Employment Growth

The fields of counselling, people management and leadership have experienced significant growth over the past decade. Recognition of the skills necessary to manage people and increase productivity in the workplace means there is a high demand for graduates with the skills to communicate effectively, manage conflict, respond to change, think strategically and act ethically.

People Management and Leadership

The Report of the Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills (Karpin Report) highlighted the critical importance of education, training and ongoing professional development to ensure managers have the knowledge and skills they need to perform effectively in the workplace. The answer, according to the Task Force, is a comprehensive push in the area of management development and training at all levels and in all sectors. (1)

In research undertaken in 2002 by Professor James Sarros, "Inside the Minds of Australian Executives" it is evident that the issues identified by the Karpin Report represent the same challenges that Australian executives and managers continue to face. The emerging four themes of the outcome of the Sarros research: professional development, strategic leadership, communication skills and values and ethics, continue to highlight the need for graduates with excellent communication skills, a sound understanding of contemporary models of good leadership, high ethical standards and the capacity for life-long learning. (2)

In response to these findings and in consultation with corporations, government and community organisations, ACAP brings together the worlds of psychology and management within broad organisational contexts to form the School of People Management and Leadership (PML). ACAP's PML courses have been designed to respond to the needs of individuals and organisations. Emphasis is placed on the important domains of management: leading and managing people, communicating, negotiating, resolving conflict, fostering creativity and innovation, managing change. ACAP graduates are highly skilled and well equipped to face the challenges of managing in an era of globalisation, increasing workforce diversity, the challenges of balancing work and life commitments, downsizing, retrenchment and constant change.

Recent feedback from employers confirms that ACAP graduates are highly regarded and able to meet the skill requirements of organisations.

Counselling

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the demand for counselling services is strong and growing, indicating excellent career prospects for counselling graduates. Some of the key factors underpinning this trend are:

• The spread and mix of employment across several industries, including community care services, education, health services, hospitals and government administration.
• The increasing diversity of industries and industry sectors requiring counsellors or staff with counselling skills.
• Shortages of counsellors with practical training and experience in many areas of need.
• The rapidly increasing professionalisation of counselling and growing applicability of counselling skills to a wide range of organisational and individual needs.
• The clearest evidence for the strong career prospects of qualified counsellors is the fact that counsellors, working full-time, earn above average incomes.

The graph shows employment growth (per cent) over the past five years for Counselling, compared with its broader occupational group and all occupations. (3)

(1) Enterprising Nation: Renewing Australia's Managers to Meet the Challenges of the Asia-Pacific Century / report of the Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills by Australia. Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills. Canberra: Australian Govt. Pub. Service, 1995.

(2) "Inside the Minds of Australian Executives" A Survey of Australian Corporate Leadership, a paper by J Sarros, J Gray, I Densten, S Sendjaya and E Luca. Sydney: Australian Institute of Management.

(3) ABS Labour Survey, Australia - to May 2003. DEWR trend data. http://jobsearch.gov.au/joboutlook/