Assignment 3: Professional Practice Report

Introduction
A career counselor aids people make deliberative decisions about their professional

choices. They deal with people at different stages of their careers, including new hires who are

thinking about their career options and professionals in the midst of their careers who are looking

for a change (Hirschi, 2018). Helping people discover their talents, interests, and skills and

matching them with careers that align with their beliefs and goals is the major goal of a career

counselor. They provide guidance and support across the career discovery process, which

includes selecting career goals, looking into job prospects, and developing a plan for achieving

those goals (Rahayu et al., 2019). The work of career counselors is essential in today’s rapidly

changing job market, where the skills and qualifications required for success are constantly

evolving. Career counselors can help people stay abreast of these changes and adapt their skills

and career goals to meet the demands of the job market. Additionally, career counselors assist

with job search strategies, resume and cover letter writing, and interview preparation. Depending

on the professional’s degree of training, competency, setting, client demands, and other

considerations, the services they provide vary (Albrecht et al., 2018).

The specific role, skills, and competencies of the chosen career practitioner (career
adviser/counselor):
For this assignment, a career practitioner was chosen from one of the catholic schools in

Australia. A range of career development services are offered by career practitioners. They may

be career counselors or career service providers (advisors, coaches, consultants) depending on

their degrees of training, education, years of experience, and professional qualifications (Rahayu

et al., 2019). Career practitioners work in the following roles within an organization’s career
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development service and possess the specified skills and competencies (Hirschi, 2018).

According to the interviewee, the following are the roles, skills and competencies of a career

counsellor in an organizational setting.

Dealing with the psychological impact of change: Helping employees communicate

their views about their professions and cope with change’s stress is a clear area of expertise for

counselors. It is generally recognized that for those who have survived corporate restructuring,

venting is a necessary first step, provided that they are also given the chance to learn effective

coping mechanisms (Rahayu et al., 2019).

Building a resilient workforce: Counselors can also specialize in developing resilient

workforces for businesses. Adaptability, a tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty (or the

capacity to accept surprise), an experimental mindset, and self-awareness are among the meta-

skills that employees of today must learn. These are undoubtedly areas where counselors already

have considerable experience. Employees must learn how to measure their abilities to maintain

their employability (Hirschi, 2018). By ensuring that their skills have kept up with the rapid

changes in their industry or vocation, employees may learn from career counselors how to retain

their employability at its highest levels.

Exploring career options: Traditionally, career exploration has two components:

growing in self-awareness and learning more about the working environment. There is evidence

to support the idea that both of these provide advantages to workers. Making the unknown a little

clearer via job exploration may help to lessen some of the stress that comes with transition.

Additionally, it has been shown that workers who are exploring their job options are more likely

to take part in additional developmental activities. This is crucial in the age of continuous
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learning. Although career counselors undoubtedly have a lot of expertise in encouraging career

exploration, it’s important to stay up to date on career planning models and developments that

are suitable for employed people. The practice of career counseling in the new century will be

considerably more interpretative and less prescriptive than it was in the past, more akin to

personal counseling and psychotherapy (Rahayu et al., 2019). For this reason, career counselors

must use a variety of one-on-one, self-directed, and group treatments to enable a thorough career

exploration strategy.

Goal setting and action planning: Setting specific objectives and creating action plans

to achieve them is another often utilized counseling technique. Goal-setting and action-planning

abilities can thus be valuable additions to a person’s toolset since employees who methodically

plan their careers tend to be more successful and feel more optimistic.

Facilitating effective work search for the new millennium: The capacity to

successfully discover and acquire work both inside and outside of an organization is a crucial

career management skill for today’s workers. Lunchtime job clubs and scheduled weekly

counseling are examples of effective employment search programs. However, such applications

must be adaptable enough to work with organizational requirements. Counselors must thus be

ready to provide their services in unconventional times and places (Hirschi, 2018).

Training career coaches and mentors: Today’s managers and supervisors are

frequently expected to serve as career coaches and mentors to their staff, yet formal training for

this position is occasionally disregarded. For instance, it has been found that career management

and planning services are both seen to be more successful when supervisors have gotten training

in career counseling, although less than half of the organization’s supervisors have done so. In
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uncertain times, many managers find it challenging to communicate with their staff (Rahayu et

al., 2019). Therefore, career counselors assist businesses by instructing and mentoring managers

in fundamental counseling, communication, and career management techniques. A lot of career

counselors are more than capable of providing this kind of training and help.

The majority of the time, core competencies are categorized into categories like ethical

conduct, advocacy; professional conduct, knowledge of labor market data, awareness and

appreciation of client cultural differences, self-awareness of one’s capabilities and limitations,

and the capacity for effective interpersonal communication. The ability to create, execute, and

assess counseling and guidance programs; consultation as well as coordination; program along

with service management; information and resource management; group facilitation along with

educational guidance; research; work development alongside job placement; and community

capacity building are just a few examples of the categories into which specialized competencies

are typically divided. Depending on the nature of their activities and the services they offer, all

service providers are required to possess the core skills in addition to their expertise in one or

more areas.

Critical evaluation of the career development service of the organization

Any organization must have a clear purpose or vision statement. One may anticipate that

an effective Career office would have a statement that defined it and that was in line with the

objectives or mission of the whole institution. It serves as the starting point for the Career

Office’s operational and programmatic activities. Helping individuals, graduates, and all other

clients make career and job decisions is the main goal of career services.

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Program Components

The career office as a whole has to be deliberate, consistent and adapted to the university

with which it is affiliated. Career offices must encourage objectives including intellectual

development, effective communication, value clarity, acceptable career choices, interpersonal

skills, and the accomplishment of personal goals to improve career strategy-related development

in individuals (Murtza et al., 2022).

Career Counseling

Teaching self-assessment skills and analyzing a person’s needs, personality, interests,

talents, skills, educational history, and academic success are all included in career counseling.

Additionally, career counseling offers opportunities for job information research and vocational

assessment.

Career Information

For individuals and recent graduates seeking career advice, the career office provides a

wealth of printed materials and online resources that can be very helpful. Along with such

resources, office employees should be qualified to analyze the always-expanding availability of a

range of career information tools and be able to demonstrate or teach informative access

procedures.

Early on in their matriculation process, services should be accessible to encourage

underclass engagement in knowledge acquisition and job-seeking tactics. Initiation, follow-up,

and closure strategies for resume and cover letter writing will be taught to individuals to

maximize their potential.

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Employment Services

The most important duty of an efficient career office operation is connection with

employment. To build relationships and increase knowledge of working environments that can

be used as a resource to inform individuals about why they should choose one organization over

another, interaction with employers ought to be able to be revealed or recorded and, where

possible, ought to involve staff visits to employer locations.

Program Management

Leadership that is both ethical and effective is crucial for any business to succeed. To

achieve their stated objectives, institutions must appoint, empower, and place leaders inside the

administrative structure. The director of career services must be able to exercise control over the

office’s resources. To make sure there is a connection between career services and the rest of the

institution, the director of career services must also collaborate closely with administrators and

department heads.

Legal Responsibilities

The staff members of the career office must be knowledgeable of and attentive to the

laws and regulations that pertain to their specific programs and/or services. The organization

must give staff workers access to legal counsel when they need it to complete their assigned

tasks.

Facilities and Equipment

To accomplish its mission and objectives, the career office has to have suitable,

strategically placed buildings and equipment. To ensure access, facilities, health, and safety,

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equipment and technology, must be compliant with all applicable federal, state, and local

regulations.

Ethics

Members of career services are required to act following the highest ethical standards.

The office must be able to provide evidence of moral behavior that addresses the problems

particular to each program and service.

The implementation and management of the career development service

workers may take advantage of. However, there are expenses associated with every investment a

company makes. Organizations suffer additional expenditures in addition to the training costs,

such as lost production time (Hirschi, 2018). A company can examine the use of cutting-edge

technology and adapt to the quickly changing business environment with the aid of career

development programs for its employees. A career development program for staff members

raises production and promotes work satisfaction by boosting motivation and productivity

(Savickas, 2019). Through career progression initiatives, businesses have the potential to lower

employee turnover and the need for monitoring. The organization’s overarching strategy and

goal serve as the foundation for initiatives for efficient employee career development (Rahayu et

al., 2019).

In order to increase employee performance and happiness, businesses implement

structured, ongoing career development programs. An organization may offer a range of methods

and programs for career development that its workers may take advantage of. The management

of the business must create a suitable strategy for the training program. Given that a clear job

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description is the basis upon which career growth activities may be formed, the company must

supply one for staff career advancement to be reachable (Hirschi, 2018). This will then offer

guidelines on the training that employees must get to fulfill the fundamental skill requirements

for the various positions. Therefore, it is required of enterprises to offer the necessary resources

and a setting that fosters each employee’s need for growth and career development.

Because workers are required to identify learning requirements in their area of specialty,

training needs analysis pertains to career growth (Albrecht et al., 2018). Goals, as well as tasks,

must be created following the expectations that must result from professional growth. Any gap

between employee knowledge, comprehension, abilities, and attitudes and what is needed by the

job or what is presently required by the company constitutes a training need. By using the

information gathered in this manner, the training staff may gain a thorough understanding of the

areas where there are actual and possible gaps in the requirements, which must be addressed by

the organization’s training policies and procedures (Rahayu et al., 2019).

The organization’s management must support professional development initiatives and

foster a learning atmosphere. Any company should make management and each employee jointly

responsible for career development. Additionally, if it is thought that new rules or procedures

have been established, it is required to conduct the training requirements analysis (Albrecht et

al., 2018). This paper should pinpoint the skills or dispositions required and relate them to the

firm’s strategic goal.

Organizations need to be capable to measure the benefits of career development in order to

comprehend how crucial it is to the firm (Hirschi, 2018). Realize that career development is not

the organization’s top priority and is a waste of time and resources. Last but not least, the
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business must put aside enough money to implement the required training needs and the firm’s

overall career development goals, which are meant to ensure that the staff members are driven

and have the skills necessary to accomplish their jobs.

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 References
Albrecht, S., Breidahl, E., & Marty, A. (2018). Organizational resources, organizational

engagement climate, and employee engagement. Career Development

International, 23(1), 67-85.

Hirschi, A. (2018). The fourth industrial revolution: Issues and Implications for Career Research

and practice. The career development quarterly, 66(3), 192-204.

Murtza, M. H., Khizar, H. M. U., Gill, S. A., Iqbal, S. M. J., & Javaid, S. (2022). Career

development in the hospitality sector: an exploratory study from

Pakistan. Kybernetes, (ahead-of-print).

Rahayu, M., Rasid, F., & Tannady, H. (2019). The effect of career training and development on

job satisfaction and its implications for the organizational commitment of regional

secretariat (SETDA) employees of Jambi provincial government. International

Review of Management and Marketing, 9(1), 79.

Savickas, M. (2019). Career counseling. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

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