for instance, renewable energy wind turbine service). These qualifications can be personally enriching and offer diverse career opportunities, often making students highly employable.</p>
<p>Don’t hesitate to seek career counselling from a qualified psychologist (career counsellor).</p>
<h2>2. What to do if grades fall below expectations</h2>
<p>You may have secured decent grades – but not good enough to secure admission to your preferred course of study. There are several avenues to explore. Some examination boards entertain requests for a reevaluation of exam papers, supplementary exams, or even repeating classes or specific subjects. These options call for diligence and dedication.</p>
<p>I always encourage determined learners to translate their aspirations into actions. For example, you could explore the option of pursuing your favoured field of study at training levels or institutions other than university. Consulting with a career counsellor in this regard is essential. Seek advice from individuals who have successfully navigated similar situations – and from those who were unable to do so.</p>
<p>Consider the inspiring story of a student aspiring to study medicine, but failing to achieve desired grades and lacking exposure to mathematics or physical sciences in high school. After completing high school, the student enrolled in mathematics and physical sciences at a post-school training institution, subsequently pursuing a general degree at a university. Achieving excellent results, the student gained admission to study medicine and is now a final-year medical student. This illustrates that diverse routes can lead to a successful career. </p>
<p>The significance of high school subject symbols diminishes over time. You are encouraged to reflect on your short-, medium- and long-term goals and understand the purpose of your studies. It should not primarily be about pleasing family or outperforming others. Instead, focus on becoming the best version of yourself. Competition with others serves no meaningful purpose.</p>
<h2>3. Discovering a sense of meaning and purpose</h2>
<p>It is imperative to ensure that students cultivate a profound sense of meaning, hope and purpose in their lives. This is to say that you get a clear understanding of life’s purpose, why you are pursuing your studies, and what serves as your “north star”.</p>
<p>While choosing a field of study that supports financial stability is crucial, you should also consult a professional, such as a career psychologist, to uncover and enact your central life theme(s). This helps you identify what you genuinely wish to achieve in life (for instance, helping others that have been bullied), beyond the numerical goals you aim to attain. Furthermore, you need to be instilled with the belief that you possess the capacity to reach these goals and bring your dreams to fruition.</p>
<h2>4. Identify your key life themes</h2>
<p>Once you have identified your key themes, you gain the ability to articulate your career-life purpose, addressing existential questions such as “Why do I live?” “Where am I headed?” “Why am I on this planet?” and “Is life worth living?” </p>
<p>For example, one female high school graduate <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/QuotesPorn/comments/txvoai/be_grateful_for_your_difficulties_and_challenges/?rdt=52060">said to me</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I lost my father due to cancer, and I love helping people with cancer. More than that, I want to help others who do not have access to medical help.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This evolves into a vision statement, revealing the social significance of her work.</p>
<p>Another shared her story, stating, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I fell pregnant before completing high school and was compelled to give my child up for adoption. I subsequently studied social work. Today, I use my profound understanding of the challenges faced by young girls who become pregnant while still in school to help them navigate their pain and trauma.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A common thread weaving through these real-life stories is the transformative power of turning personal pain, hurt or “suffering” into triumph and social contributions. In essence, it is about converting passive suffering into active mastery. The eminent Swiss psychologist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carl-Jung">Carl Jung</a> once <a href="https://www.azquotes.com/quote/787711">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Be grateful for your difficulties and challenges, for they hold blessings. In fact … (Humans) need difficulties; they are necessary for health, personal growth, individuation, and self-actualisation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By assisting others who have overcome challenges similar to their own, individuals actively confront the pain they themselves have experienced.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kobus Maree does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The student’s goal should not primarily be about pleasing family or outperforming others but on becoming the best version of oneself.Kobus Maree, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1837082022-06-29T12:06:07Z2022-06-29T12:06:07Z5 drawbacks to following your passion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471188/original/file-20220627-12-niphao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C22%2C7315%2C4858&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Employees are more likely to put in long hours when they're passionate about their work.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/job-interview-first-impressions-royalty-free-image/498941586?adppopup=true">sturti / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After earning bachelor’s degrees in engineering and sociology, I was determined to do what I love. I headed straight to graduate school to investigate the social problems that frightened and fascinated me. </p>
<p>For almost a decade, I told everyone I encountered – students, cousins, baristas at the coffee shop I frequented – that they should do the same. “Follow your passion,” I counseled. “You can figure out the employment stuff later.”</p>
<p>It wasn’t until I began to research this <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303232/the-trouble-with-passion">widely accepted career advice</a> that I understood how problematic – and rooted in privilege – it really was. </p>
<h2>The passion principle</h2>
<p>As a sociologist who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=UnCxN24AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">examines workforce culture and inequalities</a>, I interviewed college students and professional workers to learn what it really meant to pursue their dreams, which I will refer to here as the passion principle. I was stunned by what I found out about this principle in the research for my book “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303232/the-trouble-with-passion">The Trouble with Passion</a>.”</p>
<p>I examined surveys that show the American public has held the passion principle in high regard as a <a href="https://www.erinacech.com/the-trouble-with-passion">career decision-making priority</a> since the 1980s. And its popularity <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231211068660">is even stronger</a> among those facing pandemic-related job instability.</p>
<p>My interviews revealed that proponents of the passion principle found it compelling because they believed that following one’s passion can provide workers with both the motivation necessary to work hard and a place to find fulfillment. </p>
<p>Yet, what I found is that following one’s passion does not necessarily lead to fulfillment, but is one of the most powerful cultural forces perpetuating overwork. I also found that promoting the pursuit of one’s passion helps perpetuate social inequalities due to the fact that not everyone has the same economic resources to allow them to pursue their passion with ease. What follows are five major pitfalls of the passion principle that I discovered through my research. </p>
<h2>1. Reinforces social inequality</h2>
<p>While the passion principle is broadly popular, not everyone has the necessary resources to turn their passion into a stable, good-paying job.</p>
<p>Passion-seekers from wealthy families are better able to wait until a job in their passion comes along without worrying about <a href="https://educationdata.org/student-loan-default-rate">student loans</a> in the meantime. They are also better situated to take <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-shows-why-its-time-to-finally-end-unpaid-college-internships-152797">unpaid internships</a> to get their foot in the door while their parents pay their rent or let them live at home.</p>
<p>And they often have access to parents’ social networks to help them find jobs. Surveys revealed that working-class and first-generation college graduates, regardless of their career field, are more likely than their wealthier peers to end up in low-paying unskilled jobs when they pursue their passion.</p>
<p>Colleges and universities, workplaces and career counselors who promote the “follow your passion” path for everyone, without leveling the playing field, help <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303232/the-trouble-with-passion">perpetuate socioeconomic inequalities</a> among career aspirants.</p>
<p>Thus, those who promote the “follow your passion” path for everyone might be ignoring the fact that not everyone is equally able to find success while following that advice.</p>
<h2>2. A threat to well-being</h2>
<p>My research revealed that passion proponents see the pursuit of one’s passion as a good way to decide on a career, not only because having work in one’s passion might lead to a good job, but because it is believed to lead to a good life. To achieve this, passion-seekers invest much of their own sense of identity in their work.</p>
<p>Yet, the labor force is not structured around the goal of nurturing our authentic sense of self. Indeed, studies of laid-off workers have illustrated that those who were passionate about their work felt as though they <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/F/bo16668097.html">lost a part of their identity</a> when they lost their jobs, along with their source of income.</p>
<p>When we rely on our jobs to give us a sense of purpose, we place our identities at the mercy of the global economy.</p>
<h2>3. Promotes exploitation</h2>
<p>It’s not just well-off passion-seekers who benefit from the passion principle. Employers of passionate workers do, too. I conducted an experiment to see <a href="https://www.erinacech.com/the-trouble-with-passion">how potential employers would respond</a> to job applicants who expressed different reasons for being interested in a job.</p>
<p>Not only do potential employers prefer passionate applicants over applicants who wanted the job for other reasons, but employers knowingly exploited this passion: Potential employers showed greater interest in passionate applicants in part because employers believed the applicants would work hard at their jobs without expecting an increase in pay.</p>
<h2>4. Reinforces the culture of overwork</h2>
<p>In conversations with college students and college-educated workers, I found that a substantial number were willing to sacrifice a good salary, job stability and leisure time to work in a job they love. Nearly half – or 46% – of college-educated workers I surveyed ranked interest or passion for the work as their first priority in a future job. This compared to only 21% who prioritized salary and 15% who prioritized work-family balance. Among those I interviewed, there were those who said they would willingly “eat ramen noodles every night” and “work 90 hours a week” if it meant they could follow their passion.</p>
<p>Although many professionals seek work in their area of passion precisely because they want to avoid the drudgery of working long hours doing tasks they aren’t personally committed to, passion-seeking ironically perpetuates the cultural expectations of overwork. Most passion-seekers I spoke to were willing to work long hours as long as it was work about which they were passionate. </p>
<h2>5. Dismisses labor market inequality</h2>
<p>I find that the passion principle isn’t just a guide that its followers use to make decisions about their own lives. For many, it also serves as an explanation for workforce inequality. For example, compared to those who don’t adhere to the passion principle, proponents were more likely to say women aren’t represented well in engineering because they followed their passion elsewhere, rather than acknowledging the deep <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0003122411420815">structural and cultural roots</a> of this underrepresentation. In other words, passion principle proponents tend to explain away patterns of labor market inequality as the benign result of individual passion-seeking.</p>
<h2>Avoiding pitfalls</h2>
<p>To avoid these pitfalls, people may want to base their career decisions on more than whether those decisions represent their passion. What do you need from your work in addition to a paycheck? Predictable hours? Enjoyable colleagues? Benefits? A respectful boss?</p>
<p>For those who are already employed in jobs you are passionate about, I encourage you to <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303232/the-trouble-with-passion">diversify your portfolio of the ways in which you make meaning</a> – to nurture hobbies, activities, community service and identities that exist wholly outside of work. How can you make time to invest in these other ways to find purpose and satisfaction?</p>
<p>Another factor to consider is whether you are being fairly compensated for the extra passion-fueled efforts you contribute to your job. If you work for a company, does your manager know that you spent weekends reading books on team leadership or mentoring the newest member of your team after hours? We contribute to our own exploitation if we do uncompensated work for our job out of our passion for it.</p>
<p>My research for “<a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520303232/the-trouble-with-passion">The Trouble with Passion</a>” raises sobering questions about standard approaches to mentoring and career advising. Every year, millions of high school and college graduates gear up to enter the labor force full time, and millions more reevaluate their jobs. It is vital that the friends, parents, teachers and career coaches who counsel them begin to question if advising them to pursue their passion is something that could end up doing more harm than good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183708/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin A. Cech receives funding from the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research and the National Science Foundation</span></em></p>A sociologist took a critical look at the cherished career advice to ‘follow your passion.’ What she found is that this advice often brings unintended consequences.Erin A. Cech, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1088232019-01-09T22:28:35Z2019-01-09T22:28:35ZCareer guidance for kids is our best hope for climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/252839/original/file-20190108-32133-ypi3i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">To empower children means to nurture them as they develop skills to take charge of their lives. Here, Alex Sayers, left, holds the microphone for Azure Faloona, both 12 years old, at a rally held last October in Seattle in support of a high-profile climate change lawsuit.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Elaine Thompson</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We all care, at some level, about our planet and for our children. And yet, ample research has proven that <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2815%2960901-1">we are doing a terrible job of guaranteeing a healthy future for either of them</a>.</p>
<p>In my work as an interdisciplinary scholar who has researched children’s rights, the social determinants of child development and the psychology of climate change, I have come to believe we must give more credit to young people for their ability to contribute to society. If we could learn to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03004430.2016.1155567?tab=permissions&scroll=top&">understand communities through the eyes and voices of children</a> our approach to global warming might drastically change. </p>
<p>For this reason, I have designed and led university-exposure experiences for high school students focused on career development and responding to climate change. In each workshop, I have seen students’ energy and pride as they imagine and see themselves impacting our shared future.</p>
<p>Non-governmental organizations such as UNICEF have argued that <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/ccc_final_2014.pdf">children and youth are perhaps the most powerful weapon we have to restore planetary health</a> and yet they are underutilized.</p>
<p>This might be largely because most adults believe young people are unable to contribute to this world in any meaningful way.</p>
<p>Adults rarely think of children as a resource in the fight against climate change. In other words, we disempower children just by believing that their potential is limited. Sadly, as a result, children themselves <a href="http://www.landonpearson.ca/uploads/6/0/1/4/6014680/stm_x_ryerson_2016_report.pdf">think the solution to climate change is in someone else’s hands,</a>typically the government or the private sector.</p>
<p>Loris Malaguzzi, an Italian educator <a href="https://reggioemilia2015.weebly.com/">who pioneered a transformative approach to early childhood education</a>, talks about the concept of the “<a href="https://youtu.be/174pYUcwn7w">Hundred Languages of Children</a>,” meaning they have multiple ways of seeing the world. It is we, the adults, who are limited in our ability to understand. Thus, it is our responsibility to learn their many languages. </p>
<h2>Both vulnerable and competent</h2>
<p>Being able to engage young people more effectively in talking about global warming and giving them a stage for their meaningful contributions might be what we need to successfully address the global challenges climate change brings. </p>
<p>There’s lots we can learn from the field of children’s rights that teaches us how to empower children for significant and long-lasting changes that eventually lead to positive gains for all of us. To do so, however, we must accept one of the basic and fundamental principles at the core of the children’s rights approach: <a href="https://www.unicef.ca/en/policy-advocacy-for-children/about-the-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child">respect for the young person who is acknowledged to be both vulnerable and competent</a>.</p>
<p>By accepting children’s vulnerabilities we commit to protect and nurture them as they develop skills they need to lead healthy, productive and fulfilling lives. By accepting their competence, we commit to offer children <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/other-autre/article12/Article12-eng.pdf">age-appropriate opportunities to safely express their views and be taken seriously when making decisions about matters that are important to them</a>. </p>
<p>In other words, to empower children means to nurture them as they develop the skills they need to take charge of their lives.</p>
<h2>Better career guidance</h2>
<p>Career guidance and education may offer us a unique opportunity to empower youth at a critical time in their lives. At the same time, it can prepare tomorrow’s workforce to think more deeply and critically about jobs and the environment, and how these can help restore the health of our planet and contribute to our physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual survival. </p>
<p>However, while <a href="http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/guidance.html">career guidance and education is part of the standard secondary school curriculum</a> across all Canadian provinces, the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/education/innovation-education/34050171.pdf">training teachers receive to become a guidance counsellor in Canada has been judged as insufficient</a> except for in Québec, where <a href="http://iaevg.net/iaevg.org/crc/files/iaevg/Competencies-English.pdf">teacher’s training meets standards for career development</a> that align with requirements of the <a href="http://iaevg.net/">International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance</a>.</p>
<p>Research shows that in Ontario schools, <a href="https://www.springerprofessional.de/en/becoming-a-guidance-counsellor-in-ontario-formative-influences-f/7016508">guidance counsellors do not receive adequate career development training</a> and they also spend <a href="http://ceric.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Career-Planning-in-Ontario-Grade-10-Students.pdf">only about one-quarter of their time dealing with career counselling (academic issues take up about half their time)</a>.</p>
<p>This evidence points to the fact that career guidance and education in secondary schools may be a missed opportunity. </p>
<p>While teachers’ training is a key consideration for improvements in career guidance and education, the students’ experience could also be improved by making required career courses more personally meaningful. </p>
<p>By approaching this course from a children’s rights perspective the students would be nurtured and supported at a key time in their development when they are making a choice about their future professional lives.</p>
<p>Students would learn about the careers of their own interest, the role that such work would play in the bigger picture of planetary health and they would be counselled to reflect on how their professional choices could make this planet healthier.</p>
<p>We cannot expect that everyone will want to become an environmentalist or an activist, but we can expect that the children of today will want a future for their own children, and therefore they will also want the best for our planet. We only need to show them how the two are connected through the work they will do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108823/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stefania Maggi has received funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for her research on community resilience and early childhood development. </span></em></p>New energy to advocate for planetary health could be unleashed through career guidance that prepares future generations for climate change while inspiring them to envision a meaningful future.Stefania Maggi, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1049492018-10-22T14:29:03Z2018-10-22T14:29:03ZIt’s time to take a new, more creative approach to career counselling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240998/original/file-20181017-41153-8sy7wz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Choosing a career path is often a complex matter.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world of work is changing all the time. In the past, people would probably choose one career and stick to it for the rest of their lives, gradually climbing up the ladder with clearly demarcated and structured relationships. They might even remain at one company throughout their working lives. </p>
<p>But today, people move between careers and jobs several times; they have to navigate many work-related transitions.</p>
<p>The problem is that career counselling hasn’t, for the most part, adapted to these new realities. In the developing world, <a href="https://cjc-rcc.ucalgary.ca/cjc/index.php/rcc/article/view/2128/1974">traditional career counselling</a> approaches are still the order of the day. Young people – usually in their second last or last year of secondary schooling, and who are able to afford such a service – consult a professional career counsellor. </p>
<p>They are asked questions about their personal and family history, then complete a few interest and personality inventories. They may also write a set of aptitude tests, answer questions about their study habits and attitudes, and then receive what amounts to career education or career guidance.</p>
<p>For the most part, this approach is no longer working satisfactorily in a rapidly changing world. I am involved in many research projects, task teams, as well as in an advisory capacity, and the situation is by and large the same everywhere: alarmingly high tertiary dropout rates are related in part to undecidedness or career indecision. As <a href="http://jsaa.ac.za/index.php/sajhe/article/viewFile/2558/1847">my research</a> has shown, students often discover that the degree they’ve chosen doesn’t interest them. They become indecisive and unsure about what they want to do as a career and feel stuck.</p>
<p>Based on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03069885.2018.1504202">my own research</a>, and drawing from different approaches to career counselling that have enjoyed success in the developed world, I believe that it’s time for developing countries to approach career counselling differently; more respectfully. One approach, which we tested, was having conversations with students in which they tell their stories, rather than simply writing down answers to aptitude test. </p>
<p>Research <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319669533">has shown</a> that encouraging people to tell their stories in career counselling settings has direct, positive results. It enhances people’s career adaptability and career resilience. This makes them more employable. When people share their autobiographies, they can be helped to identify their key life themes and find out what really drives or motivates them. </p>
<p>This sort of approach has also <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319669533">been shown</a> to improve people’s chances of finding sustainable, decent work.</p>
<h2>Telling stories</h2>
<p>“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rb8oIJTd6Y">Storytelling</a>” is already widely used in career counselling in the US, Western Europe and Australia, among other places. Some of my colleagues and I have begun to introduce it in South Africa. Our <a href="http://jsaa.ac.za/index.php/sajhe/article/viewFile/2558/1847">research</a> has conclusively confirmed the vast potential of the approach.</p>
<p>This sort of career counselling involves asking people not just to fill in aptitude tests or assessment sheets, but to also explain what drives or motivates them. This would centre on their key life themes – for instance, a candidate who says “I want to help people who are being hurt or bullied or do not have a voice” and who talks about sympathy or compassion or caring a great deal might be well suited to law, nursing, social work, psychology, or theology. </p>
<p>These life themes can be uncovered by, for instance, asking people about their earliest recollections (in the case of individual assessment) or, in group-based contexts, their biggest challenges while growing up. People are, for instance, also asked to tell the career counsellor who their role models were when they grew up; who their current role models are, and what they regard as their greatest strengths and areas for growth.</p>
<p>The ultimate aim is to help people not only choose a career and “find work” but also to make meaning of their career lives, find a sense of purpose and hope, design a successful life, and make meaningful social contributions. </p>
<p>This approach calls for listening and repeated reflection. Counsellors who are trained in the method create a ‘safe’ space for people (help them feel sufficiently contained) to narrate stories about their lives and their work. Ideally, people who undergo this sort of counselling should emerge with a deeper understanding of who they are and how this might play out in their work. </p>
<h2>Going forward</h2>
<p>Of course, it will take time and training for career counsellors to start embracing this sort of approach. It took me more than a decade and a half of applying the new approach in my private practice (and constantly refining it) before feeling that I have mastered it to a satisfactory degree. </p>
<p>First, relevant stakeholders will have to accept that a different approach is required by career counsellors to respond appropriately to large-scale changes in the world of work. </p>
<p>Second, universities’ psychology (and education) departments will need to adjust their curricula, since it is here that future career counsellors are trained. I am training Master’s students in educational and counselling psychology in this approach, and their feedback about the course is consistently positive and inspiring. </p>
<p>Those who are already working as career counsellors could undergo further training to develop new, different approaches that are more in keeping with the demands posed by the changing world of work.</p>
<p>Career counsellors’ allegiance should be solely to their clients. Given this fact, and the fact that research has shown how valuable this and other different, more modern approaches to career counselling can be, it would be good to see them more widely in action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104949/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kobus Maree receives funding from the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>Research has shown that encouraging people to tell their stories in career counselling settings has direct, positive results.Kobus Maree, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/792242017-06-15T04:03:00Z2017-06-15T04:03:00ZDear students, what you post can wreck your life<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173436/original/file-20170612-3809-okxd5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-worried-roommates-reading-bad-news-556708990?src=jwiFJHKMkpaxMisAB8pyaA-1-0">Antonio Guillem/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dear Student,</p>
<p>Harvard recently <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-rescinds-student-acceptances-over-obscene-facebook-memes-2017-6">rescinded admission offers</a> for some incoming freshmen who participated in a private Facebook group sharing offensive memes. The incident has sparked a lot of discussion: Was Harvard’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/learning/did-harvard-go-too-far-in-its-decision-to-rescind-admission-to-10-incoming-freshmen.html">decision</a> justified? What about the <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2017/06/07/harvard-rescinded-acceptances-private-facebook-posts-doesnt-violate-first-amendment/">First Amendment?</a> Do young people know the <a href="http://nypost.com/2017/06/06/how-can-harvard-kids-still-not-understand-that-what-happens-online-doesnt-stay-online/">dangers of social media?</a></p>
<p>I’m a business school lecturer, career services counselor and former recruiter, and I’ve seen how social media becomes part of a person’s brand – a brand that can help you or hurt you.</p>
<p><a href="http://press.kaptest.com/press-releases/kaplan-test-prep-survey-college-admissions-officers-say-social-media-increasingly-affects-applicants-chances">College admissions staff</a>, <a href="http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?sd=4%2f28%2f2016&siteid=cbpr&sc_cmp1=cb_pr945_&id=pr945&ed=12%2f31%2f2016">future employers</a> and even <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/10/21/online-dating-relationships">potential dates</a> are more and more likely to check your profile and make decisions or judgments about you.</p>
<p>Here’s what you should know so you don’t end up like those Harvard prospects.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173444/original/file-20170612-1873-1xuec6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/173444/original/file-20170612-1873-1xuec6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173444/original/file-20170612-1873-1xuec6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173444/original/file-20170612-1873-1xuec6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173444/original/file-20170612-1873-1xuec6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173444/original/file-20170612-1873-1xuec6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/173444/original/file-20170612-1873-1xuec6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The rescinded Harvard admissions have sparked debate over First Amendment rights to free speech.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cambridge-ma-may-29-students-harvard-197551889?src=zzQ6Ds1FUrXmj9TF-xRVcg-1-48">f11photo/shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>1. Social media posts disappear, right?</h2>
<p>Let’s be clear about one thing: You’ve been building your online reputation since your first Snapchat. Think the posts disappear? Think private pages are private? Think again.</p>
<p>You might feel like your life and opinions are no one’s business, but you can’t always control <a href="http://www.askamanager.org/2015/09/i-was-fired-after-a-stranger-sent-photos-of-my-private-text-messages-to-my-employer.html">who sees what you post</a>. Every photo, video, tweet, like and comment could be <a href="https://mic.com/articles/150198/people-are-dragging-miss-teen-usa-2016-karlie-hay-for-using-the-n-word-a-lot-on-twitter#.xfuFXLXqF">screenshotted</a> by your friends (or frenemies). You might make a mistake with your privacy settings or post to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/04/kitchen-aid-twitter-tweet-obama-grandmother_n_1938031.html">the wrong account</a>. And a determined online sleuth can sometimes find ways around privacy settings, viewing photos and posts you might think are well hidden.</p>
<h2>2. Do employers and colleges actually look at this stuff?</h2>
<p>Your profile will very likely be scrutinized by college admissions officers and employers. According to CareerBuilder’s 2017 <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/number-of-employers-using-social-media-to-screen-candidates-at-all-time-high-finds-latest-careerbuilder-study-300474228.html">social media recruitment survey</a>, social media screening is through the roof:</p>
<ul>
<li>600 percent increase since 2006 in employers using social media to screen</li>
<li>70 percent of employers use social networking sites to research job candidates</li>
<li>34 percent of employers found online content that caused them to reprimand or fire an employee</li>
</ul>
<p>This trend is common with admissions as well. Kaplan Test Prep’s 2017 <a href="http://press.kaptest.com/press-releases/kaplan-test-prep-survey-college-admissions-officers-say-social-media-increasingly-affects-applicants-chances">survey of over 350 college admissions officers</a> found that 35 percent checked applicants’ social media profiles. Many who do said social media has influenced their admission decisions.</p>
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<h2>3. What are recruiters watching out for?</h2>
<p>So what are the potential hazards to avoid? These are some of the types of posts that left a bad impression on me when I used to recruit:</p>
<ul>
<li>References to illegal drugs, sexual posts</li>
<li>Incriminating or embarrassing photos or videos</li>
<li>Profanity, defamatory or racist comments</li>
<li>Politically charged attacks</li>
<li>Spelling and grammar issues</li>
<li>Complaining or bad-mouthing – What’s to say you wouldn’t do the same to a new school, company, boss, or peer?</li>
</ul>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"12944403659"}"></div></p>
<h2>4. What can I do to build a positive online reputation?</h2>
<p>Remember, social media is not all bad; in many cases it helps recruiters get a good feel for your personality and potential fit. The CareerBuilder survey found <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/number-of-employers-using-social-media-to-screen-candidates-at-all-time-high-finds-latest-careerbuilder-study-300474228.html">44 percent of employers</a> who screened candidates via social networks found positive information that caused them to hire a candidate.</p>
<p>From my experience, the following information can support and confirm a candidate’s resume:</p>
<ul>
<li>Your education and experiences match the recruiter’s requirements</li>
<li>Your profile picture and summary is professional</li>
<li>Your personality and interests align with the values of the company or university </li>
<li>Your involvement in community or social organizations shows character</li>
<li>Positive, supportive comments, responses, or testimonials</li>
</ul>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"869743954735939586"}"></div></p>
<h2>5. How do I clean things up?</h2>
<p>Research. Both the college of your dreams and your future employer could Google you, so you should do the same thing. Also check all of your social media profiles – even the ones you haven’t used for a while – and get rid of anything that could send the wrong message. Remember, things can’t be unseen. </p>
<p>Bottom line: Would you want a future boss, admissions officer, or blind date to read or see it? If not, don’t post it. If you already have, delete it.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Your Career Counselor</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79224/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thao Nelson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To post or not to post? Colleges and employers are increasingly checking social media to get a sense of their candidates. Here’s what you should (and shouldn’t) post in order to secure your future.Thao Nelson, Lecturer, Kelley School of Business, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/622312016-07-19T18:37:55Z2016-07-19T18:37:55ZWhy career counselling is more valuable now than ever before<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130695/original/image-20160715-2127-13i2quc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The days of staying in one career forever are over for many people.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The world of work is <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-work-8526">changing all the time</a> – and fast. Jobs have emerged that didn’t exist five or ten years ago. And the idea that you’d stick with one career for your entire working life has been left in the dust. The Conversation Africa’s education editor Natasha Joseph asked Professor Kobus Maree of the University of Pretoria’s Educational Psychology Department to explain how career counselling has changed – and why it’s so important.</em> </p>
<p><strong>When you talk about career counselling, I suspect a lot of people think back to their school days when a guidance counsellor said, “You should do this job one day.” But it’s a far broader world, isn’t it?</strong></p>
<p>Career counselling entails much more than merely choosing a job and hoping to stay in that job for the rest of one’s life. Choosing a career is seen by many as trying to find a way to integrate into society, say as a teacher or a plumber, and also about making a social contribution. </p>
<p>Today, career counsellors believe that it is essential to identify a person’s original “pain”. This provides the starting point and life plot of every person’s career and life career story.</p>
<p>Career counsellors endeavour to help people deal with their pain – and empower them to use this pain to help others. In the process, people can heal themselves and make social contributions. Some people understandably grapple with the contention that every life story starts with pain. My <a href="http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-6209-272-3_1#page-1">own research</a>, and <a href="http://www.ncda.org/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/98443/_PARENT/layout_details_cc/false">others’</a>, suggests that very high career achievers understand the value of pain to any life story: the more you hurt and struggle, the more you have to strive to prove yourself. </p>
<p><strong>Why is career counselling so important?</strong></p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130700/original/image-20160715-2110-1exk1bh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130700/original/image-20160715-2110-1exk1bh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130700/original/image-20160715-2110-1exk1bh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130700/original/image-20160715-2110-1exk1bh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130700/original/image-20160715-2110-1exk1bh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130700/original/image-20160715-2110-1exk1bh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130700/original/image-20160715-2110-1exk1bh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Career counselling can help people to navigate crossroads in their lives.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kobus Maree</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Once people know where they are headed, they mostly become motivated to work hard to realise their goals. </p>
<p>People consult career counsellors when they face a “natural” crossroads: having to choose a school, university, field of study or one from a number of employment opportunities. A second group consults career counsellors when they begin to doubt whether they have made the appropriate choice in terms of schools, subjects, universities, careers or employers. In all these cases, the future is already upon them: “the old” – what used to work – no longer does. </p>
<p>Workers are being confronted increasingly in the postmodern era with the impact of change on the workplace. They have to face and deal with repeated work-related crossroads and transitions. They hesitate because they are uncertain about the way forward. Career counsellors then enable them to recount their career life story. This allows them to listen to themselves by revisiting instances when they faced a crossroads. And by listening to themselves, they become able to deal with their current crossroads.</p>
<p><strong>Whose responsibility is it to set up career counselling mechanisms? Individual schools and universities? Does the government have a role to play?</strong></p>
<p>I should think that everything starts with the government. But a host of other stakeholders are also responsible: education and labour departments; primary, secondary and tertiary training institutions; professional bodies and qualifications authorities; and youth development agencies, private practitioners and non-profit organisations. </p>
<p>The role of parents, teachers, role models and a person’s peer group also shouldn’t be underestimated. Society has a collective responsibility to ensure that every person be granted access to career counselling. In fact, postmodern career counselling can help “invisible” and “unvoiced” people who are desperately in need of career counselling become “visible” and listened to. </p>
<p><strong>How much does your research and experience suggest that people are using career counselling services in South Africa, where you’re based? What holds people back from seeking career counselling?</strong></p>
<p>Sadly, only a small percentage of South Africans ever have access to career counselling. Career counselling in <a href="http://bit.ly/2a3v6VB">Africa at large</a> is still premised on the belief that career counsellors should “test” clients to assess their personality profiles and help them to find the “best fit” between their personality traits and the traits required to execute a certain job successfully. People hope that career counsellors will tell them which careers to choose. </p>
<p>Moreover, career counselling offered by private practitioners is too expensive to be accessed by people who are poor – and that’s the <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-02-03-south-africa-where-12-million-live-in-extreme-poverty/">vast majority</a> of South Africans. </p>
<p>Far too few teachers are trained to administer career counselling adequately. Introducing Life Orientation as a school subject has <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-01-22-op-ed-active-citizenship-requires-active-learning-the-case-for-valuing-life-orientation/#.V4x_srh97IV">not resolved the challenge</a> either. Few of the teachers currently facilitating this subject have been <a href="http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/T-Anth/Anth-14-0-000-12-Web/Anth-14-4-000-2012-Abst-PDF/Anth-14-4-305-12-785-Chireshe-R/Anth-14-4-305-12-785-Chireshe-R-Tx%5B4%5D.pdf">trained adequately</a> to administer career counselling.</p>
<p>There’s some work being done to improve career counselling in the country. The South African Qualifications Authority, for instance, has developed a career guidance <a href="http://www.southafrica.info/services/education/careeradvicehotline.htm#.V4inZbh97IV">hotline</a> that doesn’t just involve a professional telling job-seekers what to do. The government is working on <a href="http://www.gov.za/sites/www.gov.za/files/40115_gon795.pdf">a plan</a> to develop and implement a three-tier system of career development services in South Africa. </p>
<p><strong>The world of work is constantly changing. We have jobs today that didn’t exist ten or even five years ago. How much is career counselling as a field adapting to those changes?</strong></p>
<p>The US Department of Labour estimates that 65% of today’s schoolchildren will end up working in jobs that <a href="http://www.successperformancesolutions.com/2013/65-percent-of-todays-students-will-be-employed-in-jobs-that-dont-exist-yet/">don’t currently exist</a>. </p>
<p>Change is the new normal. For this reason, career counsellors must do their work in such a way that their clients become career adaptable and, most importantly, employable. It is vitally important that students acquire those skills that will help them not only survive but rather <em>flourish</em> in times of change. Career counsellors should become <em>au fait</em> with the basics of “employability counselling”, so to speak. </p>
<p>Career counsellors should try and use the best elements from various approaches in their work. Their allegiance should, ultimately, be to find the best ways to be useful to clients.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62231/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kobus Maree receives funding from National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>Career counselling shouldn’t be a luxury that only certain people can access. It’s actually a necessity in the rapidly changing world of work.Kobus Maree, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/498872015-11-27T03:49:34Z2015-11-27T03:49:34ZHere’s how to get more women promoted to top jobs in universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103298/original/image-20151126-28295-11qp77k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women are the key to encouraging more female academics to seek promotions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Photographee.eu</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women may now <a href="https://theconversation.com/there-are-fewer-males-at-university-so-should-they-be-an-equity-group-46319">outnumber men</a> in the ranks of university students but men still outnumber <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features30Dec+2012#INTRODUCTION">women in leadership</a> roles in nearly all areas of professional workplaces.</p>
<p>This is true within the university system itself: only 30% of professors (Level E) and associate professors (Level D) <a href="http://docs.education.gov.au/node/36253">are women</a>. For women in academia, the glass ceiling is real, and years of equal opportunity policies and procedures have failed to break down this barrier.</p>
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<p>This gender imbalance has been recognised as a national problem with the recent launch of the Science in Australia Gender Equity (<a href="https://www.science.org.au/SAGE/Pilot">SAGE</a>) pilot, based on the principles of the UK’s <a href="http://www.ecu.ac.uk/equality-charter-marks/athena-swan/">Athena Swan Charter</a>.</p>
<p>SAGE aims to address the situation for the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) areas that traditionally have very low participation by women.</p>
<h2>Make the funding count</h2>
<p>Once fully rolled out, universities and research organisations may not be eligible for National Health and Medical Research Council or Australian Research Council funding unless they can show a strong commitment to gender equity at senior levels.</p>
<p>Notably, more than half of Australia’s universities and medical institutes signed up for the pilot in September this year.</p>
<p>The SAGE pilot promises to provide sufficient incentive for universities to rethink how to support female academics to increase the number of women in senior positions. </p>
<p>Apart from appointing new talent, universities will need to look at their current female workforce. They will need to reconsider how to support career development for female academics appointed at lower levels, towards application for promotion. </p>
<p>But why are women not transitioning through to higher levels?</p>
<p>One <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/01425450610704461">reason</a> could be is that female academics may be reticent to push forward as quickly as their male colleagues. This could be due to the low number of female role models or a lack of mentors. Barriers to women’s progression may also include a <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/02610150010786166">lack of networks and socialisation</a>.</p>
<p>One <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2005.00262.x/abstract">study</a> found that women start their academic careers at lower levels than men. Close to three quarters of the women surveyed started below the level of lecturer (typically at associate lecturer or research assistant level). The figure was closer to around 50% for men.</p>
<p>One good point is that women generally have a higher success rate than men in getting promoted. But the problem is that not enough women are seeking promotion in the first place. That’s not the case for men who are often encouraged to seek promotion.</p>
<h2>Women encouraging women</h2>
<p>At Swinburne University of Technology, data show the percentage of women applying for promotion out of all female academics is equal to the percentage of men.</p>
<p>But again the two groups differ by the lower levels of appointment of female academics when they apply for promotion. This results in more women applying for promotion to lecturer and senior lecturer levels while more men apply for the more senior levels of associate professor and professor.</p>
<p>So without intervention, the gender imbalance at senior levels will remain unchanged.</p>
<p>To address this, we set up a peer-support promotion program which resulted in a record number of female academics applying for promotion.</p>
<p>Driven from within the group of female academics at Swinburne, the program included a number of methods to motivate women to apply for promotion. They included information sessions from university leaders and Human Resources combined with regular peer-group meetings.</p>
<p>This helped empower female academics to better understand their own strengths and the promotion process. It also resulted in a support structure for women in the process of applying for promotion.</p>
<p>All female academics were invited to participate as mentee, mentor or both early in the year. This resulted in around 80 participants in the six month program and included a number of full professors.</p>
<p>Emphasis in this program was to create an environment of trust and mutual support. The aim was to build confidence in the mentees’ abilities, and to guide their understanding of their level of readiness for promotion. This was achieved by showing examples, sharing ideas, practice and advice, and by providing mentorship from more senior women.</p>
<h2>It worked!</h2>
<p>As a result of this peer-support program, the number of promotion applications from women doubled this year, nearly reaching parity with applications from men for the first time. The promotion process is still ongoing but assuming similar success rates to the past, this will increase the pool of women available for promotion into senior academic positions.</p>
<p>Our program shows that when women take their careers into their own hands and support each other, they can build confidence and are empowered to take the leap and apply for promotion.</p>
<p>The next step is to establish a more comprehensive career development program for female academics to embed the peer-support structure within the university.</p>
<p>If we can improve the promotion prospects for female academics to more senior positions then others can do it too.</p>
<p>Given the direction that has been initiated by SAGE which is set to have implications for external funding schemes, we encourage other universities to consider similar internal peer-support programs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49887/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Virginia Kilborn receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Birgit Loch and Helana Scheepers do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Men outnumber women almost two-to one in senior academic positions in Australia’s universities. But there is a way that female academics can play a vital role in bridging that gap.Virginia Kilborn, Associate Professor of Astrophysics, Swinburne University of TechnologyBirgit Loch, Associate Professor in Mathematics Education, Swinburne University of TechnologyHelana Scheepers, Associate Professor, Information Systems, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/405632015-04-29T19:40:20Z2015-04-29T19:40:20ZCareer studies and advice: start early or don’t start at all<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/79675/original/image-20150429-7091-1hubw4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most career advice starts late in high school. This is too late for kids from disadvantaged backgrounds.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com.au</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The unemployment rate for 15 to 19-year-olds is currently <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6202.0Nov%202014?OpenDocument">20.1%</a> in Australia. This is over three times the national rate of <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6202.0Nov%202014?OpenDocument">6.3%</a> and almost double the unemployment rate of this age group during the first year of the Global Financial Crisis, <a href="https://theconversation.com/high-youth-unemployment-cant-be-blamed-on-wages-39628">10.7%</a>.</p>
<p>This means that one in five young people is actively looking for a job. The longer they are unemployed, <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bsl.org.au%2Fpdfs%2FMyChanceOurFuture_Youth_unemployment_snapshot_Feb2014.pdf&ei=mo8wVYKkKoK1mAX4ooHYDQ&usg=AFQjCNGj9GHSJjzs8puEMd0x3OfGB_601g&bvm=bv.91071109,d.dGY">the harder it is to join the workforce</a>.</p>
<p>Those who can turn to their mums and dads for financial support, do. However, statistics show that <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED514894.pdf">young people from disadvantaged backgrounds</a> have the most difficulty in gaining meaningful work and contributing to our economy after leaving school. </p>
<p>Young people who experience difficulties making the transition to further education, training or work also tend to be <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680939.2014.953596#.VTLYUiGqpBc">less academically inclined</a>. This makes it difficult for them to compete in contemporary job markets, as the demand for low-skilled labour is much lower than it was in the past.</p>
<p>Governments have been considering how to get students to <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1743727X.2014.885010#preview">think about what they want to do for a living and why</a>. Students who think critically about their career choices well before they leave school are thought to benefit from <a href="http://www.ncver.edu.au/wps/portal/vetdataportal/restricted/publicationContent/!ut/p/a1/lZFbU8IwEIV_TR9LlvSKb3jBgAJKcaB5YdIkpVV6IU1R_PUGZnxxQHTfsjnz7dk9iKIloiXb5Wum86pkm8Ob-qthF98Q4sJoSogPw2Awn0XkxYGujxaIIspLXesMxSXfSbVqMqaksKBuk03Oj6TGAoxD76CteS5QnHqu6-MUbAGOa7uO8OwkSR07xUwEwuU91sNmeGyGw5nqw5-8GckTuffxtZGEZAwwnESzwfgucmDq_xRA7_nWMPBkRB6fuvDgXSDAN-EXk7HZIjhrk3go-udZRpf2NnfLX7db2jfJVKWWHxotL0ZjqOtNlRwzj_tl4oRrRJVMpZKq0yrTzrSuryywQMlGMsWzDuPmT4q2w1oLtGJlkx-RqyJvuAWBBadgWdUYQ6cgqC6K0NnbbzPyOU-LhU2T_fsXFtDg0g!!/dl5/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/">improved further education and employment outcomes</a> and make better choices than those who don’t.</p>
<h2>Why some students are career uncertain</h2>
<p>This is confirmed by <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-015-0175-2">a survey of over 700 high school students in NSW</a>. Importantly, it found that students who were uncertain as to what they’d like to do in their future career share some important characteristics.</p>
<p>Prior academic achievement was a factor. For example, students attending academically selective schools were more certain about their future career path than students in non-selective schools, as were students who rated their academic ability in the top third of their grade. Students who ranked themselves as being in the bottom third of their grade were more likely to be uncertain about their career.</p>
<p>Location and job availability also appeared to have an effect. Higher proportions of students located in urban schools were certain of their future career, whereas students from outer-metropolitan and rural schools were much less certain.</p>
<p>Somewhat unexpectedly, those uncertain about their careers across all year groupings (from Years 9 to 12) reported never having access to a career education session. This is despite the recommended provision of career education to high school students in Years 9-10 by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (<a href="http://consultation.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Static/docs/WorkStudies/Draft%20Australian%20Curriculum%20Work%20Studies%20Years%209-10.pdf">ACARA</a>).</p>
<p>These uncertain students also reported that they did not participate in school-organised work experience programs. These might have helped them determine their career preferences. </p>
<p>They also reported they didn’t enjoy school and there were not enough elective subject choices. In many cases, they made their subject selections on others’ recommendations and not because they were interested in them.</p>
<h2>Good seed makes a good crop if looked after</h2>
<p>In order to help disadvantaged youth improve their career prospects, Australian government initiatives attempt to <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1743727X.2014.885010#preview">force students to stay at school</a> and explore the option of attending university. </p>
<p>However, something more effective is needed if we’re to get these kids interested in their careers and how their school studies relate to real work. </p>
<p>Researchers from the University of Newcastle note that <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-015-0172-5">younger students tend to have higher aspirations</a> than older students. They recommend intervention as early as primary school, rather than waiting for students to flounder through high school.</p>
<p>Educating students, parents and teachers about the link between school subjects and possible career pathways can make school more meaningful. The education system should move towards ensuring that students are provided with career education sessions before they make their elective subject choices, enabling them to make informed decisions. At the moment, <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-015-0175-2">this rarely happens</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to earlier provision of career advice, the choices of elective subjects should reflect students’ needs and interests. This is problematic because of existing problems in the education system. </p>
<p>While many academically inclined students are satisfied with traditional academic subjects such as English, history, science and physics, schools in disadvantaged communities must appeal to a much <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680939.2014.953596#.VTLYUiGqpBc">broader range of tastes</a>, despite <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680939.2012.664287#.VTJLYJOPVXc">limited resources</a>.</p>
<p>If students can’t identify any interesting subjects and are forced to remain at school, they are set on a dangerous path. School suddenly becomes less enjoyable, they underperform in subjects from which they derive no enjoyment and, as a result, they are likely to have low self-esteem, poor educational outcomes and poor job prospects.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40563/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natal'ya Galliott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The unemployment rate for 15 to 19-year-olds is currently 20.1% in Australia. This is over three times the national rate of 6.3% and almost double the unemployment rate of this age group during the first…Natal'ya Galliott, PhD Candidate in Education, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.