Paradigm Shift in Career Service Management

The work of career service advisors has evolved significantly in the past few years. The workforce is changing at a rapid pace and the skills the employees of today need are transforming just as quickly. Not only that the nature of their job has become more complex, but their activities are more diverse than before too. In addition to counseling, career service practitioners also have to engage in activities such as developing institutional strategies, professional learning and so on.

If things weren’t already increasingly difficult, technology is another factor that could disrupt career service management.

Here’s how.

How Technology Will Change Career Service Management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are finding their ways in all aspects of the workforce. Career service management isn’t an exception.

An increasing number of companies are selling their software to universities’ career departments.

For instance, a company may sell a career service platform that uses machine learning to help students create effective resumes by analyzing the successful CVs in its database.  Or another platform may offer a virtual reality interview service that allows students to practice their interviewing skills and see how they would perform in a real-life scenario.

Career service advisors need to keep up with the changes and proactively respond to the disruption instead of combating it.

Career Service Is Not Dying, It’s Evolving

No, machines aren’t here to replace career service practitioners. While these sophisticated platforms can provide data-driven insights, not even the best algorithm can’t replace the support a professional advisor can offer.

Finding your career path, navigating the workforce, and not lose sight of your purpose when underemployment, unemployment, and massive student debt are crippling you is by no means easy. In addition to providing data-rich answers, technology can’t replace the soft but essential skills of career advice practitioners, such as coaching or network support.

But, that doesn’t mean that career services should remain reluctant to the benefits that technology has to offer. A well-built career service platform can help advisors streamline repetitive tasks and focus on supporting students.

Career service management needs to review their work, identify the main challenges they are facing, analyze how technology is influencing and disrupting their work and plan for a world where machine learning and AI will become the norm. Both practitioners and students will benefit from a strategic and technological driven approach that integrates sophisticated software.

Conclusion

Amongst the incertitudes of today’s work environment, one thing is clear: change is upon us and resisting it is futile. Career services must adapt to the emerging technologies and transform themselves in response to them.

How are your career service managers responding to the changes and what are their views regarding the paradigm shift that technology will bring? Join us in the conversation and share your ideas with us. We are eager to hear them.