Our guidance psychologist Stéphane Bonzon works with our salaried customers in financial institutions to support them in developing their professional careers. He invites us to reflect on our own notions of success and failure.

What can counselling psychology teach us about skills and the competencies expected in tomorrow's world of work?

Since the 1970s, the digital revolution has led to a shift from job-related qualifications to person-related skills. With this change, the routine vision of the activity linked to workstations is evolving towards a changing work context implying ever greater flexibility. Permanent adaptation becomes essential. Changes in the organizational environment and within organizations themselves call for technical skills - necessary but not sufficient - which must now be accompanied by soft skills to make the difference. The notions of potential and talent accompany this trend.

Interest in the notion of skills is growing, but at first they are essentially technical. When the term soft skills appeared, it was used to describe skills that did not involve direct interaction with a machine. The French translation of soft skills often refers to the notion of savoir-être. However, they are much more than that, since they involve both interaction and thinking skills. Soft skills are a composite of cognitive, social and technical dimensions. What's more, they are difficult to assess, since only their expression can be observed in a given context. Some people confuse them with values or personality, which of course they are not.

Even today, there is no consensus on the categorization of soft skills. However, a number of initiatives have helped to bring some order to the matter. Among these initiatives, the 4Cs model is unanimously supported. Both the OECD and the World Economic Forum, as well as thousands of scientists around the world, see the 4Cs as the essential skills needed to meet the demands of tomorrow's world of work. Creativity, critical thinking, communication and cooperation are the skills configuration least likely to be transformed into algorithms. In this respect, many authors consider that soft skills are human beings' greatest asset when it comes to competing with machines. Problem-solving and information processing most often accompany the 4Cs.

What can you tell us about the role of social networking in professional and career development?

A model developed by Prof. Andreas Hirschi of the University of Berne includes four critical resources deemed essential for the management and development of a successful career. These resources can be strengthened in a targeted way. Several research studies have shown that they are positively correlated with career success, both objectively and subjectively.

These critical resources include knowledge and skills. These are understood as the resources needed to meet the performance requirements of a defined profession. They comprise professional expertise, i.e. knowledge and know-how specific to the profession, general knowledge of the job market and its development, and general skills as abilities that can be used in a multitude of professions.

These resources also include so-called contextual resources, in the sense of social capital resources. This area describes certain aspects of the context, but also the general conditions that are important, both within the company and privately, for shaping a successful career. Social capital resources are made up of career development opportunities, company support for professional development, work-related challenges as opportunities to develop and apply personal skills, and last but not least, the support provided by one's entourage, understood as a wider network.

Studies show the usefulness of social capital both for internal mobility and for objective and subjective career success. Bear in mind that the social capital a person enjoys depends on the characteristics of his or her social network, and that this network is influenced by certain personal characteristics. A proactive personality, for example, plays an important role in establishing and maintaining relationships. Similarly, certain structural characteristics, such as the position of the job or department within the organization, can influence access to contacts.

Granovetter's theory of the strength of weak ties recommends a network made up of a large number of weak ties. Weak ties can be defined as relationships that are not intimate, rarely encountered, or mere acquaintances. It is these so-called weak ties that help us acquire new information and identify new opportunities.

As you can see, developing your skills and network is essential. Are there any other aspects to which you would recommend paying attention?

International publications on career guidance now focus on active lifelong career management rather than occupational choice. Empowered, the individual is responsible for his or her own fulfillment, and is increasingly encouraged to develop a career path in line with his or her personal aspirations. The paradigm of lifelong guidance extends that of lifelong learning. Everyone should therefore start by clarifying their own definition of success and failure, and ask themselves what shape they intend to give to their career path, and more broadly to their life. And it's a question we need to keep asking ourselves. The question of meaning obviously underpins this reflection.

Motivation as a psychological resource is another essential pillar of career development. It's based on how much you value your work, how confident you are in your ability to shape your career autonomously and successfully, and how clear your career goals are. Are they consistent with what I know about myself, for example in terms of values and interests?

When you have the skills, the environments to exploit them and the reasons to do so, you still need to take various actions to make things happen. Ongoing training, actively seeking out information on your market and its evolution, and networking practices - which consist in building up and mobilizing your network (the contextual resource seen above) - are behaviors and activities to be favored.

What role do organizations have to play?

The logic of competence, employability and career are closely linked and concern both the individual and the organization. The company organizes skills development, thus ensuring that its employees are capable of contributing to organizational performance. Employees, for their part, ensure their employability, and with it opportunities for career development. Employability makes careers possible.

Through organizational culture, management and HRM practices, organizations help to create the right conditions for career development. For example, the organization can help support sustainable careers. These are seen as sequences of professional experiences demonstrating different forms of continuity over time. Secure and favorable conditions, well-being and satisfaction are the hallmarks of sustainable careers.

The organization can help support decent work, a concept at the heart of the psychology of work activity. Decent work makes a major contribution to people's well-being and the satisfaction of their basic needs. Decent work refers to work that provides safe physical and interpersonal working conditions, guarantees working hours that enable work-life balance, advocates values compatible with those of workers and their communities, guarantees adequate pay and provides access to health benefits.

As far as Switzerland is concerned, the results of the latest 2015 European survey on working conditions (the next is scheduled for 2024), show that job satisfaction among Swiss employees depends on the possibility of reconciling private life and working hours. According to the author of the career resources model, employers who offer the best possible conditions for reconciling professional activity with family work and extra-professional activities are more attractive. Not only do they attract more employees, but they are also better at retaining those who might leave. For example, organizations could do more to develop flexible working models, dissociate career development and activity levels, and allow career breaks. Once again, organizational and individual development are closely linked.

Stéphane Bonzon

ISFB

Psychologist and guidance counsellor