USING ICT IN APPROACHING CAREER COUNSELING PROCESS AND CAREER MANAGEMENT SKILLS’ DEVELOPMENT
USING ICT IN APPROACHING CAREER COUNSELING PROCESS AND CAREER MANAGEMENT SKILLS’ DEVELOPMENT

Summary/Abstract: Over the last two years, the E.U. Member States have adopted a series of policy documents that draw up priorities in the fields of schools, vocational education and training, higher education, adult education, employment, youth and social inclusion. These priorities highlighted by the policy documents set up a general framework for action at European and national levels, mainly referring to: reducing early school-leaving; increasing learning mobility; making VET system more attractive; modernizing higher education; promoting adult learning and validation of non-formal and informal learning; combating youth unemployment; implementing flexicurity policies; fighting poverty and social exclusion. In this context, the Europe 2020 Strategy is designed to create 'smart, sustainable and inclusive growth' over the decade 2010-2020. The three main objectives for 2020 all require effective and efficient lifelong guidance policies. Based on the need to provide lifelong career counselling and guidance services, the present paper is aimed to analyze the use of appropriate ICT tools in delivering specific interventions in career counseling process, closely related to the career management skills’ development and practice. From this perspective, the paper’s approach tries to emphasize the benefits and limitations in using ICT in career counselling process, the role of the practitioner and the role of ICT, taking into consideration the key concepts like distance career counseling, social media, virtual career centers, and integrated ICT-based career resources and services. On the other hand, the paper is addresses to all education experts, teachers and counselling specialists and practitioners in order to stimulate their personal reflection on the cross-cutting nature of career counseling and career management concepts and to encourage initiative and further analysis. From this perspective, we try to investigate the general context, models and principles for developing the career management skills, bringing examples and comments of relevant practice based on a transversal and comparative curricular approach of Romanian education system’s levels, with a specific reference to the curriculum area "Guidance and Counselling". Not the last, the role of experts and practitioners in career counselling domain is to mobilize all available resources with a view to enhancing lifelong career guidance policies and services at national and local levels. In line with all mentioned above,using ICT tools in implementing career counselling process and the career management skills focuses on learning about the economic environment, personal and professional development, being able to evaluate oneself, being able to describe the competences one has acquired in formal, informal and non-formal education settings, understanding education, training and qualifications systems.

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