Canadian Journal of Career Development

Book Review of “Mapping the Future of Undergraduate Career Education”

Noah Arney — 2024-09-09

This review examines Mapping the Future of Undergraduate Career Education: Equitable Career Learning, Development, and Preparation in the New World of Work, which was edited by Melanie Buford, Michael Sharp, and Michael Stebleton. It provides an informative overview of the current practice of and key theoretical understandings of career education in postsecondary. The 20 authors over 17 chapters provide a wide range of concepts around the changes to work and generational cohorts, the role of career education in equity diversity and inclusion, innovative practices currently being used across the field, and how experiential learning integrates into and supports career education. The review provides an overview of the key points of the text and recomends that it be used not only as a graduate studies text, but also as a reference for those in roles that support the career education of students.

Greeting from the Editor

Jennifer Browne — 2024-09-09

Greetings from the Editor-in-Chief. To read the full message, please open the PDF link.

I write my first editorial for the Canadian Journal of Career Development (CJCD) with a heaviest of hearts. In May 2024, the field of career development lost one of its greatest champions, Dr. Robert (Rob) Shea. There are no shoes or heart big enough to fill the void he leaves in the lives of his loving family, and all those who were fortunate to know and learn from him. In 1998, as a graduate student interested in pursuing a career in Career Development, Rob agreed to be my co-supervisor for my internship at Memorial University’s Career Centre. Little did I know then the impact that introduction would have on both my career and life.

One of the first things he told me about when we met all those years ago was his vision for Canada’s first and only journal focused on Career Development. He was in the process of developing the original artwork for the cover, talking to different groups about funding, and getting people generally excited about what this could be. It is fitting that in his last editorial in the January 2024, Rob reflected on the Journal’s humble beginnings and stated, “... we began the journal as a field of dreams concept – 'Build it and they will come'” and like so many of Rob’s dreams, - they came true. You did come, and currently there are almost 16,000 subscribers worldwide and new subscribers steadily.

Successful Career Decision-Making of Young Canadians in a Digital Economy

Esther Nordin — 2024-09-09

Young Canadians are making career decisions in a labour market context that is being transformed by technology and digitization. The rapid, unbalanced shifts brought on by technology and automation have left gaps in knowledge related to how young people are navigating their career decisions considering the emergence of the digital economy and the way career practitioners can best support young people in successfully exploring career options. This study explored factors that helped and hindered 14 young adults who self-identified as doing well navigating career decision-making within the multiple options, opportunities, and challenges posed by the digital economy.

When Digital Transformation Meets the Pandemic: What Experiences for Executives?

Émilie Giguère — 2024-09-09

The upheaval experienced by the world of work with the advent of the health crisis has had substantial repercussions, particularly on companies and, by ricochet, on workers, including managers. The aim of this article is to report on the work experiences of managers in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. It draws on the theory of "living work" (Dejours, 2013) in order to understand the challenges of changes in the world of work and their repercussions on work experiences. The research is based on a qualitative method involving focus groups with 20 managers. The results reveal, among other things, the economic, instrumental, human and social dimensions underpinning their work in coping with digital transformation. The analyses open the door to reflections on the types of work organization that need to be developed to promote sustainable job retention and the reconciliation of life projects.

Synchronicity Learning Theory: Happenstance Learning Theory Re-envisioned

Janet Payne — 2024-09-09

The purpose of this study is twofold: firstly, to listen for elements of Krumboltz’s (2009) Happenstance Learning Theory (HLT) within the stories of six women, including risk, curiosity, optimism, flexibility, and persistence; and secondly, to determine whether these women frame their stories within a worldview that values other ways of knowing, such as intuition. Women have been selected because they are at least fifty years old and have acquired the embodied wisdom that results from years of lived experience. Their stories have potential to contribute women’s voices to inform a new model of career counselling which re-envisions HLT, where an exploration of worldview is considered part of the conversation around meaningful happenstance, called synchronicity. Counsellors may offer this new approach, named Synchronicity Learning Theory (SLT), in order to encourage an awareness of synchronistic experiences that help guide decision making within an interconnected and interdependent world. Using a narrative inquiry design, in-depth interviews were recorded and verbatim transcriptions were woven together in a storied form that includes six main themes that help inform SLT: 1) risk; 2) boundaries; 3) community; 4) seasons; 5) flux; and 6) synchronicity. Implications for future research, career theory development, and counselling practice are discussed.

Career Development Support, Career-Related Internet Information Search and Usefulness, and Career Decision-Making Difficulties in 12th Grade Students in Ontario

André Samson — 2024-09-09

Theory and empirical research in career counseling have acknowledged the critical contribution of social support to career development. However, the specific contribution of significant others’ support (teachers, parents, counselors) on career decision-making difficulties and the role of Web searching information on this latter outcome are still under investigated. To fill these gaps, 1094 grade 12 students from Ontario, Canada, responded to the Social Support Scale, Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ), and two specific items regarding the frequency of internet use in searching career-related information and the perceived usefulness of searched information. Findings confirmed the negative association between overall support and overall decision-making difficulties. However, unlike teachers’ support, parental and counselors’ support were essential in reducing the CDDQ ten career decision-making difficulties. More importantly, Ontario career counselors’ support shifted toward providing information. Moreover, higher career-related Web search behaviors significantly reduced CDDQ’s Unreliable information score. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Happy but Exhausted: The Role of Passion in Explaining the Mitigated Psychological State of Health and Social Services Nonprofit Workers

Alexandra Giroux — 2024-09-09

The goal of this study was to enhance our understanding of the psychological state of health and social services nonprofit workers using the concept of passion for work and the JD-R model. We proposed that both harmonious and obsessive passion influence the relationship between job resources and wellbeing at work, and that between job demands and burnout. To test this model, 774 workers completed an online survey. Results of path analysis indicate that job resources were positively associated with harmonious passion, while job demands negatively related to obsessive passion, although some cross-links appeared in both relationships. Results also showed that harmonious passion was positively related to wellbeing at work and negatively related to burnout, while obsessive passion was not related to burnout. Moreover, results showed that harmonious passion mediated the relationship between job demands and burnout, and that between job resources and wellbeing at work. However, obsessive passion was not a significant mediator of the job demands-burnout relationship. In addition, both types of passion were not significant moderators of the resources-wellbeing and demands-burnout relationships. Implications for research and practice regarding the psychological health and passion for work of nonprofit workers are discussed.

The Main Psychological Constructs Assessed and Psychometric Instruments Used by Quebec Guidance Counsellors

Sabruna Dorceus — 2024-09-09

Given the significant role played by psychometric instruments in the practice of Quebec guidance counsellors (C.O.s), the wide diversity of these instruments and the concern for their proper use, it seems important to support C.O.s in the use of these instruments. To do so, it is important to know which psychological constructs are being evaluated and which psychometric instruments are being used, both of which remain poorly documented to date. This article presents the results of an online survey on the main psychometric instruments used by Quebec c.o.s (n = 302) working in various sectors in recent years. The results show that the main constructs assessed by c.o.s are professional interests, personality, values and aptitudes. Also, although c.o.s use a wide variety of psychometric instruments, career interest inventories remain the main instruments used. The top ten instruments used by c.o.s also show that personality inventories play an important role. There are also variations according to workplace. The discussion compares the results with those of a comparable survey conducted in 2010.

Employer Branding: Through the Lens of Career Growth and Organizational Attractiveness

Shimmy Francis — 2024-09-09

This study explores the key role that employer branding plays in shaping individual career development and the attractiveness of an organization in general, especially in the IT industry. A thorough literature analysis that grounds the study in well-established employer branding theories complements the qualitative provided by in-depth interviews with HR managers. The study uses the SORA (Summary Oral Reflective Analytics) to uncover complex viewpoints. It reveals the interdependence of social media and word-of-mouth, highlighting their combined impact on career growth opportunities and organizational attractiveness. The managerial implications arising from these findings provide firms with practical tactics that emphasize the strategic integration of social media and word-of-mouth to maximize employer branding initiatives. As well as this study also recognizes the vital part that these interconnected aspects play in determining achievement in the competitive IT landscape and provides practical insights to drive organizational practices.

Career Decision Self-efficacy Mediates the Relationship Between General Self-efficacy and Career Decision-making of Undergraduate Students

Eugene Yaw Milledzi — 2024-09-09

Career decision-making has remained a constant challenge for students due to a lack of appropriate policy aimed at assisting students in making informed career decisions. This paper examined whether general self-efficacy of undergraduate students would predict their career decision-making through career decision self-efficacy. We obtained data from a convenient sample of 453 undergraduate students in a Ghanaian public university in a cross-sectional survey. The sample comprised 261 (57.6%) males and 192 (42.4%) females, with ages ranging from 18 to 33, and an average of 21.32 (SD = 2.25) years. Data were analysed using Hayes PROCESS for mediation (model 4). General self-efficacy significantly predicted both career decision self-efficacy and career decision-making. Also, career decision self-efficacy was a better predictor of students’ career decision-making than general self-efficacy was. Furthermore, career decision self-efficacy significantly mediated the relationship between general self-efficacy, and career decision-making. We concluded that even though both general self-efficacy and career decision self-efficacy were relevant predictors of career decision-making, context specific self-efficacy is more relevant than general self-efficacy. Implications of the findings for interventions and policy have been discussed within the social cognitive career and the self-determination theories.

The Relationship between New Career Approach Attitudes and Subjective Career Success Perceptions of Typical and Flexible Employees

Uygar Öztürk — 2024-09-09

This study centers on the examination of three distinct concepts, which have undergone adaptation from conventional paradigms to contemporary perspectives. These transformations pertain to the shift from typical employment arrangements to flexible employment models, the evolution from traditional career thinking to novel career approaches, and the transition from emphasizing objective career success to embracing subjective career success measures. The primary focus of this research endeavor lies in the comparative analysis of full-time and part-time employees concerning their assimilation of these new conceptual frameworks. This study aims to compare and reveal the boundaryless career attitude, protean career attitude, and subjective career success perceptions, along with their sub-dimensions, between typical employees and flexible workers, as well as to examine their relationships. The research was conducted using 895 questionnaires (412 flexible-time employees, 483 full-time employees) administered to individuals working in private employment agencies. T-test analysis was employed to test the research hypotheses and identify differences. According to the analysis results in the study, flexible workers have higher boundaryless career attitudes, psychological mobility, physical mobility, and value-driven career attitudes compared to typical workers. Regarding subjective career success, typical workers have higher than flexible-time workers.

Distinct Paths to Protean Career Attitude: Family and Peer Support as Mediated by Grit Among Emerging Filipino Adults

Jan Patrick Gutierrez — 2024-09-09

While career development is almost identical to personal development, the emerging adults have been more active in finding the best career for them in the recent years (Benardo & Salanga, 2019). Social cognitive career theory (SSCT) offered concepts such as social factors and personal factors that can explain the dynamics of career attitudes. Following the arguments of the theory, 415 respondents answered a scale on social support, a measure or grit, and a scale of protean career attitude to test the assumption of the hypothesis derived from SSCT. Although personal factor such as grit and social support correlated with protean career attitude, the results showed a different path of career attitudes depending on its source. While grit fully mediated family support and protean career attitudes, peer support directly predicted protean career attitudes without any mediation from grit. This suggest that there were different kinds of support emerging adults need when it come to their family and that of their peers. The outcome of this study can serve as a basis for career development program that both workers and employers can benefit from.