CAREERSCAPE:

Evolutionary Shifts in the World of Work

Mary D. Feduccia, Ph.D.

LCA Conference

September 17, 2013

Presentation Overview

• Major changes in the 21st century

world of work

• Major changes in demographics of

clients who seek career counseling

• Multicultural competencies: the

need and how to strengthen them

• Effective career interventions for

meaning-making

The Future is Now! Ages & Stages

Technology-Driven Workforce

• Increased remote access to offices

• Video conferencing

• Virtual work teams

• Telecommuting

• Increased work style flexibility

• Globalization

• Concepts of time and space disappear Source: Workplace Trends

Job Openings 20th Century—Want Ads

• Typists

• Switchboard operators

• Mimeograph repair technicians

• Keypunchers

• Elevator operators

21st Century--Internet

• Webmasters

• LAN operators

• Desktop publishers

• Instructional technologist

• Technical support advisor

Source: FutureWork, DOL

Vocabulary Shift

FROM

• Trainee

• Continual Change

• Training Events

• Loyalty to the organization

• Classroom

• Cost

TO

• Learner

• Transformation

• Self-directed

• Loyalty to profession

• Learning Center

• Investment

Source: The Future Work Institute

Post-Secondary Education

• 21 of top 25 occupations with most job openings do not require a

postsecondary degree

• Over 70% of new jobs in the future will be in occupations that can be

entered without a 4-year college degree

• Short to long term on the job training will be valued

• About 5M college educated individuals are in jobs that do not

require a high school diploma

• Many who do not have a college degree are earning more than those

who do in certain fields Source: the Goldilocks Challenge

New Jobs by Education Categories 2010-2020

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Goldilocks Challenge

Huge Change in Demographics

• By 2050 US population expected to increase by 50%

• The white non-hispanic population should peak in 2024

• Minorities which in 2010 made up 37% of the population should comprise 57% of the

population in 2060

• Minority groups will make up over half of population by 2043

• Hispanic and Asian populations should more than double by 2060 • Black population should increase by 14.7% • Other minority groups should increase

• The population of older Americans should more than double by 2060

• People over 85 should triple by 2060 and represent 4.3% of the population

• More women and people with disabilities will be on the job

Source: FutureWork, DOL and 2010 US Census

Need for Multicultural Counseling Competencies Has NEVER Been Greater! Source: Swanson & Fouad

Tenets

Individualism & Autonomy

Affluence

Opportunities Work is Central

Linearity

Multicultural Career Counseling

• Tremendous cultural shifts = Cultural pluralism

• Cultural values: the core of the career intervention process

• Multicultural counseling: emphasis is on cultural impression of both

the counselor and the client

• Possible impediments: social class, language, culture of counselor and

client (power differential)

• Stats: Women, people of color, persons with disabilities, and LGBT

population face discriminatory practices in hiring & promotion

Traditional career interventions may not be appropriate for diverse clients!

NCDA Multicultural Competencies: ncda.org

Beware: Career Assessments

• Diversity:

• age • reading & comprehension level • race • ethnicity • gender • disability

• Consider:

• Nature of the items • Nature of the norm group • Mode of administration and interpretation

Source: Niles and Bowlsbey

Postmodern Approaches: A Paradigm Shift

• Emphasize the importance of understanding our careers as they are

lived

• Focus is on client’s subjective experiences related to career

development

• Embrace multiculturalism

• No one fixed truth; we each construct our own realities & truths

• Emphasis: personal agency

Postmodern Approaches

• Most popular approaches:

• Narrative: We are the stories that we live

• Contextual: Meaning through interaction between client and social context

• Constructivist: Clients are active organizers of their own experiences and construct meaning through their decisions and actions. Use personal constructs

Postmodern Career Interventions

• Life Chapters

• Life Career Assessment

• Laddering Techniques

• Vocational Reptest

• Values & Occupational Card Sorts

• Lifeline

• Accomplishments Interview

• Guided Fantasy

• Career Genogram

Creating Narratives

• A narrative creates a beginning, middle, and end

to process

• A story will highlight important events and bring

details into focus

• The plot of the narrative carries a point

Three important elements counselors should identify within a client’s story:

1. Coherence (coherent stories make sense

chronologically)

2. Continuity (continuity is revealed in goal-

directed behavior)

3. Causality (explaining how events occurred

reveals the causality within the client’s

story.

What to listen for…

• Objective and factual information about client’s work

and educational experiences

• Client’s self-estimations of skills and abilities

• Inferences counselor can make about client’s skills and

abilities based on life career themes

• Client’s opinions of value as a person and awareness of

self

Narrative Approach: Life Chapters

• Consider your life as if it were a book dividing your life events into

chapters.

• Give titles to the chapters of your past.

• Identify 3 important lessons learned in each chapter of your life.

• Look ahead at the rest of your life and create chapter titles that move on

to death.

• Which chapter(s) do you expect to happen? Which do you want to make

sure happen?

• Process the activity: positive chapters are restored and negative

chapters are reversed in the future.

Life Career Assessment

Four Parts

• Career Assessment

• Typical Day

• Strengths and Obstacles

• Summary

Important points: be sure to use transitions and adapt questions to fit

the client

Career Assessment

• Work experience

o Last job

o Liked best about

o Disliked most about

o Same procedure with another job

• Education or training progress and concerns

o General appraisal

o Liked best about

o Disliked most about

o Repeat for levels or types

• Relationships/Friends

o Leisure time activities

o Social life (within leisure context)

o Friends (within leisure context)

What to listen for…

- Listen for worldviews, environmental barriers, levels of

acculturation in Work Experience section

- Listen for learning style and possible impact of gender, race,

ethnicity, disability issues on education

- Ask about leisure activities -- a nonthreatening way to get

information about their social life (do they have friends?)

- Repeat, clarify, and reflect on life career themes you pick up on

- Listen for whether themes are consistent across areas or if leisure

themes are in contrast to work and education themes

Typical Day

To discover how clients organize and live their lives, ask them to

describe a typical day step-by-step.

Listen for personality themes on the following dimensions:

• Dependent-independent

o Relies on others

o Insists on someone else making decisions

• Systematic-spontaneous

o Stable and routine

o Persistent and attentive

Strengths/Obstacles

• Three main strengths

o Resources at disposal

o What do resources do for clients

• Three main obstacles

o Related to strengths

o Related to themes

• Gives direct information about the problems that the client is facing,

their possible environmental barriers, and resources that they have

at their disposal

Strengths/Obstacles

• After clients name their strengths, probe further to see what their

strength does for them

o If persistence is named as a strength, may disclose that it makes them keep

trying

• Same thing should be done for obstacles

o For some clients, obstacles will be easier to come up with. For these clients,

look at how their strengths can be used to offset their perceived obstacles

• What if client has a difficult time coming up with three strengths and

three obstacles?

o Break it down into smaller parts—start with one strength and one obstacle.

After discussion of the one, add another.

Strengths/Obstacles

• If short answers are given (ex. “I’m a good worker” for a strength),

explore what the client means by that statement. (“What does being

a good worker mean for you?”)

• If a client cannot come up with a strength, move onto obstacles.

Strengths may be hidden and may be revealed after further probing.

• For younger clients: conducted in much the same way as older

clients. Focus on using strengths to overcome obstacles

Summary

• Two purposes:

1. Emphasize the information that has been gained

- Review prominent life career themes, strengths, obstacles - Ask client to summarize what they have learned.

- Increases impact, increases client’s self-awareness and allows the counselor to see what the client has gained and/or missed

- Counselor and client agree on themes

2. Relate information towards goals that you and the client will work

towards

- Possible internal dynamics that require further exploration - Possible environmental barriers to overcome - Establish goals and form plan together to address needs

Summary

• For younger clients:

o Ask clients what they learned from the session

o Increase awareness of likes/dislikes, organize strengths and obstacles to

showcase an overall method of operation or lifestyle

Let’s Try It Out • Life Chapters Exercise

• Values Card Sort

• Life Career Assessment

• Career Genogram

Conclusion: What now?

• Postmodern career interventions help clients identify and describe

life career themes

• Collaborate with client to apply this knowledge to next steps, such as

testing, counseling, educational and occupational information

gathering, career planning and decision making

• Knowledge of client’s styles and potential issues can help inform

future career counseling interventions

• Holistic approach – opens discussion to all life role arenas and helps

address multicultural issues more naturally

References

Niles, S. G. & Harris-Bowlsbey, J. (2009). Career Development Interventions in the 21st Century, 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Mayhew, R. (2013). Workplace trends in the 21st century. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/workplace-trends-21st-century-1105.html

Regan, M. (2013). FutureCo 2018. Retrieved from http://www.futureworkinstitute.com/futureofwork/futurework/futureco_2018.html

References (cont’d) Swanson, J. L., & Fouad, N. A. (2010). Career Theory and Practice: Learning Through Case Studies, 2nd ed. Thousand

Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

United States Census Bureau. (2011). 2010 United states census 2010. Retrieved from

http://www.census.gov/2010census/

United States Department of Labor. (2013). Futurework - trends and challenges for work in the 21st century

Executive Summary. Retrieved from

http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/herman/reports/futurework/report.htm

Wall, J. (2013, May). The goldilocks challenge: Getting postsecondary education advice just right. Career

Convergence Magazine. Retrieved from

http://associationdatabase.com/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/72929/_self/layout_ccmsearch/false

Session Handouts

• Life Chapters Exercise

• Life Career Assessment template

• Career Values Worksheet

• Genogram template