Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Career Development Is The Missing Piece Of The Puzzle

The Career Development Association of New Zealand’s response to Budget 2020

In the wake of Covid-19 jobs are understandably a significant focus of the Wellbeing Budget 2020: Rebuilding Together. Career Development practitioners are the expert workforce who directly link jobs, workforce planning and wellbeing, yet there is no direct provision in the Budget for New Zealanders to access professional career development support. The Career Development Association of New Zealand (CDANZ) believes there is a missed opportunity to develop a National Careers and Employability Strategy which utilises career professionals.

CDANZ Career Professionals hold career specific qualifications and meet rigorous Professional Standards. Their expertise in regional labour market information, career counselling and coaching skills, job search and employability skills, outplacement and transitions cannot be replicated through fast track training of staff from other sectors. This is the work Career Professionals trained for, and are deeply experienced in.

CDANZ recently surveyed its Professional members and 66% of respondents currently have the capacity to take on additional work if needed. There is a clear opportunity here for funded projects to engage career professions to deliver the best possible career and employability outcomes for New Zealanders.

The Budget includes substantial investment in areas such as jobs training and education ($14.7M) and initiatives to attract and train recently unemployed New Zealanders in the primary industries ($19.3M), yet there is no requirement for service providers to employ career professionals.

More than 47 independent international studies collated by the Career Development Association of Australia prove that individuals supported by career professionals are 2.67 times more likely to secure work in the first 6 months after losing their jobs. For the vast majority of job seekers, however, career development support is simply not accessible without government funding. The inequity of the current situation is glaring – only those who can afford it can access professional career support.

CDANZ has a workforce of career professionals ready to engage on the front line and in the development of programmes to deliver quality, sustainable employment outcomes for New Zealanders.

Opportunities to engage Career Professionals for better outcomes:

· $250M to help employ more frontline staff and $150M to expand MSD's employment support services:
Our recommendation: Utilise existing expertise from within the career development workforce. Establish full time career counselling roles for career professionals in the Ministry of Social Development’s 35 new employment centres across NZ.

· $1.6 billion Trades and Apprenticeships Training Package and free vocational training for all New Zealanders for the next two years
Our recommendation: Establish careers and employability services at every campus of NZIST

· 15 Regional Skills leadership groups will be established
Our recommendation: engage with local career professionals, who know their regional labour markets, to connect the right people with the right workforce opportunities

· Rapid retraining for workers from Hospitality and Aviation into Primary Industries
Our recommendation: a career development component is needed that considers individuals’ skills and career aspirations to support job retention and a sustainable return on investment.

Read the evidence – Career Development Works!

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