Participating in society is a social and cultural phenomenon in which individual activities are contributing to society as a whole. In all contexts (paid work, voluntary work, private, hobby, education) the person manages his/her career and uses and develops many competences. Unconsciously we value, appreciate and use these individual competences, but often find it difficult to connect these directly to the formal and institutionalised principles at work and in education, because they use more informal principles and conditions to value the competences.

 

The use of the word ‘career’ is often limited to paid work, to employment and formal forms of support like education, training, job counselling. Unesco[1] however defined career in 2002 as:

 

`Career is the interaction of work roles and other life roles over a person’s lifespan including both paid and unpaid work in an individual’s life. People create career patterns as they make decisions about education, work, family and other life roles.’

 

The European Commission and the OECD also included the importance of participating in society in their policy. The project Worklife Guidance addresses career management in the work context, which varies from paid work in commercial settings to unpaid work in for instance the voluntary sector. The wider definition has been taken in consideration, as it influences decisions in worklife career management.

 

It is important for all stakeholders in worklife career management (the individual, the employer, educational/training institute, policy, supporting organisations) to be more aware of the advantages of portfolio models, of independent assessment and guidance, of formal and informal valuation, and of available sources of finance. For planning their worklife career it is most of all important that individuals are aware and can describe the desired effects for themselves, for the contexts in which they work and live. Personal development and opportunity management should be customised for the individual, taking in consideration the needs in organisations/society and creating a win-win situation for all.

 

The OECD (2004[2]) uses the following definition of Career guidance: “Career guidance refers to services and activities intended to assist individuals, of any age and at any point throughout their lives, to make educational, training and occupational choices and to manage their careers.” This definition of career guidance is limited to the formal environments of education, training and work. From the employment perspective this is justified, but it lacks the perception of the individual. The worklife of an individual is more than only paid work and formal education. The development of competences already starts before school s and takes place also outside schooling. Research has shown that up to 93% (Borghans[3] ea, 2011) of all learning of adults is by informal learning, and it can be expected, due to the Just-In-Time, Just-Enough, in all forms of learning, fitting to the interest of the individual, fitting to the intelligences and learning styles of the individual, etc., that the impact of informal learning on the work and on their development is higher than formal education and training sessions. Also from the individual’s perspective, the competences are used in all aspects of life, whereas certain private activities such as a hobby, can give more benefit to the individual than the results held at school or at work.

 

In his book “We hebben er weer zin in” Hans van der Loo (2011[4]) describes four conditions for a personified valuation and empowerment of the individual. They are also conditions for lifelong learning:

1. being aware (by self-estimation and self-assessment being able to assess your value in relation to other value systems);

2. positive connection (natural intelligence, all intelligences, connection with environment and fitting in the context of a network society);

3. driven by self-chosen ambitions (versus strict rules in education, in work and in society);

4. Active enthusiasm and ambition (have a positive attitude towards your own ambition, take full responsibility and go for what your ambition in live is).

If all these individual conditions are met, it enables a person to plan and manage his or her own career.

 

Career guidance needs to reposition toward the need of the individual, rather than only to the demand of employment and/or education. It is a balance between the organisations’ perspective / need (top-down) and looking from the individual’s perspective (bottom-up) career guidance further enriches employability. It also enforces further sustainable development of competences of the individual and the participation in society. In this way it is possible to make continuously the link between ‘work career’ and ‘life career’.

 

Sources:

[1] Handbook on career counselling, Unesco, Paris, 2002 (http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001257/125740e.pdf)

[2] Career Guidance, a handbook for policy makers, OECD, Paris, 2004 (http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/53/53/34060761.pdf)

[3] Borghans L, Een leven lang leren in Nederland, ROA, Maasticht, 2011 (http://www.roa.unimaas.nl/pdf_publications/2011/ROA_R_2011_5.pdf)

[4] Loo, H van der, We hebben er weer zin in! (in Dutch), van Duuren Media, 2011