Conclusion

Finding career-specific support and resources is not always easy. While there are many generic resources that give general career planning advice, it is often difficult to apply them to an individual’s specific situation. It may be more difficult for people who have been either out of the workforce for several years, have been in one position for several years, or are in the process of changing careers after many years. These challenges are compounded by the fact that changing careers can be an intimidating process, often involving the financial cost of either undertaking additional training or accepting lower earnings, which can present a major barrier for those who have limited financial resources or large financial commitments.

CareerMotion was designed to address the needs of Canadian post-secondary graduates who are dissatisfied with their employment situation. The project provides reliable evidence on whether the labour market competencies of recent college and university graduates could be improved by providing them with Web-based job search and career planning tools tailored to their needs.

The results on the effectiveness of the career development tools offered through the CareerMotion portal speak for themselves. Our rigorous evaluation shows that they significantly helped participants improve their confidence and their ability to make informed career decisions. After only five weeks of use, CareerMotion had a positive impact on participants’ ability to make career decisions and their job search skills. What’s more, the effectiveness of CareerMotion tools compares favourably with that of career development services that are delivered in person, and therefore much more costly.

One year after their participation, the majority of participants who had access to the website reported that the CareerMotion Web tools continued to help them better define their career goals. After participating in the project, they were considerably more actively engaged in job search activities than their counterparts who did not have access to the website and were more likely to report that they intended to undertake further job search activities in the medium term. Along with this major change in behaviour, those with access to the program found labour market information (LMI) within easier reach and were more likely to report that they were making greater use of LMI since the time of their enrolment in the study.

Participants’ overall satisfaction with CareerMotion and its impact on their competencies and confidence in making career-related decisions suggests that young working Canadian post-secondary graduates who need help to achieve their career objectives may be very receptive to online services. Furthermore, the finding that the program had a greater effect on the most frequent users of the website leads us to believe that it is important to examine ways to encourage greater usage of such tools and thereby increase their effectiveness. The popular suggestion among participants to supplement the Web tools with coaching from a trained professional or advisor is certainly worth considering.

New Web-based technologies will offer ways of delivering specialized career support services that are less costly than more traditional methods by leveraging means of communication such as email, text chat, and videoconference technologies. Social networking tools may be incorporated to facilitate mentoring and peer interaction to provide greater support to job seekers as they undertake the challenging and often emotionally difficult process of finding a better career fit. For instance, the U.K. government has introduced tools on its career development website that enable users to connect with advisors in person, by email, or by telephone and even connect with other users via online discussion groups.

As governments are increasingly turning to Web-based technologies to make various tools and resources available to as many people as possible, the CareerMotion project is making a unique contribution to a better understanding of the role online job search and career planning services can play in ensuring that the training and skills of Canadian graduates are fully utilized.