Raza Abbas interviews Dr. Roberta Borgen (Neault) about her practice and the role that career guidance can play in helping the world to get over Covid-19.

RA: Where do you live and work?

RB: I’m currently living and working in Vancouver, BC, Canada – mostly from home (as are people all over the world in the midst of the pandemic). I’ve been working in the career development / employment services sector since 1978 – a very long time!

My international work started with contacts made through speaking at international conferences. I’ve always had an interest in cultural diversity and travel; working internationally has allowed me to combine those interests along with my professional interests in education, counselling, and career development.

Career development in the pandemic

RA: As a career professional in the pandemic how did you adapt and ensure access to diverse clients and communities?

RB: My own counselling practice is quite small as most of my work is as an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and as a researcher/consultant/trainer within my own company, Life Strategies Ltd. 

At the university, I pivoted from a very part-time role as a sessional instructor to a full-time role converting three courses in the counselling psychology program to a fully online format due to pandemic restrictions. I am beginning my 4^th trimester now of teaching those courses fully online. I have also taken on a role as a faculty mentor, supporting instructors who had never taught online before to successfully pivot. It was lovely to have the opportunity to share my experience and comfort with this way of working with colleagues who were concerned and confused about how to take their face-to-face courses online.

Within my own business, all of my team members were already set up to work primarily from home, so the transition was much easier. However, we were used to meeting in person quite regularly and, like others, have really missed that contact this year. For the first time ever, we had a practicum student who we never met in person; however, she became a key member of our team and we hired her part-time after her practicum hours had been completed. She spent the entire time in Australia (where she’d only intended to be for a month or so) and the rest of the team worked in Canada. Working virtually meant there was no disadvantage at all to being on a different continent – in fact, it expanded our working hours to “round the clock”!

In my counselling practice, I shifted to meeting clients on Zoom. In a few exceptional circumstances, where Internet access was unstable, we shifted to connecting by telephone. Some of my counselling/coaching clients, however, are front-line workers serving such highly vulnerable populations as the homeless, those with mental health and addiction concerns, and individuals/families living in poverty. Their work couldn’t go online and this year has been incredibly challenging for them in terms of concerns for safety for their clients, themselves, and their communities. We’ve offered these front-line workers webinars, online courses, individual counselling/coaching sessions, and town hall discussion times (via Zoom) to share their stories and debrief.

RA: How important were career development services during the pandemic?

So many individuals were caught off guard by the pandemic – borders were closed, keeping individuals away from supportive family members; schools were closed, at a time when even grandparents were restricted from providing care for their grandchildren; industries shut down or were severely restricted; individuals worked from homes that had never been intended to serve as schools and offices.

Even as individuals began to contemplate career changes, many didn’t know how to begin to start the process of identifying new possibilities and transitioning to new work. Career guidance could be considered an essential service – supporting individuals, organizations, and local and global economies to function effectively in the midst of unanticipated and unprecedented change.

The post-Covid world

RA: How do you see the post-Covid-19 world? Will it be defined by VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity)?

RB: Although VUCA was a pre-COVID concept, I think this past year and a bit has clearly demonstrated to all of us that we can’t fully plan our careers nor are we in control of managing all aspects of them. Rather, we need resilience and responsiveness so that we can navigate the changes that come our way and reposition our careers to adapt to new contexts.

I think the pause that the pandemic created in many careers gave people time to rethink their goals and direction. Career professionals can help in times like this, especially if they have a good understanding of the local (and global) labour markets, educational options (including those that are free and online), and how to support individuals and organizations to make strategic connections that result in career and economic growth in our communities.

RA: What do you think that researchers should be focusing on in the post-Covid-19 world?

RB: I believe it will continue to be helpful to better understand the gig economy and what it takes to be self-employed. Some of the individuals who were best positioned to pivot had multiple income sources (gigs) and, when some were no longer viable, they were able to develop others. Many jobs that had been considered secure (e.g., full-time, permanent) were in industries that shut down at times during the pandemic (e.g., restaurants, gyms) or lost their market almost entirely (e.g., airlines, hotels). Other work that had been considered unstable or less desirable due to unpredictable hours or lack of benefits suddenly become high demand (e.g., delivery drivers, personal shoppers).

I think researchers could also investigate inequities that were amplified during the pandemic (e.g., vulnerable populations who were hardest hit by COVID-19 due to their over-representation in front-line health care or essential service work and who were living with others in close quarters) – clearly some occupations, including my own as a university instructor, were less impacted as it was relatively easy to shift to working from home, to maintain physical distancing, and to have uninterrupted earnings. However, many others have experienced incredible hardships this year. Another area of focus for researchers could be how to ensure consistent daycare – there were times in my region over the past year when individuals were working from home in professional jobs while being the sole caregivers for young children and also expected to home-school their older children while schools were closed. Without adequate daycare, it’s unreasonable to expect caregiving parents’ work productivity to remain the same. It would be interesting to research the ROI of consistent daycare during the pandemic.

Career development and social justice

RA: What role do you think career development has in challenging inequality and promoting social justice?

RB: Vocational psychology, the foundation of career development today, was deeply rooted in social justice and challenging inequality. This is not new to our sector. However, the inequities that have surfaced so clearly during the pandemic shine a light on how much more work needs to be done! Career development professionals have an important advocacy role; they can influence employers and policy makers to reduce inequities and promote social justice.

One example, from the Canadian context, is a recent change in some of our provinces to ensure that all workers have access to paid sick days. As COVID-19 spread in several workplaces across the country, it became clear that the people who were spreading it did not have the privilege of working from home nor did they have the privilege of being paid to stay home if they were ill. It is an inequitable system to have mandatory screening for COVID-19 symptoms, requiring anyone with even mild symptoms to stay home or to get tested (typically waiting more than a day for results) when there is no income available to cover that time away from work. Our new system is still inequitable – three days of paid sick leave when one is required to stay off work for 10+ days, but at least it’s a start.

RA: In your experience of working in multiple countries how important is it to adapt career development activities to the local context?

RB: Customizing career development professional training and, in turn, professional services to local individuals, is absolutely essential. I find a partnership / community capacity building approach particularly helpful.

At times, I’ve worked with professionals from countries or regions without access to career development support and, as a foundation, included them in our Canadian-based courses. However, I’ve then worked closely with them to customize what they’ve learned to fit with their unique culture and context. At times, this has resulted in a “train-the-trainer” approach that built local capacity where the newly trained trainer, supported to develop a customized curriculum and resources, was positioned to train others in the local language, expanding the reach and relevance of career development services.