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The career development field is facing challenges in hiring career development practitioners (CDPs) who possess digital literacy, appropriate skillsets, and relevant qualifications or training, according to CERIC’s 2024 Survey of Career Service Professionals. But what does this mean? Among CDPs, there is ongoing discussion about who we are – and are not – with artificial intelligence making the claim it can do what we do.
There is a public perception that our work focuses solely on job search methods and enhancing clients’ self-marketing skills. We assert that we are more than just resume writers. We clarify to people that we do not directly get them jobs, although we provide clients with comprehensive job search support during career transitions. Rather, our expertise lies in how CDPs communicate their clients’ career presenting issues.
The ongoing public misconception of our role raises the question: Why do counsellors in other fields, such as mental health, family/marriage and addiction have clearer defined roles, while we seem to lack this collective clarity?
It is time we make our professional role explicit. CDPs provide career transitioners with support during a challenging life stage – one where their livelihood and income are in question. We focus on concretizing our clients’ values, interests and career objectives beyond the parameters of creating job applications. We serve as a human link between employers and applicants. More importantly, we are skilled at nurturing applicants through failures to help them gain a positive outlook.
To elaborate, when we work with individuals undergoing career transitions, our goal is to explore their self-concept before developing their self-marketing tools and co-creating their best job search approaches. We skillfully implement career interventions to help clients navigate the difficulties of the job search to maintain their career well-being. It may seem like common sense to those of us in the field, but it is not to the public – or to employers and policymakers, in some cases.
“It is time we make our professional role explicit. CDPs provide career transitioners with support during a challenging life stage – one where their livelihood and income are in question.”
Many CDPs describe their role functions to others in the following ways.
- As CDPs, we use career development theories to gain insights into our clients’ needs. This approach helps us avoid subconsciously stereotyping clients, allowing us to formulate effective action plans.
- We strive to generate creative questions tailored to our preferred counselling modalities. By mastering these modalities, we are better equipped to support our clients on their career development journeys. Career skill development is a life skill.
- Some CDPs may employ career assessments, which facilitate meaningful dialogues between the professional and the client. When conducted skillfully, this person-centred approach to counselling can enhance the client’s self-awareness, identify their inner strengths and foster resilience.
- As CDPs, we learn to delve deeper into our clients’ needs beyond what they explicitly express. We recognize that statements such as “I used to be a…” often indicate a loss of career identity, which can adversely affect their self-efficacy in job searching. We prioritize treating clients as individuals rather than just jobseekers.
Donald Super defines careers as “the sequence and combination of roles that a person plays throughout their lifetime.” While some may argue that AI can replace CDPs, this is only true for those CDPs who perceive their clients as mere jobseekers rather than individuals navigating life’s career transitions.
As more jobseekers turn to AI for job search strategies – and many career professionals incorporate artificial intelligence into their practice – it is even more essential for CDPs understand and communicate how they can add value to job seekers’ successes.
CERIC’s survey revealed that 56% of CDPs are incorporating AI into their practice, with 48% utilizing AI at least once a day for direct client services. The most favoured AI tool among CDPs is ChatGPT, at 65% usage.
For those CDPs leading the AI way, there are critical questions: Is AI being employed by CDPs, or are CDPs using AI? Who is the client hiring – an expert or AI? Is AI a career intervention that fits with your clients’ needs? What type of support/services are you providing using AI?
Amid the growing discussions about AI, it is time we put the spotlight back on our work and our social contributions. As a group of professionals, we can only take credit for our work if we all know and describe our work in consistent ways. Otherwise, we let new technological tools take credit for us.
