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Sharing Information - a high level counselling skill
Labour Market Information has a crucial role to play in career guidance. However, all too often the skill of 'Information Sharing' is seen as a quick fix option - something anyone can do, reduced to handing out a leaflet or referring to a website. It is so easy to access and convey information that sometimes the possible (even probable) impact on an individual receiving that information can be over-looked.
Consider for a moment the impact information may have had on you or someone you know. It might be a medical diagnosis, an exam result - it doesn't have to be bad news, it could be good news - but the information still has the potential to change the trajectory of someone's personal and/or professional life. Perhaps it is no wonder that Egan (1998)1 considered sharing information to be a high level counselling skill - that of challenging. This is because it can help clients develop new perspectives on their problems. Information sharing involves both:
- Giving new intelligence (information)
- Correcting mis-information
Sharing Information
The skill involved in sharing any information should not be underestimated - and Labour Market Information is no exception. 
Information a practitioner may take for granted - the competitive nature of a particular industry; pay rates; the requirements for travel; entry qualifications; potential for forthcoming redundancies the list is endless - might still come as revelatory to a client unaware of the realities of the labour market. Information may be only one small part of the helping equation - there is real skill in assisting an individual in knowing how to apply that information to their own situation and how or indeed if, it might influence their future plans or action.
The 'best way' to share LMI as part of the IAG process
There are plenty of different views about how LMI is best given as part of the IAG process2.
For example:
- LMI should be given to clients by practitioners who, as the experts, use information to match their clients to the 'best fit' opportunities
- Clients should be given direct, free and continuous access to high quality, up-to-date LMI
- Clients should be encouraged, as part of the IAG process, to develop their own research skills for LMI, so that they are empowered to search on a continuing basis without any further dependency on an 'expert' mediator
- LMI should be mediated by experts so that it can be used for a variety of purposes (e.g. to raise awareness of labour market opportunities; to challenge misconceptions).
(see Osipow, S.H. & Fitzgerald, L.F. (1996) Theories of Career Development (4th Edn), Needham Heights, Massachusetts, Allyn & Bacon)
You might like to think of some examples of how you currently use LMI and add them to *******the discussion thread linked to this topic.*******
For more about theoretical frameworks in relation to LMI and guidance, see the Frameworks for Practice module.
Underlying principles for sharing LMI
It's assumed that if people have information, they will act on it. This ties in with a view that people act rationally, and having accurate information will lead to 'informed decision making'. The reality is rather different. People are not always rational - if we were no-one would ever buy a lottery ticket or take up smoking!
Think for a moment of an instance of when you were given information and acted on it, and then another when you were given information and ignored it. What made the difference? ******* You might like to share your thoughts in the discussion feature linked to this topic*******
Using LMI effectively as part of the IAG process
It is likely that the following underlying principles make a difference in whether or not information is received and/or acted on.
- Help clients relate the information to their own situation
- Check clients have understood, accurately
- Make sure that the LMI is appropriate for the client's ability level and age
- Ensure the LMI is as reliable and up-to-date as possible
- Provide information in a manner that shows respect for clients and a genuine desire to help.
Skills for effective information giving3
Getting down to basics - even if the context and manner in which information is given is absolutely right, it can still be hard for an individual to absorb information if it is provided in an unsuitable format.
Top tips for straightforward information giving include:
It is likely that the following underlying principles make a difference in whether or not information is received and/or acted on.
- Use short words and sentences
- Avoid jargon
- Repeat information
- Be specific and detailed
- Give examples
- Wherever possible, categorise
- Establish connections between situations and the information, using imagery and analogies
- Suggest what to do - rather than what not to do
- Summarise and pause
- Vary presentation and/or tone of voice
- Provide written back-up to emphasise key points.
This is basic good practice - think about how you currently present LMI - do these suggestions seem appropriate to you? Add you own ideas here******
Bibliography
- 1 Egan, G. (1998:176) The skilled helper: a problem-management approach to helping, Sixth Edition, Brooks/Cole: Belmont, California)
- 2 Osipow, S.H. & Fitzgerald, L.F. (1996) Theories of Career Development (4th Edn), Needham Heights, Massachusetts, Allyn & Bacon.
- 3 Nicolson, P. & Bayne, R. (1990) (Eds.) Applied Psychology for Social Workers (2nd Edn.), London: MacMillan
- Giving labour market information (LMI) effectively - downloadable PDF handout
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- sharing_LMI_effectively.pdf
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Download and print this handout, which represents in printed form the content of this section
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