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X.2. The Internet and Careers Information
and Guidance: how to use it and what are the possibilities for integration
with existing services?
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You will see on this page information on:
This article is intended
to answer a series of questions on the possible utilisation of the Internet
for careers information and guidance purposes, in particular: · How the
features of the Internet can be combined with the practice of providing
Careers Information and Guidance · What services it is possible to supply
through the Internet, and in particular, what levels of advice and by what
means · How to use it and what type of integration is possible with existing
services.
1.
How the features of the Internet can be combined with the
practice of providing Careers Information and Guidance
There
are some features, which make the Internet particularly interesting to
organisations and associations, which have already started, or would like to
make available to their clients a careers guidance service.
The
large amount of quality careers guidance material, which it is possible to
access in the net free of charge.
- In a search carried
out during the period January 1998 - December 2000 more than 400 British
web sites dedicated to or usable for Careers Guidance were identified (Note 1). The
recorded sites cover a large number of topics, generally in a thorough
or extremely comprehensive manner and in a certain number of cases some
of the information is only available on the Internet.
- One of the
limitations of the Internet is, however, the difficulty of tracing some
information. In this case, as is well known, search engines exist and
some search engines, in order to facilitate further searching, even
offer thematic guides. The trouble is that, on account of the sheer
dimension of the Internet, neither system is very effective. For a possible
solution to the problem of tracing information, see Point 4.
The
possibility of being able to offer a careers guidance service at a low cost
and irrespective of opening hours, availability of premises, or place of
residence of the users.
Once
placed on the net, the sites are freely accessible by all those who have at
their disposal or can use a computer connected to the Internet.
- Like a book, the
Internet allows individual and autonomous reading of the sites on the
part of the users, and the consultation is independent of opening hours,
availability of premises, place of residence of the user, presence of
qualified careers advisers.
In
addition to the great ease of supplying the service, one aspect to highlight
is how inexpensive it is to use the Internet.
- The cost of setting
up a site depends on a series of variables, such as for example, the
quality and length of the included texts and the type of graphics
chosen, but in general ranges from £1200 to £12,000. Once set up, the
cost of 'going on line' and maintenance should not exceed £1200-1500 a
year and contrary to what happens in the case of running agencies or
producing printed guides, the cost is independent of the number of
users, that is, every site can be visited each year by thousands of
people without any additional costs.
- The cost is also
extremely low for the visitors to the site, assuming that they have it
at their personal disposal or have access to a computer connected to the
Internet.
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2.
What services it is possible to supply through the Internet,
and in particular, what levels of advice and by what means
One
point which must be kept in mind when structuring careers guidance services
via the Internet is the limited scope for interaction and the greater
impersonality of this tool compared to a face to face interview situation
between client and adviser.
- A thorough
examination of this point requires a careful definition of the
characteristics of the business of careers guidance in relation to the
type of information supplied and to the levels of interaction with the
client.
The
characteristics of the business of careers guidance in relation to the type
of information supplied and to the levels of interaction with the client.
The
business of careers guidance calls for the supply of information which,
according to the requirements of the client and the characteristics of the
organisation and of the careers adviser, is placed in a continuum that can
range from the supply of 'raw' information, provided without considering the
possible questions and the mental pictures of the client, to that of
individual advice, which consists of supplying information on the basis of an
in depth examination of the client's requirements and personal situation, and
often, of the joint client - adviser collaboration on possible solutions or
ways forward, during a face to face interview conducted whilst sitting down
together, without time constraints.
It
is possible to identify four different levels in the supply of information. In
order to give some examples, let's consider the case of a youngster who wants
to enter a university faculty, but who may have doubts about his capabilities
and about which faculty to choose. The levels are as follows:
- A. Supply of
general information without reference to individual client (raw
information). For example: a university prospectus, which quotes the
rules and regulations relative to enrolment at the university and a list
of the examinations for the different courses.
- B. Supply of
general information directed at the individual needs of the client, but
without the possibility of feedback. For example: a university
prospectus, which, in addition to the data supplied as in Point 1,
quotes a series of information on the qualities necessary to
successfully attend a university faculty and how to choose a particular
faculty.
- C. Supply of
general information directed at the individual needs of the client,
which allows limited possibility for feedback. For example: a 'help
line' for advice on universities. Direct contact with a careers adviser
allows more detailed treatment of individual cases, even though it is
still not ideal. In the case of the telephone, the relationship with the
adviser is purely verbal, and this can lead to an element of feeling a
nuisance and of taking up too much time which in turn can pressurise one
into feeling hurried.
- D. Supply of
general information directed at the individual needs of the client,
which allows good possibilities for feedback (individual face to face
interview, conducted sitting down together, without time constraints). This
option, provided that the adviser is well prepared and has the time at
his disposition, allows the supply of information, on the basis of an in
depth examination of the client's requirements and personal situation,
and the identification of solutions or ways forward, personalised to
suit the individual (Note 2).
- In considering this
classification one must keep in mind that the possibility of feedback
and the interview procedure (standing or seated) might not be enough in
itself to define the level of information. For example, a good printed
prospectus (level B) may prove to be better than the telephone situation
or a face to face interview with ill prepared, stressed out or
de-motivated advisers (level D). Let's assume, for our purposes, that
the information is always supplied to a good standard, at all levels.
At
this point we are better able to define the type of service which it is
possible to supply via Internet.
- At any given
moment, the total requests for information from the clients of careers
guidance services will be spread over all the levels, but each client,
according to his own personal situation and awareness, will request
information from one specific level and not the others, for example from
level C.
- One can debate to
what extent the requests of the clients tend to be distributed among the
different levels. Our personal experience is that a considerable part of
the requests, equal to roughly half, is concentrated on levels A and in
particular B.
The
use of the Internet then, provided that this takes place by using sites with
a suitable layout (in particular which contain 'general information directed
at the individual needs of the client', i.e. which consider the possible
questions and the mental pictures of the user -level B-, or if preferred,
which take a user tailored approach), allows the supply of a totally
satisfactory service to a large number, equal to roughly half, of the
client's requests.
- This percentage can
be further increased by combining the Internet with other tools which
allow feedback with qualified advisers (telephone, fax or electronic
mail) so as to satisfy even the requests from level C.
- Requests of this
type must be satisfied by recourse to one or more advisers. However the
service doesn't necessarily require the opening of actual agencies,
thereby avoiding a considerable increase in costs. The advisers can, in
fact, be hundreds of miles away, and provide this service under
agreement with a public body or bodies. That is to say, we can imagine
the existence of advisers specialised in providing (even from their own
home) an advice service by means of E-mail, fax or telephone -but E-mail
is much more economical compared to a 'help line' or fax and long
distance telephone calls -, to clients spread throughout the UK, under
an agreement with different public bodies. For a detail of this point
see Professional
Career Advice and Informations From a Distance (Cybercounseling).
- The Internet forms,
however, only a support role for clients who need information from level
D. It should be said that even a client who initially needs information
from level D benefits, however, from the gathering of information from
levels A to C, and that the information, so gathered, can, in a certain
number of cases, render superfluous individual advising.
In
conclusion, the utilisation of the Internet, either on its own, or with the
support of careers advisers working at a distance, can succeed in the total
satisfaction of the majority of requests from the clients of careers guidance
services.
- It should be said
that, at the moment, the number of sites which take a user tailored
approach is small, and that they cover only a part of careers guidance
topics. For a good example of this approach, see the Information Sheets at www.skill.org.uk
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3.
How to utilise the Internet and what type of integration is
possible with existing services
From
what has been said so far, it is possible now to return to how the Internet
may be utilised and to the possible integration of it with the other means of
supplying careers information and guidance.
The
possible solutions are included in two fundamental cases:
- A. Areas, where
careers guidance services are lacking or have insufficient
infrastructure or scope (for example, in large areas with low population
densities). In these cases Internet can be utilised to transform any
type of public place or place open to the public, where an agent and a
computer may be present, into a point for the supply of careers
information and guidance. Places particularly suited for a solution of
this kind are, for example, public libraries, schools, offices open to
the public. In addition to encouraging, in this way, the accessing of
information in existing sites, the managements responsible for careers
guidance can create their own web site containing information of local
interest and set up a distance careers advising service for clients in
their own region.
- B. Areas, where
careers guidance services are already established and easily accessible.
In these cases, it is possible to equip the agencies with terminals
linked to the Internet, which would allow the users autonomous access to
the majority of information normally requested from the advisers,
thereby reducing the workload of the advisers and improving the quality
of the service. Also, in this case, it may be opportune to create their
own web site containing information of local interest and set up a
distance careers advising service for clients in their own region. The
promotion of the utilisation of the Internet and the opportunity for
distance careers advising also has the advantage of reducing the number
of visits to the agency and allowing better coverage of the region and
the prospective reduction in the number of agencies themselves or of
their opening hours.
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4.
'Careers Information and Guidance on the Web', a tool for
careers guidance via the Internet
We
have seen so far how the utilisation of the Internet allows for setting up or
improving careers guidance services. This opportunity is, however, linked to
the possibility of overcoming the problem of finding information and of
setting up web sites, which take a user tailored approach to careers
information and guidance. With these objectives in mind, in the sphere of the
Project referred to at Note 1, the web site entitled Careers Information and Guidance on the Web has been
developed (the Italian section of the site is at www.aiuto.net). Careers
Information and Guidance on the Web is a 60 plus page guide to British
web sites dedicated to careers information and guidance, with extensive
coverage of the principal careers guidance topics. We recommend readers to
consult it directly for a detailed examination of its features and how to
utilise it (see, in particular www.aiuto.net/uk6d.htm).
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NOTE:
- 1. The Project,
directed at establishing new ways of utilising the Internet for careers
information and guidance purposes, has been promoted by the Professional Careers
Information and Guidance Services for the
District of Florence, Italy , and carried out by 'Servizi per
l'orientamento' and in particular by the author of this article. The
Project obtained financing from ISPO of the European Union.
- 2. So as not to
over-complicate this article, 'group discussion', in which a careers
adviser provides information, partly general and partly personalised, to
a group of clients (as, for example, in careers guidance courses for job
search, or for choice of university) has not been mentioned. The
discussion group can be placed, according to how it is conducted, in
levels C or D).
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