In my last blog post I mentioned the idea that our paradigm of career counselling is still “two people in a room face-to-face”.  I spoke about my personal experience as an online career counsellor, which is in essence still “two people in a room”. 

This is definitely not the only model out there for online career services! 

In doing research for this blog post I came across this report from the UK which said “New technologies are…being used to develop new service paradigms, especially related to the communicative potential of social media applications…”[1]

The same authors in an earlier report also said “many new technologies are changing the way that people communicate, by extending social networks and facilitating interaction across space and in a time frame that hitherto has been both un-imagined and un-achievable. Career guidance has the opportunity to engage with the complex array of new ways to communicate in order to define new practices and paradigms for the delivery of guidance. It is possible to classify the range of different communication tools into three main categories: those that facilitate one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many forms of communication.”[2]

One-to-one and one-to-many forms of communication are often conceived of as being the purview of career professionals.  With the on-going evolution of social networking and advances in technology I am certain we will see more ways in which “many-to-many” forms of communication or “collectivized knowledge” can and will be used in career decision-making.  This is broader than “just” career counselling.  It covers the whole spectrum of career services.  I have seen models that use peers, mentors, and employers to convey career information and/or provide support. An example where this ‘many-to-many’ is currently being used is http://www.horsesmouth.co.uk. 

And a Canadian alternative – “Training Innovations e-guidance approach reworks the guidance interaction through the creation of a virtual learning environment that enables users to move between generic resources, professional guidance and peer-learning communities”1.  Check out this talk by Tannis Goddard for more information on a truly innovative approach to offering career services.  http://www.training-innovations.com/files/capetownprezi.pdf

In October 2012 the International Association for Education and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG) is hosting a conference at which one of the themes is “Modern Technology for Future Oriented Inclusive Guidance Services and Delivery”.  More on that and other Canadian and international research in the next post!

Dawn Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate of Worldwide Therapy Online, Inc. http://www.therapyonline.ca

 

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*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA