Competency Category:
Competency Series:

4.2 – Promote Diversity and Inclusion

Purpose & Context

Career Development Professionals (CDPs) work with employers to promote an accessible and inclusive workforce. CDPs use a business case approach to engage employers and promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Effective Performance

Competent career development professionals must be able to:

  • P1. Challenge misconceptions employers may have related to recruiting a diverse workforce, for example:
    • Costs
    • Lower job performance
    • Difficulty addressing performance
    • Limited pool of talent
  • P2. Summarize benefits of an inclusive workforce, e.g. increased productivity, increased job satisfaction, reducedturnover
  • P3. Meet with employer:
    • Present benefits of inclusive practices
    • Seek employer concerns about making changes
    • Identify solutions to address concerns
    • Secure buy-in to explore opportunities to build inclusive workforce
  • P4. Review current organizational practices, policies and procedures to identify areas of improvement, e.g. bias and
    systemic barriers in recruitment, selection, hiring, training and development, compensation, career development,
    promotion
  • P5. Recommend solutions, for example:
    • Inclusivity training for all staff
    • Human resources policies, e.g. recruitment, selection, hiring, career development, return-to-work policies
    • Job description revision, e.g. include only essential requirements
    • Job accommodations
    • Tailored job maintenance support, e.g. on the job supports, follow-up and monitoring
    • Innovative on the job training support
  • P6. Offer implementation assistance, e.g. review of policies

Knowledge & Understanding

Competent career development professionals must know and understand:

  • K1. Principles of anti-oppressive practice
  • K2. Legislation and regulation, e.g. Canadian Human Rights Act, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Provincial
    Acts and Codes and the Criminal Code, rights of LGBTQ2+ persons (i.e. gender identity and gender expression as
    protected groups from discrimination)
  • K3. Systemic barriers impacting specific groups
  • K4. Human resources management, e.g. recruitment, selection, training and development, career development
  • K5. Barriers to employment diverse client populations encounter, e.g. discrimination, racism
  • K6. Benefits of diverse and inclusive workplace, e.g. reduced turnover, reduced absenteeism, increased satisfaction,
    increased productivity

Contextual Variables

Competent career development professionals must be able to perform this competency in the following range of contexts:

Employers may present with varying degree of understanding of the benefits and value of a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Glossary & Key References

Terms

Industry-specific terms contained in the standard defined here, where applicable.

Anti-oppressive practice: an intersectional approach that confronts formal and informal roles of power between a CDP, their client, and socio-economic structures and systems.

Information Sources and Resources for Consideration

Shepard, Blythe C. & Mani, Priya A. Eds. Career Development Practice in Canada. Toronto: CERIC Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling, 2014. ISBN: 978-0-9811652-3-3.

Zunker, Vernon G. Career Counselling: A Holistic Approach 9th edition. Boston: Loose-leaf Edition, 2016. ISBN-10: 978-1-305-40106-8

Context Rating Scales

Criticality

Q: What is the consequence of a professional being unable to perform this skill according to the standard?

High probability of risk: VERY CRITICAL

Frequency

Q: How frequent and under what conditions is this skill performed?

Routinely, regular course of procedure

Level of Difficulty

Q: Under routine circumstances, how would you rate the level of difficulty in performing this skill?

Moderate difficulty or complexity

Time Required to Gain Proficiency

Q: What is the average length of time or number of repeated events that are minimally necessary for an individual to become proficient in performing the skill to the standard?

To become fully proficient in this competency, a career development professional requires a minimum of one year of experience working with at least 5 different employers.

Autonomy

Practitioners typically perform this competency without supervision, and as part of a team and/or alone.

Automation

It is somewhat likely that this competency will automate.

Requisite Work Aids, Tools, Equipment or Materials

None