Competency Category:
Competency Series:

20.2 – Mobilize Career Influencers

Purpose & Context

Career development professionals (CDPs), who are educators (see 20.1), recognize the importance of engaging a diverse set of career influencers (e.g. teachers, families, elders, coaches/mentors, peers, employers) in students’ career development from early years to post-secondary, and beyond. As CDPs, educators are career influencers themselves within the classroom and educational system more broadly. They shape students’ understanding of career and career development, and engage a network of career influencers to support students in work, life, and learning.

Effective Performance

Competent career development professionals must be able to:

  • P1. Identify relevant “career influencers,” i.e. community members who influence students’ understanding of career andcareer development. Examples of “influencers” may include but are not limited to:
    • Teachers
    • Other school staff, e.g. janitors, office secretaries, resource room aides
    • Families
    • Elders
    • Coaches and mentors
    • Peers
    • Employers
    • Spiritual leaders and advisors
  • P2. Foster relationships with career influencers which inform and support career development using varied methods, such as:
    • In-person, e.g. classroom visit, open house, parent-teacher conference, after-school event, career fair,
      show-and-tell, meet-and-greet, informational interview, work-site/office visit, field trip
    • Technology-based, e.g. school website, email correspondence, social media, webinar
    • Written communication, e.g. newsletter, take-home notice/reminder
  • P3. Support career influencers to gain understanding of career and career development within schools and the educational
    system, for example:

    • Provide career development resources and guidance on how career influencers can support career development
      through effective career conversations with students
    • Use formal structures such as school-based reporting systems and/or parent-teacher conferences to promote career
      concepts and principles
    • Use a web portal dedicated to communicating how the school supports age- and grade-appropriate career
      development
    • Use social media to communicate career ideas and/or events
    • Hold information sessions on career topics, e.g. supporting early year career exploration at home, understanding
      the link between career development and mental health/wellness, having career conversations with children
  • P4. Create opportunities for career influencers to participate in career development activities, for example:
    • Provide opportunities for community members to share their career experience within the classroom
    • Invite families to attend school-based, career-related events with students
    • Arrange for peers to share work, life, and learning tips and strategies for success
    • Co-facilitate a lesson with employers, elders, or coaches/mentors
    • Establish a network of career influencers who represent diverse occupations to form a Human Library

Knowledge & Understanding

Competent career development professionals must know and understand:

  • K1. Strategies for involving others in career development activities and programs

Contextual Variables

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

Ease of obtaining and maintaining engagement is impacted by a variety of factors, e.g. scheduling conflicts, lack of transportation, previous negative experiences with the school, language barriers, lack of financial support.

Career influencers often do not even recognize that they are career influencers, and may need to be shown the impact they have on the career trajectories of the students they interact with. Assessment and evaluation tools will be selected to meet the specific needs of each client.

Glossary & Key References

Terms

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

Career Influencer: any community member who has an influence on a student’s understanding of career and career development.

Human Library: A metaphor for a local network of community members, including family members, representing diverse roles and occupations; these contacts are like the resources in a library. Students can “check-out” several resources to find out more about community members’ roles, work and local employment opportunities.

Information Sources and Resources for Consideration

Community-connected experiential learning. A policy framework for Ontario schools, kindergarten to grade 12. winter 2016 accessed January 24th, 2020 https://ocea.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CCEL-Document.pdf

Context Rating Scales

Criticality

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

Minimal risk: SOMEWHAT CRITICAL

Frequency

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

Circumstantially, e.g. per project, when a specific event arises

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?

A career development professional requires a minimum of one year of experience as an educator and varied experiences in collaborating with families of students.

Autonomy

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

Automation

It is unlikely that this competency will automate.

Requisite Work Aids, Tools, Equipment or Materials

None