Sustainable Career Guidance During the Pandemic: Building Pathways into a ‘New Normal’

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has influenced regular patters of career guidance. Globally everything has stopped: projects were postponed, and workplaces were closed but this situation has pushed career counselors to search for new opportunities about how career guidance could be carried out. The pandemic has intensified existing challenges in society, adding complexity for the processes of a transition of educational systems towards digitalization and have intensified the need for remote career guidance. Young people become particularly vulnerable to the digital divide. Career development support has been at risk with the emergence of an unpredictable future. However, career guidance during the pandemic can serve as a tool for understanding the situation in depth and searching for new opportunities that exist, by helping individuals to overcome anxiety. While practicing physical distancing, career counselors have kept active professional networks in assisting their clients with their needs. The operation of career guidance has been transferred mainly to the online format and has required the counselors to develop new skills and competencies. The methodology employed in this study included interviews with individual career counselors about the main challenges and solutions discovered during the lockdown. Career counselors were questioned also about how they shaped a more sustainable and flexible online career guidance system. They revealed details about their struggles and hopes encountered in the situation of crises. The authors point to critical areas for improvement that career counselor can provide to their clients during the lockdown.

What future are you talking about? Efficacy of Life Design Psy-Lab, as career guidance intervention, to support university students’ needs during COVID-19 emergency

“…This combination hindered people’s aspirations and ability to get engaged to achieve their goals, overcome difficulties, and proceed to their desired future. In this context of uncertainty, in line with Maree (2021) and Šapale et al (2021) , increasing our participants’ adaptability helped them start or re-start walking their present and future formative and professional paths. Career adaptability also fosters an active choice aptitude and an openness to new opportunities against a feeling of heaviness and powerlessness against an unstable present and an uncertain future.…”

“…These attributes are essential for today’s university students facing increasing complexity in life trajectories and challenges in their formative and professional paths. Various research pointed out the crescent need for career counseling to develop career adaptability as a strategy to counteract the COVID-19 pandemic effects on youth’s career construction ( Šapale et al, 2021 ). Moreover, recent research has highlighted the link between career adaptability and other psychosocial constructs such as resilience ( Santilli et al, 2020 ) and courage ( Ginevra et al, 2018 ).…”

How are the Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor Levels of Primary School Learners Living in Suburban Area of Yogyakarta based on Career Development?

“…Thus, learners can determine the correct future career plan. Besides that, counselors can also participate to continuously guide the academic fields of the learners' careers (Rozikan, 2018: Sapale et al, 2021. This participation facilitates the learners' needs.…”

Artificial intelligence in a modernizing science and technology education: a textual narrative synthesis in the COVID-19 era

“…Career guidance among students during the pandemic faced also a consequential dilemma since there were massive labor layoffs around the globe. It was troublesome for a guidance counselor to perform his/her job when students see that their future career is not sustainable all of a sudden [30]. More so the delivery of the guidance was another consideration and the knowledge of a counselor to use online platforms for career guidance.…”