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Excerpts from a paper presented by Dorothy Abeywickrama at the Regional Workshop on Youth Employment and Career Guidance held in Colombo from 25 to 28 June, 2002 jointly organised by the Commonwealth Youth Program: Asia Regional Office, India and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Sri Lanka.

We are at a point in time when career guidance is in a dynamic state with transitions to transnational and global economies and globalisation of the workforce, massive changes in occupational structures plus high unemployment rates among both youth and adults the world over.

In Sri Lanka in common with many developing countries the problem is complex, enormous and severe. In this context discussing what career guidance, and one of its strategies, job counselling can do to mitigate the problem is, I feel, timely.

It is a 'socio political instrument', if properly and scientifically used which can help nations to bring about some kind of a balance in the distribution of human resources across undertakings in the public and private sectors, the entrepreneurial and self-employment sectors and even in relation to overseas jobs using migrant workers. Career Guidance has a special place in the educational/occupational/vocational and societal environments of today but the concept of career guidance goes back to the beginning of the 20th century.

In 1909, an American engineer Frank Parsons, now described as the father of Vocational Guidance, formulated the theory in his book 'Choosing a Vocation' - the Trait and Factor Theory of Vocational Guidance. He had been increasingly concerned about developing techniques by which school children, pre-adolescents and adolescent school leavers and adults could come to terms with a job by 'true reasoning' about jobs available to them.

It is really around Parsons' pioneering work, that more advanced and broad based theories of Vocational Guidance - and later called 'Career Guidance' theories were developed in USA. With time, the accent on matching a person (client) and jobs, was changed to include certain psychological aspects about the client such as values, attitudes, interests, preferences and choices, his self-concept, self-understanding and decision-making competencies. It was by the 2nd half of the 20th century that this change took place and this service took on the label 'Career Guidance'.

It was self-concept oriented. Self-concept, self-understanding and self-acceptance were of primary importance, and this has to be seen in juxtaposition with the occupational alternatives available to the client concerned. Vocational Guidance was now called Career Guidance. The type of Career Guidance and Carer Intervention Services delivered is related to the economic and human development status of countries. Many developing countries belong to the medium human development group, as defined by UN according to its Human Development Index (2001) and the problems are common to these countries.

So, what are the possible planned career guidance and counselling programs, to help youth to find jobs? The ideal strategy is counselling. Career counselling covers counselling through the lifespan differing at various stages, but including at every stage job counselling and other possible career intervention services. Role of the school

The primary service provider must be the school. O/Level and A/Level school leavers are increasingly confronted with decision making problems at these choice points. It is so for all school dropouts too especially those at secondary school level. However it is more so for A/Level school leavers, who face the reality of having to look for possible options only after they have failed to gain admission to the once coveted universities. At this point they find themselves completely aimless and rudderless and frustration sets in. This does not imply that it is less frustrating for O/Level or other secondary school leavers.

The declining role of the parents and the family has also come into play. The family which served as guidance counsellors and aides to decision making is also helpless partly because they have not been able to keep pace with the changes in this 'hi-tech' era and partly because of the breakdown of the role and standing of parents and elders, and the shift in values. Besides even if they did the increasing phenomenon of the generation gap and the youngsters not accepting family decisions at these choice points, progressively eliminate the family from the guidance role. There is, therefore, an imminent need for counselling through the school system. It is imperative that school counsellors must understand well the life stages of children, pre-adolescents and adolescents.

Between the ages of 11 and 12 they are in the fantasy stage. As children enter the first part of this phase - its all fantasy. At this age they imagine and want to be tree climbers, milk delivery men, nurses, doctors and even astronauts.

As they grow and develop from age 13 through 15 their job choices now begin to be gradually a little tentative, in that the youngsters start asking themselves questions such as does he have the ability to become an astronaut, or is he good in the subjects Biology and Chemistry to become a doctor etc. At the beginning when they were fantasizing, what pervades is their interest generated by what they see or hear about and are fascinated with or see as glamorous or adventurous. As they move up in the age and educational ladder, they question their ability - their adequacy to do what particular job - their capacity now begins to pervade their thinking and vocational decision-making.

Beginning towards the end of age 15, a further factor enters their vocational thinking, and that is, values. The pre-adolescent begins to realise that society places different values upon different jobs and careers. They also realise in a serious sort of way, that holders of different jobs have different salaries and rewards, status, holidays and security. By ages 16 and 17 appears the realistic stage in job choices. Now the three factors interests, capacity and values become sequentially significant when it comes to vocational choices.

It is really from age 17 onwards, that the adolescent youth enters the Realistic State of vocational choice. Now the youngster begins to examine other factors besides his interest, capacity and values - these are financial circumstances, allowable waiting time before he starts earning an income, family responsibilities, age and health and parents and the sureness of the support system. In the age ladder 17-19 is the first part of the realistic stage, which this group of researchers define as the 'Exploratory Stage' and ages 19-21 are described as the 'Crystallisation Stage' - meaning there is a sequential increase in specificity and concreteness in their thinking and in vocational decision-making. From 22-24 is considered to be the 'Establishment stage' and under this category will fall the student population in the Universities and the Tertiary Education Institutes.

School-to-work

This is a point of disjuncture for young people. It is actually a stage of continuity in discontinuity. I say so, because it is the stage the youngsters are beginning to ask themselves the questions "Who am I', 'Where am I going?'. 'What do I do to go where I want to go?.' Some useful tools in job counselling are the preparation of a 'Who am I?' statement. The counselee should list his assets and liabilities. What his qualifications, achievements, special talents, strengths, needs and wants, interests, abilities and hobbies are and what his weaknesses, handicaps and limitations are. His motivations should also be listed. This is a time consuming exercise. After that, discuss it vis-a-vis his family background, financial circumstances and his job aspirations. Another useful exercise for career decision-making is to get the youngster to do a needs' hierarchy. Starting with physiological needs, once that is satisfied it is safety needs, followed by social needs, then it is esteem needs, and finally self actualization needs.

Take the case of a youngster from a poor family, who has to be the sole income earner for his parents, who are both decrepit and old. In his case what is most important will be the physiological need - the need to survive. Here, in Sri Lanka, think of the way our rural female adolescents are lured to the garment factories. That again is, invariably, to meet this survival need. Today's youngsters face many challenges including changing occupational structures, shifting values and a situation of available jobs exceeding the demand for them. So, there is a growing demand for real literacy, numeracy, flexibility, and social adjustability even in societies of diverse cultures, and most important - trainability. Take trainability - the private sector experience appears to be, that it is easier to train an A/Level school leaver than a graduate.

Additionally, with the communication revolution, the world is virtually next door - we are confronted with the urgent need for such vocational preparation at diverse speeds to face, handle and cope with changes in the world of work. We have read about the transnational computer organization set up by a Sri Lankan, to which hordes of IT people are being ferried across to their headquarters in USA and branches in Islamabad and so on.

Information dissemination

Youngsters must be career educated to make them informed not only about the increasing cross-national mobility of workforces but also about the new career concept of 'career self-management'. All that I have said with reference to the School-to-Work transition stage, applies to the youngsters who pass out from the Universities and the Tertiary Education Institutes and are looking for jobs, who also form part of this vulnerable group.

Both through the school system and at the school-to-work transition stage, information dissemination is an important arm. The problem of youth unemployment must be approached from a mature and up-to-date perspective.

Putting out as much material as possible to help young people to have access to occupational information and gather knowledge about general employability skills is very useful another way to do so, is to infuse such information into the class textbooks in the school curriculum.

For example, textbooks used in the English class could include a job vacancy notice and the exercise to be how to draft a job application with reference to it, role play a job interview etc. What I mean is a career infusion strategy, thus making it 'career relevant schooling'. Even the use of cutlery at table, the use of domestic appliances such as irons, food mixers, washing machines etc., could be infused into the class curriculum. These, for instance, will help prospective West Asian migrant workers, in this case women.

By integrating subject matter relevant to vocational preparation, we will be systematically preparing pre-adolescents and adolescents to learn about jobs, the occupational structures, training opportunities and entry requirements in the world of work and prepare them to enter it. Additionally, the compilation and availability of dictionaries of occupational titles, career guidance directories, directories containing Apprenticeship Schemes and other training schemes would give young people the occupational information they are looking for. In this way young people should have easy access to these through the youth ministry service centres, community centres, public libraries and so on I am aware, that our youth ministry too did embark on such a project.

A handbook for use by young job applicants is available put out by the writer and the publisher is selling at cost, as it is a project to help youth. The National Institute of Education (NIE) also has put out a somewhat similar book. In my view, it is imperative that every secondary school leaver should be given a copy each of this type of book. What I am trying to stress is the importance of reachability. They should have easy access to publications such as these and they should be in Sinhala, Tamil and English.

Could not the youth ministry tie up with the education ministries and organise at least a one/two day's career guidance program through the school system for the target group-A level school leavers, immediately after the last paper of the A level Examination and at that same examination centre. Likewise, have a repeat program suitably modified for those sitting the O Level Examination. This should be on a countrywide basis and as a national strategy, attendance at which is made compulsory. Such a program should cover both paid employment and self-employment. What is very important is that each participant should be given little booklets spelling out general employability skills, occupational information, funding available for self-employment, feasibility project report writing, and so on. A similar program should be organised on a compulsory basis through the university system and at the tertiary education institutes too. I must explain, that my main focus is the easy and essential accessibility to employment information for all young people in this vulnerable group.

Co-operative efforts required as part of the career guidance and job counselling service Many persons contribute in the accomplishment of carer guidance services and its strategy of job counselling. In the school system - teachers, parents, school principals, counsellors, school prefects, parent-teacher associations, school development societies, and even the past pupils' associations, University Alumni and the tertiary education institutes' alumni groups, outside the school system, those concerned will be the policy makers, the implementers, specialists and consultants and advisory bodies, if any, in this field, public sector administrators, private sector employers, peer groups, NGOs, community leaders, the clergy, occupational/vocational groups, referral agencies, recruiting agents for overseas employment, local government officials and even the Gramasevakas and their counterparts in the region.

All of the above have a role to play in the job counselling process and in the provision of career guidance intervention services.

So, this is a message for the policy makers - to organise the career guidance intervention services not on a piecemeal basis, but on a planned and integrated basis in its national effort to get the target group ready for employment, and for each unit to make its legitimate contribution as a part of a national strategy. In sum, it is necessary to adopt a systematic and multi-pronged approach.

Career Guidance is right now in a dynamic state and more meaningful than ever before, to bridge the gap between school and the realities of the adult world, the rapidly shifting and changing occupational structure, the shifting values, the communication revolution and the globalisation of the workforce.

It is not a panacea for poverty or other social ills of developing countries. Nevertheless, it is an important 'sociopolitical instrument' for the successful handling, at least to some extent, of the employment problems and more particularly youth employment. All of these are multidimensional and complex and call for partnership among all organisations, and even nations, in the efforts to resolve it.

(Dorothy Abeywickrama is a Counselling educationist and a Consultant in Management and Career Development. She has the M.Sc. Degree in Counsellor Education from the Pennsylvania State University, U.S.A. She is the author of four books in English and Sinhala in this speciality. She is a former Personnel Manager in a multinational company. She was a resource person from Sri Lanka at the CYP Workshop.)

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