Career Advice and Guidance in a World Where Vocational Skills Matter

Abstract

Effective career advice and guidance has a dual role to play. It needs to help fill skills gaps in the economy by providing information about what kinds of jobs are available and the skills that are needed for them. It also needs to help young people invest their educational efforts wisely to prepare for work that suits their interests and abilities. Ensuring that the work-related skills demanded by employers are broadly matched with the skills that the workforce is able to provide is often seen as one of the key challenges for national education and training systems in both developing and developed country contexts. Despite the variations in employment opportunities that countries experience during economic slump periods, there are likely to always be skill shortages in many sectors, in both developing and developed countries (e.g., Buning, Cantrell, Marshall, & Smith, 2011; Schwalje, 2011). In addition to skill shortages with respect to the current needs of economies, skills may also be short in relation to the industrial ambitions of a country. In other words, there may not be enough skilled workers to support the development of strategic industrial development (Kahyarra, 2007). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)