Criteria to compare journals

I have recently been talking to some people who are interested in establishing a journal. I was sent some journals links to explore as publication examples, but realised that - while the links were helpful, what I  really needed was a framework in order to evaluate them in a meaningful way. I had a bit of a dig around in some peer-reviewed journals...

read more "Criteria to compare journals"

Using career assessments from other countries

It is quite a process to create, test and normalise career assessment instruments (Stuart, 2004), but living in the Antipodes, where we have such a small population - only 5m - it would also be a costly procedure. Pretty much the only quantitative tools we have in Aotearoa are tests which have been internationally-developed....

read more "Using career assessments from other countries"

Finding a JP

A "Justice of the Peace" is effectively a 'trusted' person in New Zealand, who is "responsible and known to be of good character", possesses "integrity" and has "an adequate education and to be known by the community" (Nabi, 2023). A JP can witness signatures on official documents, take declarations, and witness the swearing of affidavits or affirming...

read more "Finding a JP"

Avoiding procrastination

Last year I read a book by Andrew Mellen, called "Calling Bullsh*t on Busy" (2023). Most of the book was pretty straight-forward, containing many strategies and tactics which I tend to follow anyway. However, I particularly liked the final chapter on procrastination. In this chapter, the reader was pragmatically advised that - while there are...

read more "Avoiding procrastination"

Campbell's Growth Model

Last year I attended a CATE training day where the Growth model of coaching was explored. I had completely forgotten about this particular model, but a bit of digging refreshed my memory. This model, rather like the SOTAP or SOAP model (see here), or the the Calgary-Cambridge guide (here), could be used as a practice framework to guide new practitioners...

read more "Campbell's Growth Model"

Does an accent limit access to work?

Over time working with clients who are transitioning roles, I have noticed that those with 'foreign' names seem to gain an interview less often than those with names more mainstream in the society they seek work within. Of course this does not 'count' as research, but I have recently stumbled across a few articles which find that there are also hiring...

read more "Does an accent limit access to work?"

A cup of tea and statistics

Now interestingly (I am not sure if this story is true or not) but I was rather taken by a story I read in Dave Trott's book, Crossover Creativity (2023). As Trott does not name his sources, it may lack a bit of credibility. But I think it is a good story!Here goes. A "mathematician working at Rothamsted Experimental Station in Hertfordshire, in 1920",...

read more "A cup of tea and statistics"

Survivor guilt

I think I first experienced survivor guilt when working for a corporate where staff were made redundant all around me, yet I still remained. I even called it survivor guilt, although I didn't know then that survivor guilt (Fimiani et al., 2021; Russell, 2021) was actually a thing. I felt terrible to be still within the organisation while they...

read more "Survivor guilt"

The CJCD Journal

Previously in our series (here) on how we can stay professionally updated, I talked about the NICEC - National Institute for Career Education and Counselling - journal. So continuing to keep those cost barriers low for improving professional practice, this time we consider an open access publication from Canada - the Canadian Journal of Career...

read more "The CJCD Journal"

Lies, damned lies and statistics

It is fascinating how often we attribute things to people without checking. However, I know a few people who are SCRUPULOUS in checking. One is Garson O'Toole of Quote Investigator's fame (here), and the other is Michael Quinion of World Wide Words (here). WikiQuote is also reasonably accurate (here). My husband and I were talking about the coiner...

read more "Lies, damned lies and statistics"

Tools to help in recreating self-identity

Last year I was in touch with a friend whom I hadn't caught up with since Covid-19 rocked our collective worlds... to find that things were not going well on many fronts for my friend. Work was great, but everything else felt like it was coming unglued: they felt they had lost their sense of self; no longer knowing who they were. I was so very grateful...

read more "Tools to help in recreating self-identity"

What is the first, second and third person?

I realised that - despite having explored whether writing in the first or the third person in academic writing is more 'appropriate' - we had missed the first step... and had not defined what the first or third person IS.So we will do that, then we will chew over a few ideas as what is 'appropriate' really is a difficult question to answer. It seems...

read more "What is the first, second and third person?"

Building a better idiot

Well. I have a bit of a conundrum. I seem to recall that in a Heinlein book, the author, Robert Anson Heinlein had one of his characters say something along the lines of "make a system idiot proof and the world will build a better idiot". Despite wracking my brain to remember what book that was in, asking my sister (another Antipodean Heinlein fan),...

read more "Building a better idiot"

Thanks by way of a chocolate fish

Oh: why do we Kiwis award a chocolate fish as a thank you? Well, giving a small token of thanks - koha - for a job well done is a Kiwi cultural thing. And we have gotten into the habit of making that small token ...a chocolate fish. It is "given (literally or figuratively) as a reward for a job well done; as in 'Good on ya, mate. You deserve a...

read more "Thanks by way of a chocolate fish"

Career mapping

When we are "navigating unfamiliar territory, it is natural to feel anxious - especially if there is no map" to guide us (Clarke, 2011, p. 3). So, to guide where we want to go in our work, we build a map: a process which is called - logically - career mapping. We plot our potential career path, like a mindmap or a flowchart, through self-knowledge,...

read more "Career mapping"

Posthumanism and post-linguistic theory

When doing research, we use a base theory to provide a backbone for our methodology (our research philosophy, inquiry strategy, and design - big picture why and how) and our methods (our data collection, sampling and analysis tools). If we use some type of unifying theory it helps our decisions to align, making our data collection more consistent,...

read more "Posthumanism and post-linguistic theory"