Creating a background fill in Adobe Acrobat

I needed to recreate a lost page in a book recently, and thought that I could simply copy the missing text into a text box, then fill the box with colour.

But no. Adobe Acrobat does not allow text boxes to have colour fills. It seems that Adobe considers pdfs to be the equivalent of a 'print' output: and Adobe Acrobat is not an editing tool. Despite the fact that many of us use it as such.

So what we need to do is: 

1. Firstly we create an image file - i.e. .jpg, .png - in the colour we need (I used PowerPoint with a background fill, and Saved As a .jpg)
2. Then, going into Adobe Acrobat, I navigated to the page, and selected the edit tool
3. I clicked the "insert image" in the toolbar, and navigated to the saved location of my colour image to insert it on the page
4. I used the pull handles to align the coloured image with where I wanted it to cover on the page
5. At this point the edit tool had lost focus on the page, so I closed the edit function, saved the file, then reopened edit
6. I was then able to click the image again and send it to back.

Job done.

But who would have thought something so simple would have required so many steps?

Sam 

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Rogerian versus Eganian career practice

In the beginning of client-centred career practice, there was Carl Rogers (Feltham & Horton, 2006). What I take out of the Rogerian approach to career development is my client is the focus and has my "unconditional positive regard" (p. 73); my job is to listen, and to 'mirror' my understanding back to the client; and I must be my authentic self in the space. Three of the "'necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change' [...are] (1) be yourself, (2) trust the client, and (3) listen. Collectively, they prescribe a quality of openness to experience - [i.e. the practitioner]’s own experience and the client’s. They demand at least tentative trust" (p. 66). 

This latter point is particularly important in career practice, and - in our domain, or unless we are also a trained counsellor - the discussion should stay on the side of workplace wellness, if we will; not illness. If we find ourselves straying into areas of grief, loss, or unwellness, we should refer on. Feltham and Horton note that "The remaining three conditions were that client and therapist be in psychological contact, that the client is in 'a state of incongruence' [which could be unwellness], and hence potentially motivated for therapy, and that the client perceives, to some degree, the presence of the other conditions" (2006, p. 66).

I am not invisible in the process, but I am 'behind the camera', so to speak. The client is foregrounded, like the image accompanying this post. My aim is often to make the client think deeply about what they want, and then work with them to consider what comes next. I help them take their first step: and they may only need me for that. I think of Rogerian client-centred therapy as a relational approach to career practice. 

The risks are that we have too much hui and not enough do-ey. It is always nice to talk about ourselves, but we are on the side of wellness, so should get to action at some point!

In the 1960s, springing from Rogerian, client-centred practice, Gerard Egan began working on a more pragmatic approach to career development, focused on managing client problems. This is framed as a "practical model for doing counselling" (Egan, 1975, p. v; emphasis added). Eganian practice takes a more change-oriented approach, often drawing on practitioner - helper - knowledge, tools and techniques at different times within the counselling process, and "emphasizes [the] clients' resourcefulness, resilience and capacity for constructive change" (Feltham & Horton, 2006, p. 334). Eganian practice "is relentless in incorporating new approaches, optimistic in its emphasis on the innate potential of human beings to move forward, to work with and resolve intrapersonal and interpersonal problems" (Jenkins, 2000, p. 163). There are lots of acronyms and frameworks to improve the process.

While I am feeling my way a little on this, I see Eganian practice as having a dual focus: one is on meeting client outcomes and goals; the other is on using/inventorying the career practitioner skills-bank. And as a result, this model - despite focusing on client change/action and therefore being transformational - feels more transactional and task-oriented. A bit prescriptive. There is more of a sense of haste, about the derived action, and getting the client to their next gig. 

The risks are that the client may not have reflected deeply enough, talked out the what-ifs, the exploration may have been too superficial as a result, and - as a result - the client may have made expedient decisions. 

Two approaches. Both serve their purpose.

Sam

References:

Feltham, C., & Horton, I. E. (Eds.). (2006). The SAGE Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.

Jenkins, P. (2000). Gerard Egan's Skilled Helper Model. In S. Palmer, R. Woolfe (Eds.), Integrative and Eclectic Counselling and Psychotherapy (pp. 163-164). SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446280409.n9

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A tripartite approach to career

I was thinking that in many ways, Hall (2004) was a seer. In 1976, he described the protean career, "a career orientation in which the person, not the organization, is in charge, where the person’s core values are driving career decisions, and where the main success criteria are subjective (psychological success)" (Hall, 2004, p. 1). Protean careerists have two key drivers: being self-directed, and being values-driven (Inkson et al., 2015).

In our ever-changing world of work, there is a great need for proactivity - self-directed - due to factors such as globalisation and technological advancements (Arthur et al., 2002; Kundi et al., 2024). A protean career attitude allows us to take charge of our career, to adapt, and to hopefully find career satisfaction.

Hall could see that we were going to move away from jobs for life into life-long development (2004), which today leads us to skill clustering. By gaining mastery in a range of skills which interest us, we can apply our particular skill set to any field.

And it is this act of applying our existing skills to any field which reminded me of a tripartite research approach: the dimensions of business research (Veal, 2005). This model has us consider three dimensions of approaches from our central idea in order to refine our ideas, using: contexts/domains; themes/issues; and approaches/methodology (Veal, 2005, p. 20; see diagram accompanying this post):

• Contexts & domains: Human Resources; Industrial Relations; Succession; On-boarding; Retention; Training and Development; Information Technology; International Management; Event management; Project Management; Strategic Management; Governance; Operations Management; Supply Chain; Logistics; Company law; Commercial law; Consumer law; Private sector; Public sector; Not-for-profit; Marketing; Economics; Financial Management; Accounting; Management Accounting; Marketing; Buyer Behaviour.
• Themes & Issues: Communication; Conflict; Culture; Entrepreneurship; Environment; Ethics; Gender; Ethnicity; Age; Stage; Leadership; Learning organisations; Managerial effectiveness; Motivation; Organisation development and change; Organisational behaviour; Climate change; Corporate Social Responsibility; AI; Digitisation; Technology convergence; career management; decentralisation versus centralisation; globalisation versus localisation; local versus national versus international.
• Approaches & methodologies: Subjective versus Objective; Positivist versus Critical/interpretive; Qualitative versus quantitative; Inductive versus deductive; Experimental versus non-experimental; Theory-building versus theory-confirming; Primary data versus secondary data; Self-reported versus Observed; Questionnaire-based surveys versus interviews versus Case study methods versus observations versus Focus groups; Exploratory versus descriptive versus explanatory.

We can consider our approach to our own career as a context (e.g. being people oriented, task-oriented, or values-oriented) or a domain (e.g. organisational development, private practice, career educator); in line with a theme (e.g. sustainability, refugee resettlement, or rehabilitation) or an issue (e.g. green energy, DEI, or access to services); using an approach (e.g. Rogerian client-centred practice or Eganian skilled helping) (Egan, 1975; Rogers, 1942) or a methodology (e.g. choosing tools and techniques). 

Now, while methodologies (Veal, 2005) might be a bit obscure, we could consider this as "The science of method, ‘methodics’; a treatise or dissertation on method; Nat[ural] Hist[ory], systematic classification. Also, the study of the direction and implications of empirical research, or of the suitability of the techniques employed in it" (Simpson & Weiner, 1989, p. 693). Determining the most suitable tools for the our issues - the work which is about us - makes perfect sense in this instance.

All this makes even more sense when we are considering our clients - the work which is before us - within our practice. We could consider our client's approach; taking a client-centred approach to our practice; working out the best tools to enable our client to meet their goals in our sessions.

I need to do more thinking on this, but I am quite liking this as a tool to frame options.

Sam

References:

Arthur, M. B., Khapova, S. N., & Wilderom, C. P. (2005). Career success in a boundaryless career world. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 26(2), 177-202. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.290

Egan, G. (1975). The Skilled Helper: A Model for Systematic Helping and Interpersonal Relating (7th ed., Instructor's ed.). Brooks/Cole Publishing Co.

Hall, D. T. (2004). The Protean Career: A quarter-century journey. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2003.10.006

Kundi, Y. M., Presti, A. L. & Khan, H. (2024). Designing your own job: how protean mindset and adaptability resources shape the modern workplace. Career Development International, 30(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1108/cdi-05-2024-0223

Inkson, K., Dries, N., & Arnold, J. (2015). Understanding Careers (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Rogers, C. R. (1942). Counseling and psychotherapy: newer concepts in practice. Houghton Mifflin.

Veal, A. J. (2005). Business Research Methods – A Managerial Approach (2nd ed.). Pearson Education Australia.

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Copying a Google Calendar from 2025 to 2026, part 2

In a recent post (here), I looked at the first stage of exporting a Google Calendar as an .ics file, and the next stage; working out how to update the dates so that I can import the updated version back into Google Calendar.

In the previous post, I had my data in a text file, as a vertical list of text strings containing the dates which need to be updated (depending on the type of calendar item each relates to). There are three 'types' of data in the export, all at various lengths, with the key date information that I want slopping around nicely on the far right in the unbracketed entries below, but lurking somewhere in the middle on the two bracketed examples:

DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250210 (or DTSTART:20250210T070000Z or DTSTART;TZID=Pacific/Auckland:20250210T070000)

DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250210 (or DTEND:20250210T080000Z or DTEND;TZID=Pacific/Auckland:20250210T080000)

Of course it couldn't be too simple, could it!

I needed to work out how to extract the date - 20250210 - from those various length strings, so then I could convert the date to a full date format (I wanted to see the formatted dates and days so I could work out which items needed to be moved to a particular day. This is for me to see which dates need to change to a particular day rather than a year less a day when moving items year to year: Zooms tend to be on a particular night of the week, so being able to see the date in date format with the day makes it much easier to make the right adjustment. To do that, ended up having to do a three step process (despite trying all sorts, I ended up giving up and doing it an easy way!). First, I extracted the data from the colon in each data string, using a 'mid' function in Excel in column I:

=MID(B30,FIND(":",B30)+1,LEN(B30)-FIND("T",B30))

Secondly, in column C, I ran the following:

=LEFT(I30,8)

Thirdly, I then picked up the product of that C30 in D30 with a date reorganise using Excel's 'left', 'mid', and 'right' functions, also with a custom date format with days ([$-en-NZ]dddd, d mmmm yyyy):

=DATE(LEFT(C30,4),MID(C30,5,2),RIGHT(C30,2))

Crikey. And that got me to being able to begin to update the calendar data.

Now I need to work out an easy way to bulk change dates...!

Sam

read more "Copying a Google Calendar from 2025 to 2026, part 2"

Career clusters and vague roles

The world of work has become much more complex. The world today is full of 'vague roles', where we have gone from structured professions where we have a pretty clear idea about what people do in those careers, to something that is a lot more amorphous and hard to define (Lengelle, 2019). In the 1970s, The Netherlands did some research and found there were around 5000 defined roles and few vague roles (Lengelle, 2019; Young, 2019). However, if we roll the clock forward to 2012, "the Central Bureau of Statistics in the Netherlands[ repeated that research, and ...] What they found was that there were only about 1,000 of those definable professions[ left: ...] like dentist, English teacher, nurse, those type of things; and - if you can believe it - 23,000 of those vague roles (Lengelle, 2019; Young, 2019).

In 2018, the consultancy firm AlphaBeta produced a report For Tertiary Education Commission - aka TEC - to help guide departmental policy. The research team analysed over a million New Zealand job ads and identified six career clusters, as follows (AlphaBeta, 2018):

1. Inventors "have technology and business skills, alongside creativity and problem solving"
2. Organisers have "service-oriented and administrative skills"
3. Healers "have caregiving expertise and some administrative and corporate skills"
4. Operators have "manual skills, good communication skills and a positive attitude"
5. Engagers "have sales skills combined with deep interpersonal skills"
6. Crafters have "sophisticated industrial skills and organisational skills" (AlphaBeta, 2018, p. 5; Betts, 2024, p. 18).

The result of this is that employers are unwise to seek narrow, overly-defined skills to fit a candidate to a particular job. Instead we should hire on broader transferrable, interdisciplinary skills, and assume, as the report found, that training for one job has portability to another 12 (AlphaBeta, 2018, p. 5). 

This should help employers find fewer skill gaps. It may also encourage recruiters and employers to write more accurate job descriptions. 

In addition, our systems may put a lot of pressure on school leavers to pick their career, rather than to begin experimenting. Other actions that young people can take are: networking, internships or job shadowing, working part-time, and trying many roles for potential fit (Betts, 2024). 

It all sounds so easy. 

Sam

References:

AlphaBeta. (2018). Hidden Links, New Opportunities: How big data and job clusters can improve the 1.2 million job matches in NZ each year [report]. https://www.tec.govt.nz/assets/Reports/49efa6f071/Hidden-Links-New-Opportunities-Report.pdf

Betts, R. (2024, August 31). Just the Job. New Zealand Listener, 34, 16-21.

Lengelle, R. (2019). Scared, Lost or Confused? Develop Your Warm Inner Compass through Career Writing [webinar]. CERIC. https://ceric.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Reinekke-Lengelle-Presentation-CERIC-Webinar-Career-Writing-2019.pdf

Young, S. (2019, October 14). The growth in vague roles. https://www.samyoung.co.nz/2019/10/the-growth-in-vague-roles.html

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When to refer on, part 1

How do we 'know' when we are working within our own practice competence? And from there, how do we then decide to refer clients on?

We should consider referring on in any of the following scenarios. A client may have become 'stuck' with us and no progress is being made. Emerging client problems may appear too complex or demanding for us to make meaningful progress. We may feel we have lost our way. Our own lives may suddenly become too complicated, so we need to lighten our load: and we can be "hesitant to admit to feeling stressed because of fear of being labelled weak, unable to cope or incapable of professional practice" (Cooper, 2011, p. 137). It takes courage to refer clients on to other professionals. But doing so can make us a better practitioner.

But how do we know, in the midst of practice, that we need to refer on? We need to 'practice' reflection. So after each session, we reflect (no matter how briefly), but running through anything that was good, could be improved, or surprised us is likely to need more attention. We can deliberately consider a time when our work with a client felt 'too hard', or when client sessions were producing nothing new: then we are likely to gain some insight. The following questions may help:

• Did we feel competent to work with this client?
• Did we stop, and let them know that we felt stuck?
• Did we ask the client what they needed?
• Could we have referred them to someone else at that time?
• On reflection what would we do differently next time?

And remember that we need a safe pair of hands to share this with. As we learn or formalise our practice, and as a reflective practitioner, we learn that we too need to seek "support, advice, and consultation" (Nelson, 2014) from our colleagues - or specialists - to assist our client work; to both keep us safe, and to further develop us. In an NCDA article, Nelson provides us with a few sensible pieces of advice:

• "Know when to refer a client to a therapist; it is okay to suggest putting aside career work until personal issues are worked through"
• "Don't be afraid to refer clients to colleagues whom you think would be a better fit; colleagues will refer clients to you"
• "Consult with colleagues when it makes sense, to learn about resources or for their particular expertise. This experience will enrich your practice by learning from your peers. Don't underestimate how important fellow counselors are not only for support but for future career opportunities"
• "Always maintain the confidentiality of your clients unless they give you permission to disclose. Even if you have permission, disclose as little as possible"
• "Take care of yourself. You can't give anything if you're empty yourself. Counseling can take a lot out of a person" (Nelson, 2014).

It sounds simple, but it isn't: we need to be able to step out of our practice and observe. And like most things in our field, this too is a learned skill.

Sam

References:

Cooper, P. A. (2011). Chapter 10: The implications of workplace stress on service development. In D. B. Cooper (Ed.), Developing Services in Mental Health-Substance Use (pp. 137-146). Radcliffe Publishing Ltd.

Nelson, M. (2014). 30 Tips for New Career Counselors. National Career Development Association (NCDA). https://www.ncda.org/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/5417/_self/layout_details/fals

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Copying a Google Calendar from 2025 to 2026, part 1

Firstly, I would like to say that I am very grateful that Google calendar exists. It allows me to harmonise all my appointments across three systems: my 'trinity' selves. I invite myself at two workplaces, and to my cellphone - across three email addresses - using GCal as my Master calendar. It is a bit complicated, but I have managed to make most things work so I keep track of my commitments.

Secondly: I have a little niggle with GCal. I would love to have a way to "copy" this year's calendar to next year. I have not yet QUITE worked out how to copy one year's appointments in Google calendar to the next year, including moving all the appointments/events/tasks back one day so they all fall on the appropriate day of the week. I have been fiddling around the edges of this problem for years, and not really getting to a clear solution. However, recently I have got a bit closer to a solution.

It began with me posting a question on Google Calendar Help, earlier this year:

Copy Google Calendar Events from 2024 Calendar year to 2025 year
I am sure there must be a way to do this, but I cannot work it out. I am a lecturer. For each of the papers I teach, I create a sub-calendar in Google containing all the reminders, week numbers, assignment starts, topics, meetings and deadlines. However, I have not been able to successfully export LAST year's sub-calendar for each paper - say to Excel, change the dates to THIS year - then reimport it as a new sub-calendar into my master Google calendar. Is there a way? Can someone help?

I got a reply from Priya Chandra, who said that I could "use the export/import feature of Google Calendar to bulk edit events. This video shows you how to do that: https://youtu.be/hJdGBmHDafA", pointing me towards a GCalTools video (2020).

On watching the video, it showed me how to delete a calendar which was wrongly imported. It explained clearly how to export a calendar as an .ics file, open it in a text editor (like Notepad) and edit a repeating line of code to then reimport the calendar to bulk remove the wrongly imported entries (GCalTools, 2020).

While I didn't want to remove imported entries, the video made me think that perhaps I could export one of my calendars, change the dates to next year, and reimport the edited .ics file. I started trying to work out how to do that. I exported one paper's calendar, which had 48 calendar items. I opened the .ics in Notepad, highlighted the export data, and copied the resulting lines of code into Excel. Then I realised it was over 1000 lines long. Ouch.

OK. So maybe I should filter the entries to see if there was a logical set of entries with 2025 in them. That might help me decide which were the key lines of code I should edit to change the appointment dates. Ah: 255 lines containing 2025 for 48 appointments. And I might not need to edit all the lines...

I unfiltered. I could see no obvious 'master' lines for each calendar item. Hmm.... what if I create a 'test' calendar with a couple of different appointment types in it - one multi-day appointment, and one repeating appointment. If I exported the test calendar, I might be able to see what I should be looking for. I did that, and it worked PERFECTLY. It seemed that the lead entries for each new calendar item began with the following two prefix lines:

DTSTART

DTEND

Different types of calendar item had different text following those prefixes, but at least I knew what separated each appointment. Now all I needed to do was to work out which, and how many dates, I might need to change.

So I took another look at my test export data. I wondered what would happen if I only changed the DTSTART and DTEND dates. These were formatted as number strings with the year first, then the month, and lastly the date: 20250210.

I opened my exported Test .ics file, and changed the DTSTART and DTEND dates to one year ahead, and one day back: to 20260209. I reimported it to my next year's version of my Google Calendar for this paper. And it worked perfectly.

However, now I have 48 appointments to change with variable dates, in variable formats. That will be an Excel formula job which I will begin to tinker with in Part 2 (and maybe part 3 if it gets too complicated - we will see) :-)

Sam

References:

GCal Tools. (2020, November 12). How to undo an import to Google Calendar [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/hJdGBmHDafA

Google Calendar Help. (2025, January 1). Copy Google Calendar Events from 2024 Calendar year to 2025. https://support.google.com/calendar/thread/319764201/copy-google-calendar-events-from-2024-calendar-year-to-2025-year?msgid=320864848#

read more "Copying a Google Calendar from 2025 to 2026, part 1"

Phased learning and practice

So what happens if we attend a training course, but never have the need - or have the ability - to practice the skills that we learned? I suspect this often happens with workplace-organised computer or IT system training courses. We go to a course to learn about a new thing, and perhaps we don't have access to the app, or we don't end up needing to apply those skills in our work, and - over time - the skills we learned erode away.

But just how fast do those skills erode? Well, apparently, when we undertake training without the opportunity to practice for extended periods of time, we lose something between 71% and 84% of what was taught... all within 28 days of delivery (Arthur & Day, 2018, p. 9). Ouch. That is QUITE fast.

In addition, some skills we learn in phases. For example, we can see three phases in learning to keyboard as follows: 

"first, the 'Cognitive phase', different movement patterns for keystrokes are learned, relying on declarative mediation and visual feedback of the keyboard. In the second, the 'Associative phase', the movement patterns become more internalized, and [learners] begin to rely more on kinesthetic feedback. At the end, in the 'Automatic phase', [learners] rely primarily on kinesthetic feedback, and can spend most of the time gazing at the screen (Johansson et al., 2009), while allocating minimum attention to the typing process (Trubek, 2011). However, since touch-typing is a complex cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skill (Poole & Preciado, 2016; Weintraub, Gilmour-Grill, & Weiss, 2010), its acquisition requires systematic instruction and much practice (Rieger, 2007)" (Weigelt-Marom & Weintraub, 2018, p. 133).

That's pretty cool to know. And it is not just Weigelt-Marom and Weintraub who have found three stages. Donica et al. (2019, p. 2) also report a similar three phase process with keyboarding: 

"Keyboarding skills develop in a three-step motor skill progression (Stevenson & Just, 2014). Stage 1 uses cognition and vision while addressing letter identification and locating letters on the keyboard through touch keyboarding instruction. Stage 2 uses home keys and the development of muscle memory to select the keys using good technique. Stage 3 involves the mastery of the muscle memory and decreased use of vision to locate the keys. During Stage 3, speed increases and keyboarding becomes increasingly more automatic (Stevenson & Just, 2014)."

So as well as being aware that we need time to build our skills into our automatic memory, we must remember that holding onto our learning needs practice. Or it will disappear like water poured onto sand. 

Disturbingly quickly.

Sam

References:

Arthur, W., & Day, E. A. (2018). Skill Decay: The Science and Practice of Mitigating Skill Loss and Enhancing Retention. In P. Ward, J. M. Schraagen, J. Gore, E. M. Roth (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Expertise. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198795872.013.47

Donica, D. K., Giroux, P., & Kim, Y. J. (2019). Effectiveness of two keyboarding instructional approaches on the keyboarding speed, accuracy, and technique of elementary students. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 7(4), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.15453/2168-6408.1599

Weigelt-Marom, H., & Weintraub, N. (2018). Keyboarding versus handwriting speed of higher education students with and without learning disabilities: Does touch-typing assist in narrowing the gap?. Computers & Education, 117(1), 132-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.10.008

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Employee/employer skill perception gap

Now here is an interesting thing. A report by Marcolin and Quintini for the OCED (2023) found that employers and employees really do have a different understanding of skills, and who possesses - or do not possess - those skills. As we can see by the image accompanying this post,  there is a certain degree of skill 'inflation' or 'deflation' where the two parties' views do not quite align. 

How this was discovered was that the OECD created the PIAAC Employer Module employer survey to study employer-required skills, and surveyed five European countries. The survey asked employers about hiring, training, and workplace practices. In addition, the employer survey was connected to a household skills survey so the researchers could compare employer and employee perspectives (Marcolin & Quintini, 2023).  

The results? Employees see themselves as having higher level skills than employers do. The researchers note that staff "rely on their perception to assess their own performance, and this subjective view of the adequacy of their skills is in principle no more or less biased than the manager’s subjective view on whether the company’s skill demands are met, at least compared to what a third external evaluator would state" (Marcolin & Quintini, 2023, p. 17). Employers "could state whether each skill type present in their company was staying the same or changing in importance in the near future[, ... and were able to advise] when there was a particular new skill requirement that was emerging, either a generic or an occupation-specific skill" (p. 17). 

So it is little wonder that employers feel they are unable to hire appropriately skilled staff... despite employees feeling there are enough qualified staff available for hire. Due to innovation and market shifts, employer skill needs continually evolve. And perhaps employees are a bit less aware of the latest skills that employers are seeking: and this may contribute to those skill gaps (Marcolin & Quintini, 2023). 

This research should assist policymakers to better understand the perceived skill asymmetry; and to try to work out how to reduce the gap over time (Marcolin & Quintini, 2023). 

Sam

References:

Marcolin, L., & Quintini, G. (2023, April). Measuring skill gaps in firms: the PIAAC Employer Module [working paper No. 292]. OECD.  https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/measuring-skill-gaps-in-firms-the-piaac-employer-module_903c19c9-en.html

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How to extract a date from text

So what if we were extracting data from a online platform into Excel, and the extraction function didn't leave the dates formatted as a date, but as a text string? What I mean is, for example, like this:

Wednesday, 5 March 2025, 7:37 PM

But that we need is 5/03/2025. The long text string can't be used for calculations due to it effectively being a sentence: Excel doesn't recognise it. What we needed was for this date to be a normal short form date, so we could check when the entry had been entered against another date column.

I was worried because sometimes the date might be 23:55 PM or sometimes as shown... and any differences in between. And sometimes Saturday, and sometimes Friday, which means that the lengths at the beginning and the end of the text string is different. 

And because I want to extract the data many times, I needed formulae. Who wants to have to tinker each time an extract is run? So it was with a small dollop of dread that I went looking. But amazingly, I found just the formula I needed, using Excel's mid, find and len functions, thanks so Shuvo (2024). Going from the left, I got Excel to find the first comma and space from the left, then to snip out the section between that comma space and the next one using the following formula:

=LEFT(MID(F3,FIND(", ",F3)+1,LEN(F3)),FIND(",",MID(F3,FIND(", ",F3)+1,LEN(F3)))-1)

Which returned me:

_5 March 2025

But I wasn't quite finished yet. Did you notice that underscore? That wasn't a mistake: somehow I had inherited an initial blank space in the product of the formula. Try as I might, I couldn't get that space to disappear in the main formula. 

I am sure there is a way, but instead I found a fast and dirty way. I did a two step process where I then trimmed the product of the "=Left" formula in the next cell along, using "TRIM(H3)" (Sultana, 2024). The result was an actual date which I could then perform calculations on. Yay!

Sam

References:

Shuvo, S. A. (2024, April 16). How to Extract Text Between Two Characters in Excel: 4 Methods. https://www.exceldemy.com/excel-extract-text-between-two-characters/

Sultana, S. (2024, July 28). How to Trim Spaces in Excel (8 Methods). https://www.exceldemy.com/excel-trim-spaces/

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A written reflection example

I think most of us in the social sciences are conversant with Borton's model of reflection (1970): the three stage reflection model: 'What', 'So What' and 'Now What'. This is used a lot for those beginning in career development, as it is a clear and simple reflection model. Firstly we set the scene with the “what”, describing what happened and how we felt (Borton, 1970). This is usually the smallest element of reflective writing (University of Wolverhampton, 2018).

As we write, we aim to work out why what we are examining is important (Borton, 1970). We analyse and explore our situation. We explore what and how we felt. We consider why we responded in the way we did. We try to work out what the most important – or relevant – aspects are. We try to work out how this links to theory. And we try to work out what went well, or what didn’t go well (University of Wolverhampton, 2018).

Lastly we consider what we do next (Borton, 1970). Where do we go from here? We explore what our next steps need to be to ensure we improve our practice. The more specific we get, the more likely we are to do something (Doran, 1981). So saying we will share resources with colleagues is unlikely to produce any action: it is too vague. Whereas saying we are going to meet monthly to discuss new practice tools over coffee with two study buddies, and we have already diaried the first session, is MUCH more likely to happen.

I suspect most of us begin learning how to reflect by simply describing what happened. Some of us will begin by describing theory; some by describing ourselves. Below is a past student example:

“The New Zealand Qualifications Framework determines the path a career actor chose to take to successfully achieved a desired outcome. The actor can start this path at any time during adulthood. Experience allows the actor to make informed decisions based on their current circumstances.”

This is missing how we felt - the personal What - and why this is important - the So What - AND the Now What. This could have been expanded by:

“I hadn’t really thought before about the New Zealand Qualifications Framework being a structure that helps to determine the path a career actor – my client – might choose to take to successfully achieve a desired outcome. My client can start their path at any time during adulthood. While their own experience allows them to make informed decisions based on their current circumstances, seeing me should ease the process. I was reflecting on my role; how integral my knowledge and skills are and how they must be current to have utility; about my support of the client’s goals; about the information I need to smooth their decision-making. I think I have taken this too lightly in the past, which is a bit shaming. Undertaking the Diploma and joining CATE are two steps toward to building better habits for me.”

So which bits are what, so what, and now what?

The green highlighter is the "what" (both personal and theory); yellow is the "so what"; and blue is the "now what". As we get better at reflection, the green gets smaller, and the blue gets larger.

I hope that helps!

Sam

References:

Borton, T. (1970). Reach Touch and Teach: Student Concerns and Process Education. McGraw-Hill.

Doran, G. T. (1981). There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write managements' goals and objectives. Management Review, 70(11), 35-36.

University of Wolverhampton. (2018). Guide to Reflective Writing. https://www.wlv.ac.uk/lib/media/departments/lis/skills/study-guides/LS006---Guide-to-Reflective-Writing.pdf

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What are career management skills?

Career management skills, also known by the shorthand 'CMS', encompass a "range of competencies which provide structured ways for individuals and groups to gather, analyse, synthesise and organise self, educational and occupational information as well as the skills to make and implement decisions and transitions" (Skills Development Scotland, 2018). CMS competencies "enable [...us] to gather, analyse, synthesise and organise information about [our]selves and potential educational, training and occupational pathways in a structured" way (Kauppila & Kettunen, 2025, p. 2). If we are experienced - or if we seek out career practitioner help - our personal CMS will improve our career decision-making, personal development, career path plan and work goal achievement (Kauppila & Kettunen, 2025). The EU and ILO have CMS as a key lifelong learning competency (Kauppila & Kettunen, 2025) - we need to keep learning how the increasingly complex world of work operates in order to navigate it successfully (Skills Development Scotland, 2018).

There are four CMS themes:

1. "Self – competencies that enable individuals to develop their sense of self within society"
2. "Strengths – competencies that enable individuals to acquire and build on their strengths and to pursue rewarding learning and work opportunities"
3. "Horizons – competencies that enable individuals to visualise, plan and achieve their career aspirations throughout life", and 
4. "Networks – competencies that enable individuals to develop relationships and networks of support" (Skills Development Scotland, 2018, p. 1)

In considering these elements, many of my clients have a sense of self and understand most of their strengths. However, few of them actively plan, so I feel are likely to be largely unaware of their horizons. Most clients network, and networks are particularly useful for getting us into our next role. Being present on platforms like LinkedIn mean we may personally connect with someone who is seeking our skill set, or recruiters may find us. However, we need to showcase our skills in those spaces; and if our LinkedIn 'stock' needs to be current in order to attract the 'right' buyer. If we are blind to needing to leverage our networks, we are more likely to miss plum opportunities. 

While CMS is a punnet chart like Law & Watts (1977) DOTS model, CMS is about the client's learning 'how' the workplace works (Kauppila & Kettunen, 2025); DOTs is about the 'what' a client needs to do (read more here). 

Our clients are likely to find both tools helpful.

Sam

References:

Law, B. & Watts, A. G. (1977). Schools, Careers and Community: A study of some approaches to careers education in schools. Church Information Office.

Kauppila, P., & Kettunen, J. (2025). Career practitioners’ conceptions of career management skills at Finnish universities of applied sciences. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance. Advance online publication, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10775-025-09727-5<

Skills Development Scotland. (2018). Career Management Skills (CMS). https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/yomfledc/career-management-skills-for-training-providers.pdf

Skills Development Scotland. (2017). Career Education Standard 3-18 Learning Resource 3: Introduction to Career Management Skills. https://education.gov.scot/media/z0uajdou/dyw23-learning-resource-3-career-management-skills.pdf

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Using XLOOKUP in Excel

Have you ever needed to sort a list in Excel? I had a three tab workbook recently where I exported data from a forum on one tab; then used a Pivot table on a second. Then on a third, I wanted to re-sort the Pivot table results into a different order so I could import some numerical data back into another spreadsheet.

And just to make life more complicated, I didn't want to link the data as I do all sorts of portable and remote things, and links do tend to rot. Well, break.

In the Pivot table, I had a list of names in column A. In column H I had the data that I wanted to copy back out. While I could copy that data with an ='Pivot table'!A$6, and a 'Pivot table'!H$6, that would still mean that I needed to sort the data. And the data would be updated many, many times.

What I really wanted was to copy in a list of the names in the other spreadsheet order, then have Excel map the names and the data from that point on.

I spent HOURS trying to get this simple pick up to work. I tried VLookups, Matches, Indexes, HLookups. All were a mega-fail. But thanks to Dave Bruns (2019), I discovered XLookup. And now my data pick up works PERFECTLY.

I copied my names out of the other, unlinked spreadsheet, which is in the order I wanted my data to be organised. Then, to pick up the name in this ‘copying’ sheet, I set up an XLookup formula. This is designed to pick up and match the name (NB: while I don't need to repeat the name, it is easier to double-check a name than a number):

=XLOOKUP(A3,'Pivot table'!$A$6:$A$40,'Pivot table'!$A$6:$A$40,FALSE)

So the formula contains (a) the XLookup function; then (b) the cell I want the Pivot table data to be matched to in the ‘copying’ sheet order; then (c) the Pivot table data column range where it should search to find the match; then (d) the Pivot table data column range where it should pick up the match from; then (e) what to do if it can't find a match.

Then my data column is picked up and pulled through in my desired order with:

=XLOOKUP(A3,'Pivot table'!$A$6:$A$40,'Pivot table'!$H$6:$H$40,FALSE)

That is the same again, but we can see that this time, the formula for (d) looks in column H for the match, as that is where the data is that I want picked up.

And now I have my name and the forum data, ready for copying out. And it works beautifully. 

However, if I wanted a simple exact match, I could simply use:

 

 

It works beautifully.

Sam

References:

Bruns, D. (2019, September 06). XLOOKUP Function. ExcelJet. https://exceljet.net/functions/xlookup-function

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Reflection for career practitioners

Reflection is a core skill practiced by many in social service roles, including career development. It "is conscious, experientially informed thought, at times involving aspects of evaluation, criticality, and problem-solving, and leading to insight, increased awareness, and/or new understanding. As such, reflection can be contrasted with ‘impulsive’ or ‘routine’ decision making that reinforces and embeds current perceptions or practices" (Anderson, 2020, p. 1).

Like the diagram accompanying this post (Wegner et al, 2014), reflection is designed to connect how we feel to theory, then link us out into our practice (Korthagen & Nuijten, 2017). We must remember that our “practice and theory are fundamentally linked” (Robinson & Mogliacci, 2019, p. 17); the routine-ness of our daily practice can erode our connection with theory over time. A good dollop of refresher training usually helps to remind us that we may be in a rut!

Why should we reflect? Because it "is a practice that [we, as] professionals can use to improve practice and [cl]ient care through lifelong learning[, and for our] own professional development. Critical reflection allows [us] to use experiences - our practical knowledge (Wegner et al., 2014) - to create new knowledge that can be used to resolve problems encountered in practice" (Aaron et al., 2021, p. 130). In other words, we use theory to link to our experience and out into our practice (Wegner et al., 2014).  

That is not to say that we are just patching problems with reflection: we need to ensure that the reflection is an authentic process. We could define “authenticity [a]s a commitment to [our] relationship with truth. The authentic […] experience, or person is truthful about” the experience or ourselves (Bialystok, 2017, p. 3), and that translates into authenticity in reflection. In reflection we aim to avoid superficiality, or ‘downloading’ and just going for a fast fix to a perceived problem (Korthagen & Nuijten, 2017), because that will not develop us in our practice. It is, as previously mentioned, just a patch. 

In order to make change we need to go deep: into our motivations; into our barriers; into how we may have contributed to a situation. By undertaking honest “reflection, [we] become aware of [ou]r sense of self, [ou]r beliefs, emotions and strategies of coping with different challenges” (Beauchamp, 2019, p. 13). To learn, we must get personal, to allow our emotions, and to be realistic. We need to bare ourselves to ourselves; to take off our layers of masks.

It takes time to peel back those layers, and to let go of our ego. It is hard to become a beginner again, when we have known mastery. But being a beginner allows us mistakes, it allows us to grow.

And I think all of us want to grow. 

Sam

References:

Aaron, L., Hicks, J., McKnight, A., & Andary, J. (2021). Reflection as a Tool for Personal and Professional Development. Radiologic Technology, 93(2), 130-140. PMID: 34728575.

Anderson, J. (2020). Reflection. ELT Journal, 74(4), 480–483. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccaa039

Beauchamp, C. (2019). An Exploration of Evolving Approaches to Teacher Identity Revealed in Literature on Teaching from 2010 to 2018. In G. W. Noblit (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education (e-book, 1-20). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.485

Bialystok, L. (2017). Authenticity in Education. In G. W. Noblit (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education (e-book, 1-35). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.168

IAEVG. (2018). International Competencies for Educational and Vocational Guidance Practitioners. International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance. https://iaevg.com/competencies

Korthagen, F. A. J., & Nuijten, E. E. (2017). Core Reflection Approach in Teacher Education. In G. W. Noblit (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education (e-book, 1-17). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.268

Niles, S. G. (2014). Chapter 41 Training Career Practitioners: Opportunities and Challenges. In G. Arulmani, A. J. Bakshi, F. T. L. Leong, & A. G. Watts (Eds) (2014). Handbook of Career Development: International perspectives (pp. 727-740). Springer.

Robinson, M., & Mogliacci, R. J. (2019). Conceptions and Models of Teacher Education. In G. W. Noblit (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education (e-book, 1-25). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.571

Wegner, C., Weber, P., & Ohlberger, S. (2014). Korthagen's ALACT Model: Application and Modification in the Science Project" Kolumbus-Kids". Themes in Science and Technology Education, 7(1), 19-34. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1131057.pdf

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The VIX index

Volatility is effectively a measure of predictability... or lack of it. And it is a term most often used in markets. Predictability is good: volatility is not necessarily so. How often, and how much prices move over time, is the stuff of fortunes made and lost.

I am sure there will hardly be a person on the planet this year who hasn't heard of the VIX Index, aka the volatility index. Taken from "real-time, mid-quote prices of S&P 500® Index (SPX℠) call and put options" (CBOE, 2025), VIX aims to assess the next 30 days of expected US stock market volatility. It is globally recognised measure used by financial/equity markets and the media, and is often called 'the fear gauge' (CBOE, 2025).

And of course this year with the US tariff fiasco, VIX has all become a more visible measure for we ordinary folk who don't usually hear of these things.

VIX Index (CBOE, 2025).

Larger fluctuations mean more volatility, and the "VIX Index is a measure of expected future volatility", "used as a barometer for market uncertainty" (CBOE, 2025; emphasis added). It it measures volatility that investors expect to see" coming in the market (Whaley, 209. p. 98). 

Well, there seems to be plenty of uncertainty doing the rounds.

Sam

References:

CBOE. (2025). Making Sense of the VIX Index. The Chicago Board Options Exchange. https://www.cboe.com/tradable_products/vix/

Whaley, R. E. (2009). Understanding the VIX. Journal of Portfolio Management, 35(3), 98-105. https://doi.org/10.3905/JPM.2009.35.3.098

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Word's format painter

Microsoft Office programmes are pretty much - to mix a metaphor - the lingua franca of business. And, if we are writing a document, it is MS Word we use. 

Most of the time, things go smoothly. But every now and again I will run into a problem where the formatting in Word goes glitchy, and not even undo will get me out of trouble. 

That is where the format painter tool often gets me out of trouble. Located in the home ribbon, in the Clipboard section of that toolbar, I simply highlight the formatting I want copied in my document, and click the paintbrush (aka format painter) tool to 'copy' it; then position my mouse over my troublesome text to 'paste' the formatting and enter. That usually ends the problem. 

However, there are a couple of extra tricks. 

• Firstly, hot keys. We can key Alt, Ctrl and C on the keyboard to copy a format, and Alt, Ctrl V to paste it. Too easy. And if we use the hotkeys, we can repeatedly re-paste the copied formatting to many areas without needing to re-copy (Microsoft Support, 2019)
• Secondly, to stop formatting, key ESC (Microsoft Support, 2019)
• Thirdly, toggling on the pilcrow symbol on the Word Home ribbon (¶) will allow us to see our paragraph marks. If we highlight entire paragraphs including our paragraph marks, then copy formatting, we can paste paragraph formatting around our document as well (Indeed, 2025).

But note that the format painter tool will not copy the background cell colours in a table.

Sam

References:

Indeed. (2025, March 27). How To Use Format Painter in Word (With Tips). https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-use-format-painter-in-word

Microsoft Support. (2019, July 07). Use the Format Painter. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/use-the-format-painter-4bb415a9-d4e4-42b7-b579-170adc594e40

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Utopia versus slavery

I was re-reading Lucassen's book The Story of Work last year, where he talked about a dichotomy of views in his introduction which led to his writing this sweeping book on the history of work. I think he was surprised by a growing polarisation he had noticed in work attitudes, where:

On one hand, utopia, arising in the 1990s, where we could "earn our money as independent entrepreneurs, hiring out our creative talents to the highest bidder. We would have to work perhaps only a few hours a day, or even a week. We would be so successful that, ultimately, we would have time – vast expanses of delicious leisure time. Our life would be defined by consumption, not by production" and "the new, true individuals are the self-employed and the entrepreneurs, and everyone craves a ‘portfolio’ career" (Lucassen, 2021, p. ix).

On the other hand, slavery; where we "work[ed] for someone else", with a taint "of conventional working people as either exploited victims or as uninventive and unimaginative dullards" (Lucassen, 2021, p. ix).  Ouch. Seems a bit harsh for what is, after all, "the daily reality for most of the world’s population", where we are being paid by 'the man' for "working five to six days a week, usually in household and wage labour" (Lucassen, 2021, p. x).

As Lucassen points out, utopia, with "entrepreneur [a]s a hero" at one end and "the ordinary worker a slave" at the other, is not realistic (2021, p. ix) for a process which most of us spend a third of our lives contributing to. Maybe it is more a continuum: with self-employment or entrepreneurship at one end, and fully waged worker at the other end: but this is not an either/or choice. Many people have their own side-hustles and gigs that they do as passion projects. 

Of course, we have come to think of work being what we are paid for. And what we are paid for is not the end of what could be termed work, as "Work includes any human effort adding use value to goods and services" with "most work tak[ing] place outside of regular jobs" (Tilly & Tilly, 1998, p. 22). Most of us do a lot of unpaid work each day: preparing food; cleaning; organising; planning; social obligations and care. 

If we stop trying to think of work so narrowly (i.e. as a 'job'), and embrace it as that which we have to do, want to do, and which feeds our soul, we are less likely to get trapped in these narrowed definitions of utopia and slavery.

Sam

References:

Lucassen, J. (2021). The Story of Work: A New History of Humankind. Yale University Press.

Tilly, C., & Tilly, C. (1998). Work under Capitalism. Westview Press.

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Avoiding the anxiety zone

The term 'status' refers to our position in society, or our value to society (de Botton, 2005). That status might spring from a legal, professional, or social base (de Botton, 2005): our 'worth' as an artisan or creator, for example, might over time become iconic; or fade from the social gaze. It is our societies which confer status on desired people - e.g. warriors, priests, or seers - but in the West, we seem to venerate making money (de Botton, 2005). Having high status brings benefits: money; more resources than others; respect; and - potentially - self-importance (de Botton, 2005).

Being viewed as high status may be openly sought - such as in the USA - but may not be sought in all nations (de Botton, 2005). For example, the answer to the question "what do you do?" tends to give us a speedy idea of a person’s societal status (Inkson et al, 2015), yet in a society such as New Zealand, where we have societal values of egalitarianism and equality, the question may be asked and answered simply out of interest.

The idea of status then leads us onto status anxiety (de Botton, 2005). This is the fear that we fail to meet society's standards of success; worrying we will lose social respect if we fall behind what is 'expected' of citizens (de Botton, 2005). Our anxiety can be triggered by job transitions, by over-comparison with others, or through social pressure (de Botton, 2005); either real or imagined.

It seems to me that status anxiety is where we see our self-worth as EXTRINSIC to ourselves, instead of being intrinsic. That perhaps we worry too much about the 'look' of things, and not enough about the content (form over substance). If we are anxious, we tend to be reluctant to try new things; to make suggestions, or to ask those around us for help (Edmonson, 2022). Our anxiety may paralyse us (Edmonson, 2022). This can be compounded if we are working in an environment where we are watched over and tightly controlled; in a climate of negativity (Daft, 2007). In such situations our anxiety may increase, potentially leading to burnout.

There are connections between "status anxiety and job dissatisfaction" where, if "status anxiety reduces" we "could potentially increase job satisfaction and, in turn, employee performance and productivity" (Keshabyan & Day, 2020, p. 9). With more workplace trust, we can move ourselves from the anxiety zone into the learning zone, where we are able to collaborate, to innovate, and to learn by guided trial and error (Edmonson, 2022). We end up in a positive workplace (Daft, 2007).

And a positive workplace works for all of us.

Sam

References:

Daft, R. L. (2007). The Leadership Experience (4th ed.). Thomson South-Western.

de Botton, A. (2005). Status Anxiety. Penguin.

Edmonson, A. C. (2022). Psychological Safety Does Not Equal “Anything Goes”. https://amycedmondson.com/psychological-safety-%e2%89%a0-anything-goes/

Inkson, K., Dries, N., & Arnold, J. (2015). Understanding Careers (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Keshabyan, A., & Day, M. V. (2020). Concerned whether you’ll make It in life? Status anxiety uniquely explains job satisfaction. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1523, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01523

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Turning docx files into ePubs

If we want to create an ePub from an MS Word file, all we need to do is to set up our file as a .docx file. If we want all the bells and whistles in our ePub file, then we need to set up a title page, a table of contents, chapter headings, illustrations, and a reference list or appendices in the .docx file before we begin.

I prefer to use Calibre, a piece of 2006 freeware/shareware created by Kovid Goyal, using Linux OS. I have been using it for years to read my ebooks, and I find it is really easy for reading almost any published format. Even better, Calibre will allow me to convert one format into another, which means if I have a format that doesn't read well on my phone, I can convert it on my PC, copy it across and then be able to read the item on my phone's e-reader.

Our first step is to ensure that Calibre is installed, and that we have the latest version. We set up our Calibre preferences, including setting default upload folders for Calibre files.

Once we are ready, we copy our Word file to be converted into our default upload folder. We open Calibre, and click the "Add Files" button and upload our Word file. Once our file has been uploaded, we select our newly included Word file, and click the Convert button on the toolbar. A dialogue box will appear: simply select the EPUB format. In the Page setup tab, we might want to select an output profile to match our particular e-reader; and in the Heuristic processing tab (in the left-hand icon bar) if we tick "Enable heuristic processing" is ticked our table of contents should link automatically. Most of the rest of the settings we can leave alone.

In a few minutes, we will see that our file now has an EPUB format showing alongside the Word format. Click on the EPUB Format and the ePub format will open. It is that easy.

If any of the layout or flow doesn't work as we expect, we can have a play around with the settings to get our ePub to look just as we want it. The EPUB output left-hand icon may help here: we can edit fonts, layout, styling etc. 

I hope that helps!

Sam

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