information. Two of our students expected the appointment to save them time in doing their own research - be honest I have the time to be sitting around and just looking for “to don’t steps to do (S, stage 1) and this often formed the basis of an unrealistic expectation next” as to what the consultant was able to provide. Two others wanted the consultant to identify companies to apply to or to validate the appropriateness of the strategy they had devised. Other comments demonstrate openness to the experience, with very vague expectations and recognition of the value of talking with an impartial person. just that I have so little idea that anything they give me could be useful. I It’s don’t expect to walk in not knowing and walk out knowing exactly what I to do ‘m going (LAUGHS) but maybe the scramble will begin to make a bit more (K, stage sense… 1) The following exchange shows valuing of impartiality: another students’ S: I need to talk my options through with somebody because talking it through with my parents enough because they really understand what like to get a isn’t don’t it’s job now so…. not impartial are they? Researcher: And they’re S: No (laughs) not at all. No, my parents want me to be a teacher and that’s something definitely not looking into for the time being but to talk it through with I’m someone who has knowledge about the subjects as well. (S, stage 1) I’m doing Clients drew on their own previous experiences of guidance and reported friends’ experiences of using our service in forming their expectations. At kind of got an impression of careers guidance as just like these books school “you you looked down a list and this looks type of thing (C, stage 1) ‘ooh, good!’ They specific careers advisors, it was more one of the been weren’t teachers who’d asked to be this role and they just their job to know. weren’t…I don’t know…it wasn’t But they had good resources in terms of books just difficult to find out where to it’s get the information you wanted. (J, stage 2) Self-directed use of information seemed undervalued, with one student reporting that her friends had not found our guidance useful as they had simply been referred to the website.
information. Two of our students expected the appointment to save them time in doing their own research - “to be honest I don’t have the time to be sitting around and just looking for steps to do next” (S, stage 1) and this often formed the basis of an unrealistic expectation as to what the consultant was able to provide. Two others wanted the consultant to identify companies to apply to or to validate the appropriateness of the strategy they had devised. Other comments demonstrate openness to the experience, with very vague expectations and recognition of the value of talking with an impartial person. It’s just that I have so little idea that anything they give me could be useful. I don’t expect to walk in not knowing and walk out knowing exactly what I ‘m going to do (LAUGHS) but maybe the scramble will begin to make a bit more sense… (K, stage 1) The following exchange shows another students’ valuing of impartiality: S: I need to talk my options through with somebody because talking it through with my parents isn’t enough because they don’t really understand what it’s like to get a job now so…. Researcher: And they’re not impartial are they? S: No (laughs) not at all. No, my parents want me to be a teacher and that’s something I’m definitely not looking into for the time being but to talk it through with someone who has knowledge about the subjects I’m doing as well. (S, stage 1) Clients drew on their own previous experiences of guidance and friends’ reported experiences of using our service in forming their expectations. At school “you kind of got an impression of careers guidance as just like these books you looked down a list and ‘ooh, this looks good!’ type of thing (C, stage 1) They weren’t specific careers advisors, it was more one of the teachers who’d been asked to be this role and they weren’t…I don’t know…it just wasn’t their job to know. But they had good resources in terms of books it’s just difficult to find out where to get the information you wanted. (J, stage 2) Self-directed use of information seemed undervalued, with one student reporting that her friends had not found our guidance useful as they had simply been referred to the website.
frigerio_effective_guidance_report_21_4_10-1.docx