Career Information -Monitor Occupational Trends

Introduction

As technology evolves and innovation continues at a rapid pace, industries have to keep up to remain relevant, and employees must evolve their skills and capabilities to keep up with occupational shifts if they want to stay employed. As a CDP, one has to keep up with ever-evolving industries and continuously changing job descriptions, and know how to develop a client's current skills to meet a new job description or move beyond their original qualifications.

Occupational change

There is no single definition of "occupational change"; the literature offers a diverse spectrum of definitions depending on context. Relating it to the working environment, it can be characterised by a change into a new field of professional activity; a substantial change in the work content before and after the change; the need for different competencies to fulfil the job's tasks; and the fact that it may occur with or without geographic mobility, and within the same company or across different employers.

Changing into a new field of professional activity

People change careers for many reasons: their goals or values may have changed, they may have discovered new interests, they may wish to earn more, or they may want more flexible hours. If a client approaches a CDP to help them transition to a completely new field, the CDP can use the following ten steps to guide a successful transition.

1. Help the client evaluate their current job satisfaction. Advise them to keep a journal of their daily reactions and look for recurring themes. What do they like and dislike, and is dissatisfaction related to the work content, the company culture, or the people?

2. Help the client assess their interests, values and skills. Review past successful roles, volunteer work, projects and jobs to identify preferred activities and skills, and determine whether their core values and skills are being met.

3. Help the client consider alternative careers. Brainstorm alternatives by researching options and discussing core values and skills.

4. Help the client check out job options. Assist with an initial evaluation of several fields to identify a few targets for in-depth research.

5. Get personal. Help the client find out as much as possible about fields of interest, reaching out to personal contacts for informational interviews. LinkedIn is a great resource for finding contacts in specific fields.

6. Help the client set up a job shadow or two. Get the client to shadow professionals in fields of primary interest, from a few hours to a few days, to observe the work first-hand.

7. Get the client to try it out. Help the client identify volunteer and freelance activities related to their target field to test their interest.

8. Get the client to take a class. Investigate educational opportunities that bridge their background to the new field, such as an evening or online course.

9. Help the client upgrade their skills. Look for ways to develop new skills in their current job; for example, writing a grant proposal if grant writing is valued in the new field, or signing up for in-house training.

10. Help the client consider a new job in the same industry. Consider alternative roles within the current industry that use the knowledge the client already has.

After these steps, the CDP and client can work on a cover letter reflecting the client's aspirations and update the CV to reflect new goals, after which the client can begin applying for jobs in a new industry.

A substantial change in work content

A change in the work content of a job is usually driven by changes in organisational strategy, structure and processes. The two main types of organisational change are restructuring and downsizing (reducing the size of the workforce) and flatter hierarchies (moving from a management structure to a more team-based one). Both can result in job security or insecurity, and ultimately in big changes to a person's job description, requirements and working life, so a person may seek a practitioner's help in adjusting, increasing their skill set, or gaining further qualifications.

The need for different competencies

There are several reasons a person needs to learn new skills outside their usual job description: a company might shift from one software programme to another, acquire new technology or equipment, or a person might receive a promotion, whether within the company or elsewhere, requiring a different set of competencies. Because industries continuously evolve, it is vital that people keep improving their skills and developing new competencies. Practitioners can help individuals develop these through long- or short-term courses, seminars related to their job, or mentorship from someone once in the same position.

Conclusion

Regardless of how an occupational shift occurs, it eventually requires the person to either improve their current skills and competencies or acquire a new set. It is therefore important that a CDP has access to information on skills and competency development, and can help clients acquire the right skills from the right place to use during and after an occupational shift.