National Careers Exhibition 2013

The Centre for Career and Personal Development (CCPD) at Canterbury Christ Church University were exhibitors and presenters at this year’s National Careers Exhibition at Olympia recently.

CCPD Staff Jacquie Minter at our stand at the exhibition

Four members of the centre were kept busy for two days explaining the wide ranges of programmes, courses and professional development on offer.  We also had a steady stream of alumni popping in to say hello and to update us on their own career development and successes.  Some just stopped by to say how much they had enjoyed the two very popular seminars presented by Rebecca Tee and Barbara Bassot and to meet the staff from CCPD.  

CCPD Staff Anne Chant speaking to an interested visitor to the stand

A thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding experience was had by all and we look forward to next year. If you didn’t have the chance to see us in person do drop us a line or check out our programmes and courses on our website: http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/education/ccpd/

Rebecca Tee

 

Centre for Career & Personal Development exhibit at at the National Career Guidance Show 20th/21st March 2013

Dr Barbara Bassot, Anne Chant, Jacquie Minter and Rebecca Tee from CCPD are exhibiting at the National Career Guidance Exhibition at Olympia on Wednesday 20th March and Thursday 21st March 2013.  Held in Olympia Hall 2, this annual exhibition of over 100 organisations is aimed at professional career guidance advisers, careers teachers, managers and practitioners working with young people, students, graduates and adults.

Barbara and Rebecca will be presenting seminars as part of the event on The Career Thinking Session and Taking the floor: How to give presentations with impact amd aplomb respectively. 

The CCPD stand 93 will give you a friendly welcome if you want to come and say hello and you can find out all about our current offer of courses, programmes and consultancy.

New Publication by CCPD Staff

Hazel Reid and Jane Westergaard are delighted with the recent publication of their new book 'Effective Supervision for Counsellors: An introduction' (Learning Matters / Sage).

The book will be a valuable resource to both supervisors-in-training and those who work in the broad remit of the 'helping professions' and are supervising or being supervised.

Norman Claringbull, the Counselling Series Editor for Learning Matters / Sage says:

"This is an excellent hands-on book that will be of enormous help to supervisors and supervisees alike.  At its heart, the book shows supervisors and supervisees how to get the best out of their working relationships.  This book is full of useful exercises, practical hints, case studies and lots of guidance  about future learning".

Do you wonder what the reality of the post-modern career feels like?

I am a believer in the changing nature of career and thought I understood what Castells (1996) means when he talks about the emerging “network society” in the new “information age” with “flows of people and information”.  However until last night I don’t think I had actually experienced it.  How could I have experienced it without changing jobs?  I am still a careers advisor working in a secondary school.

I attended a play last night, “Consumed” by Border Crossings, and in many ways I was able to experience the reality of it through the lives of the characters.  It wasn’t directly about careers and I was there for a night out but I came away with a strong sense that this was really interesting and useful in the current debate about career.  It struck me that this was what the “network society” and “information age” that Castells talks of actually looks like.

In a dramatic way it gave an insight into some of the issues facing modern workers in the age of globalism and information technology.  I would suggest that it gives food for thought in the debate of how we prepare young people for the challenges they may face in the future and issues some adults already encounter.  “Consumed” is playing in various parts of the country until mid- March 2013.  I would highly recommend it, its relevance to careers is not its major focus but that is in fact the strongest relevance , it is much more like real lived experiences where the complexity of relationships and interactions are not foreseen in advance.

http://www.bordercrossings.org.uk/Productions/Default.aspx

As a careers professional in a school I encounter plenty of factual information and whenever possible employers or employees engage with our students to give them a sense of their personal reality. We cannot know what individual challenges and pressures will be faced whilst being part of the “flows of people and information”.  However, being able to experience that world, albeit through theatre must go some way to helping us understand what challenges our clients might face.  Theatre allows you to become immersed in every way, thus allowing learning to happen at a different level.

It is an experience I will take with me on my journey as a careers professional.  I hope that some of you have the chance to do the same.

Morag Walling

(MA in Career Guidance student at CCPD)

Castells, M. (1996) The information age: economy, society and culture. Vol.1: the rise of the network society. Oxford: Blackwell.