Post COVID Leadership Testsby John KnellThe International Congress and Convention Association recently held a thought leadership event for organizers of conferences. The speaker was John Knell (culturecounts.cc), a strategy consultant who works across the private, public and government sectors as a cultural policy consultant, analyst, writer, and public speaker. Mr. Knell sees three tests of leadership caused by the pandemic:
Third, this crisis highlights that we need a different equilibrium between efficiency and resilience. The “new” tools that we use have actually been around for a while, but now we are more dependent on some of the tools. For example, we have had webinars for years, but now that face-to-face meetings have become problematic, the balance has changed and it is more urgent for us to use online tools well and diversify the digital tools that we are able to use. The “new normal” is already here, but in the future, the balance may change again. For example, we may spend more time outdoors in the future because it is safer than indoor spaces. We must constantly assess the value of the tools we use and choose those which hold the most value for us at the moment.
In order to think our way into the future, we must ask if the pandemic has caused us to challenge or question long held beliefs about our field and how it needs to function in the future? Has the pandemic turned any of our established mental models or theories on their heads? Are there two or three specific areas (digitalization, job insecurity, working remotely) that are now dominating our thinking in a way they were not before? Look for inspiration in related sectors to give a new feel to what you are doing. Which tool do I need? Then look for that tool. What are your special skills? How does it all fit together? Mr. Knell gave an example for meeting planners that APCDA conference attendees may find relevant. The content of the conference is the excuse we use to get together. Networking is the real payoff from any conference. When the event arrives, we have very little time to meet the people who will be the most helpful to us. Before the event, we can use digital tools to review the list of attendees and tailor a short list of people who we most need to spend time with. In this way, our time will be spent more effectively when the event is live. This lesson is as valuable for this year's virtual conference as for next year's in-person conference. |
Maximizing Career: Guidance & Development-Global Digital Careers Advocacy SeriesBy Raza Abbas
The YouTube Career Interview Series has the following objectives:
As Mr. Anthony Mann, Senior Policy Analyst from the OECD, says, ‘In the pandemic now career guidance is irresistible.’ These inspirational words by Mr. Anthony Mann provide our careers community with real hope and remind us that as career professionals we have a collective responsibility to serve and inspire the diverse communities we live in. I humbly share 10 interviews released on my YouTube Channel:
In closing, I am sharing an inspirational quote for our careers profession which was recently published in the Career Development Network (based in the United States), Jan/Feb 2021 global newsletter, "Never before in the human era has career guidance been so critical as it is presently; More interviews and valuable career perspectives are in the pipeline for the YouTube series. Don't forget to share the impactful videos in your professional career communities/ networks and kindly subscribe to the channel. Collectively as career counsellors, career guidance practitioners, career scholars, career services professionals and career researchers we are making a difference during the pandemic and contributing towards inclusion! Stay safe and keep thriving! |
Career Assessment and Cultureby Dr. Catherine Hughes, Grow Careers, RMIT University, Australia
It is almost 10 years since I completed by PhD research involving a cross-cultural study that set out to compare the influence of self-concept, parenting style, and individualism-collectivism on career maturity of high school students across Australian and Thai cultural contexts. The study involved adapting four psychological instruments for research across Australian and Thai cultural contexts, eliminating cultural bias and establishing the equivalence of the instruments in both cultures (Hughes, 2011). This aspect of the study illustrates some of the challenges involved in applying psychological instruments such as career assessment inventories developed in one language and culture to a second language and culture. The Career Development Inventory-Australia (CDI-A; Lokan, 1984) was selected as the measure of career maturity for the purposes of the study. The CDI-A is comprised of four scales. The Career Planning (CP) scale measures orientation towards planning for future career pathways. The Career Exploration (CE) scale measures awareness and use of people, print, and digital resources for career exploration planning. The World of Work Information (WW) scale assesses knowledge of career development, occupations, education and training. The Decision Making (DM) scale presents career decision making scenarios and respondents choose the most appropriate response option. This article describes the processes involved in adapting the CDI-A for use in Thailand and for valid comparison of career maturity across Thai and Australian cultural contexts. This will be followed by an invitation for APCDA members to submit blog articles about their experiences in developing, adapting or using culturally appropriate career assessments. The adaptation of the CDI-A for Thailand was underpinned by the Universalist orientation to cross-cultural psychology (Berry et al., 1992). Accordingly, it was assumed that career maturity is likely to be similar across cultures, but is influenced by cultural context. The Universalist theoretical orientation compares with Relativism, which assumes that psychological differences between societies throughout the world can only be explained by the cultural context and Absolutism which assumes that psychological concepts are essentially the same and have the same meaning in all cultures. Relativism avoids adapting instruments for another culture, Absolutism readily adapts instruments for another culture. and Universalism supports the adaptation of psychological instruments after appropriate modifications are made to account for local cultural understandings (Berry et al.) The adaptation of the CDI-A for Thailand applied Berry’s (1969) combined etic-emic model for adapting instruments for cross-cultural research. Etics refers to ideas, behaviours, concepts and other elements of culture that are universal, common, or culture-general. Etic concepts are assumed to be culture-free, or at least to apply in more than one culture. Emics refers to ideas, behaviours concepts and other elements of culture that are local, unique, or culture-specific (Triandis, 1994; Berry et al., 1992). The combined etic-emic approach involves transporting an instrument into the target culture as an ‘imposed etic’. Using an iterative process, changes are made to account for local cultural understandings with the aim of achieving a ‘derived etic’. When a ‘derived etic’ is achieved the instrument is considered suitable for application across the cultures concerned. Applying the combined etic-emic approach to the adaptation of the CDI-A included these steps:
The combined etic-emic process described above resulted in the achievement of derived etic status across Thai and Australian cultural contexts for only the CP scale of the CDI-A. The application of the Universalist approach to cross-cultural research and the combined etic-emic model of adapting the CDI-A for Thailand highlights the need for rigour and critical evaluation of the cultural applicability of career assessment instruments transported from one language and culture into a second language and culture. Processes similar to those used to adapt the CDI-A for Thailand by eliminating cultural bias and establishing instrument equivalence are time-consuming and expensive to put into practice. Similarly, from a Relativist theoretical perspective, developing local, culture-specific career assessment instruments is also time-consuming and expensive. What are busy career practitioners working in multi-cultural or cross-cultural contexts to do? Leong and Serafica (2001) describe a cultural accommodation approach, which involves identifying cultural gaps in an existing theory or assessment tool, identifying and adding culture-specific aspects to accommodate the theory or assessment tool to the new culture, and testing the culturally accommodated theory or assessment tool to determine whether it has increased validity over and above the original. Rossier and Duarte (2019) recommend integrated approaches that go beyond quantitative career assessment, such as combining multiple approaches to career assessment or blending objective, subjective, contextual and cultural information. You are invited to keep the conversation about career assessment and culture going during February, March and April. You are invited to contribute articles (approximately 600-1,000 words) for publication in Career Trends. Topics include:
Your articles can be emailed to: News@AsiaPacificCDA.org References
APCDA Competencies:
|
Global career services shifted on November 16. Farouk Dey’s APCDA seminar shook me. If you missed it, click here to register for the free recording.
Most APCDA webinars provide interesting concepts causing us to evaluate our career work, or to cautiously implement the skills we learned. As experienced career practitioners with many tools we are most comfortable with the insights with which we were trained. Webinars nudge us to make small changes, but the change is typically gradual. Incorporating a new vision takes energy to overcome habits. Learning new tools requires study and overcoming resistance.
Dr. Dey’s webinar challenges us to unpack our thinking and fill it with some different tools. Are we willing to do that? What kind of leadership does he ask of us? When career needs are increasing and resources are stable at best, what outcomes will we obtain if we do more of the same?
Most career practitioners first think “work with clients one-on-one”. Will there ever be enough career practitioners to serve infinite career decision making needs with that mindset? We all see the need to serve more clients, scale programs, and provide more efficient human-centric services. A key is building structures so that every student is engaged in designing their careers.
Encouraging clients to make audacious choices, develop curiosity, seek inspiration, embrace self-direction, and access networks in order to connect to opportunity are now essential.
Join the dialog. Watch Dr Dey’s free webinar and discuss these ideas with other members and colleagues. How can these ideas be useful in your setting? I’m confident this discussion is especially relevant to our career services work. I’m so glad Farouk shook me.
New
|
Summary of the Post Pandemic Human Resources PanelBy Gyulnur Ismayil
Two speakers represented large conglomerate corporations and shared many goals, such as online learning platforms to enable employees to develop their skills. Mr. Jay Chung heads leadership training for LG in Korea, which manufactures Electronics & Home Appliances, Chemicals (toiletries, food, beverages, etc.), and Telecommunications (telephone service, TV shows, networking for corporations, etc.). Mr. JP Orbeta is the Chief Human Resources Officer for Ayala Corporation, the oldest corporation in the Philippines, which includes investments in retail, education, real estate, banking, telecommunications, water infrastructure, renewable energy, electronics, information technology, automotive, healthcare, and management and business process outsourcing. Ms. Shruti Chhabara is a private consultant in India and provide human capital advisory services. All three speakers highlighted importance of a digital transformation which forces the urge for skills development. Inevitably tech savviness, critical thinking and adaptability, emotional intelligence, innovation and creativity are the top skills of the future which the distinguished panelists urge our clients to develop. Each speaker brought interesting insights on how human resources are being strategically managed and further steps their companies are taking to ensure their internal manpower is performing effectively, skilled and morally supported. Big multinational corporation – LG has built an online learning platform to provide non-contact workflow learning. LG’s platform features online classrooms, virtual breakout sessions to build teamwork, and use of extended reality. With the help of this platform, leadership ensures that employees stay connected, customize their specific content anytime and anywhere, engage with the broader community of workers, and are dynamic in their development through coaching and training. Thus, it helps LG to reach its goal of protecting the core employees while continuing to be healthy customer-focused organization. Ayala Corporation has built Ayala University by both adapting and building the curriculum and platform they need to provide training and skills development programs to its employees. Along with boosting soft skills, they aim to enhance knowledge of employees in the fields of digital project management, cybersecurity, data literacy and the distance economy. Ms. Chhabra in her turn shared perspectives on how the future workplace will look. In her view, with greater opportunities for woman, we will step into an era of increased remote work with focus on contract and contingent workers proficient in tech skills and ready to fill in the critical roles within organizations. She highlighted that HR is facing several challenges for which it has to enrich, enhance and enable internal talent to function well in the new environment and perform efficiently. To conclude, the panel discussion brought an interesting perspective on the prospects for the human resources field given the current situation around the world. COVID-19 accelerated anticipated changes in the world of work for which both individuals and organizations must quickly adjust their strategies and expertise. Click here to view this valuable recorded webinar (free to members, a small fee to non-members). |
Career Conversations:
|
Review of the Post-Pandemic Labor Market Panel WebinarThe first panelist was Mr. Rahul Nair, Co-Founder and Chief Lifologist, who is responsible for the Lifology software and assessments, as well as training Lifologists (career coaches). He pointed out how much has changed in India during the pandemic:
Our regional meetings predict an increase in the number of people who work from home in the future. Mr. Nair noted that, in India, working from home has led to a productivity decrease due to multigenerational homes with traditional family roles. Indian companies are now looking for “Work near home” arrangements. Employers are seeking low-cost office space for clusters of employees who live near each other so employees can separate home and work and have a good Internet connection. Mr. Nair also shared a tantalizing list of Emerging Careers which you can see by watching the recorded webinar. Dr. Hao Zhang, a Professor of Labor Relations at Renmin University in Beijing, described two relevant structures in the Informal Sector in China. The Informal Sector is helping to provide stability in the labor market in China because the large employers in the Formal Sector have been deeply hurt by the pandemic. As in most countries, companies such as Uber and Air B&B have connected informal, temporary workers to customers, create the “Gig Economy.” 78 Million Chinese workers are now believed to be informal, temporary workers. A new, different kind of temporary worker has emerged in China during the pandemic. Like most countries, parts of the economy that are heavily impacted by the pandemic can no longer pay their employees. Yet other parts of the economy need workers. If the employer can find temporary work for its own employees, then the closed business and the laid-off workers are both happy. For example, many restaurants are closed, but grocery stores need extra stock clerks to keep the shelves filled. If the restaurant can “share” its workers with a local grocery, the employees earn a living, but still expect to return to their former jobs post-pandemic. Dr. Fei Yu, Deputy Representative in the North American Office of the Asian Development Bank, offered many important insights into the nature of the labor market in Asia. One of several important concepts that she mentioned is the concept of Global Blockchain. The global blockchain technology industry is currently valued at 3 million USD but growing rapidly. This technology allows information about products (source, purity, harvest conditions, etc.) to be related to the product no matter where it ends up and which currencies were used to price it. Global suppliers and shippers need this technology to trace transactions to avoid the confusion related to currency conversion, government regulations, agreements between parties, etc. For example, assume you are purchasing thousands of facemasks and comparing prices, quality, size, on-time reputation of manufacturer, etc. in India, China, Malaysia, etc. The number of variables could be overwhelming. It would be convenient to see all of the specifications for each facemask in your own local currency, local system of measurement, etc. on a single list on a computer screen. Of course, Blockchain is much more, but that is part of what it can do. It also makes it possible to compare productivity, labor costs, etc. in the many countries in our region. This is only a tiny glimpse of the topics covered in this fast-moving webinar. The webinar was recorded and is free to members. Non-members pay a small fee to watch it. Click here to view the recorded webinar. |
Supporting College Students for Post-Graduation Time-Off in the Age of COVID-19by Satomi Chudasama
As a career development professional supporting those new college graduates, you might ask what they can do during this time before pursuing full-time employment. To put it simply, the answer is “many options.” Of course, each graduate has a unique situation. Their situations may be impacted by multiple factors, including their family circumstances, country’s economic and political situations, cultural norms, self and family expectations, and so on. What seems like a good option for someone may not be an option for someone else. There is nothing like “one size fits all.” As career development professionals, we need to think creatively and flexibly and work together with your students to develop an individualized, viable plan. Help your students reframe the way they look at “post-graduation” plans. Here are some ideas:
No matter what your students decide to do, two things remain important: self-reflection and networking. As many of us are aware, career paths are rarely linear. Why does this happen? As we manage our own career development and growth in the 21st century, we are more inclined to consciously change our workplaces and careers based on constant self-reflection and evaluation. This process does not have to wait until your students have first full-time employment. In fact, this flexible time is a great opportunity for self-exploration and reflection. What is important for them, what motivates and inspires them, what they enjoy, what they are good at, who they really are, what they want to be, etc. are all great realizations worthy of journaling and being considered for their next stage of career journeys. They are likely to have more time to internally stay close to themselves and might find some eye-opening aspects of themselves. These findings will fuel their aspirations for the future. While journaling, it is also helpful to make notes of learning and negative findings, e.g., what they didn’t like, what disappoints and discourages them, what environment hinders their strengths and enthusiasm. Journaling does not have to involve a notebook. They can also use a worksheet created by you or your students, a whiteboard or Trello board with categories of interests, skills, values, accomplishments, etc. and organize their thoughts, learning, and realizations. Networking is a great way to explore themselves while gathering information, knowledge, and advice and getting to know others. My definition of networking is not limited to professional contacts. Rather, it includes anyone and everyone your students encounter. Encourage your students to be curious and ask about other people’s life stories. They will learn a tremendous amount of insights into different perspectives, career and life options, career trajectories, and life experiences in general. And motivate your students to stay in touch with all of them - literally all of them - to a point that they feel comfortable with contacting each other any time. That is the genuine power of networking - not superficial contacts you may awkwardly reach out to only when you are in a job market. The relationship I am referring to here is powerful and lasts long. Finally, I urge you, as a career development professional, to stay in touch with your students as much as possible. Let them know that you are available to support them through their journeys, be their sounding board and adviser, and provide helpful resources. You do not know when and how they need you in the coming months. As career development professionals, we are in this together with your students and can help them emerge from this uncertain time with new strengths. Satomi Chudasama, NCC, CCC, GCDF, is a founding member of APCDA and the current chair of the Public Relations Committee. Originally from Japan, she has been working in the career development field in higher education institutions in the United States for almost 20 years. Satomi is passionate about helping people identify and pursue their career aspirations as well as global career development and cultural transitions. She is currently working in the Office of Career Services at Princeton University where she has spent 13 years in career counseling and employer engagement. |
Post-Pandemic World of WorkVirtual Regional Member Discussionsby Marilyn Maze, PhD
Many of the insights shared relate to the current situation. Rapidly changing painful situations make it difficult to focus on the future. In the Western North America region, we noted the breakdown of the global distribution system has forced rapid adaptation, such as new mask making companies, local farms or fishers selling direct to homes, and adoption of new management techniques to supervise people working from home. Counselors and career practitioners are essential workers right now, and busier than ever trying to help students and clients virtually. With children attending school from home, parents are involved in helping their children in new ways. Parents now need help learning about career planning and understanding career terminology. One of the skills highly valued in our field is Systems Thinking. We can now see that some governments are using Systems Thinking successfully and others are failing to use it. COVID attacks older people more severely, forcing older people to self-isolate. Ageism is increasing as older people either adapt to online communication or become increasingly isolated. The Urban/Rural Divide has become more obvious. Many people in cities have Internet, but many rural areas do not. In cities, social distancing means staying inside. In rural areas, much of life is lived outside and people travel long distances for groceries and other necessities. At the same time, poverty is highlighted. Unemployment in the US is now 15% – the highest unemployment since the Great Depression. Hiring at this time is mostly for delivery drivers, grocery workers, and contact tracers. Children with computers have been learning online, but children without computers or Internet access are not learning. People who can work from home are much more likely to be educated. In the US, over 60% of people with a college degree can work from home, while people with less education are often “frontline workers” – exposed daily to COVID as they work in essential businesses, deliver food and purchases to homes, work in hospitals, and provide other essential services. Minorities and low-paid workers are getting sick and dying at much higher rates than non-minorities. How many of these changes will continue post-COVID? Once the world has become increasingly virtual, it is likely that it will not go back. The Twitter company has announced that its employees are welcome to continue working from home permanently. It is likely many other tech companies will follow. Of course, this is bad news for Commercial Real Estate rental, sales, and construction. It may also be bad news for extroverts, while introverts may have an advantage in the new virtual world. When will we again hold large gatherings such as live performances, sports events, and conferences? When will we again travel internationally for pleasure, or even for business? Certainly, the entertainment and hospitality industries will be slow to recover, and it may be a long time before they reach pre-pandemic levels. Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues forward. People working in this field easily adapted to working from home and we can expect new uses of AI to change our lives at a rapid rate. In fact, COVID may have boosted the rate of change by forcing us to adapt rapidly, thus accelerating our ability to adapt to and adopt new technologies. Good communication skills will also be in demand, whether to help others understand the information produced by AI or to teach others to use new technology. Luckily, career practitioners have good communication skills. Change will be a constant. People who adapt well to change will increasingly be rewarded financially. Those who do not adapt to change will be financially disadvantaged. We often talk about the Gig Economy and train clients to decide who they are so they can select meaningful “gigs” or projects which help them learn new skills while earning a decent income. We say that these people have Self-Sustaining Careers. We increasingly encourage clients to start boutique businesses that serve specific needs on a small scale, such as small farms producing high quality food, small hotels serving specific populations, or small services meeting specific needs. Some of these boutique businesses meet needs that are surprisingly common and grow into large companies. An essential skill for entrepreneurship is Self-Efficacy. In the US, corporations currently employ large numbers of temporary workers. This name is misleading because the work is not temporary. The work done by temporary workers constantly increases, but workers hired on a temporary basis do not have benefits (such as health insurance), do not have a regular schedule, are paid as little as possible, and are only paid when they work. Some estimate that temporary workers make up as much as 40% of the US labor market, although no data is collected. Because their schedule changes constantly, they cannot train for a better job. When these workers get sick, they have no income and no way to pay for health care. Many frontline workers are temporary workers, so a high proportion of COVID cases are in this group. Through a temporary workforce, risk is transferred from the employer to the employee. Temporary workers have the least resources to cope with risk, but they bear the highest risk. As COVID-related corporate bankruptcies increase, many more workers are likely to join the temporary workforce. Many career practitioners are deeply concerned about this population as the situation worsens. As the world changes rapidly, Trust Communities gain in value. Many people choose to work with companies (banks, grocery stores, etc.) who they trust to treat them well, to live in communities of like-minded people who they trust to have similar values, and to help others in their community who need their help. Schools and Colleges often strive to develop trust communities, so their students feel comfortable and safe developing skills in these institutions. Hope is extremely helpful during stressful times. If we can help clients to engage with a hopeful attitude, this attitude will open opportunities for them. What changes are you seeing now and in the future? Join the discussion in your region and share your insights. |
By Han Kok Kwang
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hankokkwang/
Director, Personal Mastery Resources
1st Legacy Partner Lifetime Member, APCDA
From experience, Health Outbreaks like SARS (8,000 affected) and the coronavirus: COVID-19 (70,000+ affected to date) often trigger multilateral issues, involving economic, business, medical and personal concerns.
Governments in affected economies have been prompt in handling public information and announcements on what the public should (wash hands often, monitor health, wear a mask when unwell, etc.) and should not do (panic) amid a health scare. Though it is still evolving, economies are already hurting from this Outbreak.
Though the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s experience with SARS 18 years ago tells us that the Asia-Pacific has the wherewithal to cope with such events, it is a different ballgame today. China accounts for 21.4 percent of world GDP (in Purchasing Power Parity, as of end-2018) compared to around 4.5 percent during the SARS outbreak. What happens in China now has almost 5X the impact on the world, compared to the days of SARS.
Being the de facto Factory of the World, China is a key link for many international supply chains. With increased interconnectedness of the global economy, the impact is amplified many times. Prior to COVID-19, US’s trade war with China has already disrupted the region. Now it’s gotten worse. Lower Chinese import demand is a key reason for the slowing growth in virtually the whole region.
Asia-Pacific currencies also tumble under the weight of coronavirus, with Australia and Thailand the worst hit on concern over Chinese demand for minerals and tourism. Christy Tan, Asia head of markets strategy and research at Melbourne-based banking group NAB, said “From a trade war to a war against a virus. It’s a shock to financial markets, to the global growth situation.”
China’s 168 million citizen-tourists in 2019 was also a major revenue source for tourism sectors of many countries. There is already an observed decline in travel and tourism, including the APCDA Conference 2020 in India. The collateral damage on retail, hospitality receipts and transport sales are expected to reverberate around the world.
In the words of the Prime Minster of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong: "The impact will be significant at least in the next couple of quarters. It is a very intense outbreak. I can't say whether we will have a recession or not. It's possible, but definitely our economy will take a hit. Business at the renowned Changi Airport had suffered with flights down by a third.”
In summary, it’s going to be a long night.
The good news? There’ll be a morning after.
Economies will bounce back, like they always do.
Key lesson learnt?
This Outbreak will not be the last. Fear is a natural human emotion. But we cannot be paralyzed by fear, which is False Evidence Appearing Real. When in doubt, always look for objective evidence.
While COVID-19 has dominated the media, that vigilance should be balanced with the understanding that influenza is more prevalent and much more likely to impact Americans, says Libby Richards, an associate professor of nursing in Purdue University’s School of Nursing.
The surveillance report for the week ending February 1, 2020, shows flu activity increased in many reporting areas in the US. The report also shows 22 million Americans have suffered from the flu, and that 12,000 adults and 78 children have died during this flu season, which began in October 2019. This shows that economies also have local concerns, in addition to the COVID-19 Outbreak.
Life must go on. As progressive Career Practitioners, we must be ready when the Sun shines again. We are the talent scouts and keepers of the faith. Yes, take all the necessary precautions we need but downtime is the best time for us to dig in, do the work and get ready for the upturn.
Embrace digital wholeheartedly. Leverage Artificial Intelligence to enhance our offerings. Learn how to provide career services even when we cannot do it face to face. Doing so will stand us in good stead because contactless career guidance will figure prominently in the Future of Work, with or without an Outbreak.😊
Catherine Hughes. PhD
Grow Careers,
Australia
It is generally accepted that individuals need to be adaptable to succeed in the contemporary world of work characterized by changing skills requirements, short-term contract work, less secure work arrangements, technological change and more. The concept of career adaptability has featured prominently in the career development literature in recent years. But where did this concept come from? What is career adaptability? How can career practitioners apply career adaptability to support their clients?
Origins of Career Adaptability
Career adaptability first appeared in the career development literature when the usefulness of career maturity for adult career development was questioned. Career maturity refers to career choice readiness and methods of coping with age-appropriate vocational development tasks (Super, 1990). Adaptation to vocational development tasks rather than maturation was considered to be the central process of adult career development (Super & Knasel, 1981). Adaptation accounts more adequately than maturation for the recycling through life stages and revisiting vocational development tasks that adults do when they are faced with expected or unexpected career transitions at varying times throughout their working life. This prompted Super (1983) to reserve career maturity for adolescent career development and recommend career adaptability as the corresponding term for adult career development. In more recent times questions were raised about the relevance of career maturity in diverse and multicultural contexts where contextual factors may influence the timing and nature of the vocational development tasks that adolescents face (Watson, 2008). Concerns such as this resulted in career adaptability being generalized across the life-span as the central career development process for children, adolescents and adults (Savickas, 1997).
Career Adaptability Now
Over the last decade career adaptability has been explained in career construction theory (Savickas, 2013) and has been widely researched (Johnston, 2018 ). Career construction theory proposes that the adaptation that is required to fit oneself to a new environment or changing context results from a sequence of:
In career construction theory, career adaptability is one element of adaptation. More specifically, Savickas and Porfeli (2012, p. 662) define career adaptability as “… a psychosocial construct that denotes an individual’s readiness and resources for coping with current and anticipated tasks, transitions, and traumas in their occupational roles …” Career adaptability is comprised of four dimensions, or career adapt-ability resources (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012):
In essence, people who show concern about their vocational future, who believe they have some control over it and are deliberate and decisive in dealing with vocational development tasks, transitions and work traumas, who are curious about possible future selves and work scenarios and who feel confident about their capacity to implement their goals possess the internal coping resources to respond with fitting behaviors to new or changed career circumstances.
“Increasing a person’s career adaptability resources, or career adapt-abilities is a central goal in career education and counseling” (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012, p. 663). Accordingly, career adaptability is a construct of great importance to the everyday work of career practitioners.
Applying Career Adaptability
The Career Adapt-Abilties Scale (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012) was developed in collaboration with researchers from 13 different countries. This instrument is freely available from www.vocopher.com. The Career Adapt-Abilties Scale is comprised of 24 items and yields a total career adapt-abilities score. The first six items relate to the Concern Dimension, the next six items relate to the Control Dimension, the next six relate to the Curiosity Dimension and the final six items relate to the Confidence Dimension. This means that scores for each career adaptability dimension can be calculated to more precisely identify student or client career adaptability strengths and career adaptability resources that need further development.
The Career Adapt-Abilities Scale can be used to support career interventions in one-to-one career counseling, group career counseling, career education workshops or career classes. For example:
In summary, career adaptability is a career development construct that is associated with career construction theory. It is highly relevant to the day-to-day work of career practitioners. The Career Adapt-Abilities Scale is freely available and can be used in a variety of ways to assess and enhance student or client career adaptability and their capacity to respond appropriately to vocational development tasks, career transitions and work traumas throughout life.
References
Hughes, C. (2017). Careers work in schools: cost-effective career services. Samford Valley, Queensland, Australia: Australian Academic Press Group.
Johnston, C. S. (2018). A systematic review of the career adaptability literature and future outlook. Journal of Career Assessment, 26, 3-30. DOI; 10.1177/1069072716679921.
Sampson, J. P., Reardon, R. C., Peterson, G. W. & Lenz, J. G. (2004). Career counseling & services: A cognitive information processing approach. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole – Thompson Learning.
Savickas, M. L. (1997). Career adaptability: An integrative construct for life-span, life-space theory. The Career Development Quarterly, 45, 247-259.
Savickas, M. L. (2013). Career construction theory and practice. In S. B. Brown & R.W. Lent (2013). Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work (2nd ed., pp. 147-183). Hoboken: NJ, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Savickas & Porfeli (2012). Career Adapt-Abilities Inventory: Construction, reliability, and measurement equivalence across 13 countries. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80, 661-673. DOI: 10.1016/j.jvb.2012.01.011
Super, D. E. (1983). Assessment in career guidance: Toward truly developmental counseling. The Personnel and Guidance Journal, 61, 555-562.
Super, D. E. (1990). A life-span, life-space approach to career development. In D. Brown and L. Brooks (Eds.), Career choice and development: Applying contemporary theories to practice (2nd ed., pp. 197-261). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc.
Super, D. E. & Knasel, E. G. (1981). Career development in adulthood: Some theoretical problems. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 9, 194-201.
Watson, M. B., (2008). Career maturity assessment in an international context. In J. Athanasou & R. van Estbroeck. International handbook of career guidance (pp. 511-523). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer-Science.
By Shelley Tien
According to Mark Savickas and Erik Porfeli (Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80-3, 2012), “Researchers from 13 countries collaborated in constructing a psychometric scale to measure career adaptability. Based on four pilot tests, a research version of the proposed scale consisting of 55 items was field tested in 13 countries. The resulting Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) consists of four scales, each with six items. The four scales measure concern, control, curiosity, and confidence as psychosocial resources for managing occupational transitions, developmental tasks, and work traumas.” The CAAS is available free in English on Vocpher.com (http://vocopher.com/CareerTests.cfm).
I participated in this study, conducting my research in Taiwan and Macau. There are now versions translated in many different languages in different countries. For Chinese, there are three versions: China (Ho), Taiwan (Tien, available at http://web.ntnu.edu.tw/~lantien/journals/The_Career_Adapt-Abilities_Scale-_The_Psychometric_Characteristics_and_Construct_Validity_of_the_Taiwan_Form.pdf), and in Macao (Tien, et.al available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260044423_The_Career_Adapt-Abilities_Scale_in_Macau_Psychometric_Characteristics_and_Construct_Validity).
The Career Adapt-Ability Scale has 24 items which assess four subscales: Concern, Control, Confidence, and Curiosity. Another subscale, Cooperation, also with 6 items developed by Savickas, was deleted in the world-wide version because the results for this scale were not distinct from the other four subscales. I think the idea of Cooperation is important in Chinese collective culture. One day in Shanghai Normal University, I met Dr. Fred Leong and shared this idea. He totally agreed and we then did a cross country analysis based in the five scales, cooperation included. The results indicated that the five-scale version was also supported. The paper was published in the Journal of Career Assessment.
Many master’s level research theses were conducted in Taiwan based on the CAAS. Most of them describe factors related to using the CAAS. For example, one studied the relationship among career self-efficacy, career adaptability, and work adjustment for adult workers in Taiwan (Chinese version with English abstract is available at http://agc.ncue.edu.tw/text37.1-2). Another study proposed to explore the relationship among career calling, career adaptability, and career satisfaction of teachers with different demographic backgrounds. This study used a set of inventories which measure each of these factors separately. The model proposed that there is a causal relationship among career calling, career adaptability, and career satisfaction. A causal relationship was confirmed by the data, among other interesting findings. These results were published in the newsletter of the Taiwan Career Development and Consultation Association, in Chinese (http://www.tcdca.org/?p=3027). Contact me at Research@AsiaPacificCDA.org if want to know more about these or other findings.