STORY - "Work and the Options Generation"

Work and the Options Generation
Andrew Cornwall, Vocational Education and Training Co-ordinator and Careers Counsellor at St Francis Xavier’s College, Hamilton, reflects on the current world of work….

We guide our boys and girls to some extent through school, then drop them in this complex world to sink or swim as the case may be. Yet there is no part of life where the need for guidance is more emphatic than in the transition from school to work.
Frank Parsons, 1909

One hundred years after the anniversary of the publication of Frank Parsons’ Choosing a Vocation, his words still find resonance. Committed to social justice, he was aware of the social upheaval, anxiety and extraordinary change that marked the generation of young people to whom he was referring. Parson’s approach was simple: understanding of self and understanding of job coupled with ‘true reasoning’ resulted in an individual - job match.

A century on from Parsons’ society we live in a time of even more dramatic change. Hugh Mackay, speaking at the 2007 NSW Careers Advisers Association conference, noted that Generation Y – a term he is trying to replace with “Options Generation” – has been influenced by significant social change. He goes on to talk about the results: of a generation which is “highly educated; highly sceptical; tribal; values driven; and above all, determined to keep options open”.

It is no surprise then, in a period of social upheaval such as Parsons witnessed a hundred years ago, that all things career related are receiving much attention.

This focus on careers has seen the development of a set of industry standards for those working as career practitioners as well as the draft Australian Blueprint for Career Development (ABCD). It is the ABCD that marks the difference a hundred years has made since Parsons discussed the job-matching approach to career guidance. That is, in the 21st century, the dynamics of work and life have changed such that an individual is unlikely to continue in one career, let alone one job for the majority of their working life.

Hence the term ‘Career Development’ becomes what the ABCD defines as the “overarching term for describing this complex process of managing life, learning and work in the 21st Century”.

This should come as no surprise to Catholics who have long recognised the link between the work that we undertake and the people we are. In Laborem Exercens, which itself was celebrating 90 years of papal interest in the subject of work, the late Pope John Paul II identifies the connection between work and our very humanity. The encyclical identifies that work is our calling, that it is a part of discipleship and that, through its ability to improve society it can develop the Kingdom of God. More importantly it notes that “in the first place work is ‘for people’ and not people ‘for work’”.

This is witnessed in our diocesan schools. Each day teachers, parents and students confront the very real transitions ahead of them. These transitions are about people, not productivity, and are often more concerned with fulfilment and work/life balance than with money and climbing the corporate ladder.

Typically, today's choice of possible occupations is no broader than for the previous generation. However, the difference now is the complexity. Flexibility is assumed in all aspects of education and employment. Never finished high school and want to attend university? No problems! Had a family and feel like starting a trade? Easy! Full-time, part-time, casual? In office, off-site, on-line, on the road? All possible.

The linear and sequential pathways that dominated the working environment have all but disappeared. In fact, as Hugh Mackay points out, the current generation of young people – Generation Options – is all about flexibility.

So when we talk about Career Development we are going beyond Frank Parsons’ model of matching the person to a job. Instead we are developing in the individual the ability to choose wisely and “genuinely seek to respond to their callings” (Fowler, 1984).

It is not so much working out whether a person is to enter a trade, attend TAFE or university or enter the workforce after school, but instead to assist in developing the skills and abilities to identify when each may be the best course of action for the individual to utilise gifts and answer callings.

This ‘best course of action’ requires students to be skilled and competent in career development. The ABCD outlines 11 competencies ranging from “Build and maintain a positive self-image” to “Make career enhancing decisions”. Fundamentally, they are as much about people being resilient, informed and healthy as about having the necessary skills and abilities to enter the workforce.

Hence the career ‘needs’ of students extend well beyond the resources of career practitioners allocated to secondary schools. Indeed, career development becomes a collaborative process involving students, parents, teachers, career practitioners, community, media and industry. Just as career development itself is an overarching term, so it requires overarching involvement!

As Burt Nanus puts it:
“Since most people don't take the time to think systematically about the future, those who do, and who base their strategies and actions on their visions, have inordinate power to shape the future.”

If we are to be active agents in building the Kingdom of God we must be active agents in building our future.

Andrew Cornwall

Back to Aurora Homepage