Career Guidance and Counselling Programme

An Evaluation of the
Career Guidance and

Counselling programme
Centre for Operational

Research and Evaluation
Marc de Boer and Chrispine Mutalie
August 1999
Career Guidance and Counselling Evaluation
Table of Contents
Executive Summary _____________________________________________________ 4
1 Introduction____________________________________________________________ 9
1.1 Career Guidance and Counselling programme _______________________________ 9
1.1.1 Programme Description ________________________________________________________________ 9
1.1.2 Target group for Career Guidance and Counselling _______________________________________ 10
1.1.3 Service Providers _____________________________________________________________________ 10
1.2 Career Guidance and Counselling evaluation_______________________________ 11

1.2.1 Rationale ____________________________________________________________________________ 11
1.2.2 Evaluation Objectives _________________________________________________________________ 11
1.2.3 Intended use _________________________________________________________________________ 11
1.2.4 Consultation _________________________________________________________________________ 11
2 Evaluation Methodology_________________________________________________ 12
2.1 Operation of Career Guidance and Counselling _____________________________ 12
2.2 Quality of (Enhanced) Job Choice Reports _________________________________ 13
2.3 Employment and Training outcomes _____________________________________ 14
3 Key Findings __________________________________________________________ 15
3.1 Participation in Career Guidance and Counselling___________________________ 15
3.2 Analysis of Programme Operation _______________________________________ 16
3.2.1 Contracting relationship between Centre and providers ____________________________________ 16
3.2.2 The Referral Process __________________________________________________________________ 17
3.2.3 Career Guidance and Counselling Interviews_____________________________________________ 19
3.2.4 (Enhanced) Job Choice Reports ________________________________________________________ 20
3.2.5 Follow-up Interviews _________________________________________________________________ 21
3.2.6 Programme Monitoring________________________________________________________________ 21
3.3 Effect of contestability on price and service quality __________________________ 21

3.4 Outcomes of Career Guidance and Counselling _____________________________ 22
3.4.1 Job seekers change in attitude towards career path _______________________________________ 22
3.4.2 Labour market outcomes ______________________________________________________________ 23
4 Conclusions ___________________________________________________________ 24
Glossary of terms ______________________________________________________ 25
Appendix 1: The Career Guidance process. ________________________________ 26
Appendix 2: Job Choice and Enhanced Job Choice Report____________________ 26
Appendix 3: Analysis of Job Choice Reports________________________________ 28
-2-
R:\Finished Reports (Read-Only)\Careers Guidence and Counselling.doc
Appendix 4: Employment and training outcomes of Career Guidance and Counselling

participants ___________________________________________________________ 33
Appendix 5: Case Study interview guides __________________________________ 34
Appendix 6: Additional qualitative research________________________________ 42
Appendix 7: Job Seeker Questionnaire ____________________________________ 52
List of Tables
Table 1: Type of qualitative research method, number of studies and participants 12
Table 2: Quantitative methods and response rates 12
Table 3: Proportion of Career Guidance and Counselling participants and variation

from the overall proportion job seekers on the register in 1996/97 and
1997/98 15
Table 4: Pre 2 month and post 2, 6 and 12 month labour market status of job
seekers who participated in Career Guidance and Counselling between
August 1996 and July 1997 23
Contact Persons
Project Manager: Chrispine Mutale, Research and Evaluation Analyst -
Project Support: Marc de Boer, Research and Evaluation Analyst 04 916 3596
Manager CORE: Kate McKegg 04 916 3664
-3-
Executive Summary
Background
In 1995 the New Zealand Employment Service (NZES) implemented the Career Guidance and
Counselling programme. As a result of the Employment Taskforce, government agreed to
increase the level of provision of Career Guidance and Counselling to 8,000 placement from July
1996. With the merger of NZES, the Community Employment Group, Income Support and Local
Employment Co-ordinators, the programme was subsequently transferred to Work and Income
New Zealand (WINZ) on October 1, 1998.
Career Guidance and Counselling programme

The purpose of the Career Guidance and Counselling programme is to assist job seekers to
make informed decisions about their employment and training options by providing access to
professional careers advice. There are two levels of assistance within the programme.
1. Career Guidance job seekers are assisted to realise skills, interests and attributes to look
realistically at career and training options that are available to them.
2. Career Counselling is for those people who have been unable to identify realistic
employment or training options through Career Guidance. Career Counselling is designed
to be a more in-depth investigation of the barriers faced by the job seeker and identify
solutions that will allow them to move forward in the labour market.
For both Career Guidance and Counselling the provider prepares an (Enhanced) 1 Job Choice
Report which they supply to the job seeker and the Employment Advisor (EA). 2 After receiving
the report, job seekers are contacted by the EA to help implement the steps needed to achieve
their career goals.
The key outcome from the Career Guidance and Counselling programme is for job seekers to
have clearly established training and employment options. It is expected that participants
should be either in employment or participating in training/work experience within eight weeks
of the follow-up interview.

The evaluation covers the period from June 1996 to April 1998. The objectives of the evaluation
were to:
1
For Career Guidance a provider is required to prepare a Job Choice Report, whilst for Career Counselling this report is
called an Enhanced Job Choice Report. In the evaluation there is no differentiation is made between the two.
2
Because the research was conducted whilst the Career Guidance and Counselling was an NZES programme, NZES
terminology has been retained for most of the report. Only where references are made to current issues is WINZ
terminology used. For definitions of NZES/WINZ terms refer to the glossary on page 25.
-4-
1 Assess whether the programme is being targeted at disadvantaged groups such as Pacific
people or Maori.
2 Analyse the operation of the programme with a view to identifying areas that need
improvement.
3 Assess whether contestability of service provision has improved the quality of service or
reduced the cost of service provision.
4 Measure any change in attitude among participants towards their career path.
5 Measure the labour market outcomes of Career Guidance and Counselling participants.
Evaluation Method
Information about programme operation was obtained through case studies, focus groups, face-
to-face, and telephone interviews with EAs, Service Managers, service providers, and job seekers.
The content of a sample of completed Job Choice and Enhanced Job Choice Reports was also
analysed. This research was conducted between 11 February 17 April 1998.
The labour market outcomes for Career Guidance and Counselling participants were analysed at
2, 6 and 12 months after the completion of the programme. Labour market outcomes were
determined from data extracted from the WINZ operational database.
Key findings of the evaluation
Participation in Career Guidance and Counselling

Women, those aged 20 to 24 and people with secondary qualifications above School Certificate
were most likely to have participated in Career Guidance and Counselling. There were no large
differences in participation by ethnicity, although Maori were slightly under-represented
amongst participants compared to the overall proportion of Maori on the register.
Operation of the programme

Process Issues identified
1.Tendering and the Short lead-times affected the evaluation of tenders and establishment of an effective working relationship
relationship between providers and Centres.
between providers Centre Mangers lacked experience and training in contract management.
and Centres
Insufficient documentation and guidelines were an impediment to the effective operation of the programme.
A number of providers and frontline staff argued that the split between local providers and Careers Service in
providing Career Guidance and Counselling was unnecessary and disruptive for participants.
Providers considered that Centres did not put enough effort in maintaining a good working relationship.
2.Referral of job Centres considered that high number of referrals required by the service contract often did not reflect the
seekers needs of their job seekers and often produced uneven flows of referrals that caused resource problems for
providers.
Referral was often inappropriate, occurring without proper assessment of the suitability of the programme for
job seekers. This occurred for several reasons:
referral targets set by Cabinet at a level well above previous levels of referral
referring job seekers with deep-seated problems that the EA finds difficult to deal with
EAs using the programme to check the willingness of job seekers to find work, or as a second opinion.
-5-
Process Issues identified
Some EAs did not refer job seekers to Career Guidance and Counselling because they did not to consider
the programme worthwhile or justify the cost
Low commitment amongst job seekers to attend career advice interview due to lack of information as to why
they were referred.
Reminder of career session by the EA successfully reduced non-attendance by job seekers
3.Career Guidance Providers received incomplete or no background information on job seekers from Employment Advisors,
and Counselling resulting in repetition and development of inappropriate job choices.
interviews
Providers appreciated contact from EAs at the time of referral to discuss the job seekers case and what was
expected from the career advice sessions.
Job seekers reported that the interviews explored job and training options, however, there was little practical
discussion as to how they were to achieve their career goals.
4.Job Choice or Most reports met the requirements stipulated in the service contract, however, an independent assessment
Enhanced Job found that reports focussed on process of the interviews rather than the goals of job seekers.
Choice report
Reports lacked detailed discussion of the job seekers skills and the correlation of job choices to
opportunities in the local labour market. Further, reports did not appear to have a comprehensive action plan
that was well researched and achievable by the job seeker.
Reports did not assess the current ability of the job seeker to achieve the steps required to reach their career
goals.
5.Follow-up interview There was limited follow-up, which EAs considered to be detrimental to the success of the programme. Other
pressures on EAs time were the main reason for the lack of follow up.
Centres, which set up a follow-up appointment at the time of referral, reported a higher rate of success in
follow-up than those who waited until the job seeker had completed the programme.
Effect of contestability on the cost and quality of service

There was no evidence to suggest that the number of providers that a given Centre contracted
with lowered the cost per job seeker or improved the quality of the service
Job Seekers change in attitude towards their career path

Both EAs and job seekers themselves felt that job seekers were more positive as a result of
attending the career advice sessions. However, both considered that the programme had only a
limited impact on job search activities. For job seekers this was because the career interviews
and the subsequent Job Choice Report lacked practical information on achieving career goals.
EAs felt that the impact of the programme was diminished by a lack of appropriate follow up.
Employment and Training Outcomes

Participation in Career Guidance and Counselling did not greatly increase the probability of job
seekers moving into either employment or training.
Conclusion
The evaluation found that both Career Guidance and Counselling had a positive role in helping
participants explore their career options. However, participation had only a marginal impact on
participants job search activities and subsequent employment and training outcomes. The
limited impact of Career Guidance and Counselling is not thought to be because it is an
improper intervention. Rather, the effective implementation of the programme was hindered at
-6-
three critical stages; (1) the proper referral of job seekers to the programme, (2) the quality of
the career advice in developing realistic career goals, (3) EAs providing proper follow-up to
enable job seekers to achieve their career goals. The evaluation identified serious sort comings
at each stage, which served to greatly diminish the potential benefit of the programme to the
job seeker.
Recommendations
1 Ensure that national or regional placement targets for Career Guidance and Counselling are
appropriate to the need for the service at the Centre level.
2 For Career Counselling services, consideration should be given to allowing Service Centres
the option of either entering into the national contract with the Career Services-rapuara or
to contract independently with a suitably qualified provider.
3 Provide sufficient lead-times for the tendering process to allow for the proper evaluation of
tenders and the establishment of a positive working relationship between Centres and
providers.
4 National office provides a general framework for assessing the suitability of Career
Guidance and Counselling for job seekers. Such a framework needs to clearly outline which
barriers the programme can address and those that it cannot.
5 National office establishes an explicit referral protocol between the Service Centre and
providers. This could involve:
Case Manager contacts the provider at the time of referral to discuss the job seekers
situation and the expectations that the Case Manager has of the career advice sessions
having a standard template for referral information, including reasons for referral,
specific outcomes that Case Managers require, as well as job seekers educational
background and work history, which is given to the provider prior to the career advice
session
as part of the referral process the Case Manager discusses and provides the job seeker
with an information package that explains the reason for their referral, the relationship
the counsellor has with WINZ, and the process of the interviews, as well as what they can
achieve through the programme
the Provider confirms the place and date of the career advice session with the job
seeker a day or two prior to the interview.
6 Case Managers need to be more rigorous in monitoring the quality of service that they
receive from providers (send back inadequate job choice reports) and inform the Regional
Contracts Manager to enforce contractual obligations when necessary.
7 A more explicit statement is needed in the service contract about what is to be achieved
through Career Guidance and Counselling. Specific emphasis needs to be made of the
following:
indications of the suitability of job choices within the local labour market
-7-
a recommended action plan that is comprehensive, well researched and achievable for
the job seeker
identification of factors such as self-image, peer and family pressure, physical and
social impairments that are likely to impact on the job seekers ability to move into
employment and suggestions how these factors could be overcome.
8 WINZ establishes a template of what has to be covered by the provider during the career
advice sessions and in the (Enhanced) Job Choice Reports.
9 More rigorous processes are needed to ensure that there is regular and on going follow-up
of job seekers after the completion of Career Guidance and Counselling.
10 Case Managers should develop or amend job seekers Workplans to ensure that practical
steps are taken to implement the training and employment options developed during the
career advice sessions.
-8-
1 Introduction
In September 1995 and as part to the Employment Taskforce, Cabinet agreed to provide
$2,968,000 (GST inc) to place 8,000 priority job seekers into Career Guidance and Counselling
during 1996/97 financial year and directed the New Zealand Employment Service to:
purchase Career Guidance and Counselling services from specialist providers and provide
the services within the framework of individualised employment assistance for priority
clients, particularly those disadvantaged in the labour market
ensure that Career Guidance and Counselling services are responsive to the needs of Maori,
Pacific and rural people, through contracting services to appropriately focused providers, in
conjunction with effective accountability and monitoring mechanisms
report back to the Government with an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Career
Guidance and Counselling service [ETE (95) M 32/6 and CAB (95) M 38/6 Civ refer].
1.1 Career Guidance and Counselling programme

Many job seekers, particularly those who are new or are re-entering the workforce, are
undecided about the type of work they would like to do. The purpose of the Career Guidance
and Counselling programme is to assist these job seekers to make informed decisions about
their educational, work and career options.
1.1.1 Programme Description

There are two levels of assistance within the programme (see also Appendix 1).
3. Career Guidance helps job seekers identify their skills, interests and attributes from which
they can develop realistic career goals. Once set, the counsellor helps job seekers develop
training and employment options in order to achieve their career aspirations.
4. Career Counselling is for people who have not been able to identify realistic employment or
training options through Career Guidance. Career Counselling is designed to be a more in-
depth investigation of the barriers faced by the job seeker and identify comprehensive
solutions that will allow them to move forward in the labour market.
The key output from Career Guidance is a Job Choice Report and an Enhanced Job Choice Report
for Career Counselling. The (Enhanced) Job Choice Report is the providers summary of what
was covered during the career advice sessions. It is intended to outline the job seekers current
skills , through to the training and employment options developed and how appropriate they are
for the job seeker in the context of the local labour market. In addition to this, the Enhanced
Job Choice Report outlines the barriers job seekers face in moving towards employment and
ways in which these could be overcome (for further details refer to Appendix 2). Both reports
-9-
are to be provided to the job seeker and the EA3 within five working days after the final career
advice interview with the job seeker.
Job seekers should attend a follow-up interview with their EA within two weeks of their final
session with the counsellor. At this interview the (Enhanced) Job Choice Report is discussed and
the EA amends the job seekers Workplan to begin to implement the recommendations of the
Job Choice Report.
The key outcome from the Career Guidance and Counselling programme is that job seekers
have clearly established training and employment options, leading to increased motivation and
job search activity. It is expected that participants should be in either employment or in
training/work experience within eight weeks of the follow-up interview.
1.1.2 Target group for Career Guidance and Counselling

Currently, all WINZ priority 4 job seekers are eligible for Career Guidance and Counselling, with
referral largely at the discretion of the EA. Grounds for referral may include any of the
following:
inappropriate job choices
under or over qualified for jobs previously applied for
history of short-term or unhappy employment
over or under confident in their own abilities
consistently fails to gain interviews
does not know what they want to do
does not know where to start job searching or training.
1.1.3 Service Providers

Contracting of the Career Guidance and Counselling programme occurs at both the national and
Centre level. For Career Guidance services, individual Centres enter into contracts with local
service providers. The decision to contract at the Centre level was based on two considerations.
First, it allows individual Centres to contract with providers that have a specialist focus on a
particular group of job seekers, such as Maori or Pacific people. Second, the ability to contract
one or more providers ought to improve the quality of services and reduce cost through greater
competition between providers.
3
Because the research was conducted whilst the Career Guidance and Counselling was an NZES programme, NZES
terminology has been retained for most of the report. Only where references are made to current issues is WINZ
terminology used. For definitions of NZES/WINZ terms refer to Glossary (page 25).
4
Priority job seekers are either (1) registered unemployed for longer than 26 weeks or (2) have the following job seeker
needs (previous participation in TOPs, Conservation Corps, LSV, RMT, Youth Services Corps, Job Connection, TFG or
subsidised work, not registered with WINZ and unemployed for 4 years or more, between 16-21 years old & registered
for more than 13 weeks, women wishing to engage in non-traditional work as defined by NZSCO, quota refugee
status, in receipt of DPB for over 1 year) or (3) have a Disability or Literacy/Numeracy employment barrier.
- 10 -
Unlike Career Guidance, Career Counselling is contracted nationally through the Careers
Services-rapuara. 5 The decision to have a national contract was made because of the small
number of job seekers expected to use Career Counselling, and the greater expertise required
for this service. Careers Service was chosen because it is a well-established and experienced
provider of Career Counselling with the capacity to provide a nation-wide service.
1.2 Career Guidance and Counselling evaluation
1.2.1 Rationale
The evaluation of the Career Guidance and Counselling programme seeks to examine the
operation of the programme and identify gaps in service provision. It also assesses which
groups of job seekers utilise the programme and their employment and training outcomes.
1.2.2 Evaluation Objectives

The key objectives of the evaluation are to:
1 Assess whether the programme is being targeted at disadvantaged groups such as Pacific
people or Maori.
2 Analyse the operation of the programme with a view to identifying areas that need
improvement.
3 Assess whether contestability has improved the quality of service or reduced the cost of
service provision.
4 Measure job seekers change in attitude towards their career path.
5 Measure the labour market outcomes of Career Guidance and Counselling participants.
1.2.3 Intended use

Stakeholders, particularly service providers and frontline staff, will find this report valuable as a
guide for improving service delivery and the relationship between themselves and other
stakeholders. Cabinet and WINZ management may use the findings presented in this report to
make improvements to the programme.
1.2.4 Consultation
This evaluation report has been prepared in consultation with the following agencies: the
Ministry of Maori Development (Te Puni Kokiri), Ministry of Womens Affairs, Ministry of Youth
Affairs, Ministry of Education, The Treasury, Social Policy Agency (Department of Social Welfare)
and the Labour Market Policy Group (Department of Labour).
5
Career Services-rapuara is a Crown-owned entity that provides career advice, planning and information.
- 11 -
2 Evaluation Methodology
A number of research methods were used in the evaluation. Qualitative and quantitative
interviews were conducted with stakeholders to gain their perspectives on the operation of the
programme. Information from the WINZ database6 was used to examine the employment and
training outcomes of participants.
2.1 Operation of Career Guidance and Counselling

A number of qualitative methods were used to explore the perceptions of Centre Managers, EAs,
job seekers and service providers about the operation of the programme. The research
consisted of three approaches (summarised in Table 1), which were conducted between 11
February and 17 April 1998 by ACNielsen, with specialist support from the career advice
consultancy Erica Steele and Associates.
Table 1: Type of qualitative research method, number of studies and participants
Number of Total number

Number of
Method Participants participants of
cases
in each case participants
Job seeker 1 8
Case study 8 EA 1 8
Provider 1 8
4 Job seeker 1 4
In-depth Interview
4 Centre Manager 1 4
Focus group 2 EAs co-ordinating the 5 10

programme in their Centre
See Appendix 5 and 6 for interview guides
The interviews were conducted in Takapuna, Auckland, Mangere, Hamilton, Rotorua, Napier,
Wellington, Timaru and Dunedin. Job seekers were randomly selected from those who had
completed Career Guidance and Counselling between 1 June and 31 December 1997. The
response rate was very high amongst all stakeholders, with only 2 EAs unable to attend a focus
group due to other commitments.
Analysis of qualitative information involved a thematic categorisation of interviews and de-briefs

with interviewers.
Following the completion of the qualitative analysis, telephone and self-completion surveys (see
Table 2) were used to confirm the validity and significance of the issues identified in qualitative
phase with stakeholders. These surveys were conducted between 29 April and 16 June 1998.
Table 2: Follow-up methods and response rates
6
The analysis was conducted after the integration of NZES into WINZ and it was therefore possible to utilise Income
Support information on participants.
- 12 -
Method Participants Number Response rate Selection method

completed
Randomly selected from
NZES register, confined to
job seekers registered in
Telephone Interviews Job seekers 80 33%
those Centres not included
in the initial qualitative
research
Centre Managers 12 60% Randomly selected from all

Self completion staff who had not
EAs 12 60%
questionnaires participated in the initial
Providers 12 60% qualitative research
See Appendix 7 for job seeker questionnaire
Due to the 6 month interval between attending the programme and being interviewed, recall by
job seekers of specific details about the programme was at times impaired. In those instances
where respondents could not remember attending the programme the interviews was
terminated.
Managers, providers and EAs who had not returned their questionnaires after the return date
were telephoned to see if they still wanted to take part in the survey and to establish whether
they had any difficulties completing the questionnaires. Of those telephoned, four NZES Centre
Managers preferred to be interviewed by telephone rather than returning the questionnaire by
post.
Analysis of telephone interviews and self-completion questionnaires involved coding responses,

data entry, followed by data analysis. The final small sample size means that the findings cannot
be regarded as statistically stable and meant that it was not possible to conduct an analysis of
stakeholder sub-groups.
2.2 Quality of (Enhanced) Job Choice Reports

In addition to the perceptions of stakeholders about the operation of Career Guidance and
Counselling, the evaluation also assessed the quality of 40 randomly selected (Enhanced) Job
Choice reports. Each was assessed according to whether they covered the following, as set out
in the service contract:
an assessment of the job seekers verifiable skills, interests, preferences and personal
qualities
market information about local occupational, training and labour markets
recommended steps for the job seeker
information about the job seeker (barriers to employment, solutions and actions, etc).
A comprehensive checklist was devised in the analysis of Job Choice Reports to ensure
comparability and consistency of assessment (see Appendix 3).
- 13 -
2.3 Employment and Training outcomes

The labour market status of job seekers who had participated in Career Guidance and
Counselling between August 1996 and July 1997 was examined at 2 months prior and 2, 6 and
12 months after participating. The original intention was to compare the outcomes of these
participants against a matched group of non-participants (comparison group). However, due to
problems generating a comparison group that accurately matched the participant group, this
approach was abandoned.
The labour market status of job seekers was based on information from the SWIFTT database.
Because this is an operational database, the information may not always be accurate,
particularly where a job seeker has ceased to be in receipt of a benefit. This means there is a
degree of uncertainty about the actual labour market status of job seekers, however, this
uncertainty is not considered to be sufficient to invalidate the analysis.
In the absence of a comparison group, the analysis of labour market outcomes primarily focuses
on the change in the labour market status of job seekers before and after they participated in
Career Guidance and Counselling. This change is also compared against the expected
achievements of the programme. This includes examination of employment and training
outcomes of participants against their demographic and related characteristics.
- 14 -
3 Key Findings
3.1 Participation in Career Guidance and Counselling

Objective: Assess whether the programme is being targeted at disadvantaged groups such as
Pacific people or Maori
Table 3 shows the demographic profile of Career Guidance and Counselling participants and the
variation of this profile from the proportion of job seekers on the register in the 1996/97 and
1997/98 periods. The table shows that there are only small differences between the ethnic
composition of participants and the overall ethnic composition of the register. Maori were
slightly under-represented among Career Guidance and Counselling participants, Europeans
were over-represented. Greater differences existed in terms of gender and age group, with
women and those aged between 20-24 more likely to participate in the programme. This latter
finding is expected, given that job seekers in this age group are least likely to have work
experience and a sense of career goals. Finally, job seekers whose highest qualification was a
secondary qualification above School Certificate were most likely to be referred to Career
Guidance and Counselling.
Table 3: Proportion of Career Guidance and Counselling participants and variation from the
overall proportion job seekers on the register in 1996/97 and 1997/98
July 1996 and June 1997 July 1997 and January 1998
Variation from Variation from
participants participants
register 1 register 1
Ethnicity Maori -2.6% 28.1% -2.3% 27.3%
European 0.3% 53.1% 4.0% 57.5%
Pacific people 1.7% 9.8% -1.0% 6.7%
Other 0.7% 8.9% -0.8% 8.4%
Gender Female 6.5% 41.9% 6.2% 43.7%

Male -6.5% 58.1% -6.2% 56.3%
Age group Under 20 -9.6% 3.8% -3.4% 9.5%

20 to 24 11.4% 33.0% 7.3% 27.9%
25 to 29 -2.1% 13.8% -2.1% 13.2%
30 to 39 -0.3% 24.1% -1.4% 22.1%
40 to 49 1.0% 17.0% 1.6% 18.8%
50 plus -0.4% 8.2% -2.0% 8.5%
Highest No qualifications -2.4% 46.6% -1.2% 48.4%

Educational At least one SC pass -7.5% 14.8% -7.0% 15.1%
Qualification Other Secondary 10.4% 25.5% 10.0% 24.9%
Post School -0.9% 4.3% -0.6% 4.6%
Degree/Professional 0.3% 8.7% -1.1% 6.9%
number 4,247 5,802

Source: WINZ register (SOLO), 1999.
1: Based on the average of the monthly register composition over each period.
- 15 -
3.2 Analysis of Programme Operation

Objective: Analyse the operation of the programme with a view to identifying areas that need
improvement.
3.2.1 Contracting relationship between Centre and providers

In the evaluation of tenders, Centre Managers considered successful service providers to have
the following attributes:
relevant tertiary qualifications
experience in delivering career guidance services
demonstrated knowledge of the local labour market
responsiveness to the needs of job seekers
competitive pricing.
Only after taking these aspects into account, did Managers consider the providers cultural
awareness or understanding when evaluating the tender.
Centre Managers were generally satisfied with the contracting process, whilst providers were
less so. Each group identified a number of related issues in the tendering process that,
according to providers in particular, had a negative impact on the contracting relationship and,
subsequently, on the operation of the programme.
Timing of contract round

The majority of providers and Centre Mangers expressed the view that the time frame for the
tendering process and establishment of a contracting relationship was too short. Centre
Managers found the short lead-time impinged on their ability to adequately evaluate tenders.
Further, once the service was tendered, both providers and Managers considered there was
insufficient time to develop a professional working relationship prior to the commencement of
the programme. Providers thought that this was detrimental to the establishment of
appropriate systems of referral and follow-up.
Information and training

In addition to the short time frames, some Centre Managers felt that training in the evaluation
of tenders, finalising contracts and in contract management, would have assisted a smoother
contracting process; although they did not believe that the lack of training resulted in serious
difficulties. NZES has since conducted a series of contracting workshops with all Centre
Managers and those EAs involved in the Career Guidance and Counselling programme. It is
therefore expected the next contracting round will proceed more satisfactorily.
A number of Managers and EAs were concerned about lack of adequate documentation,
guidelines and procedures provided to Centres by National Office. This lack of information
about the programme was also raised as a concern by providers who thought that Centre
Managers lacked familiarity with the service contract, and felt that this may have contributed to
Centres under-referring job seekers to the programme.
- 16 -
Contract duration and scope

Generally, service providers were in favour of extending the duration of contracts past 12
months. Service providers argued that within the current one-year contract they were unlikely to
develop quality relationships with the Centre, or to develop appropriate processes to meet the
specific needs of job seekers.
A number of providers and frontline staff also believed that a single provider should undertake
both Career Guidance and Counselling. They argued that many local providers had the
qualifications and experience to provide Career Counselling services. Furthermore, the current
practice of sending the job seeker to another provider for Career Counselling was seen as
unnecessarily disruptive and sometimes even stressful to the job seeker in having to establish a
relationship with a new counsellor. This view was held so strongly by some Centre Managers
that they chose to contract both Career Counselling as well as Career Guidance with local
providers, rather than split the contract between the local provider and the Careers Service as
was intended.
Relationship between providers and Centres

In general, providers and Centre staff said they had good working relationships, although
Centre Managers and EAs were more positive about this than providers. Whilst acknowledging
that a good working relationship existed, providers believed that they had been mostly
responsible for building and sustaining the relationship and felt that staff at the Centre should
be putting in more time and effort.
3.2.2 The Referral Process

Providers, Managers and EAs all expressed dissatisfaction with the referral process. Issues
included:
inappropriate targets
absence of assessment criteria for referral
poor perception be EAs of the programmes usefulness.
These problems where thought to contribute to an uneven flow of referrals, as well as the
referral of job seekers who were unlikely to benefit from the programme.
Programme targets
The required 8,000 Career Guidance and Counselling placements by government was more than
twice the number of placements made to the programme in the previous year. To this end,
Centre Managers would have preferred to make the final decision about the number of referrals
required for their Centre. Although Managers acknowledged that they had some input, Regional
Offices ultimately determined targets. Centre Managers considered the dominance of regional
and national, rather than local considerations, in the process resulted in targets that were often
out of step with the needs of job seekers registered at the Centre. Moreover, service contracts
incorporated minimum referrals to the provider, which meant that the Centre was financially
obligated to reach the agreed number of referrals.
- 17 -
Service providers were also concerned with the focus on programme targets, which they felt
resulted in marked fluctuations in the number of referrals over time, creating problems in
managing resources and caseload. Furthermore, providers also considered that EAs made
inappropriate referrals to achieve the necessary target. This was confirmed by EAs themselves,
who admitted that referrals were at times driven by targets rather than the actual needs of
individual job seekers.
Lack of a standard assessment procedure

Because there are no specific criteria for referral other than that participants be priority clients,7
EAs have a great deal of discretion over who is referred. The underlying philosophy is that the
EA is in the best position to assess whether the programme is a suitable intervention for a given
job seeker.
This minimal direction meant that it took new staff some time before they got used to referring
job seekers to Career Guidance. Learning to judge the suitability of the programme for a job
seeker takes time. However, even amongst experienced staff there was evidence that referrals
were being made without proper assessment of the suitability of the programme for the job
seeker. In some instances, no assessment was made, with job seekers being referred because
they happened to be in the right place at the right time. For example, if there was a
cancellation, an EA might ask a job seeker who happens to be available at the time to go
instead.
Providers also felt that some referrals were inappropriate, and perceived that job seekers were
referred because the EA had put them in the too-hard-basket and regarded the programme as
a last resort. Particular concern was expressed about the referral of job seekers with mental
health and social problems, such as alcoholism, violence or drug addiction. Providers believed
that they were not the most appropriate professional to deal with these personal issues and are
explicitly prevented from dealing with these issues in the service contract.
Further, some EAs use the programme to gain a second opinion in the hope that the service
provider may uncover some barrier they failed to discover. They also used the programme as a
reality check to confirm an opinion that they already held, for example where an EA considers
that a job seeker has no interest in finding employment, or to assess the suitability of the
Unemployment Benefit for job seekers with psychiatric conditions. All these motivations are
contrary to the intended purpose of the programme of helping job seekers to develop a career
plan.
Quality and workload associated with referral

Amongst EAs there were mixed views about the quality and usefulness of the programme. EAs
who supported the core values and philosophy of the programme develop a close and
supportive working relationship with providers and as result make more referrals.
On the other hand, there was a negative perception of the programme among some frontline
staff. A number of EAs commented that the process of referral, receiving the (Enhanced) Job
7
Either registered unemployed for more than 26 weeks or have a job seeker need/employment barrier.
- 18 -
Choice Report and conducting follow-up interviews generated more work for them than it was
worth. Further, some were not happy with the quality of work produced by providers. These EAs
felt that if they had the time, they could develop more appropriate and better job choices for job
seekers themselves than the ones produced by service providers. Moreover, they were often
surprised at the high cost of the Career Guidance and Counselling programme and felt that it
does not offer value for money. For these reasons many EAs were reluctant to make referrals.
Commitment of job seekers to attend an career advice interview

A related concern amongst providers was that job seekers were often sent along by EAs, with
insufficient information as to why they were attending or how they could benefit from the
programme. Interviews with job seekers confirmed this, with the majority of whom considered
that they could have been better prepared for the interview. The negative impact that this
caused was a lack of commitment by job seekers towards keeping appointments. Because
interviews were between one and two weeks after the date of referral, there was a risk that the
job seeker would either forget about the appointment or simply choose not to go. EAs who
contacted the job seeker the day before the career advice interview were successful in
minimising this problem, and noted a marked reduction in missed appointments.
3.2.3 Career Guidance and Counselling Interviews

Career Guidance or Counselling interviews were held in private, either in the service providers
office or in meeting rooms at the Centre. Most job seekers surveyed reported that they
attended either one or two interviews, 39% and 34% percent of the sample respectively.
Generally the first interview was used to discuss the range of employment options open to the
job seeker. Further interviews were held only when necessary to help narrow down options and
to establish suitable job choices. Some job seekers would have liked the opportunity to revisit
service providers to discuss progress and any problems or difficulties that they experienced.
Background information and feed back

Service providers commented that EAs provide inadequate background information about the
job seekers. This produces additional work for the provider in gathering this information, as
well as making it hard for them to give appropriate advice. For example, a service provider who
is unaware of a job seekers criminal record, may develop job choices within the banking and
security industry, where criminal convictions are unacceptable.
Service providers would also like more specific information about why a job seeker has been
referred to them and the expectations of the EA. They welcomed EAs who contacted them at
the time of referral to discuss the job seekers case as well as their requirements from the
career advice sessions.
Job seekers experience

Nearly two-thirds of the job seekers surveyed found the interviews to be useful in exploring job
and training options and in seting goals. Most felt comfortable during the interview and
considered providers to be good listeners who understood their personal situations. The
majority of job seekers saw the interviews as providing an important first step in helping them
- 19 -
to find employment. However, there was also a perception that the providers did not go into
enough detail or provide practical steps about how to achieve their career goals. Only a few job
seekers mentioned that the interview covered such topics as local labour market issues or the
availability and cost of training opportunities.
3.2.4 (Enhanced) Job Choice Reports
Job seeker and EA perceptions

The majority of job seekers interviewed (71%) did recall receiving their Job Choice Report, or at
least seeing a copy of it. Their perception of their (Enhanced) Job Choice Report closely
mirrored their experience of the interviews with the provider. Although job seekers considered
that the reports provided a good discussion of their skills and suitable job choices, they lacked
specific information about securing employment. EAs reported that they were generally happy
with reports. The main criticism was that some reports did not contain job choices relevant to
the local labour market. In some situations, providers listed job choices unavailable locally, and
EAs knew that the job seeker would not be prepared to move from the area due to family or
other commitments.
Independent assessment of (Enhanced) Job Choice Reports

The perceptions of job seekers and EAs about the quality of the reports were confirmed by the
independent assessment of the reports (see Appendix 3). Although most reports met the
minimum requirements stipulated in the contract between NZES and service providers, they
focussed on the process of the interviews rather than goals of job seekers. Reports did not
contain a comprehensive evaluation of job seekers skills, interests, preferences and personal
qualities, nor any indication of employability relative to current labour market conditions.
Generally the labour market information outlined in the reports was too broad. No indication
was provided of the employment rates/chances of any of the potential options given, but merely
the titles of the occupations. Furthermore, there was no information about any local vacancies
or alternative occupations. Whilst some information about training was provided, the reports
did not contain any cost or time frame information regarding training options. Further, reports
did not generally indicate the past and predicted success rates of graduates gaining
employment, nor any indications of the procedure to reference these things relative to the local
market. There was also no bridging information to indicate how these training courses would
be funded and therefore how viable they were for the job seeker.
Finally, most reports did not have a clearly designated solutions to barriers section, nor a
comprehensive action plan that looked well researched and achievable. Most of the solutions
focussed on external aspects for example preparing a CV, arranging voluntary work, applying
for courses. The reports did not look at the internal barriers faced by job seekers, for example
lack of motivation or confidence. Of particular concern was that the reports lacked an
assessment about how confident or competent the job seeker was to pursue training.
Recommendations appeared to be oriented with the assumption that the job seeker had the
confidence, competencies and resources to take action.
- 20 -
3.2.5 Follow-up Interviews

Centre Managers and EAs agreed that in many cases, follow-up interviews are not conducted.
This was substantiated by job seekers, most of whom could not remember meeting with their
EA after their last Career Guidance and Counselling interview. Of those who did remember
attending a follow-up interview, most said that it involved discussion of their (Enhanced) Job
Choice Report. However, far fewer reported that the EA helped them to decide the next steps
needed to find employment or training. Generally, job seekers expressed an interest in more
rigorous follow up at regular intervals with their EA to check progress and give advice. Some
job seekers expected their EAs to provide them with more hands-on assistance, for example,
telephoning prospective employers or enrolling them in a particular training programme.
Workload pressure was the main reason given by EAs for not following-up with job seekers. A
number of staff also believed that there are still some EAs unaware of the requirement to
conduct follow up interviews. Further, some EAs felt that some of their colleagues did not
believe that follow-up interviews made a difference in helping job seekers to return to work or
enter training.
Follow-up interviews were more likely to occur in smaller Centres where resource issues could
be better managed. In addition, EAs who set appointments for follow-up interviews at the time
of referral were more likely to undertake the interview than EAs who waited until they received
the (Enhanced) Job Choice Report.
3.2.6 Programme Monitoring

Frontline staff considered that they lacked the time and resources to monitor outcomes. Some
Centre Managers had an expectation that outcome monitoring was the role of National Office.
More attention was given to monitoring the performance of providers and this was
predominantly undertaken by EAs responsible for co-ordinating the programme. There was
little evidence of strict enforcement of the expectations set out in the service contract regarding
the outputs of providers. Any monitoring of the performance of providers tended to be
informal.
Service providers monitored their own performance by seeking client feedback and measuring
participants satisfaction at the last interview. Service providers revealed they normally receive
very good feedback, which was confirmed by the responses given by job seekers canvassed in
the present evaluation (Section 3.2.3). However, providers did not monitor outcomes of
participants, as they felt that their contractual responsibilities ended with the provision of a
(Enhanced) Job Choice Report.
3.3 Effect of contestability on price and service quality

Objective: Assess whether contestability has improved the quality of service or reduced the cost
of service provision.
Contracting of Career Guidance services is the direct responsibility of Centres. The main aim of
this process was to increase the contestability of service provision, thereby improving the
quality of service, to increase the opportunity for EAs to match job seekers with appropriate
providers and to reduce contract cost.
- 21 -
Although, EAs stated that they attempted to match the needs of the job seeker to the skill set of
the service provider, they did admit that referral was often determined by their own preference
for a particular provider. These preferences were often based on the quality of the relationship
with the service provider and whether they thought the provider was meeting their needs. Rarely
were job seekers involved in choosing which service provider they would go to. Few participants
surveyed were aware that there was more than one provider.
The majority of Centres chose to contract with a single provider, larger Centres being more
likely to have multiple providers. However, the empirical evidence indicated that the number of
providers that Centres chose to contract with did not affected either the cost per client nor the
quality of services. In terms of cost, there was little variation between contracts, ranging from
$320 to $330 per job seeker (excluding GST). Further, there was no indication amongst front-
line staff that the number of providers contracted with the Centre affected the quality of service.
3.4 Outcomes of Career Guidance and Counselling
3.4.1 Job seekers change in attitude towards career path

Objective: Measure the job seekers change in attitude towards their career path.
Job seekers attitudes towards finding employment before and after participation was not
measured. Therefore, it is not possible to make a rigorous assessment of the change in attitude
as a result of participation in Career Guidance and Counselling. Instead, the analysis is based
on the perceptions of EAs and job seekers about the impact of the programme on job search
activities.
Overall, both EAs and job seekers felt that the immediate impact of the programme was
positive. They considered that the programme enabled job seekers to:
broaden their outlook on possible employment and training options
focus and affirm their suitability for particular job options
establish realistic employment goals.
However, the programme did not appear to have a significant impact on job search activities,
with half the participants surveyed indicating that their job search activities had not changed as
a result of participation. The main reason given for this was the lack of practical information
about how to achieve the employment goals given their current situation (see Section 3.2.3 &
3.2.4).
Likewise, EAs were not positive about the medium and long-term impact of the programme. In
their view, job seekers are often no closer to employment after completing the programme than
before. EAs considered the lack of regular follow-up to be the key reason for this failure in
achieving lasting change in the job seekers job search activity (see Section 3.2.5). Despite this,
EAs had reservations as to whether they could have the time and resources to perform this
function, given their other duties. However, they felt that under the IEA philosophy of case
management, medium and long-term outcomes would be more positive.
- 22 -
3.4.2 Labour market outcomes

Objective: Measure the labour market outcomes of Career Guidance and Counselling
participants.
Table 4 summarises the labour market status of Career Guidance and Counselling participants 2
months prior to participating and at 2, 6 and 12 months after they had completed the
programme. The results indicate that Career Guidance and Counselling did not appear to alter
the employment and training outcomes of participants. Two months after completing the
programme just under 10% of participants were in some form of work, with a further 7%
undertaking further training. The expectation for the programme is that participants have
entered into employment or training 8 weeks after their follow-up interview. One year after
participation, the proportion of job seekers in employment had increased to 19%, whilst those in
training fell to 6%. However, the rise in the proportion of participants in employment is not
considered to be greater than what would occur if these job seekers had not participated in the
programme. In addition, whilst less than half of participants were no longer unemployed 1 year
after participating in the programme, many of these appeared to have left the labour market
rather than gaining employment (Table 4).
The employment and training outcomes for individual population groups were also analysed
(see Appendix 4). In general the training and employment outcomes exhibited by participant
sub-groups do not differ greatly from what would be expected to occur among job seekers
generally. The evidence does not indicate that Career Guidance and Counselling benefits any
particular group of job seekers above any other.
Table 4: Pre 2 month and post 2, 6 and 12 month labour market status of job seekers who
participated in Career Guidance and Counselling between August 1996 and July
1997
Outcome period
2 months prior to Post participation
Labour market outcome participation 2 months 6 months 12 months
Employment 2.8% 9.2% 16.2% 19.3%
Training 1.5% 7.1% 8.3% 5.8%
Unemployed 83.4% 67.3% 52.8% 46.7%
Left Labour Market 5.8% 8.7% 13.1% 17.4%
Unknown 6.6% 7.7% 9.6% 10.9%
n 4,094 4,094 4,094 4,094
Source: WINZ (SWIFTT) database, 1999
1: Employment includes subsidised and unsubsidised work, as well as part and full-time employment.
- 23 -
4 Conclusions
Impact of Career Guidance and Counselling programme

The evaluation found that both Career Guidance and Counselling had a positive role in helping
participants explore their career options. However, participation had only a marginal impact on
participants job search activities and subsequent employment outcomes. The limited impact of
Career Guidance and Counselling is not thought to be because it is an improper intervention.
Rather, the effective implementation of the programme was hindered at three critical stages; (1)
the proper referral of job seekers to the programme, (2) the quality of the career advice in
developing realistic career goals, (3) EAs providing proper follow-up to enable job seekers to
achieve their career goals. The evaluation found serious sort comings at each of these stages,
which greatly diminish the potential benefit of the programme to the job seeker.
Operation of the Career Guidance and Counselling programme

Managers, EAs and providers all expressed dissatisfaction with the referral process. The
research found strong indications that job seekers were referred without proper assessment of
the suitability of the programme for the job seekers. This lack of assessment greatly decreases
the probability that the job seekers benefit from the programme. In addition, job seekers were
often ill informed as to why they were being referred and were not reminded of interviews
leading to unnecessarily high rates of non-attendance. Likewise, providers were given limited
information about the job seeker, which wasted time during interview in gathering this
information and, at times, resulted in the inappropriate selection of job choices.
Although, in general, the career advice and the accompanying (Enhanced) Job Choice Reports
met the minimum requirements of the service contract there was clear evidence that they did
not always meet the needs of job seekers. In particular, the majority of job seekers found that
there was not enough practical guidance about achieving career goals. This was confirmed
through the assessment of Job Choice Reports, which found that they lacked specific
information on the appropriateness of job choices for the job seeker and the steps required to
achieve them.
In general, follow-up was not conducted, with EAs citing constraints on their time as the primary
reason for not doing so. However, most acknowledged that follow-up was critical to the success
of the programme; without comprehensive follow-up it is unrealistic to expect participation in
Career Guidance and Counselling to have a significant impact on a job seekers employment and
training outcomes.
- 24 -
Glossary of terms
NZES term WINZ term Definition
New Zealand Work and WINZ is an amalgamation of Income Support,

Employment Service Income NZ NZES, Community Employment Group and Local
(NZES) (WINZ) Employment Co-ordinators. The strategic aim of
WINZ is to increase the independence of New
Zealanders by moving them into full-time
employment.
Centre Service Centre Local office where job seekers meet with Case
Managers/EAs
Employment Advisor (EA) Case-Manager Frontline staff member who deals with job
seekers
Job seeker Work testable People registered with NZES/WINZ who are
customer expected to engage in job search activities. Note:
not all WINZ customers are work testable.
- 25 -
Appendix 1: The Career Guidance process.
Employment Advisor identifies and refers eligible job seekers who would benefit from
Career Guidance.
Career Guidance provider interviews the client, prepares and submits a Job Choice Report
to NZES.
NZES Employment Advisor conducts a follow up interview with the client within two weeks
of receiving the Job Choice Report and prepares or updates the clients work plan.
If the provider recommends that the job seeker requires further assistance the
Employment Advisor refers the job seekers onto Career Counselling.
Careers Counselling provider provides Counseling to the client, prepares, and submits an
Enhanced Job Choice Report to NZES (within 14 days).
NZES conducts a follow-up interview with the client within two weeks of receiving the
enhanced Job Choice report and prepares or updates the clients work plan.
Appendix 2: Job Choice and Enhanced Job Choice Report

Job Choice report
The content of the report is expected to include as set out in the service contract:
at least two job or training options that the job seeker could reasonably achieve within 13
weeks of job search
an assessment of the job seekers verifiable skills (competencies), interests, preferences

and personal qualities that support the appropriateness of the identified job or training
options
local occupational, training and labour market information and details that would facilitate
the job seekers entry into their selected occupational or training options
recommended steps the job seeker could take to achieve a job of their choice
- 26 -
Enhanced Job Choice Report

An Enhanced Job Choice Report must include the following:
at least two job or training options that the client can realistically and reasonably be
expected to gain within 13 weeks of job search
an assessment of the clients verifiable skills, interests, preferences and personal qualities
that support the appropriateness of the identified job or training choices
local occupational, training and labour market information supporting the availability of the
identified job or training choices, and details that would facilitate the clients entry into
these
recommendation of steps the client could take to achieve a job of their choice
the clients list of barriers to employment, and the solutions and actions that the client
could reasonable be expected to take and clients short, medium and long term goals,
which are realistic and achievable
- 27 -
Appendix 3: Analysis of Job Choice Reports

The following is a systematic analysis of the contents of 40 randomly selected Job Choice and
Enhanced Job Choice reports which was conducted by the careers consultantcy Erica Steele and
Associates in March 1998.
1. Referral Reason
Evidence of how client was referred.

Name of who referred by (name, agency) 40
Date referred 40
No. of sessions attended and costs noted 8
Evidence of why client was referred.

Unsure job choices 2
Need for career counselling 0
Other assessment 1
Career Direction 34
Lack of experience since school 1
Identification of barriers/skills 6
Evidence of client's degree of motivation to be career counselled.

Very motivated 12
Somewhat motivated 9
Neither motivated nor unmotivated 3
Not motivated 3
Has clearly been "sent" along by NZES (feeling forced to attend) 3
Evidence that client fully understands why they are attending career counselling (including
both personal career development needs and NZES requirements, including any future penalties)
Personal career development needs understood 24
Too immature to understand, but explanation given 1
NZES requirements understood re recommendation/referral 4
- 28 -
Penalties for not following through on Job Choice report results understood (ie
the possibility that it could contribute to a 20% benefit cut) 0
Evidence that counsellor has checked that client is able to take on advice.
Client agrees advice is realistic and steps are achievable 13
Barriers (stated and perceived) to achieving steps/actioning careers advice are

noted 16
Barriers (stated and perceived) have been fully appraised (consultation with
NZES, appropriate help) 5
Barriers because of personal circumstances/bad attitude 1
Appropriate referrals made to other assistance to overcome barriers 2
Career counselling put on hold (if appropriate) until barriers dealt with (with
timetable for review noted) 2
2. Employability
Career counsellor has given solid indication of "employability" in the Job Choice Report to match
job seeker's verifiable skills, interests, preferences as seen in the context of the current (not
past) market through:
Evidence of market knowledge (Statistics)

Knowledge of most sought after skills and competencies required by
employers 24
Knowledge of least sought after skills and competencies required by

employers 2
Local "topical" employment information, eg factory closures, etc 0
Qualitative research on niche markets 19
Job seeker's own competencies 32
Competencies/skills noted: inc transferable skills

Qualifications/lack of quals noted 18
Evidence of verification of competencies/skills noted, eg through recent

performance appraisals, references 5
Job seeker has indication of what further verification may need to be sought to
secure job choices chosen 24
- 29 -
3. Market Information about the Local Occupational,
Training and Labour Markets
Evidence that career counsellor has shown the viability of recommended training in Job
Choice Report including indications/monitoring currently being done on:
Quality of training recommended 26
Percentage or number of jobs gained through explicit training (past, present,

predicted) 0
Other factors which would enhance job prospects apart from training, eg
voluntary experience, sales skills, etc 10
Past graduates of training courses reference checked (who have committed to

training in a similar situation) 0
Costs/investment/trade-offs involved 21
4. Recommended Steps for the Client
Evidence that the job seeker agrees with and is choosing "recommended steps" having had
explained and having understood the implications of options thoroughly through:
Revisiting any "barriers". Are they being handled effectively? 11
Asking the job seeker "are you committed to your choice or do you feel `rail-
roaded'?" "Is it realistic?" or similar 8
Evidence that "Internal factors" were noted

Conditioning 6
Poor self image 9
Low morale 4
Lack of purpose, sense of direction 2
Feeling alienated, powerless to change 3
Emotionally immature 1
Evidence that "External factors" were noted

Problems with peer pressure 3
Lack of resources, support 9
Lack of education 13
- 30 -
Social or physical impairment 7
Not local employment/wants to say in area 2
Evidence that the career counsellor has assisted the job seeker to map out the evolution of the
possible career path(s) in action plan form over
3 months 5
6 months 7
1 or 2 years 13
Accepted to tertiary institute 1
Review points of plan clearly shown 24
Action plan agreed and signed off by job seeker 16
Action plan shows very specific time/dates for completion of actions (including
records of efforts made phone calls, contacts, research) 3
Indication of any help available to cope with predicted changes including any
sub-cultures/groups evolving 1
Monitoring progress of action plan is clearly written down and agreed with job
seeker 5
Monitoring process indicates how well the job seeker will be able to
increasingly function without the help of a counsellor, to become more self-
sufficient not dependent through the process 3
Job/education/CV info given 40
5.Information about the Client (Barriers to Employment, Solutions, Actions etc)
Addressing barriers: an indication is given in the job choice report of how well the job seeker
is able to function increasingly without outside assistance using the following skills:
Networking 1
Facilitating 13
Educating others 0
Networking/making contacts 6
An indication is given as to how "streetwise" the job seeker is in their understanding of the
market. Does the report confirm specifically that they:
- 31 -
Understand the trends in the industries they are looking to gain work in
(expanding, contracting, skills required etc)? 16
Know how to research and cost out the best option for up-skilling? 10
Know realistically where their best options lie (self-employed, contract or full-
time employment) 25
An indication in the report of how confident the job seeker really is to address the market
appropriately including:
Confidence level 10
Degree of focus, discipline 7
Evidence of positive attitudes and behaviour (how are these shifting?) 7
An indication of job seeker's perception of the sustainability of job choices 10
Determination high 2
Evidence of review process/support in place for job seeker while actioning

their goals 6
6. The Career Counsellor
Evidence of the career counsellor's (as communicated to the job seeker, noted in report):
Depth of experience (how many years, what is their level of experience as a
career counsellor) 0
Success rate and how it is measured 0
Code of Ethics, way of operating 0
Market knowledge and contacts 0
- 32 -
Appendix 4: Employment and training outcomes of Career

Guidance and Counselling participants
Table 5: Pre 2 month and post 2, 6 and 1 year employment and training outcomes by
characteristics of job seekers who participated in Career Guidance and Counselling
between August 1996 and July 1997
Employment 1 Training
2 months Post participation (months) 2 months Post participation (months)
prior to prior to
participation 2 6 12 participation 2 6 12 n
Total 2.8% 9.2% 16.2% 19.2% 1.5% 7.1% 8.3% 5.8% 4094
European 3.4% 10.7% 18.7% 21.9% 1.3% 5.7% 7.8% 5.3% 2447
Maori 1.6% 6.3% 11.5% 14.7% 1.7% 9.8% 10.2% 7.2% 1048
Pacific people 2.0% 8.2% 12.5% 16.1% 1.8% 9.2% 7.2% 5.4% 391
Other 1.9% 7.7% 16.3% 16.8% 1.9% 6.3% 6.3% 5.8% 208
Female 2.3% 9.2% 14.9% 16.9% 1.6% 6.7% 7.9% 5.1% 1476
Male 3.0% 9.2% 16.9% 20.6% 1.5% 7.4% 8.5% 6.2% 2618
20-24 yrs 2.9% 8.5% 16.1% 18.3% 2.9% 8.5% 9.6% 7.5% 1006
25-29 yrs 3.0% 11.2% 20.9% 24.4% 1.3% 7.4% 9.1% 5.9% 794
30-39 yrs 2.4% 9.0% 16.3% 19.4% 1.1% 7.4% 9.0% 5.9% 1144
40 plus 2.9% 8.4% 12.8% 16.3% 0.8% 5.4% 5.8% 4.2% 1148
No Formal School Quals

2.5% 7.8% 12.6% 14.6% 1.9% 8.1% 8.8% 6.9% 2015
or <3 yrs
At least 1 SC pass 2.4% 9.3% 16.4% 19.2% 1.6% 7.5% 7.9% 5.0% 976
Other Secondary 3.6% 9.8% 21.5% 26.9% 1.0% 6.1% 9.8% 4.8% 605
Post Secondary Quals 3.6% 12.3% 22.3% 26.8% 0.0% 3.6% 6.8% 4.5% 220
Degree or Professional
3.2% 14.7% 24.8% 30.2% 0.4% 4.0% 4.3% 3.6% 278
Quals
Metro 2.3% 8.2% 15.3% 18.4% 1.4% 7.3% 8.3% 5.3% 2372
Provincial 3.5% 10.8% 18.0% 21.1% 1.5% 6.8% 8.5% 6.3% 1437
Rural 2.8% 9.1% 14.0% 17.2% 2.1% 7.4% 7.7% 7.4% 285
Source: WINZ (SWIFTT) database, 1999.

1: Employment includes both subsidised and unsubsidised work as well as full and part-time employment
- 33 -
Appendix 5: Case Study interview guides
Interview Guide for Employment Advisors

1. Introduction
Introduce self, AC Nielsen
Explain purpose of research and case study approach
Ensure confidentiality
Request permission to record etc.
2. Role/Background
Can you please begin by briefly describing your current role with New Zealand
Employment Service? Probe:
Type of cases
Length of time in current role
Skills, qualifications and experience
Past roles and challenges
How market trend awareness effects deployment of resources.
3. Overall View
What is your overall view of the Careers Guidance and Counseling programme? Probe:
Value of programme concept
Positives and negative aspects
Enthusiasm
Types of job seekers referred and their suitability
How well programme introduced
How well the programme is currently operating.
Is it delivering anything of value
4. Referrals
Now I would like us to focus on one case in particular, that is...........
- 34 -
Can you please describe how client x came to be referred to Career Guidance and/or
Career Counseling? Probe:
Tools/systems used to identify clients need, usefulness of

tools/systems
Clients reaction to being referred
Clients enthusiasm, co-operation
Clients ownership of the process
Clients understanding of the programme
Service providers suitability
Reason for referral
Contact had with service provider during referral process
Difficulties with the referral process
Difficulties encountered
Recommended improvements.
5. Career Guidance Interviews
What are your impressions of the Career Guidance interviews client x had with service
provider y? Probe:
Feedback received from client and/or service provider
Time involved
Usefulness of interviews
Occurrence of no-shows
Extent to which the intervention assisted the client
6. Job Choice Report
And can you please tell me, what was the overall quality of client xs Job Choice Report?
Probe:
Timeliness
Inclusion of key outputs as stipulated in contract
Realism (in-tune with situation)
Clients satisfaction
- 35 -
Comprehension (simple and easy to understand language)
Clarification required
Usefulness of report in updating work-plan
Weaknesses of report
7. Reassessment Interviews
And now I would like you to describe your impressions of client xs re-assessment
interview? Probe:
Timeliness
Usefulness of interview
Length of interview
Change in clients attitude and behaviour
8. Outcome
Can you please describe the effect Career Guidance and/or Career Counselling has had
on client x (if any)? Probe:
Establishment of short, medium and long term goals
Appropriateness of job choices
Understanding of labour market situation
Engagement in job search activities
Movement into stable employment or training
Occurrence of case conferences, follow up interviews etc
9. Improvements
Taking into account what we have talked about today, what are the main areas that you
think should be improved?
- 36 -
Referrals, reports, reassessment interviews
Liaison and communication
Time allowed for process.
10. Finish
Thank for time
Ensure confidentiality.
Interview Guide Service Provider

1. Introduction
Request permission to record etc
2. Role/Background
Can you please begin by briefly describing your current role in providing Career
Guidance/Counselling to job seekers? Probe:
Type and number of cases
Length of time in current role/in working with programme
Awareness of how market is evolving and the impact this has on

clients
3. Overall View
What is your overall view of the Careers Guidance and Counselling programme? Probe:
Value of programme concept
Enthusiasm
Types of job seekers referred and their suitability
- 37 -
How well the programme is currently operating
Is it delivering anything of value?
4. Referrals
Now I would like us to focus on one case in particular, that is........... Can you please
describe how client x came to be referred to you? Probe:
Appropriateness of referral
Feedback received from client over referral
Reason for referral
Contact with NZES during referral
Quality of briefing by NZES
Can you please briefly describe the interview process with client x? Probe:
Clients understanding of programme
Flow (what did client find most/least difficult to talk about?)
Extent to which the intervention assisted the client
Now I would like us to talk about client xs Job Choice Report and/or Enhanced Job
Choice Report. Probe:
Inclusion of key outputs as stipulated in contracts
Weaknesses of report format
- 38 -
7. Reassessment and Outcome
And now I would like you to tell me what happened after you completed client xs report?
Probe:
Occurrence of performance monitoring/providing additional

support
Appropriateness of clients job choices
Clients understanding of labour market situation
Clients engagement in job search activities
Clients movement into stable employment or training
8. Contracts and Tendering
Overall, what are your impressions of the tendering and contract process? Probe:
Contract negotiation
Contract management
Relationship with NZES
Meeting of allocation
Resource planning
9. Improvements
Taking into account what we have talked about today, what are the main areas that you
think should be improved?
Referrals, reports, reassessment interviews
Liaison and communication
Time allowed for process.
- 39 -
10. Finish
Thank for time
Interview Guide with Job Seekers

1. Introduction
2. Role/Background
Can you please begin by briefly telling me a bit about yourself? Probe:
Length of time unemployed
Employment details (if working)
Past employment challenges
Skills, qualifications and work experience.
3. Overall View
Recently you participated in the Careers Guidance and Counselling programme run by
New Zealand Employment Service? Can you please tell me your overall thoughts and
feelings about the programme? Probe:
What words would you use to describe the programme?
How do you feel after having participated?
4. Referrals
Now I would like you to remember back to when you were first asked to go to Career
Guidance. Can you please describe what happened that day? Probe:
How did you feel about being asked to go to Career Guidance?
Why do you think you were asked to go?
What did NZES tell you about what would happen at Career
Guidance?
- 40 -
How could NZES better prepare you?
Following referral, you attended interviews with (name of service provider). Tell me what
happened? Probe:
Were you listened to?
Did you have an opportunity to have your say?
Were the interviews useful, helpful?
Were the interviews what you expected?
How many interviews did you have and how long were they?
Did you ever not turn up to an interview?
How could (name of service provider) help you further?
Following your interviews, (name of service provider) completed a job choice report that
talked about your skills, experience and interests. How did you feel about this report?
Probe:
Did you agree with it?
Was it useful, helpful?
Was it realistic?
Did it cover what you expected it to cover?
How could the report be improved?
After NZES received your job choice report, what happened next? Probe:
Did you meet with your Employment Advisor to talk about your interview and
your report?
How long after your interview did this happen?
How long did this meeting last?
How useful did you find this meeting?
Did it help you or not?
How could NZES help you further?
- 41 -
8. Outcomes
And what happened after your interview with NZES? Probe:
What goals have you set for yourself (if any)?
What have you done to find employment?
Are you feeling positive, confident and willing to find employment?
Do you feel better equipped to find employment?
Are you looking for the same or different types of jobs?
What are you doing differently?
Have you attended any other interviews with NZES and/or with your
provider?
What challenges have you had to face, how have you overcome
them?
What could further help you to find employment?
9. Finish
Thank for time
Appendix 6: Additional qualitative research
Interview Guide Employment Advisors

1. Introduction
Explain purpose of research and focus group approach
2. Role/Background of Participants (Warm Up)
Can we please begin by everyone in turn telling the group something about
themselves. Probe:
Type of cases
- 42 -
Interests/hobbies.
3. Overall View (Mandala Wheel)
Now we are going to relax and think about the Career Guidance and Counselling
programme.(Participants each complete a blank circle or mandala wheel to express his
or her feelings about the programme.) Probe:
Positives and negative aspects of the programme
Participants role within the programme
Perceptions of why programme introduced
Enthusiasm.
4. Strengths and Weaknesses (Yellow Stickies)
As a group, I would like us to brainstorm all the positive and negative aspects of the
programme.(Participants write each aspect on a yellow stickie. Participants then order
from most to least positive and from most to least negative.) Probe:
Differences between and within centres
Magnitude of strengths and weaknesses
Referral process, sessions, follow up interview and outcomes.
Response to Verbatims (Discussion)
I would like us to now listen to the following verbatim comments. (Participants listen to the
comments and discuss each one.)
It is the same few EAs that refer job seekers to us time and time again.
In some branches local relationships override the contract that service providers have with
NZES.
EAs dont have the time to sit down and to digest the report with the client. It either doesnt
happen at all, or not to the degree it should.
EAs could do just as good a job as service providers, if they had the time.
Probe:
Differences within and between centres.
Reasons why comments were made
Agreement/disagreement with statements
Causes/drivers
- 43 -
Comparisons with Other Programmes (Comparative List)
Thinking of all the programmes, products and services NZES offers, how would you rate
the Career Guidance and Counselling Programme? (Participants rate spatially the above
programme with other programmes, products and services.) Probe:
Job seeker satisfaction
Positive outcomes for job seekers
Ease in administrative delivery
Rewarding/enjoyable for EAs.
7. Typical Person Referred (Descriptive List)
Now I would like us to think of the typical person we refer to Careers Guidance and
Counselling.... (Participants individually write a list to describe this typical person.)
Probe:
Demographics
Self-esteem, confidence levels
Skills, experience, length of unemployment
Who else may benefit?
Who will not benefit?
Are you referring those we know will not benefit?
8. Changing Attitude Towards Career Paths (Cartoon)
Now we are going to think of job seekers attitudes toward their career paths and how
these change over time. (Participants individually complete cartoon bubbles describing
how job seekers are feeling at crucial stages, eg at referral, at follow up interview and
after 12 weeks.) Probe:
Self-esteem, confidence levels
Change in attitudes and behaviour
- 44 -
9. Past, Present And Future (Drawing)
We are now going to reflect back on what the programme was like twelve months ago,
what it is like now and what it will be like in twelve months time.(Participants
individually draw pictures of their impressions.) Probe:
How is the programme changing over time?
Is the programme improving/staying the same/getting worse over

time?
Implementation problems.
10. Designing the Ideal Programme (Drawing)
From your experience, we are now going to design the ideal Careers Guidance and
Counselling programme.(Participants as a group draw their ideal programme.) Probe:
What has changed and remained the same?
How will others react to the design?
11. Key Improvement
Imagine if you were the General Manager of NZES and were listening to this discussion,
what is the one thing that you would want to improve?
12. Finish
Thank for time
Interview Guide Service Provider

1. Introduction
Explain purpose of research
2. Role/Background
Can you please begin by briefly describing your current role in providing Career
Guidance/Counselling to job seekers? Probe:
Type of cases
- 45 -
3. Overall View
Enthusiasm
How well the programme is currently operating.
4. Referrals
Now I would like us to discuss referrals and the referral process.
Can you please describe how clients come to be referred to you? Probe:
Appropriateness of referrals
Feedback received from clients over referrals
Reasons for referrals
Contact with NZES during referrals
Quality of briefings by NZES
Difficulties encountered and recommended improvements.
5. Guidance/Counselling Interviews
Can you please briefly describe the interview process with your clients? Probe:
Clients understanding of programme
Flow (what do clients find most/least difficult to talk about?)
6. Job Choice Report /Enhanced Job Choice Report
- 46 -
Now I would like us to talk about the Job Choice Reports and/or Enhanced Job Choice
Reports you prepare for your clients. Probe:
Inclusion of key outputs as stipulated in contracts
7. Follow Up and Outcome
And now I would like you to tell me what happens after you complete reports for your
clients? Probe:
Occurrence of performance monitoring/providing additional

support
Clients appropriateness of job choices
Clients understanding of labour market situation
Clients engagement in job search activities
Clients movement into stable employment or training
Contract negotiation
Contract management
Relationship with NZES
Meeting of allocation
Resource planning
9. Finish
Thank for time
- 47 -
Interview Guide Job Seeker

1. Introduction
2. Role/Background
Can you please begin by briefly telling me a bit about yourself? Probe:
Length of time unemployed
Employment details (if working)
Past employment challenges
Skills, qualifications and work experience.
3. Overall View
Recently you participated in the Careers Guidance and Counselling programme run by
New Zealand Employment Service? Can you please tell me what are your overall
impressions of the programme? Probe:
Enthusiasm.
4. Referrals
Now I would like you to remember back to when you were first asked to go to Career
Guidance and/or Career Counselling. Can you please describe what happened that day?
Probe:
Reaction to being referred
Feeling in control of process versus feeling powerless
Explanation of programme given by EA
Enthusiasm and co-operation
Understanding of why referred
5. Guidance/Counselling Interviews
- 48 -
Following referral, you attended interviews with (name of service provider). What are
your overall impressions of these interviews? Probe:
Expectations (were they met?)
Satisfaction with interviews
Time involved
6. Job Choice Report/Enhanced Job Choice Report
Following your interviews, (name of service provider) completed a job choice

report/enhanced job choice report that detailed appropriate job choices for you, an
assessment of your skills, experience and interests, and other relevant labour market
information. Was this report a true summary of your interviews? Probe:
Satisfaction with report
Agreement with job choices (are they realistic?) and other aspects of the report
Usefulness of report
After NZES received your job choice report/enhanced job choice report, what happened
next? Probe:
Occurrence of interview
Timeliness and length of interview
Usefulness of interview
Satisfaction with interview
8. Outcome
And what happened after your interview with NZES? Probe:
- 49 -
Change in attitude and behaviour
9. Finish
Thank for time
Interview Guide Centre Manager

1. Introduction
2. Role/Background
Can you please begin by briefly describing your current involvement in the Career
Guidance and Counselling programme? Probe:
Type and level of involvement with job seekers, service providers

and EAs
Past roles and challenges.
3. Overall View
Positives and negative aspects of the programme
Enthusiasm
Perceptions of why programme introduced.
4. Programme Operation
- 50 -
And how well do you feel the programme is currently operating?
Systems
Guidelines
Documentation
Training and support
Communication
Most common concerns/issues raised by EAs
Comparisons with other programmes, products and services
5. Programme Implementation
And how well do you feel the programme was implemented?
Systems
Guidelines
Documentation
Training and support
Communication
Most common concerns/issues raised by EAs
Comparisons with other programmes, products and services
6. Staff
What barriers (if any) do staff face when referring job seekers on to the programme?
Extent of referrals by EAs
Triggers and barriers to referral
Extent of conducting follow up interviews
Consistency among EAs of conducting referrals and follow up

interviews
Occurrence of work arounds (deviations from policy)
Staff enthusiasm
Common staff issues and complaints
Management involvement with cases
- 51 -
Perceptions of the tendering process, ease of managing the

tendering process
Past experience with contract negotiation and management
Contract monitoring
Occurrence of deviations to the contract
Method of deciding allocation
Difficulties encountered with meeting allocation
Relationship with service providers
EA involvement
8. Finish
Thank for time
Appendix 7: Job Seeker Questionnaire
INTRODUCTION
Good (morning/afternoon/evening) My name is..from ACNielsen the market research
company. Can I please speak to..
(Reintroduce self if necessary.)
We are conducting a survey on behalf of the New Zealand Employment Service and would like
your help. We are interviewing people who have taken part in the Career Guidance and
Counselling programme and your name has been randomly selected from a list supplied to us
by New Zealand Employment Service.
The interview will provide us with information about how people view the Career Guidance and
Counselling programme and how their job seeking activities have changed since being on the
programme. This will allow New Zealand Employment Service to improve the programme.
The interview will only discuss your views on the service you received. We do not hold any
personal information about you and no personal details will be discussed.
- 52 -
Your answers are confidential and the information we provide New Zealand Employment Service
will be a summary of everyones views who take part in this survey.
The interview will take about 15 minutes. We are very interested in your views. Would you like
to take part?
If now is not a convenient time, I can call back at a better time. (arrange call back).
REMINDER
1. Firstly can you remember attending Career (Guidance/Counselling)?
Yes
No/Don't know (read programme summary)
REFERRAL
2 In (month this/last) year you were referred to Career (Guidance/Counselling) by the
Employment Service Thinking back to this time, can you please tell me which of the
following is true. (Read Out)
The Employment Service decided I should attend
I decided to attend
The Employment Service and I both decided that I should attend
(Do not read)
Other (specify)
Dont know
3. And why was it decided that you would go to Career (Guidance/Counselling)? (Do not
read)
Long term unemployed/length of unemployment
Lack of goals/direction (generally)
Lack of goals/direction (specific to employment/training)
Inappropriate job choices
Unsuccessful at gaining employment
Woman returning to work
New immigrant
They dont know where else to send me
To set some goals
Not sure what I wanted to do
- 53 -
To explore employment options
To explore training options
To find out the jobs that would match my skills
To build my confidence/self esteem
Read it in an advertisement/on notice board
Read about it in a pamphlet
Friend told me to go
A relative told me to go
Dont know where else to send me
Other (specify)
4. And how did you feel when you were asked to go to Career (Guidance/Counselling)? (Probe
fully)
5. What did you believe would happen when you attended Career (Guidance/Counselling)?
(Probe fully)
6. And on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is strongly disagree, 2 is disagree, 3 is neither disagree

or agree, 2 is agree and 1 is strongly agree. How strongly do you disagree or agree with
the following statements?
A) New Zealand Employment Service
fully explained to me the reason
why I was being asked to go to
Career (Guidance/Counselling) ................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
B) New Zealand Employment Service
fully explained to me what would
happen at Career (Guidance/Counselling) .. 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
C) New Zealand Employment Service
fully explained the role of the
counsellor.................................................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
D) New Zealand Employment Service
- 54 -
fully explained the relationship it had
with the counsellor ...................................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
E) I was apprehensive or unsure about being
asked to go to Career (Guidance/
Counselling)................................................. 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
F) I felt pressured to attend as I thought if I
Didnt go my benefit may be effected ........ 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
CAREER GUIDANCE/COUNSELLING INTERVIEWS

And now I would like to focus on what happened when you went to Career
(Guidance/Counselling).
7. Firstly, how many times did you see your career counsellor?
Once
Twice
Three times
Four or more times
Dont know/cant remember/refused
8. How useful do you feel the Career (Guidance/Counselling) interviews were in helping you
get a job and or start training? (Read out)
Very useful (go to Q9a)
Quite useful (go to Q9a)
Neither useful or not useful (go to Q9b)
Not very useful (go to Q9b)
Not at all usefu l (go to Q9b)
Dont know/cant remember/refused (go to 10)
9a. On the same scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree, how
strongly do you disagree with the following statement?
A) The (interview/s) opened up
- 55 -
options for me ........................................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
B) I enjoyed the (interview/s) ........................ 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
C) I felt listened to ......................................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
D) I was given good advice by
my counsellor............................................ 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
E) I felt my counsellor took my
views and opinions into account .............. 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
F) I felt my counsellor understood
my personal situation ............................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
G) I felt comfortable talking with
H) I thought the job options that we
came up with were achievable .................. 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
I) The (interview/s) increased my
confidence................................................. 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
J) I felt I needed more interviews with
k) At the time of the (interview/s) I found
the information I was given useful............ 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
l) I still find that the information I was
given useful............................................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
9b. On the same scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree, how
strongly do you disagree with the following statements?
A) The (interview/s) fa iled to
open up options for me ............................ 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
B) I didnt enjoy the (interview/s).................. 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
C) I didnt feel listened to.............................. 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
D) I was not given good advice
- 56 -
by my counsellor....................................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
E) I didnt feel my counsellor
took my views into account ...................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
F) I didnt feel my counsellor
understood my personal situation............ 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
G) I didnt feel comfortable talking
with my counsellor.................................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
H) I didnt think the job options that
we came up with were achievable ............. 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
I) The (interview/s) didnt increase
my confidence........................................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
J) I didnt feel I needed more
interviews with my counsellor................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
k) At the time of the (interview/s), I didnt
find the information I was given useful.... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
l) I dont find the information that I was
given is now useful.................................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
10a. And did the Career (Guidance/Counselling) (interview/s) meet your expectations?
Yes
No
Don't know/can't remember/refused
10b Why not? (probe fully)
10c Did the counsellor suggest any other agencies or organisations for you to talk to, eg for
personal counselling, health issues, English literacy etc
Health issues/problems
Personal counselling
- 57 -
Drug and alcohol
Relationship counselling
English literacy
Nothing suggested
Other (specify)
JOB CHOICE/ENHANCED JOB CHOICE REPORT

After your (interview/s) your counsellor wrote a report about your (interview/s).
11. Were you given a copy of this report?
yes (go to 13)
no (go to 12)
dont know/cant remember/refused (go to 12)
12. Were you shown a copy of this report either by your counsellor or New Zealand
Employment Service?
yes (go to 13)
no (go to 14)
dont know/cant remember/refused (go to 14)
13. And on the same scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree, how
strongly do you disagree or agree with the following statements about your report?
A) I found the report useful........................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
B) The report was clear and easy to read...... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
C) The report is a true summary
of my (interview/s) with my
Counsellor................................................. 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
D) The report contained information on
how to find employment and/or start
training?..................................................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
- 58 -
FOLLOW UP INTERVIEW
And now I am interested in what happened after your Career (Guidance/Counselling)

(interview/s).
14. After you attended Career (Guidance/Counsellor) did you attend an interview with New
Zealand Employment Service to discuss your Career (Guidance/Counselling) (interview/s)?
(Dont read)
yes (go to Q15)
no (go to Q18)
dont know/cant remember/refused (go to Q18)
15. Did New Zealand Employment Service explain why the interview with New Zealand
Employment Service was taking place? (Don't read)
yes
no
dont know/cant remember/refused
16. Approximately how long after the last time you saw your counsellor did you attend an
interview with New Zealand Employment Service? (Don't read)
Less than 1 week
1 2 weeks
2 3 weeks
3 4 weeks
over 4 weeks
Don't know/can't remember/refused
17. And on the same scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree, how
strongly do you disagree or agree with the following statements about your interview with
New Zealand Employment Service?
A) New Zealand Employment Service
helped me understand my report ............. 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
- 59 -
B) New Zealand Employment Service
took me through my report and asked me
whether or not I agreed with it ........................ 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
C) New Zealand Employment Service
helped me decide on the next steps I

needed to take to find employment
and/or training.......................................... 1 2 3 4 5 dont know
IMPACT
18a And would you say your job seeking activities have changed as a result of going to Career
(Guidance/Counselling)?
Yes
No
18b Why did you say that? (probe fully)
19. In the last 7 days which of these did you do? (Read Out)
a) You worked for pay, profit or income for an hour or more (go to Q25)
b) You worked in a family business or family farm without pay (go to Q25)
c) You worked in a job, business or farm, but you were absent for some reason last week
(go to Q25)
d) None of the above (go to Q20)
20. Do you have a job to start at a definite date in the future?
Yes (go to Q21)
No (go to Q22)
21. When will you be starting work in a new job?
4 weeks or less (go to Q25)
More than 4 weeks (go to Q22)
- 60 -
22. Did you look for work in the last 4 weeks?
Yes (go to Q23)
No (go to Q24)
23. In the last 4 weeks have you done any of the following to find work?
a) Looked at job advertisements in newspapers?
b) Written, phoned or applied in person to an employer?
c) Contacted a private employment agency?
d) Contacted the New Zealand Employment Service?
e) Place advertisements about a job?
f) Contacted friends or relatives about a job?
g) Taken steps to set up own business?
h) Contacted career advisors or vocational guidance officers?
i) Anything else? Specify
24. If a paid job had been available, would you have started last week?
Yes
No
If answered 19a, 19b or 19c then ask 25, if answered 19d then ask 29
25. In your main job last week (the one you usually work the most hours in) were you:
A paid employee
Self employed and not employing others
An employer of others in your own business
Working without pay in a family business
- 61 -
26. In your main job, what is your occupation?
27. In your main job what tasks or duties do you spend the most time on?
28. How many hours, to the nearest hour, do you usually work in employment each week?
In your man job (the one you usually work the most hours in)
In all OTHER job(s)
29. Are you training full or part time?
Yes full time
Yes part time
No
IMPROVEMENTS
30a. And would you recommend Career (Guidance/Counselling) to other people in your
situation?
Yes
No
30b. Why/Why not? (Probe fully)
31. And now thinking about the programme overall. How could Career (Guidance/Counselling)
be changed to help you and people like you further? (Probe fully)
CLASSIFICATION
Finally I would like to ask a few personal details about you. We collect this information to
ensure we interview a range of people. These details are grouped with other people and you
will not be individually identified.
- 62 -
Record Gender
Male
Female
32. Firstly can you please tell me your approximate age? (Read out)
Under 20
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
60+
(Do not read out)
refused
33. And which ethnic group or groups do you mainly belong to? (Read out)
New Zealand Maori
New Zealand European/Pakeha
Other European
Samoan
Cook Island Maori
Tongan
Niuean
Chinese
Indian
Other (Specify)
(Do not read out)
Refused
- 63 -
34a. Do you have secondary school qualifications?
Yes (go to Q34b)
No (go to Q35a)
34b. What is your highest secondary school qualification?
NZ School Certificate in one or more subjects
NZ Sixth Form Certificate in one or more subjects
NZ University Entrance before 1986 in one or more subjects
NZ Higher School Certificate or Higher Leaving Certificate
NZ University Bursary or Entrance, or Scholarship
Other NZ secondary school qualification (specify qualification)
Overseas secondary school qualification (specify qualification and the country where
got it)
35a. Do you have any other qualification, such as a trade certificate, diploma or a degree, that
you had to pass a course lasting at least 3 months full-time (or the equivalent) to get?
DONT COUNT Secondary school qualifications- Part of an unfinished qualification
(eg. credits towards a degree)
Yes (go to 35b)
No (go to 36)
35b. Is that one or more than one qualification?
One extra qualification
More than one extra qualification
35b. Firstly, what was the name of your most recent qualification?
Name of qualification
Main subjects (if any)
- 64 -
Name of institution
and country
Year you received it
(had it conferred)
And you second most recent qualification?
Name of qualification
Main subjects (if any)
Name of institution
and country
Year you received it
(had it conferred)
36. And how long had you been registered with New Zealand Employment Service when you were
asked to go to Career (Guidance/Counselling)? (Read out)
Less than 6 months
More than 6 months but less than 1 year
More than 1 year but less than 18 months
More than 18 months but less than 2 years
More than 2 but less than 5 years
More than 5 years
37. Before you registered with the Employment Service, what was the last job you did, if any?
(Probe fully) (Do not read)
Not answered
To continue
Dont know
38. Why are you no longer employed at this job? (Do not read)
Not answered
- 65 -
You were fired
Moved location
You were made redundant
You left to study part or full time
Illness
Family commitments
Other (specify)
39. How long ago did this happen? (Do not read)
Not answered
1-2 months ago
3-6 months ago
7-11 months ago
1-3 years ago
4 or more years ago
Dont know
Thank you very much for participating in this survey. We would like to remind you that your
answers are confidential to ACNielsen and can no way effect your relationship with New Zealand
Employment Service or New Zealand Income Support Service. Should you have any queries
regarding this interview, my name is __________________ from ACNielsen.
I herby certify that this is a true and accurate record of the survey carried out by me according
to instructions
Interviewers Name:
Date:
- 66 -

Career Guidance and Counselling Programme

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Career Guidance and Counselling Programme

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

An Evaluation of the

Career Guidance and

Centre for Operational

Marc de Boer and Chrispine Mutalie

1.2 Career Guidance and Counselling evaluation_______________________________ 11

3.3 Effect of contestability on price and service quality __________________________ 21

Appendix 4: Employment and training outcomes of Career Guidance and Counselling

Table 2: Quantitative methods and response rates 12

Table 3: Proportion of Career Guidance and Counselling participants and variation

Manager CORE: Kate McKegg 04 916 3664

Career Guidance and Counselling programme

Career Guidance and Counselling Evaluation

Key findings of the evaluation

Participation in Career Guidance and Counselling

Operation of the programme

Process Issues identified

Effect of contestability on the cost and quality of service

Job Seekers change in attitude towards their career path

Employment and Training Outcomes

1.1 Career Guidance and Counselling programme

1.1.1 Programme Description

1.1.2 Target group for Career Guidance and Counselling

inappropriate job choices

under or over qualified for jobs previously applied for

history of short-term or unhappy employment

over or under confident in their own abilities

consistently fails to gain interviews

does not know what they want to do

does not know where to start job searching or training.

1.1.3 Service Providers

1.2 Career Guidance and Counselling evaluation

1.2.2 Evaluation Objectives

4 Measure job seekers change in attitude towards their career path.

1.2.3 Intended use

2.1 Operation of Career Guidance and Counselling

Table 1: Type of qualitative research method, number of studies and participants

Number of Total number

Focus group 2 EAs co-ordinating the 5 10

Analysis of qualitative information involved a thematic categorisation of interviews and de-briefs

Table 2: Follow-up methods and response rates

Method Participants Number Response rate Selection method

Centre Managers 12 60% Randomly selected from all

See Appendix 7 for job seeker questionnaire

Analysis of telephone interviews and self-completion questionnaires involved coding responses,

2.2 Quality of (Enhanced) Job Choice Reports

market information about local occupational, training and labour markets

recommended steps for the job seeker

2.3 Employment and Training outcomes

3.1 Participation in Career Guidance and Counselling

Gender Female 6.5% 41.9% 6.2% 43.7%

Age group Under 20 -9.6% 3.8% -3.4% 9.5%

Highest No qualifications -2.4% 46.6% -1.2% 48.4%

number 4,247 5,802

3.2 Analysis of Programme Operation

3.2.1 Contracting relationship between Centre and providers

relevant tertiary qualifications

experience in delivering career guidance services

demonstrated knowledge of the local labour market

responsiveness to the needs of job seekers

Timing of contract round

Information and training

Contract duration and scope

Relationship between providers and Centres

3.2.2 The Referral Process