The National President of the Career Development Association of Australia, Carole Brown, is urging governments and industry to more directly acknowledge the benefits to the economy of having engaged workers.

The Australian economy will be better placed to face the productivity challenges associated with an expanding and ageing workforce by equipping people with the information and skills necessary to make correct career and job choices.

The positive links between worker satisfaction and their productivity is well established. A large factor in finding a satisfying job lies in the ability of people to make informed career and job choices.

One of the keys to achieving a skilled and flexible workforce is to empower individuals with the skills and attitudes needed to manage their careers.

More information and commitment is needed to ensuring that all Australians have access to expert and quality career and job services. While many organisations understand the necessity and value of investing in training and development of their workforces to remain competitive and productive, others are failing to recognise the high value placed by employees and job seekers on career development. With some industries facing chronic skills shortages, the ability to attract and retain quality workers will be assisted through employer-sponsored career development.  Likewise, Government-funded training and education will have more productive results if people learn how to make informed choices about the training that they undertake.

Australia faces challenges on many fronts including the retirement of baby boomers, the projected increase in taxes, greater reliance on skilled migration and the ageing population. The skills and talents of older workers need not be lost to the economy by encouraging these people to undertake positive lifestyle and career planning that will satisfy latter-life aspirations while at the same time allow for an ongoing contribution to the workforce.

At the other end of the spectrum, school students considering their first career choices need to understand better the nature of the rapidly-changing workforce and how to best equip themselves for multiple career changes throughout their lives.

The ability to make the right career choice, throughout your lifespan, is a skill more and more Australians must develop – the productivity benefits of having the right people in the right jobs and the right training at the right time are palpable.

The Career Development Association of Australia Inc. is Australia’s largest professional association for career development practitioners.