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A Business Perspective of Careers Guidance - Extracts From Discussion
We have to consider the bigger picture and look at the ability of the service to meet the needs of the economy, in effect measure the impact of the service by its ability to deliver the skills needed by business.
Where do our priorities lie, with the client or somewhere else? Lets say the need for plumbers begins to dictate the process itself, then how many scientists and doctors do we lose and what new shortages do we create for the future. More importantly what lost potential is gone forever?
What we cannot afford is the situation where many people are doing courses that have little market value - such as media studies. These options whilst they may be the preferred choice for the person they do little either for the individual in terms of their employability or in supplying the skills needed for continued economic growth and stability.
We have a shortage of plumbers so it makes sense to encourage take-up of plumbing… but the scarcity of plumbers does not necessarily translate into training opportunities for plumbers. What do you tell the client in this case? We need plumbers but it's unlikely that you'll be able to train unless you have a relation or friend in the business who can provide a placement.
A client who pursues a career of little interest to them but does so with the aim of satisfying economic needs is unlikely to derive job satisfaction and, in the longer term, is likely to look for a move. Retention is as important an issue as recruitment for most employers.
The role of the guidance practitioner is not a kind of social engineering so that if 10 plumbers are required, we are deemed successful if we have directed 10 people into plumbing. The role of the guidance practitioner is to empower the client with the knowledge, understanding and skills to make appropriate career decisions throughout their working lives based on all relevant information.
We cannot get away from the need for the choice to be exercised in the wider context of the needs of the economy. Failure to ensure that sufficient people go into the right careers will result in a mismatch between the skills needed and the skills available. This can only harm the economy.
Although we advocate free informed choice, I am not sure there is such a thing in reality. It is the business perspective of the universities themselves that make these options available. There are loads of Media Studies courses because they attract lots of applications and universities make an income from them - or is this too cynical? Prospective students must be influenced by the availability of places and possibly and of course mistakenly, see it as an indicator of potential employment in the area.
Just to stir things up, I'd also question how directly relevant many well-respected courses are. Taking mathematics, once you start looking at 60 dimensional spheres, chaos and string theory, how practically relevant is that? Yet there isn't a huge campaign to discredit those courses because it is acknowledged the problem solving and analytical skills (whatever) that are developed to high levels are of greater significance. So too we should defend media courses that necessitate team working, communication skills and a terrifying schedule of deadlines.
It has been said 'in a time of drastic change, it is the learner who inherits the future, the learned are equipped to live in a world that no longer exists' (Eric Hoffer Reflections on the Human Condition). If this is true then it is the enthusiasm for learning that needs to be nurtured, not the acquisition of time bound skills that may be superseded as the technology of the age transforms the world of work and takes it in directions we haven't even dreamt of.
Perhaps there is a role for the guidance professional as the honest broker with the long-term view and the ability to protect /defend options for the client, stopping in the worst case scenario the unfettered market outcomes.
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2004-06-28 12:00 PM
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