Skills Development Advisors and the Job Centre

Careers Advisors in Careers Scotland are now going to be called Skills Development Advisors. From my placement I have learned that careers advisors are now spending part of their working time in Job Centres, which is also a recent development.

On top of this, the new literature of the Job Centre is significant in its wording. Customers can now undergo a "Diagnosis" and be given a "skills health-check". So now careers advisors have become the doctors of the job market.

Careers Advisors are generally unhappy with this new title. They are objecting to it as they think being called a Skills Development Advisor does not adequately reflect what they do and breaks association with the idea of the profession. The new title carries as much weight as that of 'Energy Advisor' or 'Customer Service Advisor'. It just does not reflect the vocational role.

Careers Scotland is now working closer than ever with the Job Centre. It seems reasonable to assume that the Job Centre will at some point start to recruit "Employment Advisors" to carry out guidance work full-time on site.

The termination of the job title is however worrying. Could this be the end of career guidance? Surely anyone could be recruited as a "Skills Development Advisor"? The Advisors themselves have begun a petition against it, so the concern is obviously apparent.