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Workshop Abstracts

The following are the workshop abstracts for the National Career Conference in Melbourne. 

Wednesday 15 April - AM

GLOBAL GRADUATES: A COMPETITIVE EDGE THROUGH INTERNATIONAL STUDY EXPERIENCE
Mr Robert Malicki ¹, Ms Ainsley Gilkes ², Prof Di Yerbury ^{1, 3}, Ms Tracy Harris ^4
1 Australian Institute For Mobility Overseas, ² One Steel, ³ Di Yerbury and Associates, ⁴ Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

An international study experience is seen as standard in the portfolios of top graduating students. The 6% of Australian university students who have studied overseas are interculturally competent, internationally focused, independent and in demand. It is more apparent than ever that an international study experience is a smart addition to a resume for a graduate and a smart indicator of graduate potential for businesses and other employers.

This cross-cultural understanding and experience is a highly important skill in an increasingly globalised society.  Students participating in international study experiences, such as student exchanges, internships, volunteering and leadership programs, are now doing more than just having a life-changing experience, they are also making a career-defining addition to their resumes.

This workshop looks at the ‘lifecycle’ of the internationalised Australian student. It will consider the latest research on what international experiences employers value in their graduates; why and how universities are building exchanges and global citizenship into their degrees; the Australian Government perspective on why international education is imperative to Australia’s competitiveness; and what indicators can be used in the graduate selection process to assess cross-cultural competency.

Participants in the workshop will come away with a strong understanding of the importance of international study experience; knowledge of the different types and relative values of international study experiences; and a toolkit of research, resources and methods for encouraging students and others to participate in overseas study

The workshop will include a presentation, panel discussion and case studies. Confirmed speakers are Rob Malicki, Director of Australian Institute for Mobility Overseas and President of the Australian Exchange Alumni Network; Ainsley Gilkes, Senior Advisor Sourcing & Talent Pipelines at OneSteel; Emeritus Professor Di Yerbury, OA; and Tracy Harris from the Australian Government.

“THERE IS NO SUCCESS LIKE FAILURE”:  THE VALUE OF MISTAKES IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Prof Robert Pryor, Prof Jim Bright
Australian Catholic University

Humans love and celebrate success.  We want our careers and organisations to be successful.  Most career development interventions have as their ultimate goal to assist individuals to avoid mistakes and achieve career success. Most organisational career development interventions have similar designs. The Chaos Theory of Careers however, draws attention not only to human potential but also to our limitations of knowledge and control.  Life is uncertain and as a consequence mistakes and failures are inevitable.  However, mistakes are almost always viewed negatively for various reasons including the cost to correct them, their negative unintended consequences, the sense of personal failure, the exposing of our limitations and undermining confidence.  But if mistakes are virtually unavoidable can positive benefit be derived from them?  What constitutes a failure and how do we reach this conclusion? Can short-term failures be the key or springboard to longer-term success?  Retrospectively have some “failures” been the necessary conditions for subsequent success? In this presentation the cost of trying to avoid all mistakes is investigated.  It is identified with closed systems thinking.  Mistakes as learning experiences will be discussed.  Strategies for transforming mistakes into opportunities are illustrated.  Mistake making also has the capacity for the development of adaptability, creativity and resilience.  The conscious use of failure as a strategy for both exploration and risk inoculation in career development, is also outlined.  Strategies that can be applied in organisations and with individuals will be presented that use failure as a tactic to accelerate success and to build personal and organisational capacity.  Failure in both personal and organisational contexts will be addressed with examples.

Gillian Kelly was Australia’s first Reach Personal Branding Strategist and is a world renowned and award-winning career marketing specialist. At the forefront of the personal branding movement in Australia, Gillian will share the history of how personal branding has become today's hottest career strategy topic and an essential tool for both businesses and individuals seeking to bolster their success in today's new work reality.

In this fun and interactive workshop, Gillian will dispel the myths of personal branding and take attendees through the proven, three-step personal branding process so that they can support individuals at all stages of the career life cycle in building and communicating a winning personal brand. For career sector professionals this interactive presentation will not only showcase why personal branding is a ‘key new direction in smart career sector best practice’ for both individual’s and businesses but also brings added benefits for attendees through helping them build their own brands so that they can stand out from the competition and greatly expand their success.

Join education.au’s Greg Black (CEO) and Suzanne Curyer (Career Development Technologies Manager) in a highly interactive workshop where you will learn about digital social networking and information management that will assist you in your day to day practice as a career professional.  A snapshot of trends in how young people are using technology in education will be provided to help identify how you can tap into this as a career practitioner.

During the workshop, you will be able to:

-    see how to create your own online networking and profile space on
      www.me.edu.au
-    Learn about edna Groups, a collaborative workspace for educators, including   
     career practitioners, where you can set up web forums, live chats, blogs, wikis,
     glossaries, databases, polls and surveys.  As a free service, funded by the
     Australian, state and territory governments, this is a great way to share
     information and be linked with special interest groups in career development
     across Australia.
-    See a demonstration of the new enhanced My Guide in myfuture.edu.au,
     incorporating new multi-media.

SMART POLICY AND PRACTICE: A WHOLE OF COUNTRY APPROACH
Mr Col McCowan OAM
Cromach Careers

Col led a UNDP funded project for Bhutan in 2008 to strengthen careers and employment counselling for the country. This involved doing an audit of the current situation, developing suitable systems, implementing these and training staff. The number of educated young people leaving school and other educational institutions is increasing and the traditional employment sources such as the public service sector, are saturated. Although the private sector is expanding, unemployment is rising to an extremely unacceptable 4% overall and much higher for young people, and employers can not get the young people to work in the available jobs. The young people themselves are loyal to their farming parents who will only let them take full time clerical position in the government despite the absence of such positions. This seems a convenient position for the young people to be in but it is also bound up in culture. It is crippling the country and most firms are applying for approval to employ expatriate workers to fill the vacancies. Careers and employment counselling services are limited and the pressure is on them to re-orientate young people towards the areas of greatest need while the services themselves are also trying to educate employers on their responsibilities at the same time. Lessons learned from Australia were useful and some of the successful actions and activities implemented have messages for Australia.

Schools across Australia, rural, regional and urban, work with young people in the formative years for career decision-making.  From the Career Education Lighthouse Schools Project Smart Career Development Initiatives have arisen as has best practice in career education in schools.   Lighthouse schools act as champions of best practice in quality career education and encourage other secondary, primary, government and non-government schools to implement quality career education programs.

A total of over  300 schools in the last 4 years have  implemented a sustainable project demonstrating good practice in career education.   Representatives from three schools which have received funding in 2007 will present their project and describe their career education program.   For ideas of good practice hear from Jennifer Hill, Wade High School NSW, Gary Bourke, Murtoa College Victoria and Julie Ryan, Mill Park Secondary College Victoria speak about their projects.   Ask questions and join discussion about what works for young people in schools and beyond.  Participants in these workshops at previous conferences have found them very useful for gaining ideas for their own practice

FROM CHAOS TO CALM - ORGANISING CAREER EVENTS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Ms Karen Penrose
CICA

Organising events – it’s all in the planning. This workshop will not only explore all of the elements of organising successful careers events but will provide participants with the tools to make it easy.  Topics covered will include:

• Great event ideas – big and small
• Budgeting – bang for your buck
• Sponsorship
• Promotion & Publicity
• Give away ideas
• Risk management
• Evaluation.

This workshop is designed for both experienced and inexperienced event organisers. It is designed to get participants involved and uses lots of examples.

Outcome of workshop – this workshop will provide participants with information, tools, project management processes, resources and templates to make event organising easier and enjoyable!

Old Chinese Proverb – Tell me and I’ll forget, Show me and I may remember, Involve me and I’ll understand!

Thursday 16 April - AM

ASSISTING SKILLED MIGRANTS TO ACHIEVE THEIR EMPLOYMENT GOAL IN AUSTRALIA
Mrs Marg Davis
Adult Multicultural Education Services

Accounting, Engineering, IT and other professions are still experiencing skill shortages and yet many overseas-qualified professionals are desperately keen to work in these areas that they have qualified for. Most have been granted skilled visas because their occupation represents a high priority on the Skilled Occupation List.

Overseas skilled professionals are attracted to Australia because they expect that they will readily secure employment in their profession. To be granted a skilled visa requires applicants to achieve a particular IELTS score. However; inadequate English language skills is often one of the main barriers to employment. Lack of local experience is another factor cited by those involved in the recruitment process.

Awareness and understanding of Australian workplace culture is really the underlying factor in gaining work in Australia. Workplace fit – “Do they like you?” – “Are you like them?” – is what really counts. This may sound simple, but it fact it represents a package of skills and strategies that overseas professionals need to be aware of to enhance their chances of realising their dream of employment in their new country.

Many job applicants, not just overseas job seekers, have only one resume and cover letter which is used for all advertised positions. Learning how to read and understand job advertisements and amend documents is imperative as well as understanding how to handle initial telephone interviews and how to present and prepare for face to face interviews.

This workshop will address the complexities of the Australian job market and refer to various programs offered by AMES (Adult Multicultural Education Services), including the Skilled Professional Migrants Program, the Professional Mentoring Program and Practical Placement which combine to provide support and practical assistance to recently arrived skilled professionals.

CAREER WRITING - WHAT IS INVOLVED AND HOW TO MANAGE THE PROCESS FROM IDEA TO PUBLICATION
Ms Julie Farthing
Career Dimensions

Do you want to share your knowledge with others? Would you like to see your name in print or on the web? How about generating some passive income along the way?  Career writing can also consolidate learning and further develop your understanding of a topic of interest. This is a great way to accumulate CPD points without leaving home, raise your profile and add value to your resume.

If you have been wanting to write on a career-related issue, but feel that you lack the knowledge and/or confidence to proceed, attend this fun and interactive workshop; you will be surprised at how much easier it is when you know the process.

No, you don’t have to be a great speller, or know a prepositional phrase from an adjectival clause. For most. writing is not an innate talent but a skill that can be mastered.

Tap into the writer within by identifying a range of writing topics and then developing one or two using a simple four phase process: explore, organise, create, and present. Writing for different genres will be discussed as well as possibilities for collaborative writing projects. Participants can further develop their pieces through to publication if they wish, with the assistance of a writing mentor after the conference.

"CAREER GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE LIFE-SPAN" PRACTICAL TOOLS TO ASSIST THE STUDENT, ADULT AND EMPLOYEE
Mr Nigel Phillips ^{1 2
1} Career Life College, ² Careers Fast Track

At any one moment in time we are all making choices that will shape the results we achieve in our life.  In turn, our results will determine the level of satisfaction we experience in our life at both conscious and unconscious levels.   When it comes to the motivation behind career-life development, an individual may have one of the following four positions:

a)    I want to and I need to develop my career;
b)    I want to but don’t need to develop my career;
c)    I don’t want to but I need to develop my career;
d)    I don’t want to and don’t need to develop my career

The dynamic between what we “want” to do and what we “need” to do is ultimately the same for students, adults and employees at any stage across the life-span.  From a career practitioners perspective, it is how this dynamic is influenced that can shape the intrinsic motivation towards career development for any client group.  You will leave this workshop with:

1. an understanding of some of the theories and perspectives behind an individuals desire for career growth
2. an understanding of the “patterns” of behaviour that influence performance
3. the ability to use up to four different tools with your clientele
4. a framework to integrate the tools and methodologies into your own practice

This workshop is informed by the application of this methodology with students, adults and in corporate settings.

In what has become known as the ‘post-Sorry’ period in Australia meaningful initiatives are being sought to improve the well being of Indigenous Australians. Education along with health and housing are regarded as key areas in which fundamental changes are necessary. Recent research undertaken on Indigenous Australians entering and graduating from medical schools found that barriers included a range of assumptions about the potential educational outcomes of these students, tendencies to direct them to VET courses rather than university entry, the complex and changing nature of university admissions programs and limited career development. This research has highlighted the need for a co-ordinated and integrated national approach that recognises the need for greater support for career development practitioners. Career development practitioners can provide leadership in enabling the change needed to support Indigenous students and their families. We argue it is timely and critical to work together to increase the number of Indigenous students graduating with meaningful careers ahead of them.

Question 1: What can I/we do to assist Aboriginal learning?
Question 2: What training and resources would help you to be better able to assist Aboriginal learners?

Attracting and retaining the right staff are the biggest challenges that small to medium businesses face, especially in a skills shortage market.  As career practitioners, in private practice, we can be instrumental in assisting businesses to become employers of choice, by facilitating learning and providing coaching.  Often these business owners have no formal mechanisms for identifying their skills gaps and those of their key staff. So, they tend to employ staff on an ad hoc basis. In my experience, they also have little or no concept of “attractors” and are stuck in a monetary reward belief system.  By providing them with knowledge and our professional services, we can develop their awareness and assist them to identify and provide “attractors” which can establish them as “preferred” employers.

This workshop provides an overview of the elements to be included in marketing proposals to these employers. Topics covered will include:

• providing interesting and challenging work by matching natural skills and talents to job tasks
• development processes and training employees
• effective work-life balance
• providing a pleasant and stimulating workplace culture for all

The outcome of this workshop will be a better understanding of how to develop a proposal to market practitioner expertise to small and medium business.

In this fast-paced session, the presenter will outline the similarities and differences between career counselling and career coaching skills; demonstrate effective career coaching skills and techniques; describe specific client situations where career coaching skills can be effectively used; and facilitate participant practice of career coaching techniques.

The session will focus on: 
  •  Core similarities of Career counselling and career coaching.  
  •  Differences between counselling and coaching 
  •  Demonstration of career coaching techniques  
  •  Practice of selected career coaching techniques. 
  •  Outline of situations where coaching can be most effective 
  •  Discussion and questions.

The Career Education Association of Victoria (CEAV) provides quality professional learning programs for school based career practitioners in Victoria.  The CEAV has over the past thirty two years provided professional learning programs to improve the delivery of career education in secondary schools.   The association has over this time period seen significant improvements in the recognition give to providing quality career education programs for students in their compulsory years of schooling.  The career development landscape has however, changed significantly over the past ten years.   In 1999, The Adelaide Declaration announced the National Goals of Schooling for the 21^st Century and all governments within Australia were committed to responding to the career and transition needs of young people.  The National Goals of Schooling for the 21^st century clearly articulated that by building sound career development skills whilst in the compulsory years of schooling, young people would stand a better chance of meeting the challenges facing them in a constantly changing workforce. 

In the past most schools have responded to career development in a reactive manner. That is, a response is developed and delivered according to State or Federal initiatives which may tag resources to a service or program at specific times in a student’s educational learning. An example would be: providing a counsellor for individual student counselling a few lessons per week during subject selection time at Year 10. This approach, while always student focused, has not necessarily developed a shift in culture regarding career development for young people. Career development focusing on the counselling model only, relies heavily on a service provision model, that is, a career practitioner working one to one with an individual or a small group of students with the focus on guidance or advice giving for a selected timeframe during the school year.

The program provision model of career development in schools relies on the delivery of programs at certain times in the school year, for example the development of Work Education programs to deliver the legislative requirements of a Work Experience program. The program provision model has the flexibility for teams of teachers to work with the career practitioner in developing programs in a targeted and timely fashion and which reflect the developmental needs of students. Working with curriculum planners, career practitioners can assist with both the planning and delivery of programs.

Both the service provision model and the program model of career education can provide opportunities for students to connect with the concept of career development, however these programs are limited as both service and program provision are delivered independently to the student’s overall learning plan. If we are to develop a culture of change in the way schools deliver career education than we need to understand that Career Development is a process, one that commences in early childhood and continues throughout the life span.  A proactive approach to career development in schools will start with a whole school approach to delivery of this process.  This workshop will review a variety of approaches to the delivery of quality career education in secondary schools to see how far we have come in implementing career development in schools. It will examine a variety of approaches and initiatives that schools have used with secondary students.
 
Friday 17 April - AM

PARTNERSHIPS DON'T HAPPEN BY MAGIC
Mr Andrew Worrall, Ms Helen Nowosilskyj
Western Futures

Western Futures is the Local Community Partnership (LCP) for the western region of Adelaide. Western Futures achieves results through partnerships with local community, government, business, educational, training and employment sectors.  Western Futures facilitates the provision of innovative and effective career development and transition support systems to people within western Adelaide.  Aims are:

• To assist young people to achieve a successful transition through school, and from school to further education, training or employment
• Provide people disadvantaged in the labour market with learning and work opportunities

6.3.7.e Establish and maintain collaborative work relations

A successful effective method to encourage smart exchanges between school, business and industry has been an event, coordinated by Western Futures called the “School and Business Partnerships Dinner”, themed “Partnerships don’t happen by Magic”.

Establishing and maintaining strong collaborative working relationships requires a great deal of positive, open communication, understanding, commitment, mutual respect and hard work.

The format saw school Principals host a table with the opportunity to invite 2-3 key staff, Business and Community leaders for a dinner function. The aims were to:

·         build a common understanding between industry, business, schools and career
          professionals of the goals and expectations of career education in schools;
·         develop strategies to engage businesses in career education;     
·         support the cultural and organisational changes in schools and communities that are
          needed for the effective implementation of career education and services.

All 23 schools within the Western Futures region attended from across the 3 schooling sectors including schools with a CALD, Disability and Indigenous focus. 260 guests attended this prestigious event.  This event, offered the opportunity to recognise Business and School Partnerships.  Awards were given in the following categories: Large, Medium, Small Business plus Individual and Community awards.   This recognised the excellent collaborative working relationships existing between schools and the business sector.

An Adopt a School Programme was also showcased on the night called “Kids in the Kitchen”.  This involved students in both school-based and work based learning. It built a strong partnership between a school and the venue hosting the function. The Executive Chef of the Lakes Resort Hotel, Matt Sadler, worked with the year 12 Hospitality class at Seaton HS. Over 3 weeks Matt worked in the school, training. 6 students were selected from the class to work in the kitchen with Matt and his team and a further 6 were selected to work front of house.

In keeping with the theme “Partnerships don’t happen by Magic” a ‘Great Debate’ was held. For the current generation of young adults, the magic word is University.  The red hot careers topic of continuing interest for the public-at-large, and the question for the Great Debate

Is a degree the Magic word to a job?

Outcomes from this event :

• Closer working relationships between schools and businesses
• Businesses committing resources to further Vocational Education in schools
• Adopt a School ideas being generated
• Sponsorship opportunities being discussed
• An increased awareness from senior education department staff of the commitment of business community
• A raised awareness of the broader role of the LCP

This workshop will discuss the integrated career support and engagement model provided by the Graduate Careers Centre at the Faculty of Economics and Commerce at the University of Melbourne.  On view will be the various service and program provisions for students that span from arrival to course completion and beyond and how these services contribute to students’ global learning, career development and overall career outcomes.

Benefits and availability of services and engagement opportunities for employers and industry professionals will also be discussed.  The session will also provide an overview of the expectations and career decision making factors of the diverse group of students undertaking graduate professional programs in the Melbourne GSM at the University of Melbourne.

Part one of the workshop will look at the concept of ‘ACCESS’ and explore why students undertake professional masters programs, what their expectations are, what needs they want fulfilled and their longer term goals. 

Part two will deal with the ‘ENGAGEMENT’ concept and discuss students’ connectedness to their environment and career development opportunities as well as external agents’ interest in exploring a largely unexplored talent pool graduate students represent. 

In part three participants will look at case studies outlining smart choices to ‘ACHIEVE’ the desired results for both students and industry. Through these case studies participants will be able to discuss and analyse graduate students’ career development stages and trajectories from pre-course career status through on course skill building to professional career outcomes.

This session will provide participants with insight into the strategy, structure and operation of this faculty level good practice professional support service.  

ENHANCING CAREERS AND TRANSITION SUPPORT FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN VICTORIA
Ms Leela Darvall and Meredith Shears
DEECD, School Representative and LLEN representative

Practical information on how interrelated initiatives are improving careers and transition support for young Victorians will be presented and discussed in this workshop. Two important Victorian Government goals and targets are the focus of activity around youth transitions:

·         By 2010, 90% of young people in Victoria will successfully complete Year 12 or its
          educational equivalent.
·         That the number of early school leavers who are unemployed after six months will
          decline.

Initiatives developed by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) to achieve these targets include:

·         expanded post compulsory pathways to encourage young people to stay at school and
          complete Year 12 or its educational equivalent
·         initiatives to reconnect early school leavers to education, training or employment, and
·         assistance to young people to navigate the options available to them and fit them into a
          longer-term career plan.

This concurrent workshop will explore how these initiatives interconnect to support young people, including young people from targeted groups such as Koori, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds (CALD) and students with disabilities, to make informed decisions about their post-school options and to support them at critical transition points.  Initiatives that will be examined will include Managed Individual Pathways (MIPS), Student Mapping Tool, Career and Transition resources Effective Intervention Strategies, OnTrack, Local Learning and Employment Networks (LLENs), Youth Transition Support Initiative (YTSI) and Regional Youth Commitments. 

Practical information on how these initiatives can assist young people will be provided by school and non school based practitioners. Participants will have the opportunity through facilitated discussion groups to reflect and identify the applicability of these resources in their own context.

FINDING THE HAT THAT FITS: AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO CAREER PLANNING
Alun Gallie and Nick Dudley
Government Skills Australia

Go behind the scenes to understand the workings of an innovative new online tool that allows students to compare their existing employability skills, traits, attributes, qualities and interests against a complete range of current, industry endorsed entry level occupations.

More than a career matching program, this simple and fun approach also allows students to develop career action plans that provoke investigation and discussion. Entry requirements, avenues to develop knowledge and experience, training pathways, work readiness considerations and work/life balance are all addressed.

This approach builds on the common theory that students who have a sense of purpose and future focus are more likely to be successful in life.

This workshop will include a presentation, interactive demonstration and provide an opportunity to ask questions and join discussion about the logic used in the development of a tool designed specifically for Australian students.

SMART LANGUAGE FOR BUSINESS-CENTRIC CAREER PRACTITIONERS: SUPPORTING BOTH EMPLOYEE AND EMPLOYER 
Lesley Armstrong
Lesley Armstrong Consulting Pty Ltd

This workshop explores the ways that career practitioners can support both the employer and the employee through the provision of career counselling services.

We will address the needs and expectations that employers have when they use external third party career practitioners ; and the needs that employees present with when they engage in a career counselling session.  Sometimes these needs and expectations are aligned and sometimes they are not. 

Lesley Armstrong is a business-centric career practitioner who has provided a range of career development services to organisations and their employees across public, private, not-for-profit and state government sectors for nearly 20 years.   Lesley will discuss the challenges associated with endeavouring to meet both employer and employee needs and expectations as a third party career practitioner.  Lesley has counselled literally thousands of individuals in business settings and will share her approach and methodologies for business-centric career counselling.
(1)          Background – Lesley Armstrong Consulting :  the journey from careers teacher to organisational development consultant
(2)          What do employers want from a third party career practitioner?  What are their expectations? Tapping into the language that makes sense to line managers. 
(3)          What do employees want and expect from a third party career practitioner ? Tapping into the language that makes sense to employees.
(4)          Delivering positive outcomes for both parties :  the challenges of aligning needs and expectations and delivering outcomes