This document summarizes an issue of the Australian Career Practitioner magazine. It discusses how careers and the career landscape are changing. The magazine examines where careers currently stand, with healthcare, retail, manufacturing and construction among the top industries. It also looks at how careers have changed in recent decades with outsourcing, new industries, and shorter job tenures. Careers in areas like web design and social media have emerged. The document explores where careers may be headed in the future. A report found many jobs will be automated in coming decades, including clerks, cashiers, and office administrators. However, careers requiring skills like problem-solving, social interaction and creativity will be less impacted. The magazine articles discuss how

1. Careers: past, present and future
Future Moves | What’s Uni Like?
Career by contribution: a response to the changing world
Changing face of outplacement: new look, same ethos
National magazine of the Career Development Association of Australia
Volume 26 // Issue 4 // Summer 2015
Australian
Career
Practitioner

2. INDUSTRY CHANGES
“Systems have to change. And they will change whether you like it or not.”
- Patrick Struebi, Founder and CEO, Fairtrasa
“Systems have to change. And they will change whether you like it or not.”
- Patrick Struebi, Founder and CEO, Fairtrasa
We need to Rethink the way we perceive jobs.
To do that, we need to change the questions we are asking: it’s not about what jobs
can these people do in 2030, but how can we innovate new ways for them to make
a meaningful contribution with a focus on personal development?
Jobs most subject to change Due To Computerisation by 2035:
Accounting
Clerks/
Bookkeepers
Checkout
Operators/
Cashiers
General
Office/
Administration
Wood
Machinists
Financial &
Insurance
Administration
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
97.5%
chance
96.9%
chance
96.1%
chance
93.4%
chance
93.1%
chance
Farm,
Forestry &
Garden
Personal
Assistants/
Secretaries
Sales
Administration
Keyboard
Operators
Hospitality
Support &
Administration
6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
92.5%
chance
92.4%
chance
91.1%
chance
87.1%
chance
85.5%
chance
“UNSKILLED”
cERTIFICATE
QUALIFIED
LOW LEVEL
CREATIVITY
LOW LEVEL
DEXTERITY
These roles are largely:
Sources: https://pwc.docalytics.com/v/a-smart-move-pwc-stem-report-april-2015 | http://www.slideshare.net/billjensen/future-
of-work-study-report-20152020
Australian CEOs are most concerned about:
79%concerned about the impact of
changes in core technology
74%
worried about cyber risks
74%say availability of key skills is a
threat
67%concerned about the speed of
technological change
Digital disruption is intrinsic to our economic future and with it, comes uncertainty and fear of change.

3. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 2015 3
CONTENTS
03Editorial
14Personal branding:
helping clients market
themselves
04President’s Message
05National Office Report
06Careers: past, present
and future
18Changing face of
outplacement: new
look, same ethos
12Future Moves | What’s
Uni Like?
19Seven steps to managing
job search wellbeing
21Networking is challenging
but still the best strategy for
moving forward
15Career by contribution:
a response to the
changing world (part 1)
horse industry, blacksmithing, stabling
and related services.
Textile manufacture changed with
spinning and weaving no longer
being done in households, but home-
based workers being contracted out to
merchant sellers.
Change is not new. The constant cycle of
innovation, adaptation and stabilisation
has been cycling through since 1760.
Along with advancements, comes the
need to adapt the way we see our world
of work.
This edition of the Australian Career
Practitioner magazine provides an
interesting glimpse into our future, with
articles discussing the way the career
landscape is changing, what skills will
be valued, what programs are currently
in place that will support us through
the coming changes, and how we, as
career practitioners, can help our clients
navigate the changes in the labour
market over the next 10-30 years.
As you read through the compilation
of pieces in this edition, you will find
common threads woven through the
magazine: the need to explore our
“human” traits and strengths in creativity,
social interaction, dexterity and
mobility; the focus on lifelong learning
and the need for us to be prepared to
reskill or upskill on an ongoing basis;
as well as the vital requirement on both
an individual and societal level, to find
a willingness to adapt to our changing
world, to innovate, to find our place and
if all else fails, to create our own space
in our ever-evolving world. Change is
not new, but then neither is our capacity
to adapt to it. The challenge is to make
sure that no one is left behind.
Zoë Wundenberg
From the Editor
Zoë Wundenberg, Editor
e: zoe@impressability.com.au
@impressability
Mature age career
transition in a changing
landscape: age is just a
number
20
Change itself is not new. Since
the dawn of the Industrial Age in
the late 18th century, humanity
has been thrown into a constant
cycle of innovation, adaptation
and stabilisation as technological
advancements have changed the way
we live our lives and interact with each
other.
The Industrial Revolution started with
automation of industry, new and
efficient production processes, and
exploration of power options which
led to machinery development and
the rise of the factory system. This
created jobs, but it also changed the
labour landscape.
Steam power led to trains and
railroad construction, which led to
new jobs, but changed the way that
transportation of both goods and
people operated.
The invention of the car further
revolutionised transportation and
created jobs, but also affected the
22NEIS: building
entrepreneurial skills for
businesses of the future
10Youth unemployment:
crisis and support
09Seven steps to empower
& equip clients to
negotiate their salary
packages
LEADING, BUILDING, GROWING THE CAREER
DEVELOPMENT PROFESSION
Career Development Association of Australia Inc.
Level 1, 18-20 Grenfell Street Adelaide, SA 5000 | www.cdaa.org.au
Telephone: 08 8211 6961 | Toll Free: 1800 222 390 | email: info@cdaa.org.au
ARBN 061 218 639 | Print Post Approved No PP245227/00042 ISSN 1324-5368
Copy for the Autumn 2016 edition due by Friday, January 8, 2016
Please send to zoe@impressability.com.au
The CDAA Inc provides a vehicle for the interchange of ideas and experiences which it hopes will inspire, develop and inform career practitioners. As this is an
inclusive Association, the Editor accepts submissions and advertising from a broad spectrum of all people. No responsibility is accepted by CDAA Inc for the
accuracy of the information contained herein. Expressed or implied author and advertisers’ opinions and beliefs are not necessarily those of the Editor and/or
Publisher. It is up to you, the reader, to make your own evaluation and judgement and take your own path and seek professional advice when appropriate. No
responsibility will be accepted where publication is delayed or with factors beyond our control. Our liability for an error is limited to the cost of the space and is
applicable only to an error that materially affects the value of the advertisements. Further, we shall not be liable for damages, if, for any reason, we fail to publish
an ad. Advertisers agree to assume all responsibility and liability for all claims arising from their advertisements and will protect publisher from the same.

4. Andrew Rimington, CDAA National President
e: nationalpresident@cdaa.org.au
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Australian Career Practitioner Summer 20154
Dear colleagues,
On behalf of the National Executive Committee and
National Office staff, I’d like to wish you all a safe and
happy Christmas and New Year festive season. May
it be joyful, restful and provide a great opportunity to
relax and recharge batteries with family and friends,
and prepare for what will probably be another busy
and challenging year ahead.
It is pleasing that some level of political stability
seems to have been achieved with the installation
of the Turnbull Government. The Association was
quick to write to the newly appointed Prime Minister
as well as the Minister for Education. Opportunities
are being sought to secure meetings to raise concerns
about the lack of career development policy direction
and support programs at a national level, as well
as highlight the lack of consistency and efficacy of
programs at State and Territory Government level.
Members will be kept informed of progress.
The 2016 conference website was launched in
October and includes outlines of keynote speakers
and panel members. The theme “Inspiring Excellence
through Evolution, Innovation and Transformation”
- with an emphasis on STEM related issues - may
appear, at first glance, to be a narrow focus for some
members, however, the quality of concurrent workshop
submissions will provide considerable diversity and
choice so I encourage you to take advantage of the
conference early bird registration.
It is in fact quite prescient that this theme was selected
because the concern about the level of STEM
knowledge and skill in young people is a current
international issue. In the UK, the WISE organisation
was established in 1984 to promote and support
opportunities for women to enter STEM related
careers, particularly in engineering. This followed the
Finniston Report on the future of engineering in the
UK which emphasised the need for a broad talent
pool of scientists and engineers. Since then it has
helped a huge number of individuals, organisations
and businesses, and contributed to a wide range of
campaigns to raise the profile of women and girls in
STEM. The WISE mission and key message is to “get
1 million more women in the UK STEM workforce
and working with the community. The objective is to
boost the talent pool from classroom to boardroom
and drive economic growth.” This is an example that
should stimulate Australia to develop similar models.
It is also important to remember that STEM is not just
about occupational outcomes in the STEM workforce.
Australia’s declining performance outcomes as
evidenced by NAPLAN and PISA results, indicate that
many young people leave school in Australia with
low levels of literacy and numeracy. Without strong
employability skills, many young people struggle to
gain employment and end up being consigned to
long periods of unemployment.
In my home state of Victoria, the government
announced in October that it would cease funding
for the Workplace Learning Coordinator Program,
which provides disadvantaged school students with
crucial work placements that develop employability
skills. This will significantly impact on opportunities for
successful youth transitions. It was also interesting that
at the same time, the Victorian Auditor-General issued
a special report that indicated that despite 27 audits
over 5 years, “15 of the Education Departments’ long-
term outcome indicators have either deteriorated or
shown no-significant change.” The report indicates
that the audits have consistently revealed a depressing
pattern of underperformance and the “Department
has failed to be a learning organisation for a long
time”. This is a tragic outcome for Victoria’s students
and unless the problems are addressed it will consign
many young people to unemployment and marginalise
them in society.
I am therefore looking forward to hearing from
Maxine McKew as closing keynote speaker at the
CDAA conference next year. The release of her
recent book, Class Act, provides a detailed account
of the problems facing the school education system,
but more importantly, provides an outline of exciting
reforms being undertaken at school level that are
radical and in many instances transformative. At the
end of the day it is innovative practice that we have to
support and champion to achieve better outcomes for
the next generation.
Best wishes for 2016!
Andrew Rimington
CDAA National President

5. NATIONAL OFFICE REPORT
Australian Career Practitioner Summer 2015 5
with regard to career development,
given its direct impact on the priority
of jobs and investment. CDAA wrote
to the media and government,
encouraging our leaders to engage
the career development profession in
reforming policy and reiterating the
importance associated with life-long,
whole of workforce benefits, and,
moreover, individuals’ employability.
We will continue to represent our
members on key issues relating to
career development, and hope to build
momentum with policy makers.
On the professional development front,
webinars have proven to be increasingly
popular. They are a time-effective,
cost-effective and convenient method
of learning. We know that lives are
becoming busier and with a webinar you
do not have to worry about travelling or
leaving your office or home. The price
of attending is typically much lower than
other professional development options
due to low overheads, yet you can still
receive the same learning outcomes.
For those of you who have yet to
experience a webinar, it is an online
“virtual” seminar that involves a presenter
(or presenters) delivering a presentation
(such as a PowerPoint) to a dispersed
audience. Attendees view the contents on
their computer screens and listen to the
audio on their computer speakers. There
are interactive capabilities, with attendees
able to ask questions and hear the
answers live. If you cannot attend the live
event, webinar recordings are available
to access at a later date. Participants can
review the presentation multiple times,
revisiting the materials for reference and
applying the contents as needed.
CDAA has been receiving excellent
feedback about its recent webinars,
including one presented by National
Executive Committee (NEC) Member
Joanne Shambler (Moving to Private
Practice) and one presented by past NEC
Member Dr Ann Villiers (Essential know-
how for public speakers). It is not too late
to gain access to these resources, so
please contact National Office on (08)
8211 6961 to find out more.
We hope to see you at an upcoming
professional event – in person or virtually.
Best wishes,
Renae Sullivan
CDAA Communication and Events
Officer
It’s that time of year again… when
Christmas sneaks up on us and we
need to set our goals and priorities
for the New Year. Here, at National
Office, our resolution is to continue
our efforts to support CDAA’s 2015-
2017 Strategic Plan. These include
building organisational sustainability;
embedding our Framework for
Excellence; championing the work of
career development professionals and
proactively advocating on issues relating
to career development.
With the recent Federal Government
cabinet changes, CDAA vocalised that
the Turnbull Government must urgently
revisit policy priorities when it comes to
career development. CDAA welcomed
the new cabinet’s early stated priority on
jobs and investment, because previous
budget cuts have seen Australia fall from
being a world leader and innovator in
career development policy, with many
career development services reduced
or lacking. The 2014 Budget cuts
affected the popular career planning
resources Job Guide and myfuture,
which has negatively impacted both
career development practitioners
and job-seekers. A recent CEDA
report, Australia’s Future Workforce,
highlighted the need for increased
services with regard to guidance of
students, workers and unemployed;
together with alarming levels of university
drop-outs. Therefore, it would be no
better time to revisit government policy
LinkedIn provides an excellent platform for participation in current industry conversations,
retaining currency in relevant publications and establishing professional networks.
CDAA LinkedIn Group
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Career-Development-Association-Australia-Inc-2241956
Scan the QR code on your phone or follow the web address above to join the CDAA
community on LinkedIn
CDAA Twitter
https://twitter.com/CDAA_inc
@CDAA_inc
CDAA Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Career-Development-
Association-of-Australia/225964534082041
CONNECT WITH CDAA ONLINE

6. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 20156
Where are we now?
According to our last Census in 2011,2
the top 7 industries are:
INDUSTRY 2010/11
Healthcare and Social Assistance 11.6%
Retail 10.5%
Manufacturing 9.0%
Construction 8.2%
Education and Training 8.0%
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services 7.3%
Accommodation and Food Services 6.5%
With an ageing population and
generally more disposable income, we
see healthcare, retail and hospitality as
some of the biggest industry sectors.
Furthermore, Generations X and Y are
beginning to dominate demographics
and the average tenure is now under
3 years, 4 months per job type.
We’ve seen an explosion in
outsourcing along with the creation of
new industries and self-employment
opportunities. Technology has been
moving at “Warp Speed” (to borrow
from Star Trek)! 30 years ago who
had heard of the internet? Now, who
can live without it?! In the last 10-
15 years, we have seen the creation
and growth of careers such as web
designer, application developer,
social media manager.
The services sector has also boomed.
This diverse sector includes services
ranging from “major corporations
supplying telecommunications,
banking, transport, education,
hospitality, accommodation and
health services to small businesses
and individuals such as hairdressers,
doctors, accountants and IT
specialists.”3
Services are Australia’s
biggest export and employs “more
people and contributes more to GDP
than all other industries combined.”4
Where are we headed?
In a recent CEDA report, Australia’s
Future Workforce, Professor the Hon.
Stephen Martin, Chief Executive of
CEDA, has stated that “Australia
is on the cusp of a new but very
different industrial revolution.”5
He acknowledges the role that
technology will play in the shaping
of our changing career development
landscape, but also draws attention
to the importance of our capacity
to adapt to change and innovate
to balance the lost jobs with new
growth.6
Arguably, our value as resources is
being defined by that which makes
us human - social interaction,
creativity and mobility/dexterity.
Those jobs that require low levels of
these skills, approximately 18.4% of
the workforce, will be replaced by
automation and over the next 10-15
years, over 40% of our current jobs
will likely disappear.7
The pace of this technological
growth in the last 20 years
h as b e en unpre ce dente d
and that pace is expected to
ARTICLES
Careers: past, present and future
Stephen Birch, Career Coach, Barossa Career Service, Regional Development Australia Barossa
e: stephen@barossa.org.au
Where have we been?
At the beginning of the 20th century,
just over half of employed Australians
were employed within the primary and
manufacturing industries. Employees
generallytendedtostayinajobformany
years with little transition. Millennials in
particular operated on “a job for life”
principle, and after World War II, Baby
Boomers tended to display their loyalty
to their employer by staying for lengthy
periods, traditionally 10 years or more
in a career. Hands-on work types were
predominant.
According to the Australian Bureau
of Statistics (ABS),1
some of the top
industries at the beginning of the 20th
century were:
INDUSTRY 1910-11
Agriculture 26%
Manufacturing 21%
Commerce 13%
Building/Construction 8%
Mining 6%
In these times, career planning was
about choosing a career that would be
stable and landing a job for life.
As Richard Knowdell, a renowned
international career development
expert phrases it, a career was like
getting on a train. We would select
our destination and get onboard
– it was stable and predictable!
Generation Z will have a staggering 17 employers across five industry sectors in their lifetime; it is
clear that the way we approach work is changing.

7. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 2015 7
housing and infrastructure needs.
Growth rate is expected to be 8% by
2018 with an increase of 83.5k jobs
by the end of 2018.
4. Information and Communication
Technology (ICT): as technology
advances become intrinsic across
multiple industries, ICT will continue
to grow in vitality as an “enabler of
productivity and innovation.” Growth
rate is expected to be 12.8% by the
end of 2018.
5. Design and architecture: the
building boom is boosting the need
for these skills and new industry
developments such as increasing use
of sophisticated online environments
create an expansion of job needs.
The Federal Government’s Future
Focus 2013 National Workforce
Development Strategy14
projects that
registered nurses will become the
fastest growing profession in Australia
in the next ten years due to the
impact of the ageing population and
a technology boom. Demographic
changes and technological
advancements are expected to
influence the development of new
careers in technical, professional
and managerial areas with part-
time, temporary and entrepreneurial
contract work likely to become the
norm - something we are already
beginning to see.
with the increasing intake of refugees
and the process of integrating them
into Australian society and culture
while empowering them to build a
meaningful career.
By 2030, services are set to become
Australia’s number one export to
Asia in terms of total value added,
and doing so, will support a million
Australian jobs. Goods, particularly
resources and agricultural products,
will continue to be the cornerstone
of Australian exports and could also
support a million Australian jobs by
2030 - more than a 50 per cent
increase from 2013.12
Based on an analysis of continued
growth, seek.com have concluded
that while jobs may change, 16 of
19 Australian industries are actually
predicted to see job increases to the
end of 2018, driven by technological
advances that are pushing demand
for workers with niche skill sets across
multiple industries. Biggest growth
numbers are predicted for:13
1. Education: population growth
and added parental pressure on kids
to achieve is driving growth in both
teaching and tutoring. Growth rate is
expected to be 13.3% by 2018 which
means 58.9k new jobs.
2. Healthcare and medical: our
ageing population drives growth
in health services while medical
advances provide greater options to
patients. Growth rate is expected to
be 16.3% by 2018.
3. Construction: a booming
population will continue to impact
continue its rapid advance.
Social research has concluded
that technological influences,
demographic changes and the more
fluid approach to career development
that is emerging as a trend are key
areas that impact the future changes
in the job landscape.8
Technologically speaking, jobs
and opportunities are being both
created and brought to an end. With
the automation of production in
manufacturing and mining and the
introduction of robotics as a viable
option to human resources, we are
seeing new technologies replacing
old roles. However, technological
developments in cloud computing,
social media and wireless devices,
for example, are not just creating
new roles, they are changing the way
we can undertake existing jobs (such
as remote work stations and flexible
work options) while driving a new
wave of micro-entrepreneurship. With
projections saying that Generation Z
will have a staggering 17 employers
across five industry sectors in their
lifetime, it is clear that the way we
approach work is changing.9
Demographic changes in the fabric
of 21st century Australian society are
well documented. Australia’s ageing
population, for example, is creating
new demand and opportunities, not
just for the aged care sector but for
retirement service agents as well.10
The
increase in the retirement age is also
altering our perception of work-life
with it extending to a time investment
of 50+ years. Additionally, in a report
published by ninemsn.com in 2011,11
Joe Powell, then managing director
of Seek Employment, identified that
“The trend for both parents to be in
the workforce with young families
means [there is] a greater need for
employers to support employees in this
situation.” Powell also acknowledges
that with improved economic growth
comes a need for permanent jobs
and flexibility regarding both work
hours and methodology (such as
working from home). This growing
demographic trend also impacts the
need for childcare options to facilitate
the practicality of working families.
Furthermore, global events are
influencing domestic development
TOP TERTIARY-QUALIFIED
JOBS IN 2025
TOP VOCATIONAL-
QUALIFIED JOBS IN 2025
1. Registered Nurses 1. Aged and Disabled Carers
2. Advertising and Sales Managers 2. Child Carers
3. Software and Applications
Programmers
3. Electricians
4. Accountants 4. Nursing Support and Personal
Care Workers
5. CEOs and Managing Directors 5. Construction Managers
6. Secondary School Teachers 6. Real Estate Sales Agents
7. Primary School Teachers 7. Welfare Support Workers
8. Private Tutors and Teachers 8. Metal Fitters and Machinists
9. Contract Program and Project
Administrators
9. Plumbers
10. General Managers 10. Education Aids

8. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 20158
Mark McCrindle has concluded that
“the key for tomorrow’s employee is
being innovative, not thinking in terms of
a ‘career-for-life’ but pursuing a broad
range of easily adaptable skills... being
nimble is key.”15
Central to being able
to achieve this is continuous learning.
As career practitioners, it is crucial to
be able to anticipate the value of future
skills, and adaptability, resilience and
flexibility will become increasingly
important to finding success in future
job markets.16
How can we best assist people to
ascertain whether they possess these
skills? How can we direct people
to attain these skills? Encouraging
strengths audits could be a helpful
exercise with the aim of working
out what they’re really good at and
determining how to exploit their full
potential. Through identifying skills,
strengths and their unique value, we
can help people to be better prepared
to stand out in a packed online market.
Adaptability
Rapid changes and development will
make future skills needs more and more
difficult to predict. To ascertain if clients
are adaptable, ask:
• How do you cope in new situations
or when circumstances change?
• Have you been able to successfully
apply something you have learnt
or experienced in one role to a
completely different role?
Professor Mark Savickas’ approach17
to
adaptability included the 4C method,
namely:
1. Becoming concerned about the
vocational future
2. Increasing personal control over
ready to adapt to rapid change, if they
are prepared for it. Knowdell likened
future careers to getting on an ATV - it
will be a matter of getting in the driver’s
seat, forging the pathway and being
a trail-blazer! Our role is to empower
and enable our clients so they can
move forward, equipped and ready. As
career practitioners, are we prepared to
keep up to date and make the changes
with them, or better yet, before they do?
After all, isn’t it our purpose to help
others find their purpose?
REFERENCES
1.http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.
nsf/Previousproducts/1301.0Feature%20
Article142001
2.http://profile.id.com.au/australia/
industries
3.“Australia’s jobs Future – The rise of Asia
and the Services opportunity” – ANZ PwC
Asialink Business Services Report
4.“Australia’s jobs Future – The rise of Asia
and the Services opportunity” – ANZ PwC
Asialink Business Services Report
5.http://www.ceda.com.au/research-and-
policy/policy-priorities/workforce
6.http://www.ceda.com.au/research-and-
policy/policy-priorities/workforce
7.http://www.ceda.com.au/research-and-
policy/policy-priorities/workforce
8.http://mccrindle.com.au/the-mccrindle-
blog/jobs-of-the-future-where-will-we-be-
working-in-2030-in-the-media
9.http://mccrindle.com.au/the-mccrindle-
blog/jobs-of-the-future-where-will-we-be-
working-in-2030-in-the-media
10.http://mccrindle.com.au/the-mccrindle-
blog/jobs-of-the-future-where-will-we-be-
working-in-2030-in-the-media
11.ht tp://finance.ninemsn.com.au/
pfmanagingmoney/spending/8130473/
where-will-the-jobs-be-in-the-future
12.“Australia’s jobs Future – The rise of Asia
and the Services opportunity” – ANZ PwC
Asialink Business Services Report
13.http://www.seeklearning.com.au/
industries-hiring-in-2015
14.https://docs.education.gov.au/system/
files/.../futurefocus2013nwds-2013.pdf
15.http://mccrindle.com.au/the-mccrindle-
blog/jobs-of-the-future-where-will-we-be-
working-in-2030-in-the-media
16. http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/
st-century-skills-how-to-future-proof-your-
career/story-e6frfm9r-1227509424081
17.“Career Construction Theory” –
Professor Mark Savickas pages 52-56
18. Collard, B; Epperheimer, J. W.; and
Saign, D. Career Resilience In A Changing
Workplace. Columbus: ERIC Clearinghouse
on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education,
1996. (ED 396 191)
19.ht tp://w w w.huf fingtonpost.com/
sara-sutton-fell/5-most-popular-careers-
fo_b_4719704.html?ir=Australia
20.ht tp://finance.ninemsn.com.au/
pfmanagingmoney/spending/8130473/
where-will-the-jobs-be-in-the-future
one’s vocational future
3. Displaying curiosity by exploring
possible selves and future scenarios
4. Strengthening the confidence to
pursue one’s aspirations
Resilience
Recognising that jobs are becoming
more temporary, and with more people
becoming entrepreneurial, people
will need to be more resilient and self-
reliant. Collard et al. defined career
resilience as “the ability to adapt to
changing circumstances, even when
the circumstances are discouraging or
disruptive.”18
A resilient person will need
to be positive, flexible, willing to take
risks, confident, adaptable to change,
able to overcome adversity and resume
their career in spite of setbacks.
Assisting our clients to take responsibility
for their career, find meaning and
purpose in their lives and develop
emotional intelligence, will help them to
develop career resilience.
Flexibility
With the advancement of technology,
it is becoming easier and more
advantageous for people to work in a
flexible manner. Opportunities include
working from home, freelancing, job
sharing, working hours that suit, and so
on.
According to The Huffington Post19
the
top jobs categories for flexible jobs are:
1. Medical and Health
2. Administration
3. Education and Training
4. Sales
5. Web and Software Development
Outlining the prospects and benefits of
flexibility can regenerate careers.
In conclusion, it must be acknowledged
that projections, while likely, are not
set in stone. Unforeseen political,
technological and global events can
change the course of our history. This is
clearly demonstrated by the expectation
of a continued mining boom projected
from 2011,20
when this industry is
currently experiencing mass job cuts as
automation takes over site operations,
particularly in the Pilbara. The future
can be predicted, but with a margin of
error which makes adaptability, flexibility
and resilience all the more important to
professional survival. The coming years
will be challenging, but, as we have learnt
in the past, humans are resourceful and
So, having looked at the past, present and future of career development in Australia, how can
we, as career practitioners, assist people to navigate the changing landscape successfully?
Demographic
Change
Work
Flexibility
Increasing
Automation
Rapidly
Advancing
Technology
Key
Challenges:

9. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 2015 9
Seven steps to empower & equip clients
to negotiate their salary packages
Kelly Magowan, Author of The Busy Women’s Guide to... Salary Negotiation
e:kelly@kellymagowan.comw:www.kellymagowan.com https://au.linkedin.com/in/kellymagowan
provided is variations around the
company and/or division not having
the budget or funds to provide any
increases. Very rarely is this the case,
as they can and will always find the
funds if they believe the client to be an
asset to the business.
6. Book a meeting with the
decision maker/s on neutral
territory: wherever possible conduct
the negotiation meeting face-to-face
and on neutral territory. This ensures
that the client is not disadvantaged.
7. Role play and practice the
negotiation meeting: the avoidance
to negotiate is largely due to clients
not having the training or experience
in negotiating. Without seeking out
opportunities to practice negotiating
(around anything, even a coffee)
and role playing, they are unlikely to
gain the confidence they need to be
successful. Research suggests that if
you don’t act on the decision to do
something out of your normal routine
within five seconds, chances are you
won’t act. So there is only a small
window of opportunity each time to
convince yourself to move out of our
comfort zone.
As a career coach, if you are not
familiar and confident with the salary
negotiation process, there are many
books on the topic, as well as YouTube
videos and resources you can access
online to increase your expertise and
assist your clients.
REFERENCES
Stanny, Barbara (1997) How Women Get
Smart About Money. USA: Penguin Books
Thorn, Jeremy (2005) How to Negotiate Better
Deals. India: Jaico Publishing House
Magowan, Kelly (2015) The Busy Women’s
Guide to...Salary Negotiation
Salary survey websites, http://www.payscale.
com/ and http://www.glassdoor.com
Throughout my 17 year career in HR,
recruitment and career coaching,
I have been fortunate to work
with hundreds of amazing people
with their job searches and career
changes. However, when it has come
to salary package negotiation there
has been a clear trend of women
being less inclined than men to enter
into negotiation discussions. This
is aligned with research that shows
men initiate negotiations four times
as often as women do. Added to this,
women are generally more grateful
to be offered a job and are more
likely to accept what they are offered
without negotiating salaries (http://
www.womendontask.com/stats.html).
It is easy for clients to experience
career change and job search
fatigue, which makes them vulnerable
to accepting the salary packages that
are offered. As career coaches, we
can play a significant role in coaching
clients to maintain the confidence and
momentum to secure an attractive
salary package that warrants their
experience and expertise.
Some of the reasons why women
resist engaging in salary negotiation
and career promotion conversations
include: their different personality
t y p e s, s o ci al co n di t io nin g,
overvaluing competency, over-
thinking the process, fear of hearing
the word ‘no,’ low self-esteem, lack of
confidence and simply failing to act.:
without acting nothing will change.
As a career coach, when we work
with a client, in our interactions
we are likely to pick up on some of
the behaviors, traits and attitudes
highlighted above. Just as we address
them in the careers context, we need
to be mindful that this will extend into
the negotiation process. Assisting
them with thinking about, and
preparing for, the negotiation process
is just as crucial.
Having had extensive experience with
salary package negotiations from
various stakeholder perspectives, the
following seven steps are integral to
an effective negotiation process:
1. Prepare the meeting agenda
(keep it brief): a clear road map of
what is to be discussed will keep the
client on track and provide a more
professional edge to the discussion.
2. Research the job market for
current salary data and document
what you are seeking: there is
an abundance of free information
available online for salary data such
as payscale.com, but clients can also
find out where to pitch themselves
through personal networks, HR,
industry associations and recruitment
firms.
3. Prepare the business case (keep
it factual and concise): it is less about
the client and their needs (i.e. tenure
or having a big mortgage to pay) and
more about them selling their past
value and achievements, and their
future potential and benefits to the
employer. Having clarity around their
personal brand and Unique Selling
Proposition (USP) will address this.
4. List your alternatives and what
items you would be prepared to
negotiate: the client must have clarity
around what items they are looking
to negotiate, such as base salary,
bonus and car (avoiding a shopping
list of requests). In the event they don’t
get all of these, knowing their Best
Alternative to Negotiated Agreement
(BATNA) is important. As is knowing
when they are willing to say ‘no’ and
walk away.
5. Anticipate potential objections
and prepare responses: remind
clients that entering into any sort of
negotiation is more likely than not
to be met with objections. Ensuring
clients are prepared for these is
very important so they don’t get put
off. The most common objection
ARTICLES

10. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 201510
ARTICLES
Youth unemployment: crisis and support
Tony Nicholson, Executive Director, | Farah Farouque, Principal Advisor, Public Affairs & Policy,
Brotherhood of St Laurence w: http://www.bsl.org.au
In the 21st century, Australia’s dynamic
economy provides many opportunities
for our young people. The other side of
this story is that it also poses many more
risks than faced by earlier generations.
In an economy unrelentingly shifting
to a knowledge and service base and
striving to be internationally competitive,
employers today in all sectors place a
huge premium on qualifications, skills
and work experience.
It is not due to chance – or some
perceived failings of young people
today – that we find over a quarter of
a million 15 to 24 year olds who are
unemployed in our prosperous nation.
The situation Australia’s young
people face today, has a new, more
unpredictable element about it.
Shocks to the economy in recent decades
in Australia saw youth unemployment
spiking but then steadily declining in
each aftermath. The 2008 Global
Financial Crisis (GFC) repeated the
familiar spike - but this time there has
been no subsequent reversal of fortune.
In the seven years since the GFC,
youth unemployment has continued to
escalate to the point that rates of 18% or
more occur in particular locations across
the nation.
The harsh reality is that the transition from
school to work in our modern economy,
particularly for the almost 60% of youth
who don’t aspire to go to university, is
fraught with difficulty.
Therefore, it is essential that our young
people be better supported with
good career advice at critical points,
including earlier in their secondary
school years, and be provided with
opportunities to explore employment
paths they or their families may never
have thought of previously. They also
need vocational training oriented to
their capabilities, interests and emerging
labour market opportunities, together
with work experience placements in real
workplaces.
The Brotherhood of St Laurence has
successfully piloted a youth transition
service with these attributes in youth
unemployment ‘hot spots’ in outer
Melbourne. Our strike rates in
coaching young people into jobs has
been encouraging in large part due to
our ability to get local communities
fully engaged in the effort of forging
pathways into work for their young
people.
Our program fosters helping young
people with their ‘employability’ skills.
Apart from the coaching and vocational
advice we provide, a key element of this
is involving local employers who are
happy to provide work ‘tasters’ and work
experience opportunities, traineeships
and ultimately entry level jobs. But it also
involves community volunteers willing to
act as mentors and to provide practical
assistance such as helping a young
person gaining a driver licence. And,
of course, it involves the young people
themselves keeping their part of the
deal by being determined to persevere
when faced with the high expectations
and demands of the service we offer
them. They know we are serious.
With coaching, encouragement and the
occasional firm word, our experience is
that young people involved in transition
services will keep their side of the deal.
We need to give our young people the
opportunity to thrive.
“You need experience to get a job, but how can I get experience if I’m not given
the chance?’’
This pithy analysis was given by Troy, then aged 19, who had
finished Year 12 and completed a number of certificates,
including hospitality training, but was in the midst of a ‘’soul
destroying’’ search for an entry-level job. Unfortunately, this
is not a one-off experience amongst today’s youth.
We have been taking the temperature of youth employment
experience on the ground, and we feel strongly that the crisis
of youth unemployment hurts young people, their families
and batters down on some communities particularly hard.
Today, more than a quarter of a million people aged 15 to
24 in Australia are classified as unemployed. When you
drill down on the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures,
this means one in five unemployed Australians today is a
teenager.
What can we do about this?
We launched My Chance, Our Future as an ongoing campaign
in 2014, to draw attention to the crisis of youth unemployment
in communities all over Australia.
Information, support and sharing experiences have proven to be
key to restoring hope for our emerging generation. Therefore,
as part of our ongoing campaign, we publish a regular Youth
Unemployment Monitor - an online publication that serves as
an awareness raising tool to highlight concerns about this key
issue. It contains a mix of data analysis, personal stories and
multi-media, and is a useful resource for those guiding our
young people through employment challenges.
Postscript: Happily, after 18 months of searching, Troy is now
in full-time work.

11. 11Australian Career Practitioner Summer 2015
ARTICLES
While there have been improvements
made to careers education in
Australia in recent years, there are
still challenges, particularly around
availability, quality and timing of
services.
Many young people still have a
lack of access to career planning
and support, and poor access to
information about learning and
career options.
Young people today can also be
misinformed or have inadequate
information which can have an
impact on their understanding of,
and therefore connection with, their
educational pathway. This can lead
to disinterest and disengagement.
At the same time, having a menu of
structured choices should not lock
young people into unsuitable carer
pathways.
Employers frequently tell us that
young job seekers are not job-ready
and they need employees who can
fit into the workplace from day one.
Focusing on building employability
and life skills needed for successful
transitions to the workplace is a key
element of our programs helping
young people secure that first rung
on the career ladder.
Participation in ‘work tasters’, for
example, enables young people to
explore different vocational options
and visit real workplace settings
to confirm their skills, abilities
and interests. This will help build
confidence and capabilities that are
required to maintain employment.
Undertaking longer work experience
placements also develops young
people’s employability skills in a
real workplace, enables them to
experience this culture, and helps
them to develop an understanding
of norms and expectations of work.
Work experience has demonstrated
that it can improve future employment
opportunities through strengthening
employability skills, demonstrating
practical ‘hands-on’ experience of
work and building networks and
contacts into the world of work.
Importantly, we also support young
people to undertake career planning
and to make informed decisions about
the vocational education system to
avoid the trap of being churned
through training courses that do not
match their skills and interests, or lead
to employment.
Within the setting of our programs,
we have found coaching can also
enable a young person to identify
their strengths and aspirations, and
develop the personal capabilities
required for a successful transition
to work while addressing barriers to
work, including wellbeing issues, in a
personalised way.
Case Study: Ricky Smith, 18
Ricky knows better than most how
important a job is. “My goals are to
have a house, a car and a family.”
“Without a job,” the early school-
leaver says, “I can’t do any of that.”
Ricky completed the Brotherhood
of St Laurence’s Youth Transitions
program earlier this year.
The 13-week program works with
young people - from early school
leavers to those with post-school
qualifications - by supporting them
into employment, education or
training.
Combining theory and practice, the
program trains the young people on
interview skills and CV preparation,
as well as taking them into real-world
workplaces so they can get a feel for
real-life work environments.
At the start of the program, Ricky told
the Brotherhood’s careers coach that
he was interested in obtaining retail
experience at Bunnings.
“I had wanted to go for the job in the
past but I didn’t have the confidence.”
At the end of the program, Ricky
secured a four-week work placement
at the home and hardware store.
Two weeks in, Ricky was offered a
full-time job. How did he feel when
the offer came through?
“Amazing”, he says.
“I like working, it’s fun for me.
It’s getting out of the house. It’s
interacting with people.
“Working has changed me. I’m a lot
more confident. My self-esteem is a
lot higher.”
Once he’s got a firmer foothold on
the work ladder, Ricky plans to enrol
in a horticultural course. “Then, I can
achieve my dream job and become a
landscaper.”
Sally James, Principal Advisor, Youth Transitions, Brotherhood of St Laurence w: http://www.bsl.org.au
Youth Transitions and the
Gen Z experience

12. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 201512
Despite a steady upward trend in
the number of students enrolling
in higher education in Australia
between 2000 and 2013 – with the
figure almost doubling from 695,485
to 1,313,776 - Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander students, those of
low socio-economic background
and from regional areas remain
significantly underrepresented.
Since 2011, a number of initiatives
dedicated to building aspiration
and facilitating effective transition
into university have been
developed and successfully
implemented by universities
across the nation. Funded
through the Federal
Government’s Higher
Education Partnership
and Participation Program
(HEPPP), What’s Uni Like?
- a Massive Open Online
Course (MOOC), and
Future Moves are two such
initiatives.
Future Moves is a widening
participation program
operating from the Bathurst, Orange,
Dubbo, Wagga, Port Macquarie
and Albury/Wodonga campuses
of Charles Sturt University. Future
Moves works closely with 78 partner
schools and delivers workshops and
events both in-school and on-campus
to around 15,000 students each year.
Future Moves begins working with
students from Kindergarten and/
or Year 5 in some schools and
continues through to Year 12,
building students’ confidence and
understanding of post-school higher
education options while progressively
fostering familiarity with the idea of
going to university as an achievable,
worthwhile goal. Programs include
Check It Out for Years 5 and 6
where students participate in a range
of learning-based activities on campus,
and Future Directions for Year 9
where faculty-delivered workshops
around specific areas of interest
such as Paramedics, Education and
Communications are delivered. In
Years 10 and 11, students are offered
Real Time where they shadow a student
studying in their area of choice for the
day, and attending tutorials and lectures
to give them an authentic experience of
study at university level. Skill Fix offered
What’s Uni Like?
in Year 11 consolidates preparation
done within the school for the HSC
though workshops in learning styles,
writing skillfully, effective internet
research, stress management, note
taking, exam preparation and time
management.
Synergetic with the aspiration-building
framework of Future Moves, the
MOOC What’s Uni Like? launched
in July this year after 18 months in
development. It is the latest addition
to the suite of educational resources
the Future Moves team are
able to offer their students.
The content of the MOOC
works to support students’
classroom curriculum,
extending their learning and
knowledge base, motivating
them to engage with higher
education and supporting
their transition to university.
What’s Uni Like? is free,
online and self-paced, taking
approximately 6-8 hours
to complete. The course
is aimed at students 14 to 22 years
of age who would not traditionally
consider university as a post-
school option. The virtual learning
space comprises five asynchronous
modules that successively build
participants’ skills while delivering
information designed to demystify the
process of gaining university entry,
and create realistic expectations
of what university study entails.
Through coursework, quizzes and
video presentations, participants are
acquainted with the various pathways
into university and introduced to the
key areas of academic reading and
writing, digital literacy and online-
learning required for successful study.
At completion of the MOOC, students
will have attained the knowledge and
Kim McClintock, Communications Coordinator, Pre-Entry Programs, Office for Students, Charles Sturt
University e: kmcclintock@csu.edu.au
Future Moves begins
working with students
from Kindergarten
and/or Year 5 in
some schools and
continues through
to Year 12, building
students’ confidence
and understanding
of post-school higher
education options...

13. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 2015 13
FEATURE: FUTURE MOVES
confidence necessary for smooth
transition into university.
The MOOC initiative responds
to the shifting educational
landscape towards a connectivist
theory of learning. Connectivism
provides a model of learning for
the digital era where the student
participates in the development
of a cycle of knowledge. It is a
more flexible, accessible and
engaging approach. Within
the MOOC environment, the
learning process is democratised
and based on the exchange of
information. The provision of a
virtual classroom where unlimited
numbers of participants can interact
and learn simultaneously, while
working at their own pace, and
with the option to revisit material as
necessary, accommodates all levels
of ability and learning styles.
The philosophical underpinning and
core content of the work of Future
Moves and What’s Uni Like? is
based on a model of participation
and partnership with other higher
education providers, schools,
parents and communities to support
and motivate students of low
socio-economic background to
realise their full potential through
achievement in higher education.
The programs’ long term objective
is the logical progression, by
continuously improving and
refining activities, to increase the
number of students enrolling,
participating and succeeding in
higher education. The embedding
of What’s Uni Like? within existing
programs in 2015 and into 2016 sees
the first of many planned innovative
moves into the future for the Future
Moves team.
For the Year 6 students of Glenroy
Public School, the Future Moves
program inspired the unblinkering
of potential in their own futures.
Charles Sturt University invited
GPS to participate in the three-day
program this year and the teachers
were impressed with the
planning and tailoring of
the learning approach
from day one. Hands-on
and relatable, the activities
and workshops gave the
students the opportunity
to understand themselves
more comprehensively
and align their self-
awareness with thoughts
about tertiary study and
career options.
The program encouraged the students
to explore opportunities and to break
down the barrier of belief about their
capabilities, while giving them the
resources and tools to be able to plan
their future.
At the end of the program, the
students graduated and were
presented with a certificate which
sent a ripple of accomplishment
through the group.
After the three-day
program, hearing the Year
6 students excitedly talk
about their experience
with the younger students
and encourage them
to participate next year
,demonstrates the positive
impact that this program
has on the reality of these
students.
Glenroy Public School: The Future Moves Experience
I enjoyed learning about all the careeropportunities we can have, going to the university
or not. I liked going to the university seeing the
lecture rooms and how classes are conducted for the
different courses. I really enjoyed the staff coming
into our school and talking to us about the careersthey have had.
-Kyle C-C
I enjoyed them teaching us how you do
not have to have one job for your entire life, but you
can have many different jobs in a lifetime. I liked
going to CSU and meeting the teachers and students
because we were able to ask them questions about
life at Uni and what certain courses can lead to jobs
in the future.
-Charlize R-B
Jane Riley, Assistant Principal, Glenroy Public School, Albury NSW e: Jane.RILEY2@det.nsw.edu.au

14. ARTICLES
14 Australian Career Practitioner Summer 2015
Personal branding: helping
clients market themselves
Jane Anderson, Career and Personal Branding Expert, Professional Speaker and Author
w: http://janeanderson.brandyourself.com https://au.linkedin.com/in/janeandersonpersonalimpact
introduction of the Certificate III in
Microbusiness is a testament to this.
For a job-seeker this is as much about
mindset and moving them away from
thinking ‘employer’ to ‘customer’.
So as career practitioners, not only do
we need to be able to help job-seekers
find work, we need to help them market
themselves in diminishing labour markets
and start moving many from job-seeker
to solopreneur or contract workers.
So, what is the best way to help
job-seekers undertake personal
branding?
Some ways to help your clients with their
personal brand are:
1. Get clarity: without being absolutely
clear about what a job-seeker wants,
the marketing strategy is ineffective.
As we know, personal branding is
about positioning the client for that
ideal role. To do that, their collaterals
and activity need to match their future
and not the past. Tools like LinkedIn
must be used effectively with Search
Engine Optimisation (SEO), positioning
statements and branding to match where
the client is going, not where they have
been.
2. Create Yourname.com: the job for
life doesn’t exist anymore. Businesses
want more flexibility and many recruit
on shorter term contracts and projects.
I recommend encouraging clients to at
least purchase their domain name to
start with. From there, build a simple
site using tools like Squarespace or Wix
to create a portfolio, videos etc. Job-
seekers then need to leverage their site
in their marketing plan.
3. Become a job–seeker: jobs don’t
just magically appear. As the name
suggests, ‘job-seekers’ need to go and
seek the job, but they can’t do that
without good collaterals. These give
them confidence to hit the market with
In 1997, Tom Peters wrote the article
“The Brand Called You” in Fast
Company magazine. He argued that
we all have a responsibility to manage
our personal brand or someone else
will manage it for us. He said we need
to treat ourselves as if we are a business
and have our own vision, mission,
values and purpose. Like a business, we
all have skills we can sell in exchange
for money. The term ‘personal brand’
has certainly gained momentum with a
combination of factors culminating:
•The amplification of VUCA in
businesses: Volatility, Uncertainty,
Complexity, Ambiguity
•Increased overall unemployment rates
with an oversupply of candidates
•Increasing pressure for job-seekers to
access the hidden job market
•The rise of social media platforms
•High youth unemployment with 26%
of university graduates unemployed
•Increased pressure for diversity and
women to move into leadership roles
•Organisations requiring more
flexibility and hiring more on project
based contracts
•Greater access to global talent and
support at cheaper rates (e.g. oDesk)
•Technological advancement and
access to talent and markets offshore
•Maintaining clients’ confidence when
job seeking
•Longer periods of unemployment with
well-qualified candidates not immune
•Australian cultural challenge of the
tall-poppy - not wanting to stand out
Growth in self-employment and
entrepreneurship driven by new
opportunities created by advancing
technology and labour market
challenges forces people to “think
outside the square” with regards to
their career decisions. The recent
a strong first impression. Clients need
support with scripts and often role
plays to be able to get in front of the
right hiring manager and ask for the
job they want.
4. Thought leadership: encourage
clients to capture their thought
leadership in blogs, videos and
podcasts. A 2012 CareerBuilder
survey found that of those recruiters
who extended the offer to a candidate,
it was because they got a good feel
for the person’s personality. Career
practitioners will need to find ways
to unpack a client’s expertise so they
can use it to market themselves. Job-
seekers can feel clumsy and awkward
doing this as they may feel that what
they have is not important or have a
fear of looking like a know-all.
5. Create the appropriate social
media platforms: once clients have
collaterals like a résumé, creating a
strong digital footprint is the next step.
I suggest running an audit on all their
social media platforms and asking
the client to remove anything from a
timeline that is not on-brand. At least
have a LinkedIn profile and ensure
Facebook account settings are on
private to avoid any nasty surprises.
6. Keep it going: once clients have
the job, don’t sit back and relax.
Encourage them to keep their website/
blog current, position themselves as
an industry expert by looking at ways
to increase their value in the market.
This becomes an insurance policy
around their career, especially if they
want full time work. I suggest that job-
seekers start building connections and
recommendations on LinkedIn ready
for their next move!
By following these steps you’ll be
far more likely to access the right
decision-makers, achieve your dream
role and be paid what you’re worth.

15. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 2015 15
leaving us with what he calls “liquid
modernity”. Liquid modernity involves
technology, unfettered markets
and trade, non-interventionist
governments and freedoms that
mean we are no longer constrained
by industry, bureaucracy and cultural
symbols such as the church. Instead,
we have authority that is virtually
absent, unable to impose itself on
technology, capital and “human
rights”.
In liquid modernity, capital, labour
and work have changed significantly.
Capital is no longer tied to
factories, machinery and place, it is
“exterritorial, light, unencumbered
and disembedded” (Bauman,
2000, p. 149) and moves rapidly to
wherever it is profitable. Labour, it
follows, is now valued for its agility
and flexibility and willingness to
overlook any mutual engagement or
obligation, while work is short-term
and has less to offer identity. The
impact of obligation-free work is to
make labour (people) a commodity;
just another thing to be bought (as
cheaply as possible) and sold in a
consumer society.
Perhaps not surprisingly, liquid life
leaves with us new and magnified
fears about work and employment.
Workers in liquid life understand that
employment can disappear at any
time; that the ultimate obligation-
free, non-demanding and flexible
employee is a machine, not a person.
According to Bauman, their fears are
well-founded; he argues that over
time redundancies will continue to
outweigh redeployment such that
the next generation has only a 50%
chance of ongoing full-time work.
The other half will live on a series of
short-term contracts that leave them
The changing world of work
We have all come to accept that
technology and globalisation have
changed, and continue to change,
the nature of the work we do and
how we do it. We are sure we are
not saying anything new when noting
that in that time work is: less likely to
be full-time (if the proportion of full-
time work to available working people
had been maintained between 1975
to 2010, there would now be over
2.8 million more full-time jobs); more
likely casual; more likely part-time;
often off-shore; less inclusive of youth
and marginal groups; less unionised;
less in iconic bricks and mortar type
places of work; less on the land and
in manufacturing and less with locally-
owned companies that pay tax where
they sell their products.
Each of the foregoing is significant
and influential in its own right but it
is the constellation of these changes
that is interesting from a career
development perspective. Taken
together, these changes tell us that the
traditional employer-employee-society
relationship has all but collapsed - the
idea that most of us are employed
with an employer that bears some
form of ongoing responsibility for
staff and broader community has less
and less currency - the compact that
underpinned our thinking about career
development is no longer.
The collapse of the compact so
fundamental to our notion of career
development is sufficient, in itself, to
re-visit our thinking about the latter.
The compact, however, is just one
expression of a whole-of-society
realignment - what Polish sociologist
and author, Zygmunt Bauman
describes as the shift from “heavy
modernity” to “liquid modernity” - that
Career by contribution: a response to the
changing world (part 1)
Michael Hastings, Program Director, Postgraduate Careers Programs | Judy Heard,
Lecturer, Career Development and Education, School of Education, RMIT University
e: michael.hastings@rmit.edu.au | judy.heard@rmit.edu.au
needs to be understood if we are to
fully comprehend the repercussions for
career development.
Heavy modernity
According to Bauman, heavy
modernity was a time of factories and
bureaucracies, machines and simple
routines, and a labour force galvanised
by the (Protestant) work ethic. Labour
was drilled in the idea that any work,
however demeaning, demoralising or
dull, was better than no work, cajoling
workers into becoming the dutiful and
diligent workforce that (often) laboured
for a pittance. Heavy modernity
and the Protestant work ethic also
involved mutual engagement and
obligations between employer and
worker. Employers provided factories,
machinery and wages and labour
committed to place, routine and role,
often from one generation to the next.
Identity became tied to work; who and
what you were, your status and worth
were assigned by the form of labour
you provided.
Bauman (2000) argues that the
work ethic was reflected differently in
Britain and the U.S., the latter with
lasting ramifications for where we find
ourselves today. In Britain, the work
ethic was framed as a form of survival;
you either found work or you were
condemned to poverty and suffering.
In the U.S., however, the work ethic
became about prosperity; one worked
to become rich and independent and
able to acquire material items. For
Bauman, the latter recast labour as
consumers rather than producers.
Liquid modernity
Bauman argues that the places,
connections, dependencies and
interactions that characterised heavy
modernity have been dissolved,
ARTICLES

16. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 201516
if it wants to stay meaningful and
relevant to the vast majority of clients
in the 21st century.
“Career by contribution”
“Career by contribution”, is our
response to the world and processes
we have described above. Effectively,
“career by contribution” is how
we stay healthy when required to
individualise our career in a liquid life
that throws up less and less traditional
work, few opportunities to engage in
an employer/employee compact and
little to constitute the pathways that
underpin our current understanding
of career. In such an environment,
staying healthy in one’s career (and
life) demands a response to the
question “How do I contribute?”
or, put another way, “How do I stay
involved and meaningful in a world
that doesn’t need me in the way it
once did?”
Up to this point in time, our answer
to “staying involved” was relatively
straight-forward. We (mostly) satisfied
our need to feel engaged, productive
and fulfilled by what Bauman calls
“the ethics of work” and measures
of success, e.g. how much pay, how
much work, the nature of the work,
seniority, responsibility etc. Times
change, though, and these measures
seem increasingly irrelevant for
many. In the absence of a work ethic,
community-minded employers and
paternal institutions and government,
the liquid world requires us to find
new ways of engaging. Crucially,
in the absence of moral and social
guidelines and imperatives, the nature
chronically insecure and exposed to
poverty. Poverty, itself, is the ultimate
expression of insecurity because it
leaves us without status; as non-
consumers in a consumer society.
In liquid modernity, work is only
one of many fears. The absence
of connections, cultural institutions
and authority means individuals are
required to look to themselves to
manage risk and solve life problems.
We experience a life that is fluid and
flowing but also filled with uncertainty
and anxiety because “the success of
anything is anything but a foregone
conclusion” (Bauman 2000, pp. 7-8).
In the liquid world we are constantly
monitoring our selves, state and
situation - an obsession with a
process of shaping and monitoring
that Bauman calls “individualisation”.
Individualisation is an incessant
activity of transforming human identity
from a given into a task and charging
ourselves with the responsibility for
performing that task and for the
consequences and side-effects.
Ray (2005) characterises
individualisation as “a theory of
decision-taking by the individual
engaged in living a life of one’s own.”
We are in a state of perpetual decision
making - principally about ourselves
- about opportunities, about today,
tomorrow and the future, about
risk, about morality, about what is
right - as we go about the task of
becoming the product we want to be.
It is an exciting but not necessarily
comfortable condition that includes
conflicting emotions and moral and
ethical tensions - an on-going state
of discomfort Bauman describes
as “ambivalence” - where we are
perpetually torn between two or more
possibilities and feeling uneasy even
when decisions have been made and
action taken.
Career development
What does all this mean for career
development? Firstly, it is important
to note that career development as
we understand it, emerged out of
heavy modernity and the Protestant
work ethic. No wonder it is mostly
interested in conventional work and
how to be successful; even today,
career development for young
people still means little more than
what course, what job and how to
make money in the world of work.
Career development’s origins mean
the industry and profession has never
been overly concerned with broader
questions about work, for example,
what is work, does work have to be
productive and fulfilling, can I choose
non-work, what would it be like to
have freedom from work, what if I
truly cannot find work? For all their
relevance, these are not topics raised
with our Year 10 students.
We are not suggesting that issues
like the above have not been the
subject of discussion and theorising
- they have, e.g., Hall’s (1976)
Protean Career - but almost always
selectively, in the context of work/
life balance, gender issues and
non-mainstream life options, and,
invariably, as a counterpoint to the
buy-in demanded by the Protestant
work ethic. In liquid modernity, the
challenge is far more confronting
because we cannot afford to be
selective; the Protestant work ethic
and conventional views of work are
fast becoming “luxuries” not afforded
to the vast majority of people. Most
workers are not thinking about their
next promotion or whether it is time
to opt out; their internal discourse
is a ticker-tape of questions such as
“Where to next?”, “Have I missed the
boat?” and “What will I do today?”
Career development is a state of
uncertainty and anxiety as they
engage in constant decision making
about risk, opportunity and shaping
themselves. Liquid life is throwing up
a different discourse about work and
career, one that requires the career
development industry to reconsider its
conventional thinking and processes
“Careerbycontribution”
is how we stay healthy
when required to
individualise our career
in a liquid life that
throws up less and less
traditional work...
Career development is
a state of uncertainty
and anxiety as they
engage in constant
decision making about
risk, opportunity and
shaping themselves.

17. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 2015 17
with no career at all, her frustration
eventually giving way to bitterness,
despite the fact that by many objective
measures she is better off in Australia
than Sierra Leone. Now let us revisit
that scenario, changing just one thing,
that being that Mamokah comes to
Australia measuring career success in
terms of the contribution she makes
to her personal well-being and that
of her community. One expression
of her contribution might be whether
she finds a position as a nurse or
nursing aide but suddenly there are
many other possibilities. She can see
her contribution and, therefore, her
career, as the way in which she assists
her family make the adjustment to
Australia, the way she helps with her
local Sierra Leone community, rallies
support for aid and volunteers in
Western Africa, educates Australians
about her original home, researches
and blogs on transition to Australia,
seeks funding to develop an app
on West African inspired health and
healing .... the possibilities are endless
and Mamokah’s career is vibrant,
not stunted. More importantly, she
is vibrant, not disenchanted and,
ironically, far more likely to be able to
find a position as a nurse, assuming
she still sees that as part of the way in
which she wants to contribute.
It takes little imagination to see
that “career by contribution” has
advantages for other types of clients,
too. Most crucially, we think that
“career by contribution” has much to
offer young people, especially those
who are disadvantaged or at risk of
disengagement. Whether we like it
or not, career in the old language
has been associated with academic
ability and success, and, as such, has
had the effect of alienating many. If
the predictions of Bauman and others
are correct it will alienate many
more in the liquid modernity that
lies ahead. ”Career by contribution”,
on the other hand, does not come
with the same connotations and,
accordingly, is much more inclusive.
It is also far “healthier”; we are
asking young people to reflect on
themselves as contributors rather
than (despite our best efforts) the
usual suspects of success, wealth etc.
It is a broader, richer, more personal
and more inclusive form of career
and surely that can’t be a bad thing!
**Part 2 of “Career by Contribution”
by Michael Hastings and Judy Heard,
to be published in next edition of
the Australian Career Practitioner
magazine (Autumn 2016).
REFERENCES
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2001).
Underutilised Labour: Unemployment trends
and patterns, in Australian Social Trends.
Retrieved from ABS website: http://www.abs.
gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417a
eca25706c00834efa/855e6f87080d2e1ac
a2570ec000c8e5f!OpenDocument
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2008).
Trade union members, in Australian Social
Trends. Retrieved from ABS website: http://
www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/
Lookup/4102.0Chapter7202008
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2009).
Patterns in work, in Australian Social Trends.
Retrieved from ABS website: http://www.abs.
gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0
Main+Features50Dec+2009
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity.
Cambridge: Polity Press
Bauman, Z. (2005). Liquid Life. Cambridge:
Polity Press
Ray, C. (2005). Individualisation and the third
age. Centre for Rural Economy Discussion
Paper Series No. 3, University of Newcastle.
Retrieved from www.ncl.ac.uk/cre/publish/
discussionpapers/pdfs/DP3.PDF
**Full list of references is available on request.
and extent of our contribution will be
almost entirely personally drawn.
The career development industry’s
continuing relevance depends on
our ability to help people monitor,
shape and personalise their answers
to questions about the way in which
they can contribute. Clients will seek
answers about the nature of their
contribution: “Do I seek to contribute
commercially; environmentally;
socially; educationally; personally;
communally; psychologically;
physically … and so on?”; they will
seek answers about their rationale
for contributing: “What am I getting
out of this contribution?”, and they
will seek answers to the extent of their
contribution: “How much do I want or
need to contribute in order to achieve
what I want to achieve?”
It might be said that “career by
contribution” is a subjective, rather
than objective, expression of career.
As such, careers will be diverse,
complex and unique, and, importantly,
accommodating of those who are
marginalised or under threat of being
marginalised. Let us imagine a client
named Mamokah, a recent arrival
(with her family) from war-torn Sierra
Leone and a qualified nurse though
her qualifications are not recognised
in Australia. Mamokah is looking for
work and in a very difficult job market
may or may not find it. If she thinks of
career in the old language she finds
herself frustrated, effectively locked
out of the job market by her lack of
local qualifications, knowledge and
connections. In the old language she
has a stalled career and may end up
Most crucially, we
think that “career by
contribution” has much
to offer young people,
especially those who
are disadvantaged or at
risk of disengagement.
...we are asking young
people to reflect
on themselves as
contributors rather than
(despite our best efforts)
the usual suspects of
success, wealth etc.

18. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 201518
large number of service providers
have now designed their offerings to
give greater control to the participant
over program content and timing.
This provides a greater sense of
control to the participant during a
period already filled with perceived
uncertainty. Many programs also
leverage current technologies to
support program delivery and
outcomes. This may be through
online resource portals, online job
search management tools, online
videos or coaching modules, or
technologies to deliver coaching via
video.
New World content
The content and coaching topics
within these programs have
shifted too. In addition to practical
support with areas such as résumé
development, career exploration,
and interviewing, topics such as
LinkedIn profile development, video/
Skype interviewing, strengths-based
interviewing, social media coaching,
personal branding and online
networking are all now common
program inclusions. Additionally,
as the ageing workforce becomes
a traditional bricks and mortar
environment, recent years have
seen a dramatic shift to new flexible
delivery models and solution options.
With the workplace becoming
in c r e a s i n g l y d y n a m i c a n d
unpredictable, some companies and
individuals are now seeking options
that give the participant as much
control and flexibility as possible in
both content and delivery whilst still
maximising value for money.
Typically, most outplacement
providers still offer career transition
programs that include one-to-one
career coaching and/or group
workshops delivered either on-
site at the organisation’s premises
or off-site. One-to-one coaching
programs are still predominantly the
most requested and common type
of outplacement support, providing
an individual access to career
coaching sessions with a qualified
career practitioner. This typically
involves a number of sessions over a
defined period of time. Additionally,
group workshops are sought as a
cost-effective support option during
large-scale redundancies.
Whilst these may still be the most
requested types of services, new
alternative options are emerging
designed to offer lower cost structures
or customer-centric solutions.
These include virtual outplacement
programs, client-choice broker-
models and individual-designed
bespoke programs. In addition,
many companies are now providing
the individual with the opportunity to
source and select their own provider/
career coach to ensure an effective
fit.
Even within the ever-popular one-
to-one career coaching models, a
Redundancy is an all too common
side-effect of today’s rapidly
changing business environment but
as a career practitioner in this space,
it’s always so inspiring to see the
many organisations that actively seek
out qualified career practitioners to
provide support to their staff during
this potentially challenging time.
Corporate-sponsored career
transition support, also referred
to as outplacement, can play an
invaluable role in the successful
transition of both the company and
the individual during the difficult
period of uncertainty that is often
associated with restructure and
redundancies.
The effective consultation and
collaboration between an
organisation undergoing change and
a career practitioner or consultancy
with expertise in career transition can
assist not only with career outcomes
for the individual(s) affected but also
positively impact the organisation’s
productivity, retention and morale in
the post-change period.
Like all industries, the outplacement
industry is continually evolving in line
with changing market conditions,
societal expectations, shifting needs,
and emerging technologies and
knowledge.
Over the past decade outplacement
has matured and evolved as career
consultancies look to find ways
to continually improve individual
and company outcomes, service
satisfaction and value for money.
Structure & delivery models
One of the most noticeable changes
to the industry over the past 10 years
has been to the nature of program
delivery. Once an area seen as
Changing face of outplacement: new
look, same ethos
Gillian Kelly, Career Transition Consultant, Outplacement Australia; CDAA Divisional President
(Queensland) e: jill@outplacementaustralia.com.au w: www.outplacementaustralia.com.au
ARTICLES
One of the most
noticeable changes
to the industry over
the past ten years
has been to the
nature of program
delivery.

19. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 2015 19
and unique programs delivered
by individual career practitioners.
Together, we send a message
that corporate-sponsored career
transition support is not only good for
the individual but also good business
sense. Regardless of the delivery
vehicle or content within current
career transition programs, the
ethos and objective of outplacement
hasn’t changed – to help people
move forward positively and with
confidence into their future. It’s nice to
know that as career practitioners, we
can contribute to this worthwhile goal
and make a difference to someone
when they need it.
PS – If you are in this space and get a
chance, don’t forget to thank the HR
staff who seek out these programs
for their people as often they are the
silent heroes who go unnoticed but
enable us to make the difference we
do in people’s lives.
a significant issue, more emphasis
is being placed on transition to
retirement programs. Coaching in
consultancy or entrepreneurship
is also a common area of support
as more people move toward self-
employment, contracting, portfolio
careers or consultancy.
Another equally important area of
common support for organisations
experiencing change is coaching
for the staff remaining within the
organisation. This includes dealing
with change, and optimising retention
and engagement, along with specific
coaching for managers in notification
delivery.
The challenge
The challenge for the industry is, as it
always has been, designing delivery
models and support solutions that
maximise the value to the company
whilst optimising the care of the
individual.
Most qualified career practitioners
work to help organisations see past
the potentially dangerous practice
of just selecting providers by pricing
points.
Ideal provider selection
considerations:
- the qualifications and experience
levels of the provider
- the suitability of the length of the
program for the individual/s’ needs
- the robustness and currency of the
information in the program
- the suitability of the delivery model
for the individual/s’ circumstances and
preferences
- the availability of support systems for
the individual/s during the program
- the provider’s ability to support the
organisation during the planning and
post-notification phase
As with everything, the most important
thing is finding the right type of
program for the individual. Diversity
brings value to the industry and there
is a need for traditional programs
and virtual programs, for large bricks
and mortar career consultancies,
Sevenstepstomanagingjobsearchwellbeing
Jane Jackson, Career Management Coach & Author of Navigating Career Crossroads
e: jane@janejacksoncoach.com w: www.janejacksoncoach.com @janecareercoach
au.linkedin.com/in/janejackson
others, they usually will want to help
you, too.
6. Join a group or association:
finding a group of like-minded
people with common interests is a
great way to meet people and feed
your soul by doing something you are
passionate about.
7. Start building healthy
relationships today: it takes courage
to overcome loneliness. Find five
seconds of courage to take that first
step and you will enhance your life
greatly.
These tips will help our clients to
build a solid personal foundation
and support base. They will become
more self-aware, improve their sense
of wellbeing and become more
courageous in their job search.
When it comes to career transition,
it can be quite difficult for our clients
and if they don’t have support, it
becomes even more challenging. One
of the biggest issues that many people
struggle with, is loneliness. As a result,
we may go through life and fall into
relationships with people who aren’t
necessarily healthy for us, and it can be
hard to extract ourselves from them.
Here are seven steps to managing
healthy relationships and wellbeing
during career transition that we can use
to help our clients:
1. Look at yourself first: ask yourself,
who do you spend the most time with?
Are they positive people who you build
up? What activities do you participate
in? Do they relax you, invigorate
you, expand your social network?
2. Ask yourself, are you comfortable
with yourself? It is impossible to
have a healthy relationship with
someone else if you are not genuinely
comfortable with yourself. Facing the
fear of being alone can lead you to
important self-reflection.
3. Ask yourself, are you worried
you aren’t good enough? Valuing
yourself will lead to being your
authentic self and this, in turn, enables
you to make a real connection with
others.
4. Reach out to old friends:
once you’ve built a solid personal
foundation and are comfortable with
yourself, you will be ready to build (or
rebuild) positive relationships.
5. Be interested in others: kindness
begets kindness and when you help

20. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 201520
are considering self-employment, so
that the business they design enables
them to do their best work and live the
lifestyle they want.
Market yourself
We live in a world of marketing, and
job search is no different. Great
contemporary résumés showcase
concisely what you can offer a
company, with the most impactful
and relevant information in prime
position. A dated résumé is unlikely to
be considered.
Who knows about you?
Genuine networking, that is true
person-to-person communication
and not just reading nametags and
shaking hands at a function, is where
outstanding connections can be made
which may lead to great new jobs.
This should be a part of your overall
personal career management, not just
when you are in crisis. Networking
through your LinkedIn Profile should
be part of most job search campaigns.
Interviews
Avoid making comments that fuel any
age bias such as “I’m not good with
computers.” Use of technology is now
considered a basic skill. Focus your
attention on what you can offer the
company into the future, not on what
you did years ago. Refer to experience/
achievements then demonstrate how
they apply to your ability to fulfil the
needs of the new role.
Your public persona
A contemporary personal style, a
can-do attitude and a strong aura
of self-belief can negate age issues.
Demonstrate that age is irrelevant to
how capable you are through your
appearance and your interactions.
those who choose to undertake their
job search with energy, enthusiasm
and a contemporary approach create
a very different impression that is far
more likely to lead to success.
Mature age workers bring with them
a lifetime of skills and experience, but
they also bring issues that are different
from younger workers. From my work
with older workers I have found that
these are the messages that are most
beneficial to them:
Take your time
Yes, it is worth spending time and
money with a career professional.
Aiming for work that is right for you
at this stage of life, with your current
goals, dreams and constraints, is
vital to how happy you’ll be with your
new job. Utilising the right job search
strategies, researching and networking
appropriately could save you months of
anguish. Personal career management
is about taking initiatives to manage
how you will reach your next goal.
Know yourself
By the time you have reached a
“mature age” most people think
they have themselves sorted out to
some extent. However this is a great
time to consider what really matters
personally at this stage of life. Values,
preferences, goals, strengths, and
even how you like to interact with
others, can change over time. You
need to recognise what is important
to you now, not what was important to
you 10 or 20 years ago.
This is also very relevant to those who
Despite the official policies
of government agencies, age
discrimination continues to be a
problem for mature age workers.
Most only seek career assistance when
they have experienced an unexpected
job loss or, worse, when they are still
unemployed months after losing their
job. Some proactively seek help when
they recognise that work is making
them unhappy or undermining their
confidence and they want a change, a
new job or a whole new direction.
Many come driven by fear: “Will I ever
be able to get another job, and if I
can’t how will I manage financially?”
This is heightened by confusion about
how they should approach their job
search, emotionally charged with
hurt or anger about the cause of their
situation and mixed with a dose of
skepticism about whether it is worth
spending money talking to a career
professional about their situation.
Whilst age discrimination is usually
blamed, often the biggest pitfall they
will face comes from themselves: not
their actual age but their attitude and
approach to their job search. Believing
that their age will be a barrier can
become self-fulfilling. In contrast,
ARTICLES
Mature age career transition in a changing
landscape: age is just a number
Jenni Proctor, Transition Strategist for Baby Boomers’ Careers, Clarity Connections
e: jenni@claritycareermanagement.com.au w: http://claritycareermanagement.com.au/
Jenni Proctor
Many come driven by
fear: “Will I ever be able
to get another job...”

21. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 2015 21
that forming long-term healthy
relationships is a buffer for overall
well-being at any time. That also
makes good sense.
In a time-poor age where even
people close to you in your network
are just hanging onto their jobs by a
thread, or have also suddenly found
themselves in unexpected career
transition, this can seem like a big
ask. Indeed, it presents a number of
challenges when coaching a client
in transition to utilise networking
strategies:
Help your client overcome fears: for
anyone suddenly faced with the loss of
employment, the first thing is to help
them understand that there are many
irrational fears associated with being
in such a state. Facing their family,
friends and neighbours can seem like
a daunting nightmare. However, the
actual experience is often quite the
opposite; many people show empathy
and understanding during this time.
Encourage your client to make contact
and be willing to share their feelings.
Taking a step at a time: encouraging
your client to start with small weekly
goals is a good place to start. The low
lying fruit is best picked with the least
effort and creates bigger, regular wins
than an overwhelming list of tasks.
Let them begin by identifying who
they know and making a list. All they
need to do is reach out and perhaps
invite them to a coffee meeting.
Networking is challenging but still the
best strategy for moving forward
Warren Frehse, Career and Coaching Strategist, Career Development Advisor, Swinburne University of
Technology e: warren.frehse@bigpond.com https://au.linkedin.com/in/warrenfrehse
ARTICLES
Helping clients making a career
transition always evokes a glazed
look when asking, “Have you been
networking lately?”
As a seasoned career development
practitioner will tell you, it’s all about
the 80% of jobs that are found that
way. If you don’t spend the time
doing it, you are simply bashing your
head against the proverbial wall,
trying to adopt the seagull approach
of swooping on a job the minute it’s
advertised on a job-seeking website.
Or so we tell our clients, anyway. The
fact is that very few truly grasp what
networking is all about. In recent
times, I have, and no doubt others
have too, found jobs on websites or
via social media.
The challenge of networking
in a rapidly changing world
Maybe if the definition of networking
is stretched a little, it could be said
that finding a job on LinkedIn, for
example, is a form of using a network.
Others could simply claim it was an
advertised job like any other.
So traditional face-to-face networking
is getting very blurred in this digital
age.
According to The Five O’clock Club
(fiveoclockclub.com), a New York
based job search coaching group, you
must see your networking associations
as a long-term investment in your
overall career development.
Networking, they claim, is about
relationship- and career-building,
not just job-hunting. So every
meeting and interaction is a long-
term investment, and an opportunity
to build relationships that can help
advance your career.
Author of Flourish, and reclaimer of
the positive psychology movement,
Professor Martin Seligman, says
Create a safe networking context:
the last thing a client in transition
wants is to be a burden on someone
they know quite well. Encourage them
to stay focused during a meeting.
Centre their objective on getting
referrals, rather than insisting that
the person will get them another job.
This maintains a good long-term
relationship with a key member of
their network without loading them
with unrealistic demands.
Author of Transitions: Making Sense
of Life’s Changes, William Bridges,
explains that endings often present
opportunities, however, the neutral
zone or time of transition can be
emotionally numbing for the client. A
new beginning, he says, is the result
of a focus on launching new activities.
Moreover, networking is an outward
activity which assists in getting
connections made that can lead to
positive results. Stanford University’s
Professor John Krumboltz, who wrote,
Luck Is No Accident: Making the Most
of Happenstance in Your Life and
Career, further supports the idea
that networking can create the right
combination of being in the right
place at the right time.
Networking and building healthy
long-term relationships are still the
best preventive strategy to take the
next positive step in your career and
life.
REFERENCES
Seligman, Martin E. P., Flourish: A Visionary
New Understanding of Happiness and Well-
being, 2012
William Bridges Transitions: Making Sense of
Life’s Changes, 2004
John Krumboltz, Luck Is No Accident: Making
the Most of Happenstance in Your Life and
Career, 2010
Networking... is about
r e l a t io n s hip an d
career-building, not
just job-hunting.

22. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 201522
What to expect during the
application process
Before a person can start, their
application will be assessed against
the eligibility criteria. If they are
approved, they will then commence
Certificate III in Small Business
Management. During the course,
they will receive training in business
management and also receive
assistance to develop a business plan.
Their completed plan is then
assessed for viability in several key
areas, including industry knowledge,
qualifications, premises, funding,
cashflow and marketing.
If successful, the individual then
receives income support, as well as
ongoing mentoring while they set up
their very own small business.
Having the right attitude
The rising need for entrepreneurial
skills in our changing labour market
is evident in the evaluation of the
NEIS program’s success. According
to Mitchell, it is not necessarily the
business idea, but the enthusiasm,
perseverance and attitude of the
participants that determines whether
or not a small business will be
successful.
“Starting a small business can take a
lot of effort and hard work,” Mitchell
said. “Therefore, we need to make
sure people have the passion,
determination and the right mindset,
in addition to having a great business
idea.
“Someone can have the best business
idea in the world but still fail at
running a business,” Mitchell said. “It
comes down to the old adage – 1%
inspiration, and 99% perspiration.
The NEIS program is one of the
From time to time, as a career
development professional, you may
come across individuals who don’t
suit the corporate mainstream.
These people may be difficult to place
within a large corporate organisation
but they may possess the enthusiasm,
tenacity and entrepreneurial mindset
to set up and run their own business.
However, they may not know the next
steps to take; they could feel scared
by the prospect of being unemployed;
or feel that the corporate path is the
only career path available to them.
The good news is that there is an
Australian government program
called the New Enterprise Incentive
Scheme (NEIS) that can help these
people set up and run their own
viable small business.
According to Bettina Mitchell,
National Manager for the NEIS
program at Mission Providence, NEIS
can be a “great fit for people who
have a good idea for a business but
who are unsure of the next steps to
take.”
About NEIS
Through NEIS, an individual can
receive free, accredited training in
small business, mentoring support
for up to 12 months, and receive 39
weeks of income support, irrespective
of business income, while they’re
setting up their own small enterprise.
There are eligibility criteria that
applicants need to meet and
the proposed business must be
independent, reputable and it has to
be commercially viable. The business
must not involve the takeover of
another business, and must also have
access to start-up capital as NEIS
does not supply bulk sum payments
such as grants or loans.
Australian Government’s longest
running employment activities and
it has helped more than 100,000
people develop and set up their own
viable businesses around Australia. As
a new employment services provider,
and the largest NEIS provider, Mission
Providence has been operating since 1
July 2015. Since then, it has already
received some 1500 applications from
people interested in starting their own
small business and has commenced
523 people into NEIS training.
Some of the comments received from
clients that attended a recent NEIS
training course included the following:
•“I have been excited about my idea,
but now I can see how much I can do
to ensure the success of my plan.”
•“The other people in the room were
just as passionate about their idea as I
am. I felt at home.”
•“I wished I’d done this course 10
years earlier!”
•“I learnt how to talk like a business
owner – they think about things
differently!”
Mitchell mentioned that there were
a wide range of reasons that people
chose to start their own business. This
included the chance to make more
money, or the chance to turn a dream
or a hobby into a profession.
“The number one reason is that people
simply want to be their own boss,”
Mitchell said.
Over 2 million people in Australia run
their own small business, and most
would agree that having access to the
right information and support before
an individual launches their business is
crucial to success.
NEIS: building entrepreneurial skills for
businesses of the future
Anthony Rumble, Marketing and Communications Manager, Mission Providence
e: rumblea@missionprovidence.com.au w: missionprovidence.com.au
ARTICLES

23. Australian Career Practitioner Summer 2015 23
Irregular work. Unpredictable hours.
Uncertain salary. Removal of powers.
No paid leave. Limited workers’ rights.
Job insecurity at dizzying heights.
Casuals employed on a restricted basis.
Freelancers, contractors – some of the faces.
Self-employed consultants – like me; like you.
Many career practitioners fit in this group too!
Competition for jobs is so very keen,
The effect on society not instantly seen.
Casuals push wages and conditions down.
Employers will love it. Workers might frown.
Employers are happy. They can’t stop grinning
Everything’s legal now. They’re always winning
Increase staffing as the workflow requires.
Reduce the workforce? Just get rid of hires!
The flexibility and cost saving are second to
none.
A permanent workforce? No – that can’t be
fun!
Instead, pay casuals an hourly rate of pay.
Only when needed – that’s the modern way.
No need to worry about annual or sick leave.
No need to worry. No need to grieve.
Casuals can be discharged without any notice.
No severance pay required to regain their
focus.
All across Australia – ever more apparent,
Mining jobs appear – not always transparent.
Where once a full-timer earned terrific wages,
Today, their ‘casual’ rate is really quite
outrageous.
Some may argue that the flexibility is great!
Mums get to choose a preferred work date,
Care for their family then do a second shift,
Get paid for that work – oh what a rare gift!
Mature age workers can now stay in the race.
With casual work, they can determine the pace.
Babysit the grandkids. Pickups after school.
Work when they want – that’s the golden rule.
Students paying their way through university
Welcome casual work and its availability.
Gain valuable experience. Make extra money.
Experience ‘the modern way’. Sometimes, it’s
funny.
But securing a home loan is usually pretty tough.
For casuals, this process is really very rough.
The banks want proof you can service a loan.
Unpredictable salary makes this figure unknown.
The world of work keeps changing. It always will.
Progress is the only constant. We can’t keep still.
We’re not politicians or unionists. That is not our
role.
We’re here to guide our clients. That’s our major
goal.
Helping people navigate this modern way of
work.
This is something that we do. A satisfying perk.
Inspiring hope and confidence – another thing
we do.
Helping others understand a different point of
view.
CASUALISATION THE MODERN WAY
Fay Libman, Career Coach & Consultant e: fay@flaircareers.com.au
https://au.linkedin.com/in/faylibman