Professional Career Development Research Articles

Professional Certification and Career Development: A Comparative Analysis between Local and Foreign Certifications

Professional certification, a proficiency to validate employees' competency and readiness for career development, has recently become a subject of inquiry among researchers. There are concerns about employers' demand for foreign in place of local professional certifications in employment decisions, especially in developing countries. Therefore, this study examines the impact of indigenous and foreign professional certifications on employee career development in developing countries like Nigeria. A survey questionnaire was designed to collect data from certified and non-certified human resource professionals in Nigeria. A structural equation modelling analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between the exogenous and homogenous constructs. Findings revealed that local and foreign certifications influence the career development of the sampled employees. However, the model's explanatory power shows that foreign certification has a greater influence on career development than local certification. The study report suggests that both certifications benefit career development, thus, are relevant in career development and employment decisions.

Impact of the Global Megatrends, COVID-19, and Digital Economy on Professional Career Management Transformation in Asian Countries

This research systematically analyzes the effects that global megatrends, digitalizing economy, and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic are having on the transformation of professional career management and changing professional skills for achieving career purposes and tasks, providing a competent approach to the labor market. It also suggests a sustainable career management process for people to prepare career goals, objectives, and ambitions in the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Following this aim, the secondary analysis of the literature reviewed aided in offering important information to satisfy the original research targets and aims. Thus, the study maintained an exploratory and deductive research design to analyze the qualitative data gathered on the phenomenon of professional career management under the digital transformation in Asian countries. The analysis reveals that some megatrends have transformed how professional career development occurs. This paper is novel because it provides a critical assessment of the global megatrends and the impact of the digital economy related to professional career management transformation, with specific emphasis on Asian countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the paper redounds the extant literature, making a significant contribution to the current debate in the literature. Additionally, it is expected to contribute to the sustainable development of the labor market in Asian countries based on system research and converging the concepts of transformation processes in professional career management affected by megatrends with theoretical and methodological support.

ATTITUDES FOR PROFESSIONAL REALIZATION AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF THE STUDENTS IN THE SPECIALTY “MIDWIFE”

Background: During their studies, obstetrics students have their own expectations and attitudes for career development. Today, this process is largely determined by the ongoing reforms in health care, the national economic and political environment, the labor market and the current epidemiological situation. Aim: To study the attitudes and expectations of students majoring in “Midwife” regarding their future professional development and career development. Material and methods: an anonymous survey of first to fourth year students majoring in Obstetrics at the Medical Faculty of the Thracian University - Stara Zagora. The results are processed with reliable mathematical and statistical methods and give grounds to draw the appropriate conclusions. Results: It was found that students have different preferences for their future careers in a sector of the health system and obstetric care. The share of those wishing to study in master’s programs after their basic education is significant. Most of the future midwives would be realized in Bulgaria.

Business English Materials; What Should be Developed Related to the 21st Century Competencies

Learning outcomes can be achieved with suitable teaching materials. The integration and effectiveness of teaching materials greatly influence the successful implementation of Business English. The long-term goal of this research and development is to develop 21st-century Competency-based Business English materials. The design of this study used the research and development (R&D) of Borg and Gall (1983) with simplification into four stages, namely: introduction, development, trial test, and dissemination which were held within six months. The data collected is tested for validity through triangulation tests by conducting forum group discussions with experts and colleagues. The research subjects are lecturers and students of English at Universitas Nasional Karangturi. Months 1 – 2 are for conducting preliminary activities, months 3 – 4 are for designing the assessment draft, and months 5 – 6 are for testing and dissemination. The results of this study are Business English teaching materials, including Job Interviews, Business English conversations, Business English Podcast, English for Presentation, Curriculum Vitae, and Application Letters as preparation for professional career development. The stages and results of the research are recommended to be a reference for teachers, lecturers, developers of teaching materials, and researchers in developing and teaching business English, especially for professional career development with steps through material development, assessment, and evaluation. It can conclude that the 21st-century competency-based Business English teaching materials that are produced trigger students to be more active in communication have high creativity, critical thinking, and good cooperation, and the students can learn by combining practical business knowledge directly.

Gender differences in engineering students’ understanding of professional competences and career development in the transition from education to work

Gender differences in engineering students’ understanding of professional competences and career development in the transition from education to work

Objectivity in evaluating professional career development

Adopting a proactive attitude focused on professional development is essential in the contemporary, volatile environment. Objective and subjective indicators are used when evaluating the development of a professional career. However, the adequateness of the criteria chosen for evaluation is ambiguous due to the limitations of both objective and subjective measures. In this article, on the basis of a review of literature, objective and subjective measures of professional progression were characterized, and the possible distortions of objective evaluation resulting from applying them were identified. The evolution of the career paradigm results in the need to verify professional development in the modern approach, which strongly highlights the subjective prospects of a professional career that reflect an individually planned concept of oneself. Nevertheless, a possible criticism regarding subjective measures is lack of objectivity in career evaluation. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to analyze the relationship between the objective and subjective measures of professional careers. The study was based on an online questionnaire which covered 190 employees employed in large and medium-sized companies in Poland. The study confirmed the positive relationship between the measures, and shows the direction of the relationship, showing that the subjective and objective criteria commensurately indicate career development. Career satisfaction can be successfully used in the assessment of professional development, thus giving reliable results for its advancement.

Influence of Professional Career Development and Teamwork on Employee Job Satisfaction: Evidence From Private Universities in Nigeria

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of professional career development and teamwork on job satisfaction among lecturers in selected private universities in Nigeria. Social exchange theory was used to establish the theoretical framework of this study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design to establish the relationship between professional career development, teamwork and job satisfaction. Structured questionnaire was distributed to 428 respondents in six selected private universities in Nigeria. The reliability of the measuring instrument was tested using Cronbach Alpha. Hypothesis one was tested using correlation analysis and regression analysis were employed for testing of hypotheses two, three and four. The result of the analysis showed that there is a statistical influence between the three constructs professional career development, teamwork and job satisfaction of private university lecturers in Nigeria. The research concludes that professional career development and teamwork exert different levels of influence on private university lecturers’ job satisfaction and that teamwork exerts greater level of influence on lecturers’ job satisfaction. Hence it was suggested that management of private universities should promote the establishment of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research teams and centres in order to blend the experience of academics. Also, private universities should make annual plans to sponsor or subsidize conferences, seminars and workshop expenses of lecturers in order to encourage frequent participation in academic events so as to sustain the lecturer’s satisfaction and commitment on the job.

Anticipated impacts of voluntary assisted dying legislation on nursing practice.

Background:The Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017 passed into law in Victoria, Australia, on the 29 November 2017. Internationally, nurses have been shown to be intimately involved in patient care throughout the voluntary assisted dying process. However, there is a paucity of research exploring Australian nurses’ perspectives on voluntary assisted dying and, in particular, how Victorian nurses anticipate the implementation of this ethically controversial legislation will impact their professional lives.Objectives:To explore Victorian nurses’ expectations of the ethical and practical impacts the voluntary assisted dying legislation will have on their professional lives.Research design:This qualitative study analysed nurses’ free text responses collected as part of a larger mixed methods online survey investigating staff views on the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act. Data were collected during the period between the passing of the voluntary assisted dying legislation and the start date and were analysed using inductive content analysis.Participants and research context:Free text survey responses were analysed from 1873 nurses employed across seven Victorian health services located in both metropolitan and regional areas of the state.Ethical considerations:The study obtained research ethics approval and all participants were informed of the voluntary and anonymous nature of their participation.Findings:This study identified three broad areas of Victorian nurses’ professional lives that they expected to be impacted by the implementation of voluntary assisted dying: professional identity, career development and workplace relationships.Conclusion:Participants anticipate diverse and nursing-specific impacts of the implementation of voluntary assisted dying in Victoria. Their insights can inform health services in jurisdictions considering or already implementing voluntary assisted dying, to develop policies, procedures and staff training programmes that safeguard the well-being and legal rights of their nursing staff.

How does research reach teachers? An agenda for investigating research mobilities in primary literacy education

AbstractIn England, several developments combine in powerful ways to sustain certain ideas about literacy and research in education. These include the promotion of a specific model of ‘evidence‐based practice’, frameworks for initial teacher education and early career professional development, and a strong accountability framework via inspection. However, as we illustrate through examples of activity on Twitter, to suggest that such ideas are all pervasive is to ignore other, less predictable, ways in which research circulates. Teachers, researchers and others working in literacy education, combined with the work of digital actors, assist the movement of ideas in sometimes unpredictable and even exciting ways. We argue that, if we are to understand how teachers encounter research, we need a better understanding of how research moves. We suggest that such movements are produced through shifting assemblages of human and non‐human actors that combine to mobilise literacy research evidence differently and to varying degrees. This, we propose, calls for a new focus on what we call ‘research mobilities’ in primary literacy research.

Opportunities and risks in the use of AI in career development practice

The Covid-19 pandemic required many aspects of life to move online. This accelerated a broader trend for increasing use of ICT and AI, with implications for both the world of work and career development. This article explores the potential benefits and challenges of including AI in career practice. It provides an overview of the technology, including current uses, to illustrate ways in which it could enhance existing services, and the attendant practical and ethical challenges posed. Finally, recommendations are provided for policy and practice that will support career development professionals in managing these risks and maximising benefits to service users.

Latent analysis of the relationship between burnout experienced by Chinese preschool teachers and their professional engagement and career development aspirations

ABSTRACT There are limited studies involving the relationship between preschool teachers’ job burnout and their professional engagement and career development aspirations. This study classified latent profiles according to job burnout indices for Chinese preschool teachers and examined the characteristics of each profile and how they affect professional engagement and career development aspirations. A cluster sample of 1000 preschool teachers (54 males and 946 females; average age = 30.93, SD = 9.91) was recruited to complete questionnaires regarding job burnout, professional engagement and career development aspirations. Results indicated that preschool teachers’ job burnout can be divided into four latent classes: 1) low burnout (9%); 2) exogenous burnout (42%); 3) endogenous burnout (44%) and 4) high burnout (5%). The demographic variables such as gender, marital status, working years, preschool location and job category have a significant impact on the potential categories of preschool teachers’ job burnout. Furthermore, the four categories of job burnout show significant differences in the level of professional engagement and career development aspirations and its dimensions, except the leadership aspiration dimension.

When Things Collide: Wayfinding in Professional Writers' Early Career Development

In this article, we explore how the concept of wayfinding allows us an opportunity to map post-collegiate writers’ complex and recursive movement in and out of different territories, realms, spaces, and spheres of writing ecologies.  Focusing specifically on accounts from seven alumni who participated in focus group interviews during 2018-19, we offer stories of writers’ navigating the transition from college to workforce. Using wayfinding as our theoretical lens, we pay attention to the ways in which these writers articulate their increasing understanding of these domains -- college and post-college -- as far from separate. Such examples show us how alumni “find their way,” and introduce three emergent themes in our ongoing analysis of wayfinding. Our participants describe their ongoing and developing journeys as writers: (1) encountering the unexpected, (2) navigating career plans and paths, and (3) seeing beyond the boundaries of writing contexts. In each case, we narrate how wayfinding helps us illuminate the complex dynamics at play as these writers’ continue to explore how writing is meaningful in their lives and across multiple contexts.

Factors facilitating and hindering volunteering practices among ethnic-racial minority immigrants on the US-Mexico border

ABSTRACT Using purposive sampling and in-depth interviews of 40 ethnic-racial minority immigrants (first-, 1.5-, and second- generations) on the US-Mexico border, this study examined factors that facilitated and hindered decisions to volunteer. Overall, analyses based on the Grounded Theory Method indicated that the participants’ proclivity to volunteer was driven by multifaceted factors related to the availability of their personal resources, altruistic concerns over the welfare of the disadvantaged, cost-benefit analyses that factored opportunity cost in decision-making, self-interest, and personal benefits accrued. Specifically, volunteering could be used as a venue to foster professional career development, attain personal growth, reap emotional benefits, and fulfil altruistic callings. Factors that deterred the participants from volunteering consisted of value clashes with the agency management, personality conflicts with other volunteers, challenges confronted in working with difficult client populations, and time constraints. This study also supported the resource perspective where participants with more personal resources such as time, network, knowledge, values, skill sets, and expertise were able to volunteer in a wider variety of capacities. Study findings can be used to promote a culture of diversity and inclusion in volunteering, remove barriers that hinder involvement, and encourage contribution from this growing segment of the U.S. population.

ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКОЕ КОНСУЛЬТИРОВАНИЕ ПО ВОПРОСАМ АДАПТАЦИИ К УЧЕБНОЙ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ СТУДЕНТОВ ПЕРВОГО КУРСА С РАЗНЫМ УРОВНЕМ СМЫСЛОЖИЗНЕННЫХ ОРИЕНТАЦИЙ

The article describes the results of the study of the adaptation features to educational activities of first-year students, depending on the level of life-purpose orientations. The relevance of the research topic can be explained by the fact that the period when a student enters the learning environment is characterized by tension and importance for the student’s personal and professional development. The professional career and personal development of the future specialist will depend on how the adaptation process goes. Insufficient theoretical and practical development of the problem of adaptation to educational activities of first-year students with different levels of meaningful life orientations led to the choice of the topic of the study presented in the article. To test the hypothesis that the process of adaptation to learning activities of first-year students has its own specifics depending on the level of life-purpose orientations, and the optimal indicators of life-purpose orientations in first-year students are observed at an average level of self-esteem, an experimental study was conducted, including ascertaining, forming and control stages. Statistically significant changes in the indicators of adaptation to educational activities of the subjects of the experimental group allowed the authors to conclude that due to the creation of special conditions, including systematic advisory sessions aimed at developing meaningful life orientations by optimizing the level of self-esteem of first-year students, there is an increase in the indicators of adaptation to educational activities of first-year students. The data obtained by the authors can become the basis for the development and the implementation of psychological support programs for first-year students on issues of adaptation to educational activities.

Precarity and progression during a pandemic. Preliminary findings from a study of early career academics’ information behaviour during COVID-19

COVID-19 has increased research, teaching and administrative pressures for all academics and, by doing so, exacerbated inequalities experienced by early career academics, who were already dealing with several sources of uncertainty in trying to establish their careers. This study sought to understand the experiences of the academics during the pandemic. We conducted semi-structured remote interviews with 18 participants (PhDs awarded in past 6 years), from a variety of countries; Canada, US, Australia, UK, New Zealand, and South Africa. Interviews were analysed using a reflexive inductive Thematic Analysis approach. Preliminary findings demonstrate that the pandemic has disrupted information acquisition and sharing among ECAs. The increasing amount of incorrect and irrelevant information disseminated by universities, alongside the de-prioritisation of information that is particularly valued by these academics (e.g., information related to professional development and career development) has led some to avoid information.The COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the precarious situations faced. Universities need to acknowledge uncertainty, reduce information overload by providing relevant and useful information and provide useful information on and support for career progression.

Impact of Personal Branding on the Development of Professional Careers of Managers

Impact of Personal Branding on the Development of Professional Careers of Managers

Be in the Digital Room Where it Happens, Part I: Tweeting & Technology for Career Development.

Social media has become a part of everyday life. It has changed the way we obtain and distribute information, connect, and interact with others. As the number of platforms and users grow, medical professionals have learned the value social media can have in education, research, advocacy, and clinical care initiatives. Platforms provide opportunities to network, build collaborations, and develop a reputation. This is part one of a two-part series. This article provides an overview on how social media can benefit professional career development for clinicians and researchers, as well as for advocacy to raise awareness against biases, disparities, and for patient benefit. We review challenges, limitations, and best practices for social media use by medical professionals with neurology-specific examples.

Professor Volodymyr Zemskov — a world-renowned Ukrainian surgeon

The article describes the professional and scientific way of professor Volodymyr Serhiyovych Zemskov, a prominent Ukrainian surgeon and a founder of the Kyiv Center for Liver, Bile Ducts and Pancreas Surgery which is currently based in the Kyiv City Clinical Hospital No10. The article presents the memories of his students and contemporaries, the facts about his professional biography and career development. The paper describes the main scientific interests of Volodymyr Zemskov, his achievements and scientific work.

PEDAGOGICAL PREREQUISITES FOR TRAINING THE PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS OF HANDICRAFTS AND TECHNOLOGY TO BE READY TO SELF-DEVELOP THEIR PROFESSIONAL CAREER

The article substantiates the importance of training pre-service teachers of handicrafts and technology to be ready to develop their professional career as a prerequisite for students to determine their individual professional preferences at the stage of higher education, master the tools of finding the niche in their professional life, adaptation in the workplace, further professional and career development, etc. The study reveals the scientists' approaches to the analysis of the specifics of training future teachers of handicrafts and technology, which allowed to specify the check-list of pedagogical prerequisites for the development of their professional careers, taking into account the specifics of their future professional activities. Using the method of expert evaluations, a survey was administered to the research and teaching staff of the National Pedagogical University named after MP Drahomanov, who work for the Department of Theory and Methods of Technological Education, Drawing and Computer Graphics of the Faculty of Engineering and Pedagogy (11 people), whose the purpose was to provide an expert evaluation of the list of optimal pedagogical prerequisites for readiness of the preservice teachers of handicrafts and technology for the career development. A number of pedagogical prerequisites for the training of future teachers of handicrafts and technology to be ready for the development of professional careers were categorised in blocks such as follows: organizational and methodological (availability of appropriate bodies interested in effective planning of students’ future professional careers; purposeful training of students on their career self-development; involvement in professional activities at the stage of study in an educational institution); motivational and goal-setting (fostering motivation for professional and personal self-development; formation of the adequate system of value and career orientations); contextual (introduction of career-professional context in the content of training; acquaintance with requirements of the market environment concerning realization of professional activity and conditions of career development).

Career Development and Job Satisfaction of Library Professionals in University Libraries of Andhra Pradesh

Career Development and Job Satisfaction of Library Professionals in University Libraries of Andhra Pradesh