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Guidance Community Discussion Space :: helping build careers Weblog 122 entries 08-July-2008 36 authors
show or hide details for this item New careers Blog Entry 1 reply 03-June-2005 Alan Brown
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03-June-2005 22:46:08
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Alan Brown
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Much has been written over the last decade or so about 'new models of careers', but this raises a number of questions.

Problem with discourse of new model of careers with individual having to take responsibility for their own careers outside any organisational framework is that:

  • it represents the phenomenon as inevitable (a trend that is seen as extending into the future);
  • the individual is seen as having to take sole responsibility for career development and/or is seen as a victim;
  • no consideration is given to possibility of changing work environment.

Also there is the question of 'who benefits' from this discourse? 

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New Careers Discussion Topic 1 reply 4 Bytes 15-June-2005 Gill Frigerio
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15-June-2005 18:05:54
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Gill Frigerio
I am interested in 'who benefits' from this discourse too.
IN this HE careers service we are very much oriented towards individuals taking control/responsbility. We use that 'love it or hate it' word "empowering" a lot and certainly don't want our clients to be victims. We try to operate within a 'needs based' model so that students can move from one to one support to more independent career management (skills that they will need throughout their 'new careers'). But I am also aware that behind the enabling benefits of this model is a resourcing issue - we need clients to operate independently as we can't possibly see them all one to one. On the other hand, isn't seeing students as 'in control' (albeit with support) just part of a person centred approach? These tensions replicate the dilemmas we face between the need to be student -centred and support them in whatever they wish to do and the institutional imperative to increase the numbers of graduates in graduate or graduate track employment, improving league table positioning. Am I onto something interesting here or have I just bought the hype?
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