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Further information
This module was written by Caroline Elton. Caroline is a chartered psychologist who works part time for the Kent Surrey and Sussex Deanery (as strategic lead on careers) and part time as a career counsellor in private practice. The module relates to area 6 of the Professional Development Framework for Supervisors in the London Deanery.
Teachers’ toolkit
Core career counselling skills
References
Ali L and Graham B (1996) The Counselling Approach to Careers Guidance. Routledge, London.
Borges NJ and Savickas ML (2002) Personality and medical specialty choice: a literature review and integration. Journal of Career Assessment. 10: 362–80.
Borges NJ, Savickas ML and Jones BJ (2004) Holland’s theory applied to medical specialty choice. Journal of Career Assessment. 12: 188–206.
Elton C and Reid J (2007) The ROADS to Success: a practical approach to career planning for medical students, foundation trainees (and their supervisors). Postgraduate Deanery for Kent Surrey and Sussex, London.
Goldacre MJ, Turner G and Lambert TW (2004) Variation by medical school in career choices of UK graduates of 1999 and 2000. Medical Education. 38: 249–58.
Hirsh W, Jackson C and Kidd J (2001) Straight Talking: effective career discussions at work. National Institute for Careers Education and Counselling (NICEC), Cambridge.
Jackson C, Hirsh W and Kidd J (2003) Informing Choices. The need for career advice in medical training. National Institute for Careers Education and Counselling (NICEC), Cambridge.
Kidd JM (2006) Understanding Career Counselling: theory, research and practice. Sage, London.
Lambert TW and Goldacre MJ (2007) Views of doctors in training on the importance and availability of career advice in UK medicine. Medical Education. 41: 460–6.
Lambert TW, Goldacre MJ and Evans J (2000) Views of junior doctors about their work: survey of qualifiers of 1993 and 1996 from United Kingdom Medical Schools. Medical Education. 34: 348–54.
Nathan R and Hill L (2006) Career Counselling (2e). Sage,London.
Further reading/Resources
General career planning guides
Hopson B and Scally M (2000) Build Your Own Rainbow: workbook for career and life management. Kogan Page, London.
This can also be used as a self-help guide by students or trainees who want more help with Stage 1.
Medical career guides
Chambers R, Mohanna K and Field S (2000) Opportunities and Options in Medical Careers. Radcliffe Medical Press, Oxford.
Elton C and Reid J (2007) The ROADS to Success: a practical approach to career planning for medical students, foundation trainees (and their supervisors). Postgraduate Deanery for Kent Surrey and Sussex, London.
MacDonald R and Hadridge P (2003) My Beautiful Career. BMJ Publishing Group, London.
Royal College websites
These sites contain a wide range of information covering things such as person specifications, education and training, information about flexible training, etc.
- Academy of Royal Colleges
- College of Emergency Medicine
- Royal College of Anaesthetists
- Faculty of Dental Surgery
- Royal College of General Practitioners
- Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology
- Faculty of Occupational Medicine
- Royal College of Ophthalmologists
- Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
- Royal College of Pathologists
- Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine
- Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
- Royal College of Physicians of London
- Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
- Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Faculty of Public Health
- Royal College of Radiologists
- Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
- Royal College of Surgeons of England
- Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
Medical careers websites
Resources – access to private career support
Please note that career counsellors could also be called career advisors, career guidance professionals, career consultants, career practitioners or even occupational psychologists. Increasingly, people are also offering career coaching.
The ICG accredits career guidance professionals and has a section on its website to help you find a career advisor.
The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services is the professional association of career professionals in higher education. University careers services are usually members of AGCAS and your medical school may have access to the services of the university careers service. You can often be a graduate member of a university careers service.
This is the UK’s official website for graduates and it is supported by AGCAS. You can email a careers consultant and also find a career coach if you want to work with someone on an individual basis. This is one of the services offered by Prospects Professional. (At the time of writing these services were advertised at the bottom of the home page.)
The National Association for Educational Advice for Adults is a practitioner organisation run by members for members. The website has links to guidance providers in its ‘Looking for guidance’ section.
The BPS is the representative body for psychology and psychologists in the UK. You can use its main site to find a psychologist.
The BPS also accredits practitioners in the use of psychometric instruments and has a separate website for the Psychological Testing Centre (www.psychtesting.org.uk/). The directories section contains details of qualified testers, and in the directories section you need to search for a Level B instrument (as personality instruments such as the MBTI are categorised as Level B).
Coaching
Coaching is an increasingly popular tool, which can be used to help support personal development. It can also be offered as life coaching, career coaching, personal development coaching, etc. The European Coaching Institute defines coaching as a ‘simple yet effective form of personal development where client and coach create an alliance that promotes and sustains the client’s personal growth and competence’.
At the moment there are no official regulatory standards for coaching and no governed training standards that need to be attained before individuals can become a coach. However, there are two internationally self-appointed accreditation bodies that aim to self-regulate the industry, and within the UK the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) provides advice to human resource professionals on coaching and mentoring.
Here are some websites if you would like to find out more:
International Coach Federation
Course glossary
- Assessment
- Assessment is the term used to indicate an appraisal of students' performance. Typical formal assessments in medicine include written examinations, Multiple choice questionnaires (MCQ), observations of clinical or communication skills, Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) and Multi-Source Feedback (MSF). Assessments may be summative (where the marks gained contribute to a formal grade or award) or formative (where the focus is on providing feedback for ongoing development).
- Career Advice
- Providing an immediate response to the needs of clients who present an enquiry or reveal a need that requires more than a straightforward information response. It is usually limited to helping with the interpretation of information and with meeting needs already clearly understood by the client and may include signposting to a guidance interview where a more in-depth respsonse can be provided.
- Career Counselling
- The Learning and Skills Council do not provide a definition of career counselling. But Kidd (2006), in a comprehensive handbook uses the following definition. A one-to-one interaction between practitioner and client, usually on-going, involving the application of psychological theory and a recognised set of communication skills. The primary focus is on helping the client make career-related decisions and deal with career-related issue.
- Career Guidance
- An in-depth interview or other activity conducted by a trained adviser which helps clients to explore a range of options, to relate information to their own needs and circumstances and to make decisions about their career (ie their progress in learning and work). It may include psychometric assessment.
- Class
- Class refers to hierarchical differences between individuals or groups in societies or cultures . Factors that determine class may vary widely from one society to another. However, economic disadvantage and barriers to access servces are major issues within class discrimination.
- Competences
- Competences are similar to objectives and outcomes in that they provide a means of specifying and detailing practical skills in relation to the ultimate intended performance that the competences underpin (Grant, 2007, p 21). The use of competences has been widespread in practical vocational subjects such as healthcare, management and engineering. Competence based curricula can be used as a basis for learning and teaching, for assessment and to help ensure professional accountability. Programmes for professions such as medicine usually include specific practical competences and the integration of more complex skills, knowledge and behaviours.
- Supervision
- Usually a formal one-to-one relationship, focussed around professional conversations to help the supervisee develop reflective professional practice, learning and skills with the aim of improving patient care.