Julia Yates

‘If you look the part you’ll get the job’: should career professionals help clients to enhance their career image?

This article presents a critical exploration of the role of career professionals in supporting people to reflect on and enhance their appearance, attractiveness and self-presentation (career image). The article is conceptual and based on a review of the broader literature on career success, appearance and attractiveness. It explores the evidence for a relationship between attractiveness and career, and the authors propose a conceptual framework in which career image is comprised of three elements (interpersonal skills, aesthetic presentation and beauty). The paper examines a possible role for career professionals in relation to this and then critically examines this role and concludes with the proposition of a research agenda in this area.

Synchronous Online CPD: Empirical Support for the Value of Webinars in Career Settings.

The careers profession in England is facing unprecedented challenges. Initiatives to improve service delivery while keeping costs low are attractive and online training holds the promise of high impact at low cost. The present study employs a qualitative methodology to evaluate a series of online ‘webinars’ conducted with 15 careers advisers. Results showed that the technology itself could impede learning, and participants missed out on the peer-to-peer interaction that takes place in a ‘bricks and mortar’ setting, but overall participants found that access to relevant, good quality training from the convenience of their workplace more than compensated for the challenges. The article offers conceptual support for the viability of online learning through the theory of equivalency, andragogy and transactional distance theory, and makes recommendations for practice.

Understanding potential career changers’ experience of career confidence following a positive psychology based coaching programme

ABSTRACT Changes in the labour market over the last decades have led to an increase in the number of career and job changes individuals are likely to face in their working lives. Previous research indicates that a high level of confidence can help individuals to make positive career changes, yet an agreed definition of confidence is not widely accepted, and the literature provides a limited evidence base for practice. This research involved five female participants who were contemplating a career change. They took part in a coaching programme which consisted of four positive psychology interventions based on a proposal of core confidence as a higher order construct composed of self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and written reflections and an interpretative phenomenological analysis showed that participants perceived their career confidence before the programme as low, incorporating negative affect and self-doubt. After the programme, participants demonstrated increased career engagement, self-awareness and a positive and optimistic outlook. The analysis revealed that change was effected through the development of hope, change in cognitive processes and coaching as a catalyst. Implications for the definition of career confidence, and for positive psychology and career coaching practice are considered.

Good looks and good practice: the attitudes of career practitioners to attractiveness and appearance

ABSTRACT Empirical evidence attests the impact that career image has on objective career success, yet little is known of how career practitioners conceptualise and operationalise this information. This article presents the quantitative findings of an online survey of career practitioners (n = 399, 74% female, 89% white and 75% from the U.K.) exploring their attitudes and practices towards issues of appearance and attractiveness. Career practitioners who participated in this survey acknowledged that beauty, self-presentation and interpersonal skills influence career success, and 96% of them considered conversations about career image as part of their professional remit. The career practitioners felt relatively comfortable and well informed in their discussions in this arena, but would welcome further guidance and training to inform their practice. Ethical and practical implications for the profession are considered.

Understanding the experience of midlife women taking part in a work-life balance career coaching programme: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

Midlife women currently have the highest ever presence in the work place with many juggling work with demanding home lives. Women are reporting increased dissatisfaction with their work - life balance yet few studies exist exploring how practical interventions might help . This action - research involved five female participants , based in Lon don, on a career coaching programme designed to improve work - life balance. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis suggested the programme offered a safe place to support women in reconciling work and life roles with their individual values and needs. Thr ough increasing positivity and resilience the coaching enabled participants to define and shape a better work - life balance .

Advising on career image: perspectives, practice and politics

ABSTRACT This article analyses qualitative data gathered from a survey of career practitioners on the issue of career image (n = 355, 75% female, 89% white and 78% from the UK). Findings reveal three key themes which represent how career image relates to practitioners’ values and beliefs, how practitioners make decisions about whether to address the topic in their practice and the strategies they use to address career image with their clients. Findings are discussed with reference to Watts’s socio-political ideologies of guidance. The data indicate that career practitioners are often uncomfortable about discussing career image, but address it where they believe that it is important to their clients’ success. While some practitioners believe the existing structures to be unjust, they generally seek to address this injustice at the individual level rather than seeking any kind of social transformation.

What kind of shoes does a social worker wear? A content analysis of four occupational prototypes

ABSTRACT Evidence suggests that occupational prototypes have an impact on career decisions, through the mechanism of self-to-prototype matching, yet the literature provides scant information about the nature of these occupational prototypes. This study examines the prototypes of four common occupational choices of psychology students in the UK (social worker, primary school teacher, occupational psychologist and clinical psychologist). Data were gathered through four focus groups (N = 24) and were analysed with a quantitative content analysis to produce descriptions of the four occupational prototypes. It was found that the occupational prototypes were detailed and multi-dimensional, incorporating a wide range of features not directly related to the job itself including information about clothing, leisure activities and home décor. Implications for career development theory and career practice are discussed.

Career conversations in coaching: the contribution that career theory can make to coaching practice

ABSTRACT This paper responds to calls for an increased evidence base for coaching practice by exploring the contribution that career research and theory could make to this field. The paper summarises three small-scale studies focusing on career change undertaken by post-graduate students enrolled on an MSc in Career Coaching at a university in London. The studies explore the experiences of three groups of people who have recently changed career direction: female Black African entrepreneurs, academic research scientists moving to industry and people choosing a career in careers. The findings of the studies highlight the role of meaning and values, and the influence of others on career choice. The studies show too how the participants wrestle with subjective notions of career success, and that the impetus to make a career change comes from both a disenchantment with one situation and an attraction towards another. The paper concludes with some suggestions for coaching practice.