Competency Category:

Competency Series:

4.2 – Promote Diversity and Inclusion

Purpose & Context

Career Development Professionals (CDPs) work with employers to promote an accessible and inclusive workforce. CDPs use a business case approach to engage employers and promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Effective Performance

Competent career development professionals must be able to:

P1. Challenge misconceptions employers may have related to recruiting a diverse workforce, for example:
- Costs
- Lower job performance
- Difficulty addressing performance
- Limited pool of talent
P2. Summarize benefits of an inclusive workforce, e.g. increased productivity, increased job satisfaction, reducedturnover
P3. Meet with employer:
- Present benefits of inclusive practices
- Seek employer concerns about making changes
- Identify solutions to address concerns
- Secure buy-in to explore opportunities to build inclusive workforce
P4. Review current organizational practices, policies and procedures to identify areas of improvement, e.g. bias and
systemic barriers in recruitment, selection, hiring, training and development, compensation, career development,
promotion
P5. Recommend solutions, for example:
- Inclusivity training for all staff
- Human resources policies, e.g. recruitment, selection, hiring, career development, return-to-work policies
- Job description revision, e.g. include only essential requirements
- Job accommodations
- Tailored job maintenance support, e.g. on the job supports, follow-up and monitoring
- Innovative on the job training support
P6. Offer implementation assistance, e.g. review of policies

Knowledge & Understanding

Competent career development professionals must know and understand:

K1. Principles of anti-oppressive practice
K2. Legislation and regulation, e.g. Canadian Human Rights Act, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Provincial
Acts and Codes and the Criminal Code, rights of LGBTQ2+ persons (i.e. gender identity and gender expression as
protected groups from discrimination)
K3. Systemic barriers impacting specific groups
K4. Human resources management, e.g. recruitment, selection, training and development, career development
K5. Barriers to employment diverse client populations encounter, e.g. discrimination, racism
K6. Benefits of diverse and inclusive workplace, e.g. reduced turnover, reduced absenteeism, increased satisfaction,
increased productivity

Contextual Variables

Competent career development professionals must be able to perform this competency in the following range of contexts:

Employers may present with varying degree of understanding of the benefits and value of a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Glossary & Key References

Terms

Industry-specific terms contained in the standard defined here, where applicable.

Anti-oppressive practice: an intersectional approach that confronts formal and informal roles of power between a CDP, their client, and socio-economic structures and systems.

Information Sources and Resources for Consideration

Shepard, Blythe C. & Mani, Priya A. Eds. Career Development Practice in Canada. Toronto: CERIC Canadian Education and Research Institute for Counselling, 2014. ISBN: 978-0-9811652-3-3.

Zunker, Vernon G. Career Counselling: A Holistic Approach 9th edition. Boston: Loose-leaf Edition, 2016. ISBN-10: 978-1-305-40106-8

Context Rating Scales

Criticality

Q: What is the consequence of a professional being unable to perform this skill according to the standard?

High probability of risk: VERY CRITICAL

Frequency

Q: How frequent and under what conditions is this skill performed?

Routinely, regular course of procedure

Level of Difficulty

Q: Under routine circumstances, how would you rate the level of difficulty in performing this skill?

Moderate difficulty or complexity

Time Required to Gain Proficiency

Q: What is the average length of time or number of repeated events that are minimally necessary for an individual to become proficient in performing the skill to the standard?

To become fully proficient in this competency, a career development professional requires a minimum of one year of experience working with at least 5 different employers.

Autonomy

Practitioners typically perform this competency without supervision, and as part of a team and/or alone.

Automation

It is somewhat likely that this competency will automate.

Requisite Work Aids, Tools, Equipment or Materials

None

Our Purpose

Thank you for being a part of the Career Development Professional Centre. To ensure that all members have the best possible experience, we have a few ground rules that we ask everyone to adhere to. This code of conduct applies equally to every person in the community and is intended to foster an online space that is inclusive, safe, and welcoming to all.

Centre Rules

Be welcoming

We strive to be a place that welcomes and supports people of all backgrounds and identities. We aim to be a place that promotes excellence and innovation in career and workforce development. Please extend respect to all members; we all come from different backgrounds and levels of knowledge and there is no such thing as a stupid question.

Be respectful

We won’t all agree all the time, but when we disagree don’t let those disagreements turn into personal attacks. A place where people feel uncomfortable or threatened will not be a productive one. When having discussions in the online community, commenting on a library article, or participating in other Centre activities, strive for productive conversations around the content being presented, not the person behind the content. Any comments determined to be “hate speech” towards any individual or group will be deleted, and the user account may be locked until an investigation regarding the comment has been concluded. The user may be given a written warning or removed from the CPDC platform depending on the findings of the investigation.

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Violent threats or language directed against another person

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A good rule of thumb is to never say anything that you wouldn’t be comfortable with the world seeing or that you wouldn’t want anyone knowing came from you. We ask that you keep in mind the focus of this place, which is building excellence and innovation in career and workforce development for all individuals.

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The Centre focuses on building excellence and discussing innovation in the career and workforce development field. The goal of the social learning community is to communicate goals, challenges, constructive feedback, and questions in relation to career and workforce development. The Centre should be a place for continued learning and development as well as a place to discuss the future of our field (solicitation without written consent by the Project or Advisory team, is strictly prohibited). Any post or comment that is determined to be soliciting any individual or group will be deleted, and the user account may be locked until an investigation regarding the post has been concluded. The user may be given a written warning or removed from the CPDC platform depending on the findings of the investigation.

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