Myfuture - The National Career Information Service

15/05/2017

myfuture, the National Career Information Service and the changing nature of career education, career pathways and career planning.

Education Services Australia, a wholly government owned not-for-profit Ministerial Company, manages myfuture.edu.au as the National Career Information Service. myfuture was launched originally in 2002 to meet the needs of the Australian economy, the result of a collaborative project supported by industry and governments at both federal and state levels. It is used in every state and territory of Australia and is free in all Australian government schools. It has a substantial reach into schools (at 84 per cent) and 1.2 million members, highlighting wide use within schools and educational institutions alongside individual up-take. 

The latest iteration of myfuture was released in October 2015 to recognise the changing digital environment and address the future of work. Its strength is in recognising the demand for a digitally delivered, enhanced career development service. It engages with the needs and shifts of industry within an increasingly mobile and complex workforce. Education Services Australia welcome the involvement of the Australian youth, government, industry, academia, and the wider community to engage with myfuture to continue into its fifteenth year of meeting the career development needs as Australia’s National Career Information Service.

Challenge for careers

More than ever, young people need guidance to transition from school into satisfying careers and to understand the opportunities and challenges that accompany advances in technology. Global evidence suggests that people should not focus on occupations but learn to manage their careers in a broader sense, encompassing varied paid and unpaid roles throughout life.

In a labour mobility survey released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2013, less than half of the Australian working population had been in their job for more than five years. Fifty-six per cent of the population were in their job for less than five years, and 20 per cent for less than 12 months. The national average job tenure is currently estimated at three years and four months (McCrindle Research 2014), and the bulk of the workforce is following the lead of young people – with more retraining, career changing, home moving, and shifting from employment to self-employment (and back!) than ever before. In addition, in a 2015 report, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia estimated up to 40 per cent of our existing workforce, 5 million people, may be replaced by automation within twenty years. Globalisation has impacted every occupation, and we must now predict and signpost directions for future employment.

The increasing complexity of career choice, proliferation of resources being offered, and even the preferred delivery method of information for sophisticated internet users, demands innovation and adaptability for users facing increased career transitions.

myfuture: 2017 and beyond

myfuture provides access to Australian-specific labour force data and career development information and is designed responsively for use on tablets and mobiles, with additional facilities for personal log-in and career plan storage.  It is based on peer-reviewed educational theory, including that of Australian Blueprint for Career Development (Miles Morgan 2010) and the Tony Watts school of career development (Hooley 2015). It is also validated by the Career Industry Council of Australia. Designed to enhance career decision making at all levels, myfuture is nevertheless aimed particularly at 13- to 25-year-old users. It also provides resources for other users such as teachers,  parents and career counsellors.  It is built to provide equitable information to the student and youth market, using plain English and clear instructions, graded at Fleisch-Kincaid grade 5 (11-year-old) for instructional text.

Myfuture includes the following features:

•  My Career Profile – where users can undertake quizzes and gain self-knowledge about appropriate career pathways.
• Occupational information – provided through a reliable and unbiased listing of all vocational and higher education courses in Australia, linked to Australian occupational and industry information, presented in searchable format and also illustrated by case studies.
• Career information – where experts provide information on a wide range of topics about career development. Feature pages about entrepreneurship, graduate programs, Work-Integrated Learning (eg internships), and apprenticeships.

In an ever-changing environment where many traditional career pathways and old modes of work are disappearing, accurate and useful career information is critical. The interactive myfuture supports this need by providing all Australians with a National Career Information Service. It engages with government, the education sector, industries and commerce to provide a tool for individuals to navigate the Australian work context and the complexity of a modern, globalised economy. myfuture focuses on change and opportunity and has been created as a flexible and accurate resource to provide impetus for individuals to manage their own careers.

If you’re attending the 2017 CDAA conference, you can hear more about myfuture and the broader context of ESA’s career education work at Victoria Johnson and Lizzie Knight’s preconference workshop on Wednesday the 17th of May or at Victoria Johnson’s concurrent presentation on Thursday the 18th of May. 

Authors:

Victoria Johnson is a General Manager at Education Services Australia (ESA). Her leadership role includes the development of national, digital, career information services and the innovation and creation of ICT-based products and services to support learning, teaching and leadership within the Australian school, vocational, and higher education sectors. Victoria leads the Career, Vocational Education and Higher Education programs at ESA.

Lizzie Knight is a Strategy and Research Manager in the Careers Services program at Education Services Australia, working primarily on myfuture, the National Careers Information Service. She is also the founder of Careers Counsel, a private career counselling consultancy, and a CDAA Professional member.