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Institute of Career Guidance Conference: Opinions from around the UK

Virginia Matthews presents a sneak preview of this year's ICG Conference

Monday 11 September 2006 00:00 BST
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The increasingly fashionable streets of Glasgow will play host to the annual Institute of Career Guidance (ICG) Conference this November as around 200 delegates - plus exhibitors and sponsors including Graduate Prospects, City & Guilds and the Merchant Navy - descend on the Scottish city for the two-day event.

With three keynote speakers booked to address the profession's biggest yearly gathering - Baroness Margaret Prosser of Battersea, Welsh Assembly member Chris Chapman and Allan Wilson MSP - delegates to the conference on 9 and 10 November can expect "a broad range of opinion on careers guidance from around the UK," says Sue Holden, conference manager and head of professional development at the ICG.

She says that following on from the success of last year's shorter, but action-packed timetable - down from two and a half days in previous years - delegates will find "something for everyone" over the course of the two days.

With 21 workshops and symposia on offer, delegates with different areas of expertise and interest will be invited to "practically write their own customized conference timetable," she promises.

Day one's keynote speaker - Baroness Margaret Prosser, chair of the Women and Work Commission - will kick off the conference with a potentially contentious paper on "the role of career guidance in closing the gender pay and opportunities gap".

Her speech is expected to look at how the profession can take a lead in raising the career aspirations of women and, as with any discussion of sex role stereotyping in education and employment, is likely to be both controversial and thought-provoking.

"Wherever we practice and whatever our individual interests happen to be, sex-role stereotyping and the part it plays in skills shortages is a vital issue for the entire profession," says Holden.

The first of two symposia at this year's conference is led on the first morning by Bill Law and Hazel Reid and is titled Narrative Approaches to Career Guidance. Both this and the day two symposium aim to explore "different and important aspects of the whole subject of career guidance," says Holden, who is reluctant to give more details at this stage.

There are no less than nine available workshops on the opening day of conference, including a session on marketing to the unemployed, which uses the findings of a recent MBA research study to suggest a number of best practice guidelines for producing marketing materials aimed at the unemployed.

The Softer Side of LMI, led by Alyson Jackson and Jo Hutchinson, explores ways in which the industry can tackle stereotypes that might limit potential workers' aspirations.

After lunch, the personality types of career guidance professionals are put under the microscope when David Hodgson conducts live research into what makes careers guidance professionals tick.

This interactive, fun session will give delegates the opportunity to discover their own unique personality types and to compare themselves with famous people from the worlds of sport, fiction and business including the Beckhams, Dr Who and Anita Roddick.

Hodgson - who says he aims to find out what sort of people join the careers guidance sector and why - will compare the DNA of careers people with that of police officers, nurses and retail managers; all of whom have been assessed in this way.

"Mapping the typical personality of the careers professional hasn't been done before," says Holden, "and if it turns out that there is a distinct personality type that joins the profession, we'll be eager to learn all about it."

The first day concludes with a presidential address by Dr Rachel Mulvey, followed by the installation of Kieran Gordon as the new president and a late afternoon AGM.

The evening continues with a wine reception, followed by the annual President's Dinner and a late disco, which kicks off at around 9.15pm. As with the Bristol conference last year, delegates will also be free to sample the varied nightlife in Glasgow and will be hosted by a large number of day delegates from Glasgow and Edinburgh representing Careers Scotland.

Day two kicks off with a keynote speech by Chris Chapman AM, deputy minister for education and lifelong learning at the Welsh Assembly on the theme of Career Guidance - The Political Reality.

The conference's second symposium; led by Professor Jenny Bimrose and Claudia Lasite, looks at Multicultural Approaches to Career Guidance, but again, the contents is a closely guarded secret until the day.

Day two's workshops include a must-attend session for techies and technophobes alike on Delivering a Virtual Careers Service for the 21st century. Led by Lucy Madahar, the session promises to demonstrate the 24/7 services available, including e-query, online CV checking, live chatrooms, message boards, online guidance interviews and virtual recruitment fairs.

Windmills will be the subject of one workshop examining how Careers Scotland HIE has worked with the University of Liverpool to integrate the Windmills approach to Career and Life Planning, while another looks at Progressing Young People With Issues and asks What Are Soft Outcomes?

Allan Wilson MSP, deputy minister for enterprise and lifelong learning at the Scottish Parliament, will give the keynote address at 1.15 pm and at 2pm, the eighth National Career Awards are showcased.

New president Kieran Gordon outlines what he sees as the challenges facing the profession in the year ahead between 3pm and 3.30pm and after refreshments, the 2006 conference aims to close at 4pm.

A WARM WELCOME TO SCOTLAND

The ICG Conference offers an unrivalled opportunity to network with distant colleagues and catch up with important development in careers advice from across the UK.

Many delegates may decide to travel to Glasgow in advance of the conference and colleagues from Careers Scotland are waiting to show them around the local restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

The Glasgow Marriott is a short walk from the city centre. The four-star hotel has air conditioning in all bedrooms, an indoor swimming pool and leisure complex. Free onsite parking for guests is included.

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