Career practitioners are invisible

Career development in Aotearoa is an “inchoate occupation”: in other words, we lack clarity as a ‘profession’ (Douglas, 2009, 2010, p. 25; Furbish, 2012; O’Reilly, 2018). That is a bit of an ouchy comment. I wonder if this is because career development practice here has been - and continues to be - diversely defined by very diverse practitioners with a huge range of specialisations including, according to the specialisation competencies defined by the Career Development Association of New Zealand:

1. Career education in secondary and tertiary environments
2. career counselling;
3. working with those with disabilities;
4. career development programme design and delivery;
5. research;
6. policy development;
7. professional supervision; and
8. Organisational career development (CDANZ, 2018).

Something Val O’Reilly said in her PhD thesis struck me forcibly: that as a New Zealand teacher and career educator “there was no equivalent professional pathway [for her role], and [she found her] career work was peripheral to the core curriculum” within the school (2018, p. 3) and I am sure that many of us would resonate with that. How could she become a professional when there was not a clear pathway?

Well, education, obviously: we have Capable at Otago Polytechnic, and the under-grad NMIT Career Development programme. Except there are some problems with that.

Firstly, we don't come to career development as a first career. We arrive as a second, third or fourth career, with our Kiwi career practitioners being older people, averaging 51 years (Young, 2025). We already have an under-grad degree. If we want to upskill, we are likely to want to build on our undergrad base and look for post-graduate qualifications.

Secondly, career development practitioners are spread across a number of different organisations. There is CATE (CATE Careers and Transition Education Association NZ Inc) with a membership of just over 1000. CDANZ has around 400 members; some of which are also members of CATE. NZAC – the New Zealand Association of Counsellors – has 2500 members (of whom perhaps 250 might be in the career space). Then there are case managers and rehab professionals, both of whom have their own membership organisations. I think we can safely assume that there will be few double ups, and, …if we add in those who work with MSD, other charitable organisations, and schools where practitioners are not CATE members, perhaps collectively we may have 5000 people working in the career field in New Zealand. And - at a very rough back of the envelope calculation – 60% of career practitioners are probably NOT members of a professional organisation. Which actually means that most of us are invisible.

And what I mean by invisible is that there are roughly 78,000 nurses registered with the Nursing Council in New Zealand, and tertiary institutes provide 18 post-graduate qualifications ranging from level 8 to 10 on the NZQA framework (NCNZ, 2025). If we think about social workers, there are 7520 registered with the NZ Social Workers Registration Board (SWRB, 2025), and a massive 3,000 enrolled in higher education (Bartley et al., 2025). It is easy to see in those two professions, because they belong to one governing body, just what the demand for higher education might be. The number of registered professionals in a field needs to provide enough volume to warrant an investment in Higher Education. It costs.

With only 5000 career practitioners, and fewer than 2000 of us ‘officially’ exist in maybe four or five main membership organisations, across eight specialities, we must come at our field sideways under a social work or an education umbrella or go offshore for HE. Not ideal for our career development.

But is it any wonder that we do not have a taught post-graduate career development in our country? Because, if we are invisible and fragmented, we have not created an incentive for an agency to invest in education to upskill us.

Something to think about.

Sam

References:

Bartley, A., Beddoe, L., Hashemi, L., Rahimi, M.,  & de Fossard, S. (2025). Social work students in Aotearoa New Zealand: the impacts of financial hardship on mental and social wellbeing. Social Work Education, 44(3), 485-505, https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2024.2326540

CDANZ. (2018). Career Development Association of New Zealand Competency Framework. Career Development Association of New Zealand. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p4je3cbcuCk659W116_YlQxWIKQmkJ4v/view

Douglas, F. (2009). Anyone Can Do Guidance...: Losing and finding professional identity in a complex chain of services. In IAEVG International Conference 2013. https://jyx.jyu.fi/bitstream/handle/123456789/22908/Douglas.pdf?sequence=1

Douglas, F. (2010). Sustaining the Self: Implications for the Development of Career Practitioners' Professional Identity. Australian Journal of Career Development, 19(3), 24-32. https://doi.org/10.1177/103841621001900305

Furbish, D. S. (2012). An Overview of New Zealand Career Development Services. Australian Journal of Career Development, 21(2), 14-24. https://doi.org/10.1177/103841621202100203

Laurenson-Elder, R. C. (2022). What Works at Work? A comparative study of counselling and coaching in the workplace [Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, University of Auckland].

NCNZ. (2025). Programmes accredited by the Nursing Council as pathways leading to registration as a Nurse Practitioner or Registered Nurse designated prescriber. Nursing Council of New Zealand | Te Kaunihere Tapuhi o Aotearoa.  https://www.nursingcouncil.org.nz/common/Uploaded%20files/Accredited%20programmes%20leading%20to%20registration%20as%20a%20NP%20or%20RN%20designated%20prescriber%202024-08-07.pdf

O'Reilly, V. N. (2018). Professional standards and professional identity: Perspectives of career development practitioners in Australia and New Zealand [Doctoral thesis: University of Queensland]. https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_4c26854/s42789538_final_thesis.pdf?

SWRB. (2025). Home. Social Workers Registration Board New Zealand. https://swrb.govt.nz

Young, S. (2025). A snapshot of Aotearoa NZ career practitioners [Manuscript submitted for publication]. Social Sciences, NMIT.

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When Work overturns Identity

Career identity has been defined as "dynamic multiplicity of personal (in contrast to social and cultural) positions or voices regarding work" (Meijers & Lengelle, 2012, p. 1). Our professional identity comes from "constructing a sense of causality and continuity about one’s career path" (Meijers & Lengelle, 2012, p. 2). We bring 'ourselves' to work: our "experience, training, abilities, knowledge, effort, quirks, and passions' (O'Brien, 18 June 2019).

Superficially, it is very easy for all of us to conflate our personal value with our work identity. We can get so sucked into our work roles so much that all we see is the work or tasks in front of us. However, sometimes we can have deep damage to our professional identity - others' ability to see that we can perform in our area of expertise - that it can take a lot of digesting.

Take, for example, the following case. Kim is a professional engineer who progressed into management over a number of years, and has been managing the engineering team for some time. Following some changes in senior management, the organisation is restructured. Kim is demoted to a much lower level role, with someone who was once a subordinate now managing the engineering team. Worse, Kim has no warning of the impending role change until the change arrives.

Needless to say, Kim is wounded and bewildered. Due to the unexpected nature of the demotion, the impact this has on Kim is profound, with deep damage to career identity. While we all possess multiple identities (Super, 1985), Kim values professional identity above all others. Such a significant work change diminishes Kim's sense of self. Repairing this will require deep reflection and many well-structured counselling sessions to appropriately process, over a considerable length of time.

All too often, however, those in this situation do not seek professional career advice. The resulting damage to identity can lead to other issues in both professional and private lives, sometimes - due to the mid-life timing of the shift into management roles - manifesting as "midlife crises".

If you know someone in this type of situation, recommend they see a professional career counsellor.


Sam

References:

• Meijers, F., & Lengelle, R. (2012). Narratives at work: The development of career identity. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 40(2), 157-176. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2012.665159
• O'Brien, T. (18 June 2019). When Your Job Is Your Identity, Professional Failure Hurts More. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2019/06/how-we-confuse-our-roles-with-our-self#
• Super, D. E. (1985). Self-realization through the Work and Leisure Roles. Educational and Vocational Guidance, 43(1), 1-7.

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To serve... or not to serve

Customer service has been defined as "the ability of an organization to constantly and consistently exceed the customer's expectations" (The ACA Group, 2011). That's a nice definition. We aim to delight the customer.

I doubt that there are many businesses out there who don't start off with the aim of making their customers happy. Some businesses get closer to it than others.

But that doesn't help us with how we meet the aim. However, Paul McKinney suggests that by focusing on a few key ideas - the Four [customer service] Ps - we can lift our customer service game and delight the customer.

The Four Ps which Paul tells us about are:

• Promptness: Ensure timely delivery, under-promise and over-deliver on times to allow for reasonably foreseeable delays. If there is a problem, contact the client and provide a solution for them as you tell them about the problem. 
• Politeness: Greet the customer, and host your customer on your premises, smile: if there is a queue, call someone else to help those waiting. NEVER let a customer wait if there is a staff member in the building: remember that customers keep your business afloat, not staff. Say "thank you" even if there isn't a sale.
• Professionalism: Be professional. Show the customer that you know your job, and will treat their work with respect and best practice. Lead by example so your staff know to find explain better, faster and cheaper ways for the customer, and improve what the customer is delivered.
• Personalisation: each customer is an individual with their own requirements. Your staff will build a relationship with the customer so they feel that they are important as a key contributor to your business.

None of these ideas are new: none of them are radical, controversial or unusual. They would be considered to be fairly normal sound business practice. As Forbes quotes, "70% of buying experiences are influenced by how the customer feels they're being treated" (2014). So if we ensure that the customer feels that they are being treated well, then we have a happy customer.

Today I went to drop my husband's car off for servicing. I don't really know the people in this business well, but I have been in the building a couple of times a year for the past nine years or so. This also wasn't a lightweight service: it required a whole day, and was likely to cost upwards of $1000.

So at 8am this morning, I stopped by the Service Desk at Nelson Bays Motor Group. The Service Manager was assisting a customer, and I was waiting behind this customer. As I was waiting, I noted a chap working on a PC at the parts desk, one person in a glass windowed office of the reception area on a PC, and two other people having a conversation in another glass windowed office. Three other staff also came through the area while I was waiting.

Not ONE of those staff asked if they could help me. Not one of them met my eye or said hello. One young man asked me if it was my car blocking the way outside the doors, and I said "No -", and he went briskly away without giving me the opportunity to say "- but I am dropping mine off for a service...".

Even worse, while I was waiting, a chap from David Reid Homes came in, swept up to the counter ahead of me, and the Service Manager interrupted the customer he was still dealing with, dealt with this obviously much more important customer than either of us. He then returned to dealing with the first customer. While I was waiting, another woman came in behind me, appeared to get brassed off with waiting, and left without talking to anyone. I was served after waiting for between 5 and 10 minutes; the Service Manager did not meet my eye even then. I was not asked when I wanted the car, or if I needed a lift anywhere: I had to tell them what my requirements were.

What a huge difference to the garage I go to, Bowater Motor Group, where I go probably the same number of times per year, but have been a customer for a couple of years less. I have been guided personally to the Service Department by various engaging sales staff, I have been asked if I needed to be dropped off or picked up, what time I need my vehicle, and consistently get sent off with a cheery salutation. There is always someone to cover the service desk, and if there is not an expert free who knows about the situation, then the person who comes to see me will take my keys and ask for a phone number so that a service department staff member can call me when free to clarify my requirements.

The two businesses are probably only 200 metres apart geographically, but today were light years apart in terms of culture and tone.

The takeaways for your business?  Ensure your team delivers on Four Ps: Promptness, Politeness, Professionalism and Personalisation. If you treat your customers like they are special to your business, your customers will be your best free advertising.

Sam

References:

• Forbes (2014). What Is Good Customer Service? Retrieved 3 December 2014 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/salesforce/2014/09/10/what-good-customer-service/ 
• McKinney, Paul (n.d.). What Is Customer Service? - Definition, Types & Role in Marketing. Retrieved 3 December 2014 from http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-customer-service-definition-types-role-in-marketing.html#lesso
• The ACA Group (2011) How To Improve Customer Service: Definition of Customer Service. Retrieved 3 December 2014 from http://www.theacagroup.com/how-to-improve-cs/ 

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