How can we help the adult careers advice and guidance sector to thrive and grow?

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This question is at the heart of all the work we do at the Standard Life Centre for the Future of Retirement through the Careers can change campaign. We believe a thriving adult careers advice and guidance sector is vital to making it easier for people to navigate their careers through what can feel like a constantly changing world of work. If people are actively putting themselves in the driving seat of their career, then they will have more control about when they change direction, speed or want to pull over. And active career management is a central to having choice and control over your retirement.

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On 14th November we were delighted to welcome 400 people to Re:Work Live – a new event format hoping to help change the landscape of adult careers events. Colleagues and guests from some of our social partner organisations also joined online. People came with curiosity about how to take the next step in their career journey and left inspired, connected and equippped to move forward.

From the big picture of re-imagining and re-framing work, to the practicalities of how to explore new possibilities, showing up on LinkedIn, navigating AI, and setting up your own business, the sessions were packed. Workshops and skills sessions enabled people to break into small groups, and the exhibition zone gave people a chance to understand the range of support and brilliant organisations that can help them. More detail about the phenomenal range of organisations and individuals who were involved is available here. The event and the experience created for everyone attending could not have happened without these amazing people and organisations working in this sector.

What can policy makers, employers, individuals and advisers learn from this?

There is still so much more to mine from the evaluation and feedback, and to reflect on but these 4 points stand-out so far;

• There is significant untapped demand for adult careers advice and guidance for people figuring out their next career move - whether currently in work, looking to return to work, or navigating redundancy.
• There is high-quality, experienced support out there, which can offer inspiration, connection and practical tools and insights that help ensure people don’t get stuck just trying to work this all out in their head on their own.
• More needs to be done to support this sector to thrive and grow, to help people find and access the right help when they need it.
• More needs to be done to help people engage in this and to develop the skills, motivation and connection to take control of the wheel for their career.

And interestingly for me, I learned that you can pack a room full of people to help them better understand pensions, even on a dark Friday afternoon in November.

Get in touch if you want to share your reflections, experiences or be involved in the future.

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