I am delighted to join the Career Guidance for Social Justice Blog Editorial team.  I’ll keep this introduction of myself brief.

I am a careers professional who worked for over twenty years in Higher Education (HE) careers services, and have recently moved into a research career. Before working in Higher Education, I worked for a few years in Secondary and Further education.

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Decent Work and Productivity Research Centre at Manchester Metropolitan University. Elements of the Decent Work agenda align with social justice in careers work, though I know some will argue that Decent Work is not radical enough (I need to learn more about that)!

I hold a number of external roles related to policy and practice – including as Research and Knowledge director for the Association of Graduate careers Advisory Service (AGCAS).

You might call me a ‘pracademic’.

I became interested in social justice before I discovered there was such a ‘thing’ as ‘career guidance for social justice’. As a practitioner, I was troubled by the inequalities in the job market for education and university leavers. Working in different universities meant I witnessed the contrasts in employer engagement, and how variable was the specialist careers support on offer.  I also became frustrated with clichés about ‘oven-ready graduates’, the ‘war for talent’ and the peddling of advice to students such as ‘the only thing stopping you get your dream job is yourself’.  I was becoming more critical of some of the approaches I had used myself – including a tendency to over-emphasise individual responsibility in a way that ignored the different resources that students bring to the table in their career planning and job hunting.

My desire to seek out new answers led me to enrol on a part-time PhD programme that I completed over five years.  My thesis was about graduate transitions and I focused on those for whom the transition was a turbulent one.

I do not have all the answers with regard to a social justice approach.   So I hope I will learn a lot by being involved in the Blog.  I think it is important that practitioners and educators help students understand what is within their control and what is not, while also fostering optimism and agency.   

Joining the editorial Board for this site means I can support voices of those of you in our field who are looking for ways to inspire a social justice informed approach to all aspects of careers education, information, advice and guidance. If there is something you would like to contribute, please get in touch with me.