Changing career direction of young professionals

Abstract

It has been acknowledged that due to continuous developments in employment and education, career guidance services are essential to assist individuals throughout their lifetime, but it seems that in our country this is still not developed, as presently there are no services that support the lifelong career process. This study will look at the experience of young professionals who graduated from the University of Malta in a particular profession and after some time, decided to change their career direction. This long essay evaluates the career moves of the participants in relation to their former vocational course, the process of career decision-making, the transition process, and the career guidance services. To conduct this study, semi-structured interviews were used with seven participants, aged between 25 to 28 years of age. At present, there is no service that caters for the population who would like information, guidance, and support throughout their education, training, and employment transitions. This long essay points out the need for the creation of such services and the formation of a career guidance centre. Furthermore, findings seem to suggest that individuals need a lot of support, guidance, and information during their transitions and career guidance practitioners can contribute effectively to it. The implications would be having career guidance practitioners qualified, and knowledgeable about the labour market, education, and training and employment trends.