The Career Management Competencies

The Career Management Competencies across Four Developmental Phases
In recognition of the developmental nature of the way we learn to manage life, learning and work, each of the competencies is expressed over four developmental phases. The chart below shows what each of the eleven core Blueprint career management competencies looks like at each phase of career development or growth.
The developmental phase of each learner will depend upon their family and community circumstances and the sort of opportunities and experiences they have had to develop their career management skills in the past.
COMPETENCY 1

1. Build and maintain a positive self-concept
   PHASE I
   1.1 Build a positive self-concept while discovering its influence on yourself and others
   PHASE II
   1.2 Build a positive self-concept and understand its influence on life, learning and work
   PHASE III
   1.3 Develop abilities to maintain a positive self-concept
   PHASE IV
   1.4 Improve abilities to maintain a positive self-concept
   COMPETENCY 2
2. Interact positively and effectively with others
   PHASE I
   2.1 Develop abilities for building positive relationships in life
   PHASE II
   2.2 Develop additional abilities for building positive relationships in life
   PHASE III
   2.3 Develop abilities for building positive relationships in life and work
   PHASE IV
   2.4 Improve abilities for building positive relationships in life and work
   COMPETENCY 3
3. Change and grow throughout life
   PHASE I
   3.1 Discover that change and growth are part of life
   PHASE II
   3.2 Learn to respond to change and growth
   PHASE III
   3.3 Learn to respond to change that affects your wellbeing
   PHASE IV
   3.4 Develop strategies for responding positively to life and work changes
   AREA A: PERSONAL MANAGEMENT
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   COMPETENCY 4
4. Participate in lifelong learning supportive of career goals
   PHASE I
   4.1 Discover lifelong learning and its contribution to life and work
   PHASE II
   4.2 Link lifelong learning to personal career aspirations
   PHASE III
   4.3 Link lifelong learning to the career-building process
   PHASE IV
   4.4 Participate in continuous learning supportive of career goals
   COMPETENCY 5
5. Locate and effectively use career information
   PHASE I
   5.1 Understand the nature of career information
   PHASE II
   5.2 Locate and use career information
   PHASE III
   5.3 Locate and evaluate a range of career information sources
   PHASE IV
   5.4 Use career information effectively in the management of your career
   COMPETENCY 6
6. Understand the relationship between work, society and the economy
   PHASE I
   6.1 Discover how work contributes to individuals’ lives
   PHASE II
   6.2 Understand how work contributes to the community
   PHASE III
   6.3 Understand how societal needs and economic conditions influence the nature and structure of work
   PHASE IV
   6.4 Incorporate your understanding of changing economic, social and employment conditions into your career planning
   AREA B: LEARNING AND WORK EXPLORATION
   22 AUSTRALIAN BLUEPRINT FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT
   COMPETENCY 7
7. Secure/create and maintain work
   PHASE I
   7.1 Explore effective ways of working
   PHASE II
   7.2 Develop qualities to seek and obtain/create work
   PHASE III
   7.3 Develop abilities to seek, obtain/create and maintain work
   PHASE IV
   7.4 Improve on abilities to seek, obtain/create and maintain work
   COMPETENCY 8
8. Make career-enhancing decisions
   PHASE I
   8.1 Explore and improve decision making
   PHASE II
   8.2 Link decision making to career building
   PHASE III
   8.3 Engage in career decision making
   PHASE IV
   8.4 Incorporate realism into your career decision making
   COMPETENCY 9
9. Maintain balanced life and work roles
   PHASE I
   9.1 Explore and understand the interrelationship of life roles
   PHASE II
   9.2 Explore and understand the interrelationship between life and work roles
   PHASE III
   9.3 Link lifestyles and life stages to career building
   PHASE IV
   9.4 Incorporate life/work balance into the career building process
   COMPETENCY 10
10. Understand the changing nature of life and work roles
    PHASE I
    10.1 Discover the nature of gendered life and work roles
    PHASE II
    10.2 Explore non-traditional life and work options
    PHASE III
    10.3 Understand and learn to overcome stereotypes in your career building
    PHASE IV
    10.4 Seek to eliminate gender bias and stereotypes in your career building
    COMPETENCY 11
11. Understand, engage in and manage the career-building process
    PHASE I
    11.1 Explore the underlying concepts of the career-building process
    PHASE II
    11.2 Understand and experience the career-building process
    PHASE III
    11.3 Take charge of your career-building process
    PHASE IV
    11.4 Manage your career-building process
    AREA C: CAREER BUILDING
    AREA C: CAREER BUILDING
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    Following an assessment of the needs of learners, career development practitioners will be in a position to select an appropriate developmental phase. You will find suggestions for assessing your learners’ needs in Chapter Four. In some cases, practitioners may find they need to work across phases. Using the Blueprint is very much about adapting the information within it to meet your own needs as a practitioner, and those of your learners.
    Having said this, it is also possible to work with these phases according to age. If you are working in a setting such as a school, where learners are typically grouped by age, you are likely to find that the Blueprint phases can be applied, with care, in the following ways:
     Phase I Students in Kindergarten–Primary School
     Phase II Students in Middle School
     Phase III Students in Senior/Post-Compulsory School or its Equivalent
     Phase IV Adults
    Although the career management competencies are listed sequentially in the Blueprint, learning and experience do not proceed in such a linear manner. Career development is an ongoing, lifetime process of interaction between the individual and their environment. These interactions will shape people’s learning requirements and their levels of mastery of the career competencies in different ways and at different times in their lives.
    In some cases, practitioners may find they need to work across phases. Many of the pilot groups that tested the Blueprint’s applicability for use with adults, for example, found it difficult to assign a discrete developmental phase, and cautioned against assuming that adults will sit in the Phase IV competencies of the Blueprint.
    Using the Blueprint is very much about adapting the information within it to meet your own needs as a practitioner, and those of your learners.
    24 AUSTRALIAN BLUEPRINT FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT
    Performance Indicators
    A series of numbered performance indicators illustrate the ways in which individuals can develop and demonstrate their competence at each of the four developmental phases.
    All performance indicators are identified with a sequence of digits separated by dots. These digits code the career management competency, the phase, and the number of the performance indicator. The following diagram illustrates how the numbering system works, using a performance indicator from career management competency 7 as an example:
    The first digit
    identifies the
    CAREER MANAGEMENT COMPETENCY
    The second digit
    identifies the
    PHASE
    The third digit
    identifies the
    PERFORMANCE
    INDICATOR
    7.2.7
    So, if you are working with career management competency 7, at phase 2, and performance indicator 7, the performance indicator reads:
    7.2.7 Identify your transferable skills and experience a new task by using them.
    All of the performance indicators are numbered in this way, which makes it very easy to record them if you need to.
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    The Four-stage Learning Taxonomy
    The performance indicators are written following a four-stage learning taxonomy that conveys the developmental nature of the learning process. The taxonomy used is the Learning Process Taxonomy for Life/Work Designs in Canada, which was inspired by existing learning taxonomies (Bloom, 1966; Burns, 1980; Gagné & Briggs, 1979; Krathwohl, 1967) and the CONDUCT professional development model (Redekopp, 1999).
    The four categories of the learning taxonomy suppose that learners go through the following cycle of learning.
12. At the first stage, learners ACQUIRE and understand the required knowledge
13. At the second stage, they APPLY the knowledge, attitude or skill by putting it into action
14. Next they PERSONALISE their learning, and
15. Finally, they ACT upon that learning in creative ways.
    Stage One: Acquire
    Performance Indicators
    This is the stage during which learners acquire knowledge and understand the knowledge acquired. This stage presents learners with the information that may later serve as the basis for behaviour, learning integration, and self-actualisation. At this stage, learners might be asked to:
     Classify information about people or things
     Codify new information
     Crosscheck information
     Explain new concepts
     Give examples to illustrate concepts
     Gather pertinent information
     Interview people
     Locate information
     Research a topic
    Examples of performance indicators at the acquisition stage include:
    Understand how individual characteristics such as interests, skills, values, beliefs and attitudes contribute to achieving personal, social, educational and professional goals
    Understand the importance of and the ways in which you can locate and use education and training information
    Stage Two: Apply
    Performance Indicators
    The stage during which learners demonstrate their acquired knowledge, skills and attitudes, by putting them into action. This stage represents a move from the dimension of ‘know-ing’ into the dimension of ‘know-how’. Learners might be asked to:
     Apply acquired knowledge (to situations or themselves)
     Develop a project
     Fix things
     Generalise acquired knowledge
     Learn about themselves
     Perform a task
     Plan using acquired knowledge
     Practise new skills
     Prepare a project
     Simulate a situation
     Solve a problem
     Try a new idea
    Examples of performance indicators at the application stage include:
    Adopt behaviours and attitudes conducive to reaching personal, social, educational and professional goals
    Explore the differences between occupations and industry sectors by locating and using available career information resources
    26 AUSTRALIAN BLUEPRINT FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT
    Stage Three: Personalise
    Performance Indicators
    The stage during which learners are invited to deepen their new learning via assessments using their values, beliefs, and other personal attributes. In this process learners will either make the learning their own or reject it.
    At the personalisation stage, learners might be asked to:
     Analyse situations
     Be assertive
     Choose for themselves
     Comment on subjects, situations, etc
     Decide for themselves
     Examine their decisions or reactions
     Evaluate the impact of personal decisions on themselves or others
     Express their ideas, their feelings
     Give their opinion
     Internalise experiences
     Question information and decisions
     Visualise options for themselves
    Examples of performance indicators at the personalisation stage include:
    Assess your personal characteristics and capitalise on those that contribute positively to the achievement of personal, educational, social and professional goals
    Assess the relevance of the career information resources you have used to your career information search
    Stage Four: Act
    Performance Indicators
    The stage which calls upon the learners’ capacity to recognise and strive for their full potential. The transfer from the process of integration to the process of creation happens during this stage of the learning cycle. Transforming, inventing, conceptualising, creating and discovering are examples of the types of activities the learners will engage in. Learners might be asked to:
     Adapt products, concepts or scenarios
     Advise people
     Conceptualise ideas or projects
     Design new products or programs
     Edit a book or an article
     Elaborate new ideas or projects
     Facilitate transitions
     Guide or mentor others
     Initiate new projects or scenarios
     Innovate
     Invent new things
     Transfer skills, knowledge and attitudes to modify and/or create
     Transform behaviours and attitudes
    Examples of performance indicators at the actualisation stage include:
    Improve self-concept in order to contribute positively to your life, learning and work
    Improve strategies for locating, understanding and using career information
    Learners may not move through all four stages of the learning taxonomy. How far they progress will depend on their motivation and the context in which they use the skill, knowledge or attitude they have developed.
    For example, someone learning to use email may be quite content with acquiring and applying their skills. Other individuals may investigate other ways that their new skills can be used, and go on to use them creatively.
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    Local Standards
    A local standard is a standard or benchmark than can be developed at the individual, program or organisational level. It specifies a reasonable standard of performance, after taking into account a range of environmental factors that shape what might reasonably be expected of individuals in a particular setting.
    A local standard specifies:
    1 What individuals will do to demonstrate their ability against an indicator
    2 The conditions under which individuals will perform the task asked of them
    3 How well individuals should perform the task asked of them (how well might refer to accuracy, quality, speed, quantity or tolerance).
    Take the following simple example of a local standard that has been developed for performance indicator 5.2.5 by a teacher working in the schools sector.
    From this example we know:
    1 What individuals will do – describe the educational training requirements of five work roles
    2 The conditions under which they will do it – in the Year 9 classroom setting, with five chosen work roles, and
    3 How well they should perform the task – ‘accurately’.
    In situations other than formal learning environments, it may not be necessary or appropriate to measure whether a learner is able to demonstrate their competence against a particular performance indicator. In many cases, local standards are simply a useful way of organising a series of learning activities that will help individuals to develop a career management competency at one of its developmental phases.
    The type of exercise or activity you or your client select for the purposes of learning or for the purpose of demonstrating competence against a particular performance indicator will depend upon the needs of the individuals or groups you are addressing, and the particular learning environment in which you are operating.
    Remember that local standards are established by the career practitioner, school or organisation. Because of the subjective nature of our career development, wherever possible learners themselves should play a part in deciding what standard of performance they would like to achieve. Where this is not the case, they need to fully understand the assessment process and the criteria against which they will be assessed.
    CAREER MANAGEMENT COMPETENCY 5.2
    Locate and use a range of career information.
    PERFORMANCE INDICATOR 5.2.5
    Explore the education and training requirements for occupations of interest by locating and using available career information resources.
    LOCAL STANDARD
    Year 9 students will accurately describe to their classmates the education or training requirements for five chosen work roles.
    28 AUSTRALIAN BLUEPRINT FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT
    CAREER MANAGEMENT COMPETENCY 11.4
    Manage your career building process.
    PERFORMANCE INDICATOR 11.4.11
    Revisit your preferred future to determine whether or not it is necessary to modify and/or create new career goals and aspirations and adjust your short-term action plans.
    LOCAL STANDARD
    Within the organisation’s annual performance appraisal process, employees will discuss their coming year’s career plans. This discussion will be informed by feedback on their performance and any organisational or personal factors that might necessitate modification of their short-term action plans.
    There is no one correct local standard for a particular performance indicator, because the local standards represent local decisions and circumstances. Furthermore, how these local standards are measured and reported, or whether they are needed at all, is very much a decision to be made at the local level.
    The following example is written for an adult seeking to demonstrate their capacity to manage the career-building process within the organisation where they are employed.
    From this example we know:
    a) What individuals will do – discuss their coming year’s career plans
    b) The conditions under which they will do it – in the context of their annual performance appraisal
    c) How well they should perform the task – individuals are required to take into account relevant variables such as feedback, organisational factors, and personal factors.
    Local standards are intended to be flexible, so that they can be applied in the great diversity of settings in which career development occurs. However, to ensure that there is quality and consistency in service provision, it is important that if you are using them for measurement purposes, every local standard contains the three key elements listed above.
    A significant consideration when developing local standards is the time and energy of the people who will implement or demonstrate their knowledge, skills and understanding against them. Your efforts at creating exceptional local standards may be wasted if no one is willing to commit the energy to implementing them. If at all possible, involve the people, including the learners, who will implement the local standards as you develop them.
    Most importantly, the development of local standards involves both an understanding of the performance indicator, and the learning stage to which it corresponds. When developing a standard, pay special attention to the verb that begins the performance indicator. The verbs indicate the type of learning expected from the individual. For example, verbs such as discover, understand, and explore are applicable to the stage of learning in which learners are expected to know something but are not necessarily expected to do anything with that knowledge.
    On the other hand, performance indicators at the acquisition stage (beginning with verbs such as create, engage, and transform) demand a much higher level of learning and application and different standards of measurement. With these performance indicators, local standards should have the individual actively doing something, usually something that directly affects their own lives.
    When developing local standards consider:
    a) The size of the cohort of learners
    b) The location of your learners
    c) Your learners’ access to equipment or settings
    d) The resource requirements.
    Pay special attention to the verb that begins the performance indicator.
    It will indicate the type of learning expected.
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    FURTHER EXAMPLES OF LOCAL STANDARDS
    The following section provides examples of local standards developed for performance indicators at each of the four developmental phases.
    Example 2
    COMPETENCY 1.2
    Build a positive self-concept and understand its influence on life, learning and work.
    PERFORMANCE INDICATOR 1.2.7
    Evaluate the impact of your self-concept on you and others at home, school or work.
    LOCAL STANDARD
    Year 10 students will write a journal entry that assesses how three of their positive characteristics affect their experiences at home, at school, and in the workplace (structured workplace learning, work experience, part-time, casual or voluntary work).
    Example 3
    COMPETENCY 1.3
    Develop abilities to maintain a positive self-concept.
    PERFORMANCE INDICATOR 1.3.7
    Demonstrate giving and receiving feedback in ways that build a positive self-concept.
    LOCAL STANDARD
    At the conclusion of a group/team activity, Year 11 students will be observed as they provide feedback on the contribution of each team member to the achievement of group goals. Each student will then be observed receiving feedback on their own contribution to the achievement of group goals. The observer will assess the student’s capacity to maintain a positive attitude and to respect the feelings of others.
    Example 1
    COMPETENCY 1.1
    Build a positive self-concept while discovering its influence on yourself and others.
    PERFORMANCE INDICATOR 1.2.1
    Identify your positive characteristics (skills, interests, personal qualities and strengths) as seen by you and others.
    LOCAL STANDARD
    Year 5 primary school students will write a paragraph in which they describe at least four positive characteristics about themselves.
    30 AUSTRALIAN BLUEPRINT FOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT
    Example 4
    COMPETENCY 1.4
    Improve abilities to maintain a positive self-concept.
    PERFORMANCE INDICATOR 1.4.8
    Re-examine personal characteristics and determine those that might contribute positively to the achievement of career goals.
    LOCAL STANDARD
    An adult working with a career development practitioner will construct a career lifeline that identifies important career achievements, and describe the ways in which their personal characteristics contributed positively to each experience.

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