Cover Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash
The 2024 NICEC (National Institute for Careers Education and Counselling) Conference took place in the centre of Birmingham last year, exploring the theme of sustainability within career decision making, research and practice. Through the support of Manchester Metropolitan University Doctoral Student Conference Support Award fund, I was able to attend the conference, sharing ideas with fellow researchers and practitioners from around the world.
As both a Careers Practitioner and Doctoral Researcher I was already familiar with NICEC’s long-standing support for the global Careers research community, and its involvement in promoting better careers education practices within rapidly changing social landscapes. This conference, in particular, resonated with that ethos, and underpinned the notion of research-informed practice. With that in mind, I consistently wore two hats throughout the conference: my research one and my practitioner one, listening to how others had married the two approaches.
The two days of the conference were divided into plenaries and workshops, the variety of which indicated the wide remit offered by the theme of “sustainability in careers”. All the sessions provided rich food for thought, but I want to focus on a few sessions that, for me, were the highlight of the event.
Within the second Plenary on day one: Addressing burnout to build sustainable careers and prosperity for all, Dr Cathy Brown spoke of fostering Career Resonance as a means of incorporating well-being within career decision making, harnessing our natural resonance to tune in to how jobs / careers make us feel. For Dr Brown, Career Resonance involves: reconnecting with your self and others and developing incisive career questioning when making decisions, considering what makes you happy, motivates you and gives you energy. An emotive method of career decision making, later echoed, to some extent, by Shane McLoughlin, in the “Perspectives on Careers Education” workshop, as they linked an examination of character formation to career decision making. Considering a career direction does not occur in silo, and learning about who you are and what makes you happy is the foundation to making a sustainable choice. It was refreshing to hear about the various projects that are being developed and incorporated across educational institutions, from primary schools to universities, to support this holistic approach.
I was also fortunate enough to attend a workshop hosted by Dr Fiona Christie (part of my doctoral supervisory team) and Dr Eileen Cunningham from Manchester Metropolitan University, as they spoke about their extensive research on young people’s experience of precarious work and the embedding of Decent Work within Career delivery. This research identified a limited understanding, amongst young people, of what constitutes decent work, including their expectations of employers in working within decent working practices. The research seeks to raise awareness in young people as to what constitutes precarious work and, as its counterpart, what defines decent working practices. With this aim in mind, they have worked with the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter Team in creating the What Students and Graduates need to know about Good Work resource, devising both student handbooks and teacher guides. Please click here to access the slides and here to access the resource.
Professor Ans de Vos, from Antwerp University, spoke about what career preparation could look like within times of rapid change and disruption, as careers become less predictable. The definition of “sustainable career” here, constituting a series of career patterns led by individual meaning and direction, was one of the key concepts to come out of the presentation, I felt, giving additional credence to the very personal question: what does career mean to you? In this context, Professor de Vos considered the role of the Careers Advisor, as now being a “connector role”, providing a link between the various factors (including health, happiness and productivity) that can influence the concept of “career”. It was a thought-provoking presentation, that opened up the notion of career sustainability in terms of a continual, life-long process, that would alter in response to societal changes. Although, career was posited here as a more self-directed and personal journey, the support systems required to empower this individual movement, including Careers Advisors, rendered it collaborative and community-driven.
Attending this conference allowed me to share in the plethora of ideas, participate in discussions with global delegates and deepen my own understanding of the wide remit of current careers research and practice, positioning my own research within this contemporary framework. As a result of the conference, I have now joined NICEC as a student member and applied to become part of a global careers research project. I look forward to attending diverse professional development sessions as well as the next NICEC conference!
