From Hi-Touch to Hi Tec: The use of technology in Career Development
So what's different? The most noticeable development has been that career coaching and outplacement support is no longer exclusively accessible to senior managers. Nowadays companies recognise that it pays to be seen to offer support to all employees being laid-off.
No longer is outplacement provided behind the doors of oak panelled offices. Resource centres are often set up on the client companies site and the whole matter is dealt with in a much more open way. Any stigma that once surrounded redundancy has now all but disappeared along with the majority of the three-piece chalk-striped suits who helped those senior managers back into work by flicking through their address books. Redundancy is just one of a number of ways by which people leave their employer and is not considered a mark of failure.
This has all come about as a result of the increased pace of business. The need to stay competitive in times of rapid technological change and competitive pressure has meant constant re-organisation, such that where last year there was, for an employer, a great need for certain skills, today the same organisation may have no need of them. In other organisations, redundancy is the result of simple cuts as they attempt to keep their heads above water; non-core functions are removed or outsourced.
This has led not only to a growth in outplacement but, with the changing nature of the relationship between employee and employer, individuals now recognise the need to take responsibility for their own careers. We have seen a significant growth in individual career coaching as people attempt to maintain their employability in an environment in which skills and capabilities can become obsolete in a matter of weeks.
All this has been made possible to some degree with advances in technology. The older model; private and tailored, focused on the use of paper based psychometric assessment and ability tests, to ascertain the client's capabilities and suitable types of work and roles. It would then move on to the CV writing service wherein the client would be interviewed at length with a new CV as the output. If required, interview practice would be available but most important was the promise of "access to the hidden job market". This, in essence, meant that the consultant would introduce the client, by way of forwarding the CV, to a number of recruiters and headhunters. As time passes and the candidate fails to secure employment, the consultant would ease them into re-evaluating their expectations (downwards!) until eventually a role was secured. This method is still available for those that want it and there are plenty of organisations willing to provide it.
The new career transition model operates in a very different way. Where before the relationship was expert and client, the industry has now become more complex with the consultant taking on different roles according to the stage of the process the client is at and the need: counsellor, expert, teacher, facilitator and partner.
Perhaps ironically, technology has played a large part not only in bringing about the need for career support, but also in helping to deliver that support.
The requirement for lower cost delivery in order to meet the budget available for junior employees has precipitated more group work, which in turn means that the client is responsible for managing their own transition process.
Psychometric and ability tests can now be conducted on-line although the most professional will require 1:1 feedback. While there are a number of tests that offer on-line feedback, these cannot provide the detail that a personal session can reach when focussing on such matters as suitability for roles and organisations, cultural fit and ways of working.
E-learning supports the philosophy of giving clients the tools to manage their own transition rather than doing it for them. An internet, intranet or CD course offers, amongst a wealth of possibilities, features such as filmed demonstration interviews alongside interactive learning modules and examples of hundreds of CV's and application letters that can be used for inspiration.
Group learning has also been assisted by improved technology. Whereas until now it has been necessary for either the consultant or client to travel, online conferencing, using such facilities as Webex, allow groups to convene remotely and yet are fully functional with full voice contact, presentations, file transfer and private interaction between participants. Web-conferencing offers the added benefit of making it easier for people of different levels of seniority to work together.
In terms of information that aids the job search process, there are now more job boards on the internet than you can shake a stick at. If I'm honest I'd like to do more than shake the stick at most of them. In general they are a very poor method of identifying suitable roles because they tend to make it difficult for the best candidates to stand out. Job boards do have their uses, however. One is that they make it fairly easy to discover salary levels and the type of qualities required for many positions. The other is that they help jobseekers to identify active recruiters handling the type of role they are looking for.
A proliferation of on-line services now exist to help jobseekers identify opportunities worthy of a speculative approach. Execubank is just one that report news of corporate activity, including relocation, expansion and contraction. There are also a number, such as OneSource, that provide detailed company information including accounts, key personnel contact details and links, all of which help both for applications and interview preparation.
One-to-one consulting has also benefited from web-based tools. One of my favourite examples is the deaf client I worked with using internet messaging. My client had no need to come into town to see me and we were able to develop a much closer relationship working online in this way than we had previously managed with the help of an interpreter. VoIP technology has also made communication easier. Whereas previously high international telephone charges would have made contact with overseas clients unappealing, with Skype a coach is able to talk to clients anywhere around the globe at no cost and the conversation is as clear as if we were sitting in the same room as each other.
Neither of these methods is able to facilitate the depth of relationship that one-to-one coaching delivers and in particular, are not well suited for working with people who are angry, upset, or especially confused. However, there is no doubt that they can be effective for the transfer of knowledge and to motivate and encourage the client.
The reduced human contact that is implied by the use of technology is not to be overlooked. Certainly for those who have been made redundant, contact with other people is a crucial factor in determining how quickly and successfully they return to work. Fortunately, networking is no longer the "old school tie" thing it once was. We now teach networking as one of several job search tools. Put into practice, clients now interact with other people more than their erstwhile counterparts receiving traditional outplacement services would probably have done.
The danger with these advances is that, in pursuit of more clients with less to spend, the career transition industry becomes hi-tec / lo-touch when previously it was lo-tech / hi-touch.
Technology has opened up career consulting for many who might not have been able to afford it, however, the real value is in a good 1:1 mentoring and coaching relationship where specific individual needs are addressed.
