National Career Dev.Guidelines Overview.pdfVIP

National Career Development Guidelines Overview INTRODUCTION We live in a time when both youth and adults are confronted with constant change in many aspects of their lives. For example, changes in the workplace include a redistribution of available jobs, a more rapid rate of technological development and shifts in business structure. Individuals must invest in lifelong learning to remain competitive. All of this creates the need for frequent career decision-making and those decisions can impact on a person’s family, finances, health, social responsibilities, leisure time and overall lifestyle. It is clear that each person must manage his/her career. The skills to do so can be learned through career development programs for youth and adults. What is career development? Career development is a lifelong process comprised of many tasks that arise in conjunction with exploring, choosing and implementing decisions about educational, occupational and related life roles. In the broadest sense, career development can be understood as one of the many aspects of socialization that combine to create human development. In this case, it is that aspect of human devel- opment which includes how individuals incorporate their values about work, their beliefs about their own interests and abilities, their decisions about education, the ways they negotiate transitions into and out of work experiences and their unique interactions between work and other life roles. (Herr, 2004). THE NATIONAL CAREER DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES REVISION PROJECT The National Career Development Guidelines (Guidelines) resource identifies content, provides activities and materials and recommends program implementation strategies that support the career development process throughout life. The Guidelines can help practitioners: • prepare youth and adults for t