Intentional Career Guidance for Economic Development

Career guidance for economic development is not a simple process. The notion of ‘career’, as a concept, is changing across the world of work. Careers used to be pretty straightforward – a linear, hierarchical journey with planned stops along the way. This is no longer true. If the goals identified in the nations key human resource policy instruments are to be realised the challenge is much bigger than just identifying priority skills needs and providing narrowly defined career guidance services in the schooling system.

Intentional Career Guidance for development is defined as a deliberate, coordinated, comprehensive and systematic approach to career guidance that offers key benefits for the economy by supporting individuals to enhance their capacities in ways that contribute to enhanced jobs, relevant skills and by providing research evidence that planned career guidance offers considerable social and economic benefits for society beyond realising the aspirations and potential of an individual. ICG is forward looking. It aims to consider the skills of the future. 

The argument is made that Botswana’s significant human resource development challenges – current labour constraints such as skills mismatches, and future labour demands linked to energetic growth and diversification strategies – will have to be formally guided in order to develop the human capital required to evolve from a mineral resource-based economy into a knowledge-based economy fuelled  by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).The primary benefits include increased labour market participation; more people employed; decreased unemployment; and right skills for industries. The author shares research that shows evidence of secondary benefits of career guidance – that appropriate skills lead to better health, decreased crime and increased tax revenue. 

The author’s general conclusion is that national strategic leadership is needed to ensure a coherent, coordinated and comprehensive policy and approach to career guidance that is centered on flexibility. Developing a policy discourse that articulates the relevance of career guidance to achieving national skills priorities could result in progressive government policy and funding to this under resourced field. 

Roshen Kishun has PhD from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA. He was president of BA ISAGO University for five years from 2013; he was also the president of Botswana Association of Private Tertiary Education Providers (BAPTEP) and Chair of the Education and Training Sector Committee of Human Resource Development Council in Botswana. He has extensive knowledge on the higher education sector in SADC and has particular interest in the development of tertiary education in Botswana.