What do practitioners think of Career Management Skills?

More than 300 practitioners and experts from 6 European countries have been engaged in a participatory research to better understand the state of the art of career guidance actions in the countries involved with a special focus on the role of Career Management Skills. 

The survey focused on four main topics: 

1. How do organisations decide which activities/services to deliver?

Participants reported that in most cases activities are chosen because of their accessibility, availability and based on the training of the client. The role of standards, principles or guidelines at a national level was not considered important by most practitioners. 

2. Main focus areas of the activities delivered

When asked about the learning objectives of the activities run, most practitioners in all the countries reported that they mainly work on self-awareness, followed by understanding careers and communication. The distribution by countries shows, in addition to a great coincidence, a predominance of some "traditional" competences as output of the activities (self-awareness, understanding of the career, communication, decision-making process), but new competencies (ethical and sustainable thinking, for example) or more complex competences do not appear (for example, managing plans or balancing life, learning and work).

3. Training needs 

Regarding the CMS training needs, participants reported to mainly need training on areas like understanding complexity and digital mindset. 

4. Tools 

Participants also expressed their opinion on their need to have tools to support career activities structured according to CMS areas. In 5 countries out of 6, digital mindset is the area which would need more tools. Tools to develop other skills as self-awareness, self-regulation and growth mindset are also described as needed.