So this is the last blog, I think that this tool has ended up being quite usefull… though I do find it quite hard to keep up to date with uni and work, its good to get into the practice of reflective thinking!
Overall I think that the course has flown by surprisingly quickly! And I cant believe that we’re coming into the final week.
Serious job searching here we come!!!
Im not really to sure which part of career guidance that I would like to work in eventually, I have enjoyed most of the placements and had a good mix.
I think that if I have the option to choose eventually I would like to specialise and quite fancy the key worker type role, not necessarily with careers Scotland, but I enjoyed the idea of getting to spend as much time as needed with clients and also being able to see progress and hearing if all your hard work actually works.
anyway untill then any job would be nice!
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Saturday, 16 May 2009
Two weeks to go!
Quite scary that this is the last two weeks to go...till we're qualified Careers Advisors
Finding applying for jobs quite disheartening as Ive heard nothing back as of yet for the ones i have applied for, even to get just an interview! although saying that the thought of interviews is quite scary to be honest! whilst on placement i met with remploy and had a 'meeting' with the manager there, was more like an interview though!!
i have to say it really made me quite nervous about any real ones!! during the interview i felt like i was being interviewed for a shop not a guidance and support practice. the manager spoke of targets and hard facts and figures and how he wanted to beat the competition and get more into sustained emplyment...although i dont think that he cared too much about those people that made up the facts and figures!!
when i mentioned the word holistic guidance he said that this was a word which he 'hated'.... !!!
Finding applying for jobs quite disheartening as Ive heard nothing back as of yet for the ones i have applied for, even to get just an interview! although saying that the thought of interviews is quite scary to be honest! whilst on placement i met with remploy and had a 'meeting' with the manager there, was more like an interview though!!
i have to say it really made me quite nervous about any real ones!! during the interview i felt like i was being interviewed for a shop not a guidance and support practice. the manager spoke of targets and hard facts and figures and how he wanted to beat the competition and get more into sustained emplyment...although i dont think that he cared too much about those people that made up the facts and figures!!
when i mentioned the word holistic guidance he said that this was a word which he 'hated'.... !!!
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Postmodernism...modernism...darkages!
We were asked quite an interesting qu in class the other day…which practices would we be drawn to in our own practice??? I think that it’s a bit early on to answer this due to really a lack of experience with practice! But I do quite like the idea of the contemporary approaches particularly narrative approaches. However whether as practitioners we will be allowed to use all the knowledge that we have on new practices is another question. In my experience on placement time seems to be quite a precious commodity and realistically practitioners don’t get the time that they need to be able to practice innovative approaches like this. Whilst on my second placement in career Scotland just there, speaking to a few advisors many said that they didn’t like the cpj or using action plans with the clients. When asking them if they would use the new approaches they said that time and space constraints would make it v hard…and whilst sitting on a team meeting there was talk of auditing to make sure that everyone was using the cpj and action plan!
I think that narrative would be a good way to deal with many clients; a lot of interviews I witnessed were very much the practitioner doing ALL of the talking and the clients sitting looking a bit bored at times! Then promising to go out and stick to what they’d been told! I think this type of guidance is v much stuck in the ‘dark ages’ and not really meeting the needs of our clients, sometimes silence can be awkward and it is v tempting to talk and fill the space, but I think a little nudge and clients will eventually open up, when the said advisor left the room, the one who’d been doing all the talking that is, I asked the girl what she was interested in and she told me painting and decorating but that It was a mans job, before this we had sat for half an hour with the advisor telling her about px2- the career Scotland’s new go for it, since the careers advisor had established from the notes on the screen that the girl had no motivation and didn’t know what she wanted to do! The girl told me when the Ca left that all she had ever wanted to do was painting and decorating but that she didn’t like telling people because its not really something girls do!
I think that this is an example of how Career Scotland fails their clients to be honest, the girl was judged before she came in the door from others notes, and although of course prob keeping a file on clients has its uses, one of them shouldn’t be to pre judge!
clients what ever their past should get a chance to tell their story i think, even using things like life space drawing could get some clients slighlty reluctant... like the girl in this interview who the career advisor was adamanet was so shy that she had to do all the talking...to open up in a way personal to them.
i think what a lot of people need is just really to clarify their thoughts and organinse them, obviously client groups ave to be taken into consideration, as some clients are just physically not able to do this, but for those who are i think that its a worth while excersise!
its hard to say that we are in a postmodern era when a lot of us have a long way to go till we even reach the modern one!!
I think that narrative would be a good way to deal with many clients; a lot of interviews I witnessed were very much the practitioner doing ALL of the talking and the clients sitting looking a bit bored at times! Then promising to go out and stick to what they’d been told! I think this type of guidance is v much stuck in the ‘dark ages’ and not really meeting the needs of our clients, sometimes silence can be awkward and it is v tempting to talk and fill the space, but I think a little nudge and clients will eventually open up, when the said advisor left the room, the one who’d been doing all the talking that is, I asked the girl what she was interested in and she told me painting and decorating but that It was a mans job, before this we had sat for half an hour with the advisor telling her about px2- the career Scotland’s new go for it, since the careers advisor had established from the notes on the screen that the girl had no motivation and didn’t know what she wanted to do! The girl told me when the Ca left that all she had ever wanted to do was painting and decorating but that she didn’t like telling people because its not really something girls do!
I think that this is an example of how Career Scotland fails their clients to be honest, the girl was judged before she came in the door from others notes, and although of course prob keeping a file on clients has its uses, one of them shouldn’t be to pre judge!
clients what ever their past should get a chance to tell their story i think, even using things like life space drawing could get some clients slighlty reluctant... like the girl in this interview who the career advisor was adamanet was so shy that she had to do all the talking...to open up in a way personal to them.
i think what a lot of people need is just really to clarify their thoughts and organinse them, obviously client groups ave to be taken into consideration, as some clients are just physically not able to do this, but for those who are i think that its a worth while excersise!
its hard to say that we are in a postmodern era when a lot of us have a long way to go till we even reach the modern one!!
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Centigrade....
I found these interviews quite interesting, it was pretty weird having something to go on before you actually met the person…I don’t know whether I preferred it or not! It was actually a bit weird as you have a picture of what the person will be like, and in both my cases the pupils were much different!!
Both of their results had come back with quite intellectual results- but one actually wanted to be a painter??!
So armed with all my knowledge of engineering that I had gathered before hand I was then a bit stuck!!
Think that with these ones it would be quite easy to get carried away with the results before you actually meet the person.
I think I therefore prefer the normal interview where you just meet, don’t know anything about them and nor them about you. Although I do think the centigrade tool is interesting im not overly sure of its value, I think that doing these reports you tend to get a bit bored and answer whatever…maybe that’s just me!
But I think that generally if we as careers advisors need this tool then really we aren’t doing our jobs correctly!
Both of their results had come back with quite intellectual results- but one actually wanted to be a painter??!
So armed with all my knowledge of engineering that I had gathered before hand I was then a bit stuck!!
Think that with these ones it would be quite easy to get carried away with the results before you actually meet the person.
I think I therefore prefer the normal interview where you just meet, don’t know anything about them and nor them about you. Although I do think the centigrade tool is interesting im not overly sure of its value, I think that doing these reports you tend to get a bit bored and answer whatever…maybe that’s just me!
But I think that generally if we as careers advisors need this tool then really we aren’t doing our jobs correctly!
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Are we counselors???
Today I sat in a couple of interviews on my placement with .....careers scotland!!! basically the advisor I sat with was a key worker / advisor who dealt soley with young single parents, I got to witness a really good indepth couple of interviews with 2 young mums, who i really have to take my hat off to ......as i dont know how they manage, at nearly 24 i can barley look after myself!
both the clients had been through quite a rough time and both wanted to get back into education, basically the advisor went through all the barriers which may stand in theyre way...it was quite a wake up call! and they also discussed things such as would theyre current partners be better off working or unemployed money wise, i really enjoyed the interviews and found that both clients walked out with what they needed to hear and with a bit a weight off their shoulders as they had discussed their worries and even overcame some.
One of the clients who was coming in for the first time we actually spent an hour and a half with and she spoke about everything that was worrying her and stressing her from career related to everything else!
After the interview the advisor apologised for the lack of structure and said that this had supposed to have been a diagnostic interview....to be honest in my opinion the interview went exactly as the client both needed and wanted to! The advisor also spoke of sometimes her lack of abilty to help with some aspects, as she 'was not a counselor' but I definatley felt that she was undeselling herself, had it stuck to any rigid structure or career planning journey it would have been completley usless to the client, and would not have addressed any of the pressing concerns that she had.
Before I went in the interview I was also told that it wasnt really a 'career guidance' interview, but really i think that this was the perfect interview your career is just one part of your life, which is integrated and not seperated from it and therefore echoing my last post I am now an even stronger advocate of holistic guidance!
both the clients had been through quite a rough time and both wanted to get back into education, basically the advisor went through all the barriers which may stand in theyre way...it was quite a wake up call! and they also discussed things such as would theyre current partners be better off working or unemployed money wise, i really enjoyed the interviews and found that both clients walked out with what they needed to hear and with a bit a weight off their shoulders as they had discussed their worries and even overcame some.
One of the clients who was coming in for the first time we actually spent an hour and a half with and she spoke about everything that was worrying her and stressing her from career related to everything else!
After the interview the advisor apologised for the lack of structure and said that this had supposed to have been a diagnostic interview....to be honest in my opinion the interview went exactly as the client both needed and wanted to! The advisor also spoke of sometimes her lack of abilty to help with some aspects, as she 'was not a counselor' but I definatley felt that she was undeselling herself, had it stuck to any rigid structure or career planning journey it would have been completley usless to the client, and would not have addressed any of the pressing concerns that she had.
Before I went in the interview I was also told that it wasnt really a 'career guidance' interview, but really i think that this was the perfect interview your career is just one part of your life, which is integrated and not seperated from it and therefore echoing my last post I am now an even stronger advocate of holistic guidance!
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Communities....
I recently got a puppy, which i know doesnt really seem revelvant to this post...however it surprising is.....honestly!
He was able to go out walking last week, and i can definatley say that there is without a doubt a dog community! every one who has or had a dog will stop and chat to you for ages, we went to a park and got chatting to a woman who welcomed us there, she said that the park was full of people who all had got to know each other through regularly coming with their dogs, she also said though that she wouldnt recognise them should they pass her in the street without their furry friends by their side!
Being from a small village in ayrshire i have grew up as part of a clos knit comunity, however when i moved to glasgow five years ago, i definatley didnt feel part of any community, i can honestly say that i dont know any of my neighbours...aside now from the guy who lives upstairs with a spaniel that is!
He was able to go out walking last week, and i can definatley say that there is without a doubt a dog community! every one who has or had a dog will stop and chat to you for ages, we went to a park and got chatting to a woman who welcomed us there, she said that the park was full of people who all had got to know each other through regularly coming with their dogs, she also said though that she wouldnt recognise them should they pass her in the street without their furry friends by their side!
Being from a small village in ayrshire i have grew up as part of a clos knit comunity, however when i moved to glasgow five years ago, i definatley didnt feel part of any community, i can honestly say that i dont know any of my neighbours...aside now from the guy who lives upstairs with a spaniel that is!
Saturday, 11 April 2009
career planning journey- whos journey is it??
I had to laugh when I saw the sheet that career advisors in career Scotland were being assessed on, it’s so ridged, it looked like a school assessment sheet! it sort of seems to depersonalise the clients situation…makes them seem as though they are just part of the system! It denies the advisor the integrity and space to make decisions based on individual interviews of the course that the time spent with client should take, in fact it denies really the client thisl luxury…when its supposed to be his or her interview!!!
Also the fact that the advisor tells the client where he or she is on the ‘career planning journey’ seems to go back to the older theoretical frameworks where the advisor takes all the control. I think that it’s quite sad that advisors if they want to give a really good and worthwhile interview have to deviate from the ridged structure imposed by those above. I heard a few people say that they seen things that should have been going on, good things, it seems a shame that there is not much room for manoeuvre, and if an advisor wants to give a more empathetic full session that he or she could potentially be doing so at the risk of getting into trouble. I agree sort of perhaps assessment should be in place, I quite liked the idea of colleagues doing it and giving feedback. I think that in the kind of assessment where the tick sheet that we were given in class is used only the young person would be the loser, and I witnessed such types of interviews where to be honest the young person looked as though they would have rather have been any where else but there, they seemed to go out none the wiser. I know that there are young people who get sent to career advisors and don’t want to be there before they get in the door, but I think that especially in these cases such a rigid structure would b useless, many of these young people face barriers or have problems that get in the way of getting on with life in general, if we could try and perhaps identify or at least flag these up then surely this would help them help themselves better.
Also the fact that the advisor tells the client where he or she is on the ‘career planning journey’ seems to go back to the older theoretical frameworks where the advisor takes all the control. I think that it’s quite sad that advisors if they want to give a really good and worthwhile interview have to deviate from the ridged structure imposed by those above. I heard a few people say that they seen things that should have been going on, good things, it seems a shame that there is not much room for manoeuvre, and if an advisor wants to give a more empathetic full session that he or she could potentially be doing so at the risk of getting into trouble. I agree sort of perhaps assessment should be in place, I quite liked the idea of colleagues doing it and giving feedback. I think that in the kind of assessment where the tick sheet that we were given in class is used only the young person would be the loser, and I witnessed such types of interviews where to be honest the young person looked as though they would have rather have been any where else but there, they seemed to go out none the wiser. I know that there are young people who get sent to career advisors and don’t want to be there before they get in the door, but I think that especially in these cases such a rigid structure would b useless, many of these young people face barriers or have problems that get in the way of getting on with life in general, if we could try and perhaps identify or at least flag these up then surely this would help them help themselves better.
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