Co-funded by the European Union

Career guidance to fill the skills gaps

  • Following an OECD report from January 2021, private employment agencies’ managers and employment experts recall the importance of career guidance.
  • Career guidance must gain visibility but also be improved through subsidies and more effective services.

A recently published article from Bettina Schaller (President of World Employment Confederation – WEC and SVP Head Group Public Affairs at The Adecco Group) and Murielle Antille (Chair of the WEC Career Management Network and Head of Government and Industry Affairs at Lee Hecht Harrison – LHH) underlines the importance of upskilling and the consequences of neglecting this element in career development plans.

Both the green and the digital transitions are particularly accelerating the demand for new skills” [...] “And in order to ensure a successful (skills) transformation at the necessary speed, we are convinced that career guidance will hold a pivotal role in providing visibility and orientation to workers as they transitionsay Bettina Schaller and Murielle Antille.

They reach this conclusion following a report from the OECD on “Career Guidance for Adults in a Changing World of Work” (January 2021) that suggests “lack of visibility and credibility” of career guidance services. The report is based on both an online survey on career guidance for adults in six countries (Chile, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and the United States), and a policy questionnaire distributed to Ministries of Labour and Education in all OECD countries.

The survey outlines that “57% of the interviewed individuals stated that they did not feel the need to use career guidance services, and 20% said that they weren’t aware it existed. For adults who do receive career guidance, about the same proportion revert to public employment services (24%) and private providers (22%). Others turn to education and training institutions (12%), dedicated public career guidance agencies (13%) or trade unions or associations (6%) to orient themselves”.

The OECD report offers general policy guidelines for improving adult career guidance systems:

  • Expand availability of career guidance services, while ensuring that providers have capacity to meet the specialised needs of distinct groups (employed, unemployed, inactive) and being careful not to fully replace face-to-face delivery with remote alternatives.
  • Improve the coverage and inclusiveness of adult career guidance systems by raising awareness about the value of career guidance and reaching out to disadvantaged groups.
  • Improve the quality of career guidance services by monitoring outcomes, establishing quality standards, and professionalising career guidance advisors. High-quality career guidance should be tailored to an individual’s particular needs and informed by high-quality labour market information and skills assessments.
  • Facilitate better coordination between all actors in the career guidance system by strengthening governance mechanisms.
  • Ensure adequate funding of adult career guidance. Funding should be shared by governments, adults and employers in line with benefits and ability to pay”.

The employment experts and private employment agencies’ managers highlight the two factors needed to ensure effective career guidance, namely the competence of career advisors that need to be aware of “high labour market information”, and the ability of career advisors to adapt to specific adults’ needs. Private providers of career guidance show the most satisfactory outcomes, compared to the other providers, albeit “too costly for certain groups, unless subsidised”.

Hence, they call for an increased awareness, accessibility and effectiveness of career guidance services. More specifically, to increase the awareness on career guidance services, information campaigns and incentives should be put in place both online and in-person. Additionally, to increase the accessibility to career guidance, we believe that individual vouchers for career guidance should be implemented. The Belgian region of Flanders as well as Switzerland have recently launched the free of charge provision of career guidance for workers over 40 years, not at least upon the recognition that the mid-career workers at most at risk of losing employability”.

Also, an increased collaboration between private and public employment service can lead to successful results to deal with the skills gap, adapt to adult’s needs and achieve the highest labour market information.