A Description of Career Development within Canadian Organizations

Permission to include this article granted by the American Counseling AssociationThis study explored the scope and nature of career development services within organizations. One human resource/personnel department representative in each of the 30 largest organizations in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was interviewed. The Career Development Questionnaire provided the framework for the structured interviews. Participants outlined their conceptualizations of organizational career development, described the outcomes organizations hoped to achieve through the use of career development services, listed the services provided by their organizations, and rated the effectiveness of each service. Although the descriptions and the intended outcomes for career development services were consistent, specific services were not aligned with specific goals. This finding highlighted the need for practitioners to ensure they align services with their goals and for researchers to evaluate the effects of career development services on the basis of their specific intentions. Overall, results suggest that career development within organizations is still practiced in a part-time and informal manner.Ye

A Synergistic Model of Organizational Career Development

Permission to include this article granted by NATCONThe Synergistic Model of Organizational Career Development is a new model of organizational career development that combines the best of career development practice and organizational development into a unified, coherent model. The model has three levels of organization: philosophical, strategic, and practical. Expanding circles are used to illustrate movement from the broad philosophical vision to strategic plans and then to the practical need for acquisition and demonstration of specific competencies. The model encourages employees and organizations to dream (philosophical level), plan (strategic level), and perform (practical level). The personal and organizational vision circles are represented by the center rings to denote their role in regulating the other subsystems. The focus on competence is represented by the outer rings to denote their role in providing feedback to the rest of the system regarding the requirements of the world of work: the competencies that employees require to remain employable and organizations require to remain competitive. This feedback helps employees and organizations adjust to changes in the world of work and monitor their plans and strategies to ensure optimum fulfillment of their respective visions. The result is a synergistic reaction in which "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." (28 references) (MN

Career Paths and Organizational Development: Expanding Alliances

Permission to include this article granted by NATCONThe Synergistic Model of Organizational Career Development is an attempt to combine best practice principles from two domains: organizational development and individual career planning. The model assumes three levels of intervention within an organization: philosophical, strategic, and practical. Interventions at any of the levels may be directed toward the employees, the organization, or the balancing and interactive process that bring the two systems together. At the philosophical level, employees are concerned with becoming or managing to stay meaningfully connected to the world of work, organizations are concerned with defining their central purpose as an organization, and balancing/interactive processes are designed to balance employees' and the organization's long-term needs and goals. At the strategic level, employees are concerned with enhancing their careers, organizations are concerned with best meeting their organizational outcomes, and balancing/interactive processes are designed to balance short-term employees and organization goals. At the practical level, employees are concerned with staying employable, organizations are concerned ensuring that employees perform tasks essential to the organization, and balancing/interactive processes are designed to balance organizational demands with employee performance. The ultimate goal of balancing/interactive interventions must be to bring individual career planning into alignment with effective organizational development strategies. (Contains 23 references) (MN

Building Future Career Development Programs for Adolescents

Permission to include this article granted by NATCONHeuristically, adolescent career development programs may provide significant outcomes on personal, social, economic and national development levels. Unfortunately, however, very little research has been done on what is and what is not working within existing adolescent career development programs. Instead, adults continue to develop multiple resources that lack integration for adolescents, most notably, without the input from the students themselves (Hiebert et al., 2001). Unfortunately, the field appears to suffer from a lack of integration, wherein efficacy data on current programs is generally scarce and significant longitudinal data is absent. Creating a sense of integration, evaluating the results of current career development programs and creating longitudinal studies to gather objective data on the long- term impact of these programs appear to be critical missing ingredients. Without this research, we will never uncover the critical ingredients that are needed to support significant personal, social, economic and national development. Worse yet, the field may continue to go on to develop one product after another until it fragments so significantly that it fails to attract any further resources for development. In other words, the writers believe that too many resources are going into new products without any efficacy data to support them, currently or on a longitudinal basis, and that without some integration and objective support for their use, the field may fail to be financially supported in a future wherein financial resources are allocated upon the basis of results, not heuristic value

Evaluating the Impact of Career Development Services in Canada: The Perceptions of Managers and Program Administrators

Abstract Academics and policy makers have clearly identified the urgent need to strengthen the evidence base attesting to the efficacy of career development services. However, it is unclear whether those providing career development services also recognize the importance of evaluation and are able to engage in evaluation in an effective manner. This article presents research that examines the value agency managers and program administrators place on evaluation and the perceived barriers they experience in conducting evaluations. This article also proposes solutions to the barriers to evaluation described by agency managers and program administrators. Academics and policy makers have identified the urgent need to strengthen the evidence base attesting to the efficacy of career development services. However, it is unclear as to whether those providing front-line career development services understand the importance of evaluation and are able to effectively engage in the evaluation process. The purpose of the research described in this article was to examine the importance managers and program administrators place on evaluating the efficacy of their services. The purpose of this research was to also examine whether managers and program administrators experience any barriers impeding their evaluation efforts. This article will examine the results and implications of this research. As well, it will provide remedies to the barriers described by agency managers and program administrators

Campus Alberta: A Collaborative, Multi-University Counsellor Training Initiative

Permission to include this article granted by NATCONThe need for trained counselors/counseling psychologists, and for counselor education, training, and accreditation, are topics of continued discussion within professional organizations, accrediting bodies, universities, and other training institutions. Following an exploratory meeting in 1998 to discuss the need for additional graduate counselor education in Alberta, an advisory committee was formed with representatives from Alberta universities and major stakeholder groups. This paper describes an innovative approach to inter-university collaboration in the delivery of graduate programming emerging from that initiative. The initiative works on the premise that the current model of graduate education must be changed to reduce the barriers to continuing professional development. The new graduate program in counseling has a two-stage process. The first stage focuses on the fundamentals of counseling theory and practice. In the second stage, students select relevant assessment and intervention modules and develop an area of counseling specialization. The program is a learner-driven delivery system within the context of adult education and professional development. Through this collaboration, the needs of students can be better served while maintaining high standards of academic excellence and professional practice. (JDM

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe

Adaptability for Transitions: Components and Implication for Intervention

The increasing frequency of occupational change underscores the need for people to become adaptable in their career development. Traditional emphases on skill-building or competence in transition-assistance programs are argued to be insufficient in assisting individuals with transitions, and a process of transition adaptability that emphasizes self-management strategies and salience in addition to competence is presented. Implications for transition interventions and pre-intervention assessment are also discussed.La fréquence croissante des changements occupationnels sous-estime le devenir plus adaptable dans leur cheminement carriérologique. L'emphase traditionnelle qui mise sur le développement des habiletés ou des compétences dans les programmes d'assistance-transition sont présentés comme étant insuffisants pour les individus en transition et un processus d'adaptabilité à la transition mettant l'emphase sur des stratégies d'auto- gérance et de projection en plus de la compétence sont présentés. Les implications sur les interventions lors des transitions et l'évaluation de la pré-intervention sont aussi discutées

Junior High Career Planning: What Students Want

This research used The Comprehensive Career Needs Survey to assess the career counselling needs of 3,562 junior high students in Southern Alberta. This article examines junior high students' responses regarding their perceptions of (a) the relevance of career planning, (b) who they would approach for help with career planning, and (c) what help they would like during the career planning process. Results indicate career planning is important to junior high students; they are most likely to rely on parents and friends rather than teachers or counsellors for help with career planning; and they would like help with career decision making, obtaining relevant information and support, and choosing appropriate courses. Implications for teachers, school counsellors, parents, and community services are discussed.Cette étude s'appuie sur " The Comprehensive Needs Survey " [Enquête exhaustive sur les besoins en matière de carrière] (Magnusson et Bernes, 2002) afin d'évaluer les besoins en orientation professionnelle chez 3562 élèves du premier cycle de l'enseignement secondaire au sud de l'Alberta. Cet article analyse les réponses fournies par les élèves concernant leurs perceptions (a) de la pertinence de la planification de carrière, (b) des personnes à qui ils demanderaient de l'aide pour cette planification, (c) l'assistance dont ils voudraient bénéficier au cours du processus de planification de carrière. Les résultats indiquent que les élèves du premier cycle du secondaire estiment que la planification de carrière est importante; ils se fient surtout aux parents et aux ami(e)s plutôt qu'aux enseignant(e)s et aux conseillers et conseillères lors de ce processus. Ils voudraient qu'on les aide à faire des choix professionnels, à obtenir des renseignements pertinents et du soutien, et à choisir les cours appropriés. Les implications pour les enseignant(e)s, les conseillers et conseillères d'orientation scolaire et professionnelle, les parents et les services communautaires sont présentées

Grade 12 Student Career Needs and Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Career Development Services

High school students engaging in career decision making encounter signifi cant challenges due to changing social and economic conditions. The student needs assessment focus of this study provides unique insights into student perceptions of the effectiveness of high school career programs. Results indicated that Grade 12 students value resources that support transitions, have a passion for career, and report a wide range of occupational choices. However, students may not perceive career development resources available at the high school level as being very effective. Implications for the delivery of high school career programs and the development of public policy on career services are discussed.Les changements fréquents des conditions sociales et économiques imposent des défis considérables aux étudiants du niveau secondaire lorsqu’ils considèrent une décision se rapportant à leur carrière. Cette étude, grâce à l’analyse des besoins des élèves, donne un nouvel aperçu de la perception des étudiants de l’effi cacité des programmes au secondaire sur les carrières. Les résultats indiquent que les étudiants de 12e année apprécient les ressources qui facilitent la transition de l’école au travail, expriment le besoin d’une carrière qui les passionne, et reconnaissent une vaste gamme de choix professionnels. Cependant, les étudiants peuvent ne pas percevoir les ressources disponibles au niveau secondaire sur le développement professionnel comme très effi caces. Les implications pour la prestation de programmes d’orientation de carrière ainsi que pour le développement de la politique publique sur les services de carrière y sont discutés