In this post Eileen Cunningham discusses her work with Fiona Christie in creating an online career development learning resource informed by a committment to social justice.

New year is the time when many people reflect upon their life and their career. You may have been bombarded with offers to help create ‘a new you’ through fitness and diet programmes or felt the pressure to make resolutions. 

‘21 Days to Career Success’ is the tongue-in-cheek title of an online career development learning resource created by myself (Eileen Cunningham) and Fiona Christie and launched in January 2017. At the time of its creation, we were both working at the same university and doing PhDs about career development. I was working as a social policy lecturer (having been a careers adviser secondary/further education) and Fiona was a careers consultant.

We were both keen to bridge the gap between what we were researching and its  relevance to practice.  Fortunately, Fiona got some funding from HECSU for her research about graduate transitions and as part of that bid, she committed to create jointly with me a practical resource targeted at recent graduates. The project allowed us to fuse our interests together.

Creating a new resource

We developed this resource without an awareness of ‘career guidance for social justice’ as a movement.  However, the spirit of what we created in 21 Days to Career Success shares much in common with such ideas. We have arrived at similar conclusions especially around looking for ways to foster a critical approach to career development and employability, albeit through a different route.

Our resource, sought to provide advice and support to recent graduates. Our research had discovered that turbulence and uncertainty were normal aspects of many early graduate careers and that often people didn’t know where to go for help.  We wanted to offer them somewhere to go for that help.

View Fiona’s introduction to the 21 days resource

We were both becoming increasingly aware of the neoliberal context within which we were working, particularly the effects of the employability imperative upon the messages we were transmitting. We were both troubled by normative ideas about what being a successful graduate really is which have been fuelled by public policy which frames university education as an investment which should lead to clear outcomes as defined narrowly by what is considered a suitable graduate job and income level. We worried about the impact of this upon graduates who compare themselves unfavourably to social norms about what it is to be successful.

Pragmatically, we felt many students were missing out on valuable careers support as they didn’t think about their future until it arrived, after graduation. In the words of one graduate ‘we just thought we’d walk off the stage in our robes, into suits and off to work’. The need for careers guidance doesn’t end when a student becomes an alumni and yet staff shortages and competing priorities can curtail this ‘after-sales service’!   Leaving university and the comfort of a student identity can feel like falling off a cliff for some. We both observed that this was especially the case for graduates from widening participation backgrounds who didn’t have a strong financial safety net and network of social support.

The catchy title was an ironic nod to the myriad wellness industry self-help and fitness apps and programmes which claim that it only takes twenty-one days to change your life or habits. Can you attain career success in twenty-one days? Maybe not, but the serious intention was to invite graduates to spend just a few minutes each day thinking about their career, one step at a time.

We have noticed that many students and graduates appear to put off career decision-making because they are waiting for a ‘eureka’ moment; an epiphany when their dream job becomes clear. Each day of the ’21 days’ blog introduces a new concept or skill for them to consider, reconceptualising career deciding as a process.

The blog starts with an acknowledgement that, if they are reading it, chances are things haven’t worked out for them yet. Some days offer the usual practical advice about CVs and interviews while others offer the chance to reflect upon what success really means to them or encourages them to find out about employment rights and challenge poor treatment at work. We felt strongly that this resource should strike a balance between motivating and realistic; research-informed yet accessible. As such, we try to address both individual and contextual factors, which affect career success. In so doing, we critique ideas which present employability as something that is just about the individual.

We’ve used the blog as a basis for group sessions with university-based interns and they have found it relevant to the issues and feelings they were experiencing.  Fiona used it extensively in her wider career development practice  with  varied students and graduates.

Reflections

Looking back, it isn’t perfect and could be improved and adapted for different groups. There are some topics which, on reflection, do play into neoliberal ideas about the commodified self and simplistic notions of bouncing back from adversity.

As well as being helpful to the graduates, the process of undertaking a PhD and developing the blog has been hugely thought-provoking for me. Listening to students and graduates telling me about their experiences, their hopes, their frustrations, the compromises and the shock of realising their dream career is not sitting out there waiting for them. Really listening and not having to give advice. I was genuinely humbled, saddened, outraged and inspired – this has changed the way I work.

In my teaching, I now teach skills such as critical thinking and decision-making which will be useful for life-in-general as well as career management. I aim to view individuals within their context of peers, family, community and a point in time. I break it to students that it might take them a good few years to find their groove (or they might never ‘settle’ and that is OK). I let them know there are opportunities to work internationally and yet staying at home can be great too. I don’t exaggerate at open days about their prospects with our degree. I encourage part-time working, volunteering, gap years and alternatives to the graduate scheme. And I don’t use the word ‘employability’ anymore because, if we can help students to develop holistically, to love learning, to be curious about work, to build relationships and to find purpose in what they do then ‘career success’ will follow.