Raza Abbas is an organisational development adviser and careers professional based in Pakistan. He is well known globally and has received numerous careers practitioners awards from the US National Career Development Association (NCDA) and the Asia Pacific Career Development Association (APCDA). He works for inclusivity and social justice in career development practice both in Pakistan and globally.

As career scholars, career practitioners, career services professionals and social justice advocates we are all contributing to innovative and inclusive careers work around the globe. However we can collectively enhance advocacy of careers profession to increase our impact and reach in VUCA times. (Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguous).

For the readers of the Career Guidance and Social Justice I will begin by sharing brief explanations of career counselling, career education, career guidance, social justice and advocacy.

• Career Counseling is a process that will help you to know and understand yourself and the world of work in order to make career, educational and life decisions.
• Career guidance refers to services and activities intended to assist individuals, of any age and at any point throughout their lives, to make educational, training and occupational choices and to manage their careers. The activities may take place on an individual or group basis and may be face-to-face or at a distance (including help lines and web-based services). 
• Career education helps a person develop the knowledge and skills they need to choose and pursue a career path. Career education often refers to vocational training for a specific job field. Instead of focusing on academic subjects, young people learn the tools of an occupation through hands-on training.
• Advocacy is defined by Marrium Webster defines advocacy as “the act or process of supporting a cause or proposal”.

Social justice is the concept of fair and just relations between the individual and society as measured by the distribution of wealth, opportunities for personal activity and social privileges. In Western as well as in older Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fulfil their societal roles and receive what was their due from society. 

As careers professionals we are collectively developing and executing meaningful careers work in our respective regions and countries so that inclusive humanity blossoms contributing to peace, mutual harmony and respectful co-existence. It is worth pausing for a moment and reflecting on how frequently we pro-actively advocate for career counseling, career guidance, career education, social justice within our local, regional, national and global institutions?

As professionals we should unite, collaborate and pro-actively amplify our advocacy career efforts. Some advocacy strategies that we might use include:

• Communicate information about career counseling, career education, career development, career guidance, social justice through media campaigns on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, TV and radio to raise general career awareness in your respective community and society at large.
• Publish research and articles relevant to your mission as a careers practitioner.
• Advise communities, government, and other NGO’s on career counselling, career education, career development, career guidance and social justice.
• Organise as a leader to pro-actively develop the capacity of other careers professionals to advocate for the profession.
• Demonstrate the value of career guidance, counselling and education through public awareness sessions for parents, youth, teachers and community and policy stakeholders. This could include workshops, seminars, national and international conferences and digital events.
• Lobby policy makers in your country to influence career education, career counselling, career guidance, career development, social justice legislation. As career professionals we need to communicate strategically to bridge the gap between policy and practice.
• Legislate by working with policy makers to draft and propose new legislation on career guidance, career counseling, career education, career development and social justice. We should be aiming to develop a holistic youth or career policy in our countries.
• Use technology to deliver careers services and promote career guidance through innovative means e.g. mobile phones, telephone help-lines, and live streams on Linkedin. Make use of virtual engagements, video webinars, Linkedin, YouTube and Facebook.
• Speak to policy makers and institutional representatives to raise awareness and share knowledge of career counseling, career guidance, career education, career development and social justice at schools, NGO’s and vocational institutes.
• Develop the capacity teachers, career practitioners and the society at large to deliver careers services and become social justice advocates.

I sincerely hope that this article has ignited you to strategically identify valuable proven techniques to strengthen and enhance your respective country’s career advocacy efforts. If you would like to further discuss one or more innovative advocacy strategies kindly email at razaabbas.hr@gmail.com to schedule a zoom conversation.

Let’s keep the career conversation flowing and collectively advocate for a UN International Careers Day 😊