From Hi-Touch to Hi Tec: The use of technology in Career
Development
Recent years have seen significant changes in the way career
development support is delivered. Many of these adjustments have
to do with advances in technology but closely linked is a major
change in the human aspect of career coaching.
So what's different? The most noticeable development has been
that career coaching and outplacement support is no longer
exclusively accessible to senior managers. Nowadays companies
recognise that it pays to be seen to offer support to all
employees being laid-off.
No longer is outplacement provided behind the doors of oak
panelled offices. Resource centres are often set up on the
client companies site and the whole matter is dealt with in a
much more open way. Any stigma that once surrounded redundancy
has now all but disappeared along with the majority of the
three-piece chalk-striped suits who helped those senior managers
back into work by flicking through their address books.
Redundancy is just one of a number of ways by which people leave
their employer and is not considered a mark of failure.
This has all come about as a result of the increased pace of
business. The need to stay competitive in times of rapid
technological change and competitive pressure has meant constant
re-organisation, such that where last year there was, for an
employer, a great need for certain skills, today the same
organisation may have no need of them. In other organisations,
redundancy is the result of simple cuts as they attempt to keep
their heads above water; non-core functions are removed or
outsourced.
This has led not only to a growth in outplacement but, with the
changing nature of the relationship between employee and
employer, individuals now recognise the need to take
responsibility for their own careers. We have seen a significant
growth in individual career coaching as people attempt to
maintain their employability in an environment in which skills
and capabilities can become obsolete in a matter of weeks.
All this has been made possible to some degree with advances in
technology. The older model; private and tailored, focused on
the use of paper based psychometric assessment and ability
tests, to ascertain the client's capabilities and suitable types
of work and roles. It would then move on to the CV writing
service wherein the client would be interviewed at length with a
new CV as the output. If required, interview practice would be
available but most important was the promise of "access to the
hidden job market". This, in essence, meant that the consultant
would introduce the client, by way of forwarding the CV, to a
number of recruiters and headhunters. As time passes and the
candidate fails to secure employment, the consultant would ease
them into re-evaluating their expectations (downwards!) until
eventually a role was secured. This method is still available
for those that want it and there are plenty of organisations
willing to provide it.
The new career transition model operates in a very different
way. Where before the relationship was expert and client, the
industry has now become more complex with the consultant taking
on different roles according to the stage of the process the
client is at and the need: counsellor, expert, teacher,
facilitator and partner.
Perhaps ironically, technology has played a large part not only
in bringing about the need for career support, but also in
helping to deliver that support.
The requirement for lower cost delivery in order to meet the
budget available for junior employees has precipitated more
group work, which in turn means that the client is responsible
for managing their own transition process.
Psychometric and ability tests can now be conducted on-line
although the most professional will require 1:1 feedback. While
there are a number of tests that offer on-line feedback, these
cannot provide the detail that a personal session can reach when
focussing on such matters as suitability for roles and
organisations, cultural fit and ways of working.
E-learning supports the philosophy of giving clients the tools
to manage their own transition rather than doing it for them. An
internet, intranet or CD course offers, amongst a wealth of
possibilities, features such as filmed demonstration interviews
alongside interactive learning modules and examples of hundreds
of CV's and application letters that can be used for inspiration.
Group learning has also been assisted by improved technology.
Whereas until now it has been necessary for either the
consultant or client to travel, online conferencing, using such
facilities as Webex, allow groups to convene remotely and yet
are fully functional with full voice contact, presentations,
file transfer and private interaction between participants.
Web-conferencing offers the added benefit of making it easier
for people of different levels of seniority to work together.
In terms of information that aids the job search process, there
are now more job boards on the internet than you can shake a
stick at. If I'm honest I'd like to do more than shake the stick
at most of them. In general they are a very poor method of
identifying suitable roles because they tend to make it
difficult for the best candidates to stand out. Job boards do
have their uses, however. One is that they make it fairly easy
to discover salary levels and the type of qualities required for
many positions. The other is that they help jobseekers to
identify active recruiters handling the type of role they are
looking for.
A proliferation of on-line services now exist to help jobseekers
identify opportunities worthy of a speculative approach.
Execubank is just one that report news of corporate activity,
including relocation, expansion and contraction. There are also
a number, such as OneSource, that provide detailed company
information including accounts, key personnel contact details
and links, all of which help both for applications and interview
preparation.
One-to-one consulting has also benefited from web-based tools.
One of my favourite examples is the deaf client I worked with
using internet messaging. My client had no need to come into
town to see me and we were able to develop a much closer
relationship working online in this way than we had previously
managed with the help of an interpreter. VoIP technology has
also made communication easier. Whereas previously high
international telephone charges would have made contact with
overseas clients unappealing, with Skype a coach is able to talk
to clients anywhere around the globe at no cost and the
conversation is as clear as if we were sitting in the same room
as each other.
Neither of these methods is able to facilitate the depth of
relationship that one-to-one coaching delivers and in
particular, are not well suited for working with people who are
angry, upset, or especially confused. However, there is no doubt
that they can be effective for the transfer of knowledge and to
motivate and encourage the client.
The reduced human contact that is implied by the use of
technology is not to be overlooked. Certainly for those who have
been made redundant, contact with other people is a crucial
factor in determining how quickly and successfully they return
to work. Fortunately, networking is no longer the "old school
tie" thing it once was. We now teach networking as one of
several job search tools. Put into practice, clients now
interact with other people more than their erstwhile
counterparts receiving traditional outplacement services would
probably have done.
The danger with these advances is that, in pursuit of more
clients with less to spend, the career transition industry
becomes hi-tec / lo-touch when previously it was lo-tech /
hi-touch.
Technology has opened up career consulting for many who might
not have been able to afford it, however, the real value is in a
good 1:1 mentoring and coaching relationship where specific
individual needs are addressed.