Big barriers remain but we still believe – in you

Career Key continues to embrace self-reliance and “free agency” in career planning – that career well-being is achievable for everyone. But discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability and socio-economic status still restrict opportunity and happiness. In some ways it’s worse than when Career Key was founded because of greater income disparity and reduced economic mobility. Even so, we still believe,

• You own your own destiny,

• Your top priorities are your individual and family’s well-being,

• Where you put your time and energy matters, and

• Everyone deserves meaningful, safe work.

In light of COVID, Black Lives Matter, and the recession, Career Key’s fundamental beliefs haven’t changed. But we must do more to acknowledge existing barriers to owning one’s destiny in the world of work. Here are just a few,

• Structural racism and discrimination against people of color,

• Unequal, inadequate access to high quality public schools,

• Lack of affordable childcare,

• Lack of affordable healthcare,

• Impacts of human-caused climate change.

This evolution in Career Key’s approach is informed by its history.

The way it was – trusted employers

When I was a kid in the 1970s, people still believed in the economic promise of working for a trusted company or government. My grandparents got public sector jobs (seed inspector, office manager, schoolteacher) to create middle class pathways from grinding Great Depression poverty. It worked.

Need for self-protection

But to the extent this utopian path existed, it was already changing in the 70s and 80s. My father Dr. Lawrence K. Jones helped forecast employees’ needs for greater self-protection and reliance in research about workplace hazards, career guidance and job skills. By the time he put Career Key on the Internet in 1997, reductions in employer protections, job security, training and benefits were long established.

Our evolution – 3 things Career Key will do

While Career Key cannot remove system-driven barriers to career well-being, we can do more than acknowledge them. All our visitors and customers need practical help now. We will,

1. Identify more ways, within their control, individuals can overcome barriers,

2. Offer more free self-guided articles, eBooks, and downloads without ads or registration,

3. Make it easier for advisors to affordably scale their expertise and interventions – to help larger numbers of youth and adults achieve career well-being.

For example, our new virtual advising tool Career Decision Profile helps large numbers of students, clients, and their advisors identify barriers and ways to overcome them.

Career Key’s mission remains to help all people achieve career well-being with affordable, practical tools based on the best science and practices of career counseling. But as we gladly leave behind the ashes of 2020, we will focus on helping people strengthen their resilience and well-being in the face of accelerating inequality.

Next post: Announcing an exciting new partnership…