Association News

APCDA Member Community Software

By Dr. Marilyn Maze

In January 2022, APCDA add a major new service for our members which can be found by clicking on the Member Community button on our website.  This software is provided by a company called Tradewing and is an “add-on” to our website that is specifically intended to help members connect with each other and learn from each other. Staff spent January setting Tradewing up for APCDA, then opened it to our members and friends in February.  In October, staff worked hard on a scavenger hunt to try to get more people to use the software. 

The overall amount of use has been disappointing. To try to better understand the use of this software by members, we obtained all of the analytic data available from Tradewing for the calendar year 2022.  The analysis and graphs below are based on that data.

During 2022, 199 out of 500 Members (40%) participated in the Member Community.  Another 288 Non-members logged in and participated in some way. The two graphs below describe the amount of use Members and Non-members made of this software by Quarter.  We counted each individual once, so the height of each bar indicates the number of individuals who used the software in that quarter.  The largest number of people used the software during the first quarter when it was introduced.  In the 3rd quarter during the Scavenger Hunt, usage increased a bit for members and a significant amount for non-members.

The individuals were categorized by the total number of interactions the individual had within a quarter. The colors on the bars indicate the number of interactions, and the height of the bar indicates how popular that number of interactions was:

• Orange = A single use of the software (i.e. logged in)
• Grey = 2 to 4 interactions (logged in and took 1 to 3 other actions)
• Yellow = 5 to 10 interactions
• Green = more than 10 interactions. 

Interactions include all of the types of interactions tracked by the program:  joined an event; posted a comment, photo, or question; sent a message to another person through this service; commented on something another person had posted; or liked something someone else had  posted. 

While we are grateful for those who had more than one interaction in a quarter, the number of interactions was far below our expectations.

The graph below shows how many times someone other than staff used one of Tradewing’s features each month.

• Blue: Logged in
• Orange: Joined an event
• Grey: Posted a comment, photo, or question
• Yellow: Sent a message to another person through this service
• Light Blue: Commented on something another person had posted
• Green: Liked something someone else had a posted

The Dark Blue line (login in) shows many people visited it then.  It spiked a little in July – this is probably when we sent invitations to the people who joined since January, so we had new people looking at it. In spite of the Scavenger Hunt in October, there is no spike in October. Since the Scavenger Hunt, the number of people logging in has declined.

Looking at the Orange line (Joining an event), we see a spike In April.  Noting that the number of people who joined an event is twice the number of people who logged on, we believe the spike is partly caused by people who joined an event, left the event because they did not see features they would expect in Zoom, and joined the event again. We see this happening often in Tradewing because it is so different from Zoom and attendees must choose between “Participant” and “Listener.”  We see a slow but steady increase in the number of people joining an event, which could be the result of the Membership Committee using Tradewing a lot.

The Grey line represents posting, and is consistently low. Yellow represents Messaging and is a bit higher than the Grey line, so more people messaged someone than posted messages.  Light Blue represents commenting on a post, and is consistently higher than posting, but not much higher.  Green represents liking a post and is always higher.  Apparently Liking a post is an easy, low-risk option that many people chose.

The graph below shows the percentage of people other than staff who used each of the features after they logged in.

• Blue: Joined an event
• Orange: Posted a comment, photo, or question
• Grey: Sent a message to another person through this service
• Yellow: Commented on something another person had posted
• Green: Liked something someone else had a posted

This graph shows relative interactions, where all points on the graph are relative to the number of people who logged in.  The blue line shows the percentage of logged in people who joined an event. You see in April that 200% of the people who logged, in joined an event.  This causes us to believe they were joining, leaving the event, and joining again (meaning they had problems attending, rather than that they were joining different events).  After April, the line goes down to about 30%, with an increase in October (Scavenger Hunt), then a decline.

The Orange line is the percentage who posted a comment or article. It is usually the bottom line and got as high as 40% (meaning 40% of the people who logged in posted something in April and October). The Grey line is the percentage who messaged someone, and is as high as 80% at the time of the Scavenger Hunt (in which they were told to message someone). The Yellow line (Commented) is usually higher than the Grey line, so more people were commenting on posts than were sending messages. The Green line (Liked a post or comment) is consistently high so people who logged in liked the posts they saw and often liked several posts.

These data seem to indicate that members and friends enjoyed the Member Community by Tradewing, but they did not enjoy it enough to gain momentum and use it without encouragement by staff.  We had hoped they would use it to get to know each other better and to learn from each other.  Data in this calendar year indicates that when we do not hold events like scavenger hunts, usage drops off.  Unlike software like LinkedIn and Facebook, there is not a sustained usage of the APCDA Member Community.

Please help us to understand what members like you want from APCDA.  Related to this software, send us your experiences using it.  How much do you use it?  Do you like it?  Is it helpful?  If so, what does it help you to do? Why do you think only 40% of our members used this software?  If software like this is not what members want, what do they want?  We will publish your submissions as part of this report.  

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Nurturing a GloCal Ecosystem for Career Professionals

By Arun Mittal

The Asia Pacific Career Development Association (APCDA) stands as an exemplary model of a global yet local association, fostering a robust ecosystem for career professionals to learn, network, and share best practices from across the region. With a distinctive GloCal (Global + Local) approach, APCDA seamlessly integrates global perspectives while staying attuned to the unique needs and nuances of the diverse communities it serves.

The GloCal approach embodies the concept of thinking globally and acting locally. For APCDA, this means connecting career professionals across borders, transcending cultural barriers, and sharing knowledge and insights on a global scale. However, it also involves recognizing the significance of local contexts, cultural sensitivities, and regional challenges that shape career development.

Some of the examples of the GloCal Approach

1. Annual Conferences: These events feature international keynote speakers, workshops, and presentations on emerging tends in career development. Simultaneously, the conferences also include local experts who provide insights into the unique job markets, career aspirations, and industry demands specific to the host country.
2. Webinars and Online Resources: The association provides a wealth of online resources, including webinars, articles, and glossaries that cater to the diverse needs of its members. While some resources address universal career challenges, others are tailored to address region-specific issues (Arabic Glossary of Career Terms), ensuring that career professionals can find relevant information applicable to their local communities.
3. Collaborative Research Projects: APCDA encourages research collaboration among its members across the Asia Pacific region. This allows for the synthesis of overarching career development principles while acknowledging the influence of cultural differences on individual career journeys.

This approach has been of immense help to both the associations and career professionals in our region.  The benefits to the individual career practitioners include,

1. Enhanced Cultural Sensitivity: Career professionals working in the Asia Pacific region encounter a rich tapestry of cultures and traditions. The GloCal approach helps them develop a heightened sense of cultural sensitivity, enabling them to support clients with respect and understanding, regardless of their background.
2. Global Best Practices: By tapping into a global network, APCDA members gain exposure to the latest innovations and successful practices from around the world. They can adapt and implement these best practices to suit local contexts, leading to more effective and relevant career counseling and guidance.
3. Access to a Diverse Network: The APCDA network opens avenues for career professionals to connect with colleagues, mentors, and experts across borders. This diverse network fosters professional growth and collaboration, leading to new opportunities and enriching career experiences.
4. Leveraging Regional Expertise: The association's local chapters possess in-depth knowledge of their respective regions. By collaborating with these chapters, career associations and professionals from other parts of the world can gain valuable insights into specific regional challenges and trends, which can be invaluable for international career counseling.

The benefits to other associations in the region are as follows,

1. Cross-Pollination of Ideas: Associations in the Asia Pacific region can benefit from partnering with APCDA by exchanging ideas, resources, and expertise. This cross-pollination of ideas can lead to fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to mutual challenges faced by career professionals.
2. Access to Global Partnerships: By joining hands with APCDA, regional associations can gain access to a global network of career professionals and organizations. This opens doors to potential international collaborations, joint research projects, and opportunities for their members to expand their horizons.
3. Professional Development Opportunities: APCDA's focus on learning and development means that associations in the region can tap into a wide array of training programs, workshops, and webinars that contribute to the growth of their members' professional skill sets.

Closing Notes

The association's GloCal approach has proven to be a winning formula in creating a strong ecosystem for career professionals in the region. By embracing global perspectives while respecting local nuances, APCDA has become a powerful platform that empowers its members to thrive in an increasingly interconnected world. Through collaboration and association with APCDA, other career development organizations in the region can also unlock new opportunities, strengthen their impact, and enrich the lives of career professionals they serve.

#CDAA, #CDANZ, #IAEVG, #JCDA, #NCDA, #NPOCA, #PCDA

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Committee Council Report for July, 2023

By Allan Gatenby

Staff expressed concern about the low member engagement in our Online Member Community and the possibility of not renewing that service in the new year.  It was also intended to serve Committees, but only the Membership Committee has been making significant use of it.

The Scholarship Committee reported on its plans to build awareness of the APCDA Scholarship program among universities in our region and the intention to conduct a follow-up study to determine the extent of usage of the conference by our scholars.

The Membership Committee reported that our membership has declined slightly because many of our free first-year members have allowed their membership- to expire when faced with renewal.  The committee continues to build involvement and expand committee membership.  They offer really valuable meetings for new members and potential members each month.  While registration for these events is normally substantial, the number of attendees who attend the meetings continues to be low.  They have attempted to follow up and learn what happened for those who did not show up.

The News Committee used the conference meeting to poll attendees about their feelings about our news blog. They have recently posted a submission form for noteworthy articles found in other sources and they hope to build member engagement in our online community through the sharing of resources.

The Public Relations Committee has been brainstorming ideas for improving engagement in APCDA and has a lot of great ideas, but is still trying to decide what is feasible and to build their own skills related to resources available.

The Program Committee has a great lineup of webinars for the fall.  They have found some fascinating speakers and continue to coordinate with the staff who produce the Member Mentoring Webinars.  They have also agreed to take oversight of the Podcast, so they are constantly seeking contacts in industry for the podcast. Due to a slow attrition in long-term members, they are eager to find new members.  The Member/Friend Survey will hopefully provide some new ideas for them to pursue.

APCDA is working hard to grow and expand services.  All committees are seeking to grow so they implement new ideas.  Anyone interested in joining these active and engaged members in the work they are doing is encouraged to contact the relevant committee.

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July Area Council Report

By Yoshinobu Oi

Mr. Yoshinobu Oi was warmly welcomed as the new Chair of the Area Council. This was the first meeting for new representatives Ms. Charlotte George (Singapore), Ms. Ivy Liao (represented by Carry Shen - East China), and Mr. Chunyu Li (North China). The council members who were present proceeded to present their individual reports, focusing on the following topics:

1. Labour Market Information

a. The unemployment rates have shown signs of improvement across all regions, but they have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels. This trend was observed in Macau, North India, Australia, the United States, Malaysia, and Korea.

b. The issue of under-employment among young people and their job preferences was discussed. This trend was reported by representatives from Macau, Singapore, North India, West China, and Pakistan.

c. Governments in various parts of the Asia Pacific region are actively seeking to attract specialized talent in areas where there is a shortage or unavailability of skilled professionals. This initiative was highlighted in reports from Australia, Macau, and Malaysia.

d. Japan presented on a unique topic: Payment of workers by digital currency.. Mr. Oi asked if other countries are using this form of payment?

e. The war between Russia and Ukraine continues to have a major impact on Kazakhstan.

2. Skilling initiatives for youth and employed individuals were also discussed. This topic was addressed in reports from Singapore, Australia, Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Korea, and Cambodia.

3. The need for regular discussions among council members to facilitate the exchange of ideas and promote cooperation was emphasized. This point was raised by members from Azerbaijan, North India, Singapore, and Macau.

Note: Click on the Area name to read the detailed report.

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APCDA Election Results

Thank you to all of these attendees at our APCDA meeting at the NCDA Conference. It was a great conference and we were so happy to be together after so much time apart.  Thank you to Tupe from Samoa for the colorful t-shirts we are holding.  We are excited to welcome Samoa as our newest member Area.

We are very grateful that so many candidates were willing to serve.  Running for a position as an APCDA Officer is a big commitment because our association relies on the wisdom and energy of our officers.  We are also grateful the 95 people took the time to vote.

Our new Officers are:

• President-Elect: Mr. Allan Gatenby
• Secretary:  Ms. Sini Parampota
• Treasurer: Ms. Ma. Leonila “Nila” Urrea

Allan Gatenby brings a lifetime of experience working for a variety of international associations and in the field of education.  APCDA has benefited from his experience for many years in his roles as Bylaws Chair, Committee Council Chair, and Board Member.  We are happy to welcome him to the role of President Elect.

Sini Parampota brings national experience as a career counselor in Qatar, broad international involvement, and her experience as a doctoral student in the UK.  She has served for many years on our Program Committee, guiding the selection of our webinar topics and speakers, as well as on our Board.

Ma. Leonila “Nila” Urrea has years of experience as the Guidance Director of the University of the East, is Corresponding Secretary of the Association of Placement Practitioners of Colleges and Universities (APPCU), and has worked with APCDA for many years on our special projects such as our glossary and ethical guidelines. Her background in management will be very useful in her role as Treasurer.

With this talented group of officers joining Serene Lin-Stephens, our in-coming President, and Momoka Asaka who will be Past Present in the coming year, APCDA will be in good hands. These changes will take place on October 1, which is the start of our fiscal year.

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APCDA Members and Friends at 2023 NCDA Conference

Thank you to all of these attendees at our APCDA meeting at the NCDA Conference. It was a great conference and we were so happy to be together after so much time apart.  Thank you to Tupe from Samoa for the colorful t-shirts we are holding.  We are excited to welcome Samoa as our newest member Area.

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President’s Annual Report

by Momoko Asaka

Each year we begin by reviewing our Future Goals and developing specific plans for the coming year. While many actions took a lot more time and effort than expected, it is amazing to look back and see what has been accomplished.

Two Major Goals

One of the major Future Goals was to define a Path to Leadership.  APCDA has a substantial and practical process for developing Leadership.  Our Leadership Team includes over 50 positions, which allows opportunities for many people to learn about the association and take in increasing levels of responsibility.  We enforce term limits (4-year limits for most positions) to encourage turnover and create openings for new people each year.  We have an active on-boarding process which we are improving each year.  Of course, new members of the Leadership team join at any time, so providing adequate on-boarding for new leaders is always difficult, but we improved this process this year and expect to continue making improvements in future years.

Our Area Council currently includes 24 Area Representatives with an additional 2 open positions.  These are people who have agreed to report on the career development activities within their own community.  They meet quarterly and provide reports found on the APCDA website. 

We currently have 9 Standing Committees plus other Work Groups for specific projects such as Podcast, Glossary, and Member Engagement.  We attempt to have 2 co-chairs for each committee, so this means our Committee Council includes 18 or more additional leaders.  Committees are a great way for new people to become involved and move into leadership positions.

We currently have 5 elected Officers: President, President-Elect, Past President, Secretary, Treasurer.  These Officers form the core of the Board.  In addition, 2 representatives from the Committee Council and 4 representatives from the Area Council serve on the Board.

We also have 9 Past Presidents who represent our “Brain Trust” and select the Scholars and Awardees each year.

You can see that our leadership pipeline includes 50 or more people and our Brain Trust adds to that group. We worked on improving the onboarding process this year and will continue to do so each year.

From our other Future Goals, this year we selected Member Engagement for FY23.  We began to develop information about the activities which our members find most engaging and find ways to enhance and renew those activities.  We also asked our Public Relations Committee to articulate the value of APCDA to our members.  The Member Engagement project looked at the literature in this area, plus data about APCDA collected from past surveys and data available to us through our two membership software services.  Our Membership Database includes lists of the activities we have offered and the attendance at each. Our Online Member Community (Tradewing) provides data on social posts, committee meetings, and other types of interactions.  We are still in the process of analyzing these data.

We know that a major draw for members is continuing education opportunities in our profession and opportunities to learn more about the way career services are provided in other areas.  For this reason we offer am annual conference and 2 webinars each month.  This year’s conference was our first hybrid conference and used software that was new to us, so a lot of learning was demanded from the staff and participants.  The conference was smaller than our last 2, with about 350 registrants, but the program was substantial, with about 100 sessions total.  Last year we joined with IAEVG and they contributed presenters and workers during hours that are not ideal for our region.  But comparing this year’s conference to conferences prior to last year, it contained the same amount of content as we usually offer.  The diversity was rich, both in terms of the topics and the regions of the presenters. Many new issues were encountered with the Hybrid aspect and lessons were learned.

Continuing Education Provided

In FY22, we held 15 webinars with a total of 737 people registered.  Of those, 44% attended live. The income was a modest $2,520.  On the Prior Knowledge scale (4=Expert to 1=None), the average was 2.3, meaning our attendees had enough familiarity with the topics to know what they were about, but not enough to feel that they had nothing left to learn.  This seems like a good balance.  On a 5-star scale, Content was rated 4.5 and Clarity was 4.4, meaning most presentations offered very good content and were easy to understand.  We will have data for FY23 webinars in October. 

This year we held our first Professional Development Institute in November.  This was a 3-hour training program by a major international expert, Dr. Mark Savickas.  Fifty-five people registered and expenses were slightly higher than income.  We tried not to hold other webinars within a month before and after this event, so the PDI limited the number of webinars offered in FY23.  This idea may not be a good model for the future.  We also held a special webinar with Japan in which the registration was limited to the number of translators who volunteered to help the non-Japanese communicate with the Japanese attendees.  This was wonderful experience and all non-Japanese were very grateful to our Japanese hosts.

A special staff project at the beginning of this year initiated a search process for recorded webinars on our website to help our members find relevant webinars.  Another special project involved understanding three computerized services offered in Singapore and Indonesia (Karir Lab, SeeMeCV, Kinobi).  A short comparative summary of these features was made available to help our members better understand these services. 

Other Accomplishments:

• The first Local Organization Educational Program (LOEP) to request Accreditation was evaluated but a team of members familiar with similar services.  Unfortunately, this projects took a back seat when so many other changes were faced for staff and we hope it will be completed soon.
• For the first time the Board of APCDA engaged in elections and award nominations for IAEVG. As an Association Member of IAEVG, we are encouraged to participate in their governance.
• This year we redefined the process of seeking candidates for awards with the help of Dr. Narender Chadha and other volunteers.  We received many more nominations this year than in past years and we are optimistic that this revised change can be impact future years as well.
• This year we reevaluated the Scholarship process.  The Board decided that all scholarship funds should be devoted to Virtual scholars because one in-person scholarship costs as much as 20 virtual scholarships, and serving more students makes good sense:  The Board also approved a new applicant type: “Member of the board of a career development professional association within a member country or area.”  This means we are officially seeking both students and those who are currently in a position to impact the futures of others.  Due to generous donations for friends of APCDA, we were able to give 60 scholarships this year.
• This year we received a Request for Proposal from Maldives and we applied to assist this part of our region.  Unfortunately, the funding disappeared for this grant.
• A financial review by our members was completed this year.
• Due to confusion about which areas are “Countries” and which areas are not, we changed the name of our Country Representatives to Area Representatives.  We do not deal with countries or the governments of countries, so this new terminology is more accurate.
• We worked on a clearer and more reasonable advertisement cost policy and these changes are taking effect now and in the rest of this year.

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APCDA Webinar Feedback

By Arun Mittal

APCDA provides regular training programs for its members as a member benefit. These are delivered virtually in the form of webinars. In this article, we share some of our observations based on attendee feedback.

The purpose of this article is to provide an unbiased view of attendees' enthusiasm for webinars as a source of self-enrichment and development.

General Enthusiasm for the Webinars.

With a median of 39 registrations (minimum of 26, maximum of 126), there was plenty of opportunity for members to benefit from the webinars being held. The live sessions were attended by approximately half of those who register, and this proportion is the same for both free and paid webinars. Given the variety of time zones in which our members live, it is understandable that many prefer to listen to the recorded sessions.

Motivation & Purpose

Attendees were asked about their familiarity with the topics covered before the sessions. On a scale of 4= Expert to 1= Unfamiliar, the average response was 2.3. This average falls just below the midpoint between slightly and very familiar.

Two of the Free webinars (“Using Holland Typology to Quickly Assess Career Personality” and “Dealing with Trauma in Career Conversations”) tied for the highest registration at 126, while the webinar “Design Thinking Principles for Career Development Learnings” received the highest registration for a Paid webinar at 63.

The webinar on “Emerging e-Sports: Gaming, Media and Content Careers,” had a low rating of 1.4 on Prior Knowledge, indicating that members had little familiarity with the topic.  There were 26 registrations and over 80% attended the live session. The webinar registration for this session was one of the lowest, but it had the highest attendance of any webinar held this year and was one of the top five paid webinars in terms of fees collected.

Most of our webinar topics were familiar to members. It is reasonable to assume that the majority of members use these webinars to reskill and keep up to date. Furthermore, based on registration and attendance, member enthusiasm for paid and free webinars appears to be similar. The primary difference in attendance appears to be based on the topic.

The summer survey is a very useful and important tool for the Program Committee in identifying members' interests. It is also critical for members to participate in the survey so that our webinars continue to be relevant to them.

Money-Value Proposition

We asked attendees to rate the webinars on Content, which included relevance, accuracy, and utility The average rating for Content is 4.6. This falls between Very Good and Excellent. The lowest content rating for any webinar was 4.2.

We also asked attendees to rate webinars on Clarity, which included engagement and ease of understanding. The average rating for Clarity is 4.4, and the median is 4.2. This is also between Very Good and Excellent. The lowest content rating for was 4.0.

It is very safe to conclude from the data above that members are very satisfied with webinars as a training source, and the choice of speakers, topics, and their delivery is well appreciated.

Closing Note

As a people-centric organization, APCDA appears to be doing well in terms of helping members to update their skills and providing opportunities for its members to learn and grow. It is also worth noting that there is plenty of room for more members to benefit from such opportunities.

We'd also like to thank the Program Committee and the staff members for all of their hard work and initiative in making these webinars happen.

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