Videos – OPTIGADGET

What is green guidance

Fri, 22 May 2026 07:30:08 +0000

The Exploring Green Guidance project is the gift that keeps giving. During our final conference in Bratislava we managed to bring together lots of the key experts in green guidance to make a short film explaining what the concept means and why it is worth engaging with.

The video is available to view on YouTube at What is green / environmentally sustainable guidance? You may even see me pop up a few times in it.

Finding or building the right career

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Last week I had the honour to talk to Jeevan Matharu the host of the Vancrux Podcast (find it on YouTube or Spotify). In the podcast we talk about what is going on with careers at the moment and try and reflect on how people should think about their careers if they want to both be happy and find their way to the good life.

A lot of what I had to say draws pretty heavily on the book Careers which I wrote with Rie Thomsen. In that we try and offer conversation starters and theoretically based ideas for a non-academic audience that wants to think more deeply about the idea of career.

So, this is what we had to say in the podcast. I hope you enjoy it.

Sharing practice and impact in green career guidance

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 09:00:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago we held a session bringing together a wide range of researchers and practitioners involved in green guidance. We presented the outcomes of our Exploring Green Guidance project and also heard from practitioners who have been working with these ideas.

If you are interested in becoming a green guidance ambassador then visit the Green guidance ambassadors page and enrol.

If you want to hear more about the project and the work of green guidance then watch the recording of our session.

Career guidance policy – how it works

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 09:00:00 +0000

At the weekend I delivered a session as part of our Masters programme at the University of Derby. It looked at a lot of the nuts and bolts of career guidance policy systems, in particular focusing on England, but also taking in some other systems along the way.

It finishes with some discussion of the way that we can understand how policy is made and implemented.

For various reasons I decided to record a shorter version of this session as a lecture rather than an interactive session. So, here it is…

Bill Law’s career theories

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 09:00:00 +0000

Here is another of my short career theory videos. In this one I talk about Bill Law’s career theory. This is part of a career theory course that we are running at the Inland Norway University which we are structuring around the work of Knud Illeris. As I say in this lecture, there are some really important overlaps between Law and Illeris, that someone should look at more in the future.

To get access to all of the original stuff that this is based on access NICEC’s Bill Law archive and The NICEC Bill Law retrospective webinar.

Anyway, here is my lecture…

Karrieremotivasjon

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 09:00:00 +0000

I periodically create short videos on different aspects of career theory. In this video I talk about motivation and motivational theories and then segue into discussion of the related area of social-cognitive career theory.

I’ve produced this for a course that I’m teaching at the Inland Norway University (so the slides are in Norwegian, or at least my approximation of it, although I’m speaking English). It was supposed to be under 10 minutes (I failed on this, but it isn’t much over). Nonetheless I’m sharing it here in case it is of wider use. I’d also be interested to hear from people about what theories and ideas they would use in talking about career motivation.

So, here is the video…

Annual lecture video: Rethinking and reconnecting career guidance

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 09:00:00 +0000

For those of you who were unable to join us at the University of Derby in December for Dr Sanna Toiviainen’s annual lecture we have managed to capture it on video. In the video, Sanna discusses posthuman theory and relational sociology as new theoretical strands that can inform both the study of career and the practice of career guidance.

It is well worth putting some time aside to watch. It will expand your mind and make you think more deeply about the possibilities for our field.

Thanks again to Sanna, for this wonderful presentation. We will be working on publishing a paper based on her presentation in early 2026.

We hope to see as many people as possible at one of iCeGS events in 2026.

Amplifying advocacy: Career development in a disrupted world of work

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 09:00:00 +0000

This week I took part in another Global Careers Month event, this time convened by the NCDA, CCDF and CERIC in North America.

The session explored how can career development professionals can move beyond acknowledging disruption social, economic and labour market disruption to shaping solutions. We explored decent work during a cost-of-living crisis; integrating career and mental health supports; AI, automation, and digital equity; youth and long-term unemployment; and inclusive entrepreneurship and skills ecosystems.

The session was moderated by Candy Ho and included contributions from Wendy Cukier, Sharon Givens, Shelby McIntyre and Janet Morris-Read. I joined as the token European.

I think that it was a really good session, and that we got some serious debate going. It is available for you to watch on Youtube.

Career guidance for decent work

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 10:28:13 +0000

Last week I had the privilege of being involved in an event to celebrate global careers month. The event was convened by the ILO and featured contributions from Pedro Moreno da Fonseca, Jaana Kettunen, David Blustein, Marcelo Afonso Ribeiro and myself.

In this webinar we explore the transformative impact of career guidance as a key instrument for fostering access to decent work, advancing socio-economic development and social justice. In particular this focuses on some of the big societal level and policy rationales for career guidance.

The webinar is available to view on YouTube.

Introducing The Career Development Handbook

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 09:00:00 +0000

Last week we ran a webinar to provide an introduction to The Career Development Handbook. Just in case you have missed it, this is a new book written by Gill Frigerio, Rosie Alexander and myself. The book is designed to give a comprehensive introduction to the field and practice of career development. The book is idea for people studying on Level 6 and 7 programmes, or for established professionals who want to keep up to date with the latest innovations in the field.

We recorded the webinar, so you can access it if you missed it.

We would also like to invite people to a full one-day workshop on the 6th March. Where we will be getting into the book in a lot more detail. We’d love to see you there.