Career Seeking Skills

Career Seeking Skills- An overview of how young people are guided towards making the right choices

Carla George- Educational Researcher (University Of Warwick) February 2019

Carla George (University Of Warwick)

Career Seeking Skills- An overview of how young people are guided towards making the right choices

Abstract- The paper explores methods used to guide young people towards choosing their career of choice and to build confidence in their future.

Introduction I am currently investigating how learners pursue their career interest and how they have transitioned since leaving secondary education. I have currently spoken to learners and gained some feedback relating to seeking their options without career guidance and asking others for guidance.

Guthrie, 1988; Rouet, 2006; Rouet & Tricot, 1996 that people will search information in accordance to their own personal or work reasons. They will undergo the process of visualising their search goal, choosing a category, obtaining the information required, processing the information and integrating this with newfound information, this process is repeated ongoingly until the requirements are met.

There are a variety of models that are used by organisations to represents how knowledge is acquired and shared accordingly. Other researchers have expressed that individuals are unsure how to pursue their options. This requires planning, goal intent and set strategies.

Issues Arise Most education establishments lack support services which has increased a number of early school leavers. This area needs to be strengthened to allow transition into work and further education, this needs to be implemented into school programmes so that learners can understand what avenues to pursue after completion of compulsory education.

Improvement is needed with career seeking establishments to ensure they are providing the quality needed such as providing the correct advice to others, level of knowledge regarding employability and business industry and provision of updated materials to support training development.

Career Consultants- some are qualified, have no experience, programs are more geared towards preparing for standard based exams for job entry rather than developing general employability skills for future opportunities.

Tristram, Hooley (2012) explained that career learning is not obtaining work but its more about understanding a variety of options that would support their hobbies and interests throughout their lifetime. Educational establishments need to explore strategies that will support this as a platform as learning is very complex and can be obtained as explained above from a variety of sources.

Carla George (University Of Warwick)

Career Seeking Models Further research explores ways how establishments deliver their career-based models. Most establishments require appointment based only or self-service. This has been implemented in the majority of university establishments and ICT resources. Further resources are now accessed through ICT applications for adults and online databases for references.

Accordance to reed research they carried out a survey and asked about the current career guidance they received from their schools, the majority rated as average and very poor due to time restrictions and lack of information provided. The suggestions from this led to the following: • • • •

Employer Engagement After School experience Access to opportunities Improving Career Advice

Government (2012) transferred responsibilities to education establishments to ensure 14-16 yrs old are provided with the guidance, knowledge and improve delivery. Employer engagement is essential so that young people are aware of what employers required this can be utilised through creating awareness through programmes and increasing their involvement within the education system. This will also provide the opportunity for those to develop their confidence and discuss their requirements.

The policy also extends to those from disadvantage backgrounds to ensure they have the same opportunities and to remove all of social barriers. This will be researched further as it is interesting to find out how they are to succeed and the opportunities available.

Further suggestions surrounds obtaining part time work after school even though this may be considered as an extra responsibility, the advantages that you are obtaining work experience and young people will develop responsibility and confidence that will support their decision-making skills.

Career guidance also need to address developing lifelong learning skills and providing the resources that they can refer to such as colleges, tutors and course information that will enhance this.

(Resnick, 1987) describes learning is specific to human actions regarding performing a variety of tasks that structures their understanding. In the literature review I described the variety of types of learning without analysing this in depth it becomes difficult to understand what the learners are developing through everyday practice. The learners I spoke with always have access to expert advice even if they work in isolation they prefer to be focus on the task with minimal distractions.

They also develop confidence through use of ICT resources and previous knowledge acquired from their past educational establishment. They also have the opportunities towards attending seminars and attend a Vendor qualification course for further expert advice and knowledge.

Knowledge is developed through constant work situations, new developments and opportunities. In my literature review I described the stages of knowledge management ranging from novice to expert.

Carla George (University Of Warwick)

Summary Overall educational establishments need to recognise to the need to deliver quality career seeking programmes to support learners when transitioning into the world of work or further education. They need to be equipped with the tools necessary that will support the overall labour market. Further papers will be published as part of the research.

References Web link- http://www.oecd.org/education/innovation-education/19975192.pdf Morris M, Rickinson M (2001) The Delivery of Careers Education and Guidance in Schools Web link- https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/4646/1/RR296.pdf

Carla George (University Of Warwick)