Certified Career Specialist for Addressing Marginalization

Certified Career Specialist for Addressing Marginalization

Course Overview: This certification provides a comprehensive and foundational overview of career development practices with historically marginalized communities. Featuring content that centers conceptualization, theory, and practical applications, the certification includes hands-on materials that build a foundation for recognizing the effects of marginalization on various culturally diverse communities, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC); LGBTQ+ persons; persons with disabilities and disabled individuals; older adults; and migrant communities. By addressing marginalization, career coaches and counselors will gain opportunities to employ strategies that discuss the effects of marginalization in the workforce, navigate these effects with students and clients, and heal from marginalization.

The certification includes an overview of different types of oppression, including racism, heterosexism, genderism, sexism, ableism, classism, Islamophobia, religious exclusion, ageism, and nativism. Along with detecting the impact of marginalization, career coaches and counselors taking this course will learn asset-based and liberatory frameworks that leverage strengths and empowerment.

As career coaches and counselors complete this certification, they will be able to intentionally acknowledge experiences of marginalization while promoting strengths. Aside from connecting the conceptualization of marginalization and oppression generally to career development, career coaches and counselors will learn how these effects may impact mental health of the workforce, long-term career adaptability and pathways, and biases in application materials (e.g., cover letters, resumes, curriculum vitae, interviews). The certification may be useful for career coaches and counselors looking to expand their consulting services along the lines of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, access, and justice.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe foundational definitions related to marginalization and oppression centered in career development research and practice
• Identify the effects of marginalization on career development for historically marginalized and culturally diverse communities
• Apply foundational tenets of intersectionality theory to career development as an approach to understanding structural forces of oppression and their relationship with career and workforce development
• Examine challenges that emerge among historically marginalized and culturally diverse groups, including racism, heterosexism, genderism, sexism, ableism, classism, Islamophobia, religious exclusion, ageism, and nativism
• Critique biases that could reinforce marginalization in assessments, resumes, cover letters, interviews, and curriculum vitae
• Devise practical strategies to address the effects of marginalization and strengths with clients and students in career settings
• Characterize cultural strengths as a career factor that can offset marginalization in the workplace, workforce, and career development
• Develop a comprehensive plan that acknowledges interpersonal and environmental factors of oppression while leveraging strengths and liberation