Career guidance in social services: a proposal of a guidance unit for inmigrants in social exclusion

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Career guidance is a mechanism for promoting social equity per se. In a complex and diverse social and uncertain job context, social services are becoming a new arena to approach career guidance aimed at socially disadvantaged groups. Thus, this paper advocates for the design of career guidance units in social services; in particular, a proposal within the Social Services of Cuenca (Spain) is showed. The aim is to share, according to context and needs’ identification analysis, a career guidance unit that responds to the needs of immigrants in social disadvantage. To do this, a descriptive study using two techniques of data collection has been carried out: document analysis and interviews with professionals of Social Services. The result is a proposal developed a Career Guidance Unit within the organizational and functional structure of Social Services which is sufficiently flexible to be adapted to another context. To sum up, the findinds reinforce the importance of proximity to resources, for instance, the organization and provision of guidance from the municipality, as an area of influence in the different reasoning involved: Employment and Education, and increasingly, Social Services. Therefore, the networking and coordination are two key issues for successful career guidance at local level.