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Career Counseling And Career Development
Type of paper: Critical thinking
Discipline: Psychology and Education: Counseling
Format or citation style: APA
1. Please define career counseling and career development. In your definitions, please discuss the myths counseling students may have about career counseling as well as the rationale for the importance for counselors, regardless of their intended focus, to have competency in career counseling. In your chosen counseling path, how would you implement the competencies you learn in this course to work with your population of interest?
2. Please describe the similarities and differences between Lent, Brown, and Hackett’s SCCT and Gottfredson’s theory of Circumscription, Compromise and Self-Creation?
3. Share your understanding of one of the Career Development Theories discussed in chapters 2 and 3 that appeals to you the most and evaluate its strengths and limitations for diverse populations.
4. Tim and Scott and have been married for 1 year. Scott comes to you for counseling due to Tim’s (stay at home dad) expressing not feeling appreciated by Scott (a surgeon in the ER of their local hospital). Scott reports to you that he feels left out by his family (they have two children 3-year old girl and 5-year old boy), and not as connected to Tim emotionally as they used to be. He works between 60 and 70 hours per week at 12-hour shifts. He feels like his work is important and due to being a small town, his unique skills are essential for the small hospital and is often needed for critical procedures. With the information you have, please discuss some challenges Scott is facing? Integrating your reading of the course materials, how would you go about working with Scott? What are career related concerns that may be important to Scott? Any other thoughts or valuations of this case?
Career Development GDPC 643
September 3, 2019
Chapter 2
Biblical perspectives on work
Before
Gen 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
After
…“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Four Domains of Client Concerns
Career: Indecisiveness, deficiencies, work identity, developmental, job satisfaction, etc.
Affective: emotional lability, sad, anxious, angry, panic, self-esteem, inferiority, interpersonal
Cognitive-Behavioral: faulty thinking, beliefs, inappropriate or self-destructive behavior
Cultural: mastery of English, basic skills, collectivism, cultural shock, acculturation, SES, gender norms/stereotypes, sexual orientation
What is a career?
What is a Career?
Work?
Lifestyle concept
Course of events constituting a life
Total constellation of roles played over the course of a lifetime (Herr et al (2004)
Multiple life roles people play and differences in the importance they assign to these roles
Homemaker, volunteer
I am a nurturer
Career Development
Career Development is a “continuous lifelong processes (psychological/behavioral/developmental experiences) that focuses on seeking, obtaining and processing information about self, occupational and educational alternatives, lifestyles and role options” (Hansen, 1976).
Put another way, career development is the process through which people come to understand themselves overtime as they relate to the world of work and their role in it.
How have you come to understand yourself over your lifespan with regards to work?
Four TYPES of Career Theories
Trait-oriented – people’s traits, jobs’ traits
Social Learning and Cognitive Theories – social conditioning, social position, life events
Developmental – individuals make changes and adapt. Self-concept is critical
Person in Environment Perspective – Clients are viewed as products of the environment. Client concerns are just inside the individual.
Career Theories
Career development vs. career decision making
How do I? vs. Fit
No one theory adequately explains the totality of individual or group career behavior
Theories and research on career development primarily applicable to White, middle-class, hetero, men.
Career development experiences of women, POC, PWD, LGBTQ, Low SES
Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) Theory
Developed by Peterson, Sampson, and Reardan (1991).
The major strategy of the CIP theory is to provide learning events that will develop the individual’s processing abilities.
Career problem solving is primarily a cognitive process that can be improved by developing skills & integrating the best information.
CIP theory
Emphasizes the notion that career information counseling is a learning event.
A major difference of this theory is the role of cognition as a mediating force that leads individuals to greater power and control in determining their own destinies.
Remove the gap that exists between the client’s current situation and their future career situation by identifying needs and developing interventions.
Social Cognitive Career Theory SCCT (Lent, Brown, Hackett, 1996).
Career self-efficacy is defined as the possibility that low expectations of efficacy with respect to some aspect of career behavior may serve as a detriment optimal career choice and the development of the individual.
An individual might avoid areas of coursework associated with a career because of low self-efficacy (I just can’t do Algebra).
More about SCCT
SCCT views the personal determinants of career development as:
Self efficacy.
Outcome expectations.
Personal goals.
All three are considered to be building blocks within the triadic causal system to determine the course of career development and its outcome
Individuals develop interests or activities in which they view themselves as competent and generally expect valued outcomes
John Holland’s Typology (1992) (Trait and Factor)
Individuals are attracted to a given career because of their personalities and numerous variables that make up their backgrounds.
Congruent of one’s view itself with occupational preference establishes what Holland refers to as the modal personal style.
A person chooses a career to satisfy one’s preferred modal personal orientation. The strength of this orientation, as compared with career environments will be critical to the individual selection of a preferred lifestyle.
Holland, continued
Individuals out of their elements who have conflicting occupational environmental roles and goals will have inconsistent and divergent career patterns.
In our culture, most persons can be categorized as one of six types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional.
There are six types of environments: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional.
People search for environments that will let them exercise their skills and abilities. Their behavior is determined by an interaction between personality and environment.
A person’s behavior is determined by an interaction between his personality and his environment
Do This
http://www.roguecc.edu/Counseling/HollandCodes/test.asp
Take the Holland Code Quiz and record your result.
You should get a 3-letter code at the end, you may receive multiple codes (ASR, SRA, RAS, etc.)
Holland’s 5 Key Concepts
Consistency- the closer the types are on the hexagon, the more consistent the individual will be. ASR, consistent?
Differentiation-individuals that fit a pure personality type are differentiated. ASR, SRA, RAS differentiated?
Identity- individuals have a clear and stable picture of their goals.
Congruence – an individual’s personality type matches the environment. A high S working in a high R environment congruent?
Calculus – people and environments can be researched
LTCC (Developmental)
Krumboltz’s Learning Theory of Career Counseling (1975).
Career selection is based primarily on four factors:
Genetic endowments and special abilities
Environmental conditions and events (floods, etc)
Learning experiences (reactions to consequences)
Task approach skills (problem solving skills)
LTCC, continued
Positive reinforcement during the activities of a course of study or occupation will make the individual more likely to express a preference for that course of study or field of work.
Proficiency in a field of work does not ensure that an individual will remain in that field of work.
Learning takes place through observations as well as through direct experiences.
Limitations of LTCC
Some experts complain that this theory has not been well researched, especially with culturally diverse groups.
Chance events over one’s lifespan can have both positive and negative consequences.
Clients need to expand their capabilities and interests, not based decisions entirely on existing characteristics (or stable occupations)
Developmental Theories
Individuals make changes during developmental stages and adapt to changing life roles.
Counselors are to evaluate the many unique developmental needs of each client on establishing counseling goals.
Add to previous theories in which adult concerns have not been the focus, but rather the initial career choice.
Primary counseling role is to assist clients to understand how their unique development influences perceptions of life roles, including work role.
Life-Span, Life-Space (Developmental) (Donald Super, 1972)
Career development is a process that unfolds gradually over the lifespan.
Counselors are therefore to be prepared to address client concerns over a lifetime of development, during which individuals encounter situational and personal changes.
Self-concept theory is the centerpiece of Super’s approach to vocational behavior
Super’s Theory
Individuals who are given opportunities to learn more about themselves will learn to expand their career considerations and might be more confident in their initial choices.
Super’s developmental stages:
Growth (0-14 yrs) — Maintenance (45-64)
Exploratory (15-24 yrs) — Decline (65++)
Establishment (25-44 yrs)
Super’s developmental tasks:
Crystallization (14-18): general vocational goal
Specification (18-21): tentative toward specific
Implementation (21-24): completing training
Stabilization (24-35): confirming career by exp.
Consolidation (35++): advancement, status
Super maintained that people cycled and recycled through developmental tasks.
Gottfredson and her theory (Developmental)
Gottfredson’s theory differs from other theories in four major ways:
There is an attempt to implement the social and psychological self. Social identity through work.
Cognitions of self and occupations develop from early childhood is a major focus of the theory.
Career choice is a process of eliminating options and narrowing choices.
Individuals compromise their goals as they try to implement their aspirations.
Gottfredson’s major concepts:
Self-concept is one’s appearance, abilities, personality, gender, values, and place in society.
Occupational stereotypes include the different personalities of people in different types of occupations, the work that is done, and the appropriateness of that work for different types of people.
Cognitive maps of occupations (i.e. an accountant has above average prestige, sex-type = male).
Career Constructivism (Developmental)
Four major tasks that society has imposed upon children:
1. Become concerned about one’s future as a worker.
2. Increase personal control of her one’s vocational activities.
3. Form conceptions about how to make educational and vocational choices.
4. Acquire the confidence to make and implement these career choices.
Distorted career perceptions during this period can hamper future career choices.
Client Labels
Decided – those who have made a career decision; could profit from further decision-making opportunities.
Undecided – have not made a career decision and prefer to delay making a commitment.
Indecisive – has a high level of anxiety accompanied by dysfunctional thinking.
Lack of cognitive clarity
Or irrational beliefs
Multicultural Career Counseling Model
Counselors should remain alert and open to learning more about the needs of minorities and the context of their worldview.
Establish trust and rapport.
Identify career issues
Assess impact of cultural variables
Set counseling goals
Make culturally appropriate counseling interventions
Make decision
Implement and follow up
Intervention Strategies (Discuss)
Which model and interventions would you use for
Decided
Undecided
Indecisive clients
What if your client was of a different culture than you are, would it change your intervention?
Book Chapter CACREP Standard
2, 3 a. theories and models of career development, counseling, and decision making;
1, 2, 3, 8 b. approaches for conceptualizing the interrelationships among and between work, mental well-being, relationships, and other life roles and factors;
6, 7 c. processes for identifying and using career, avocational, educational, occupational and labor market information resources, technology, and information systems;
1, 2, 3, 4 d. approaches for assessing the conditions of the work environment on clients’ life experiences;
1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 e. strategies for assessing abilities, interests, values, personality, and other factors that contribute to career development;
10, 11, 12, 13, 14 f. strategies for career development program planning, organization, implementation, administration, and evaluation;
1, 4 g. strategies for advocating for diverse clients’ career and educational development and employment opportunities in a global economy;
8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 h. strategies for facilitating client skill development for career, educational, and life-work planning and management;
1, 8 i. methods of identifying and using assessment tools and techniques relevant to career planning and decision making;
4, 15 j. ethical and culturally relevant strategies for addressing career development.
Career Development—studies that provide an understanding of career development and related life factors, including all of the following:
2016 CACREP StAndARdS RElAtEd to CAREER dEvEloPmEnt
Source: Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. (2015). 2016 CACREP Standards. Alexandria, VA: Author.
Book Chapter CACREP Standard
2, 3 a. theories and models of career development, counseling, and decision making;
1, 2, 3, 8 b. approaches for conceptualizing the interrelationships among and between work, mental well-being, relationships, and other life roles and factors;
6, 7 c. processes for identifying and using career, avocational, educational, occupational and labor market information resources, technology, and information systems;
1, 2, 3, 4 d. approaches for assessing the conditions of the work environment on clients’ life experiences;
1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 e. strategies for assessing abilities, interests, values, personality, and other factors that contribute to career development;
10, 11, 12, 13, 14 f. strategies for career development program planning, organization, implementation, administration, and evaluation;
1, 4 g. strategies for advocating for diverse clients’ career and educational development and employment opportunities in a global economy;
8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 h. strategies for facilitating client skill development for career, educational, and life-work planning and management;
1, 8 i. methods of identifying and using assessment tools and techniques relevant to career planning and decision making;
4, 15 j. ethical and culturally relevant strategies for addressing career development.
Career Development—studies that provide an understanding of career development and related life factors, including all of the following:
2016 CACREP StAndARdS RElAtEd to CAREER dEvEloPmEnt
Source: Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. (2015). 2016 CACREP Standards. Alexandria, VA: Author.
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Career Development InterventIons
FIFth eDItIon
Spencer G. Niles The College of William & Mary
JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey Kuder, Inc., Adel, Iowa
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Niles, Spencer G., author. [Career development interventions in the 21st century] Career development interventions / Spencer G. Niles, JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey.—Fifth edition. pages cm Earlier editions published as: Career development interventions in the 21st century. ISBN 978-0-13-428630-3 – ISBN 0-13-428630-8 1. Career development. 2. Career development–Case studies. I. Harris-Bowlsbey, JoAnn, author. II. Title. HF5381.N547 2017 650.14–dc23 2015031672
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preface
We have taught career courses to students in numerous universities in the United States as well as in Canada, Japan, Denmark, Portugal, England, Turkey, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Ire- land, Qatar, and Spain, to mention just a few. Wherever students are interested in learning about career development theory and practice, we are eager to go! In each instance, however, not only are we teaching students about career development interventions, but students also teach us. The idea for this book began in response to student requests (pleas) for a career development text- book that was readable, useful, and interesting. These are high but reasonable expectations, which have served as our guiding principles as we composed the chapters of this book.
new to this edition
In addition to consistently updating this textbook to reflect the most cutting-edge research, trends, and pedagogy, we have made the following changes to this edition:
• Greater use of case studies representing clients from diverse contexts in all chapters • Extensive updates of current literature applying to each chapter • Updated statistics related to demographic trends related to labor market participation and
an expanded discussion of the implications of these trends for career development inter- ventions
• Separate chapters addressing career development interventions in elementary school, middle school, and high school
• Expanded discussion of the changing landscape of career development interventions in higher education
• Expansion of the research and work of recent theorists, with an eye toward their applica- bility for diverse populations
• Incorporation of the 2016 CACREP Standards and the 2015 National Career Develop- ment Association Code of Ethics
• Extensive rewriting of the chapter on the use of technology in career guidance ( Chapter 7) to discuss the use of social media in the job-seeking process
iii
iv PREFACE
• New in-text student assignments and activities to encourage application and practice of the theoretical concepts presented in each chapter
• Continued use of student assignments based upon video content we created for this book
The video feature continues to be unique to this career development text. The videos pro- vide outstanding examples of how leading career development experts conduct career counsel- ing with diverse career counseling clients. The clients are real clients with genuine career concerns. The career counseling sessions were not scripted, rehearsed, or edited in any way. The career counselors had very little information, and in some cases none, about their clients prior to their career counseling sessions. Thus, the videos offer a realistic view of how nationally recog- nized career counseling experts conduct career counseling. We also provide video interviews with leading career development theorists and/or representatives of the leading theories who were close collaborators with the theorists they represent. These videos are designed to show how theory translates to practice and can be accessed through the Video and Resource Library on the MyCounselingLab® Web site. (See below for more information about MyCounselingLab.)
One important goal of this text is to convey to our readers the deep respect and long-term commitment we have for career development theory and practice. We emphasize this goal in Chapter 1. As we note in the book, few things are more personal than career choice, and we remained cognizant of this fact as we wrote each chapter. Making career decisions involves decid- ing how we will spend one of the most precious commodities we have—our time on Earth. We realize that these decisions are often difficult and overwhelming. Thus, we draw upon the work of our colleagues in the field to present readers with state-of-the-art career theory and practice. However, the current situation evolved from the past contributions of many leaders in the field. We acknowledge their important foundational contributions in Chapter 1.
Although we cover a wide variety of theoretical perspectives in the book (especially in Chap- ters 2 and 3), we emphasize that careers develop over time. A decision point in one’s career development is just that: a point in time at which one makes decisions based on previous and current career development experiences. Although knowing how to help people at these impor- tant points in their career development is crucial, career practitioners can also intervene proac- tively in the lives of children, adolescents, and adults in ways that facilitate positive career development prior to the occurrence of career crises. Being able to provide assistance in both instances is critical.
We are especially concerned that career development theory and practice be inclusive. Con- structing culturally inclusive career development interventions should be standard practice within the field. Unfortunately, this has not traditionally been the case. In part because of their historical context, career theories and practices have focused primarily on the career experiences of European American middle-class males. Although we devote a chapter to providing culturally competent career development interventions (Chapter 4), throughout the book we also address the need for inclusive career interventions. Our case studies highlight the career experiences of clients from diverse backgrounds. We think both approaches (having a single chapter devoted to the topic and infusing diversity throughout the book) are needed to begin to more adequately address the career development needs of all people. We are proud of the career counseling vid- eos we produced for this book as they provide excellent examples of career counseling with diverse clients.
The need to provide clients with culturally sensitive career interventions provides an impor- tant foundation for discussing career counseling interventions in Chapter 8 and career assessment
PREFACE v
approaches in Chapter 5. The career counseling process and outcomes information provided here reflect the most recent work within the field. We also provide career information, resources, and Web site references (Chapters 6 and 7) that represent important aspects of the career devel- opment process. We highlight the essential considerations in designing and implementing career development programs in Chapter 9. We also emphasize in Chapter 9 the importance of engag- ing in the ongoing evaluation of career services. This is important for improving service delivery. However, when resources are limited, as they are in many situations, the need for both account- ability and the ability to demonstrate effectiveness is great. Finally, we highlight developmental approaches to providing career assistance in the schools (elementary, middle, and high), higher education, and community settings in Chapters 10 through 14.
Of course, the desire to engage in ethical practice is also a standard in the field. However, there are many challenges confronting career practitioners. Web-based services such as career counseling and career assessment, the possibility of dual relationships, and theories with deeply rooted value sets present challenges to practitioners as they engage in ethical practice. Thus, we address many of these current ethical challenges in Chapter 15 using the 2015 National Career Development Association (NCDA) Code of Ethics. This is the first, and still one of the few, career development textbooks with a chapter devoted to ethical practice.
To make the book even more useful to readers, we use a framework developed by the NCDA. Specifically, we use the NCDA’s career counseling competencies and the 2016 Council for Accred- itation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) Standards to guide us in the identification of chapter topics. These competencies and standards appear in the appendices at the end of the book.
Please note that printed on the inside front cover is a grid identifying the chapters that are most relevant to each competency category and the 2016 CACREP standards. For those focused on career interventions in K–12 settings, we also incorporate the National Career Development Guidelines into Chapters 10 (elementary school), 11 (middle school), and 12 (high school).
We hope that we have accomplished the goals that motivated us to write this book. We also hope that we have fulfilled our students’ expectations. In teaching our career courses, we con- sider it high praise when students tell us that they have a new respect and appreciation for career development interventions as a result of the class experience. This is what we hope occurs with this book. We invite readers to send us their feedback directly (sgniles@wm.edu; bowlsbeyj@ kuder.com). We are committed to improving the book in any way that we can. Although collec- tively we have nearly a century devoted to the study and practice of career development, we have much yet to learn and we are eager to do so. Your comments will guide us in the revisions that we make. We are also happy to speak (either in person or virtually) to classes that are using our text. Simply contact us with such requests, and we will arrange for a time to make this happen. Finally, we wish you the very best as you embark on an exciting adventure with regard to your ongoing professional development.
also available with myCounselinglab®
This title is also available with MyCounselingLab–an online homework, tutorial, and assess- ment program designed to work with the text to engage students and improve results. Within its structured environment, students see key concepts demonstrated through video clips, practice
vi Preface
what they learn, test their understanding, and receive feedback to guide their learning and ensure they master key learning outcomes.
• Learning Outcomes and Standards measure student results. MycounselingLab organizes all assignments around essential learning outcomes and national standards for counselors.
• Video- and Case-Based Assignments develop decision-making skills. Video- and case-based assignments introduce students to a broader range of clients, and therefore a broader range of presenting problems, than they will encounter in their own pre-profes- sional clinical experiences. Students watch videos of actual client-therapist sessions or high-quality role-play scenarios featuring expert counselors. They are then guided in their analysis of the videos through a series of short-answer questions. These exercises help students develop the techniques and decision-making skills they need to be effective counselors before they are in a critical situation with a real client.
• Licensure Quizzes help students prepare for certification. automatically graded, multiple-choice Licensure Quizzes help students prepare for their certification examina- tions, master foundational course content, and improve their performance in the course.
• Video Library offers a wealth of observation opportunities. The Video Library pro- vides more than 400 video clips of actual client-therapist sessions and high-quality role plays in a database organized by topic and searchable by keyword. The Video Library includes every video clip from the MycounselingLab courses plus additional videos from Pearson’s extensive library of footage. Instructors can create additional assignments around the videos or use them for in-class activities. Students can expand their observation expe- riences to include other course areas and increase the amount of time they spend watching expert counselors in action.
• Comprehensive online course content. filled with a wealth of content that is tightly integrated with your textbook, MyLab lets you easily add, remove, or modify existing instructional material. You can also add your own course materials to suit the needs of your students or department. In short, MyLab lets you teach exactly as you’d like.
• Robust gradebook tracking. The online gradebook automatically tracks your students’ results on tests, homework, and practice exercises and gives you control over managing results and calculating grades. The gradebook provides a number of flexible grading options, including exporting grades to a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft excel. and, it lets you measure and document your students’ learning outcomes.
access to MycounselingLab can be packaged with this textbook or purchased standalone. To find out how to package student access to this website and gain access as an Instructor, go to www.MycounselingLab.com, email us at counseling@pearson.com, or contact your Pearson sales representative.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful for and humbled by the support and love I have received from my family members and mentors. My mother, Pauline, taught me at an early age about the importance of Donald Super’s life-space theory segment as she balanced work and family demands as a single parent. She was a pioneer who lived with grace and dignity, despite substantial challenges presented both to professional women and single parents.
http://www.MyCounselingLab.com
Preface vii
My children, Jenny and Jonathan, teach me about love each day and help to make me a bet- ter person. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to watch as their careers unfold. I am particu- larly thrilled that they both work in the field of education, one as an elementary school counselor (Jenny) and one as a trainer in the area of career development (Jonathan). I am profoundly proud of the people they are and the important work that they do.
My professional mentors and cherished friends have guided me through multiple career development tasks. edwin L. Herr was the first to provide support and guidance, and he has continued to do so for more than 25 years. He embodies the best of what a mentor should repre- sent. I will forever be indebted to ed for his personal and professional assistance. Mark L. Savickas and Donald e. Super have also provided guidance, and I am honored that, at various times in my career, they have cared. finally, I have been honored to coauthor this book with Joann Harris- Bowlsbey. She is incredibly knowledgeable, wise, gracious, and kind. She too, is a valued mentor and dear friend. I look forward to future editions and opportunities to work together.
Spencer G. Niles
Like Spencer, my life was molded by a mother who was a single parent and who worked incredibly hard to ensure that I had a level of education and access that she never enjoyed. She taught me the principles of faith, responsibility, commitment, and service. I want to acknowledge her role in laying the foundation that made my present life and contributions possible.
My most valued professional mentor was Donald e. Super, who was kind enough to share his writings and thoughts with me for 30 years. I have personally enjoyed the fullness of his career rainbow in my life. Nancy Schlossberg and David Tiedeman also contributed mightily to my conception of the process of career development and have enriched the well from which the content of this book flows.
My professional contributions would not have been possible without the ongoing support of my late husband, Stan. for the 33 years of our marriage, he placed a very high priority on my career and helped all that he could—editing, proofreading, doing home chores—to nourish it, never pressuring for more of my time. finally, my ongoing friendship with and respect for Spen- cer Niles deepens as we experience the authorship of this book and other professional pursuits together.
Joann Harris-Bowlsbey
We both appreciate the dedicated assistance and support provided by Kevin Davis and Lau- ren carlson at Pearson.
We wish to thank those who reviewed the fourth edition and made suggestions for improve- ment that we have incorporated into this fifth edition of the book: Stephanie Tursic Burns, West- ern Michigan University; James M. O’Neil, University of connecticut; chester r. robinson, Texas a&M University–commerce; and Joan N. Strutton, The University of Texas at Tyler.
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Brief Contents
CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 1
CHAPTER 2 Understanding and Applying Theories of Career Development 31
CHAPTER 3 Understanding and Applying Recent Theories of Career Development 71
CHAPTER 4 Providing Culturally Competent Career Development Interventions 97
CHAPTER 5 Assessment and Career Planning 126
CHAPTER 6 Career Information and Resources 157
CHAPTER 7 Using Information and Communication Technologies to Support Career Counseling and Planning 180
CHAPTER 8 Career Counseling Strategies and Techniques for the 21st Century 200
CHAPTER 9 Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating Career Development Programs and Services 231
CHAPTER 10 Career Development Interventions in the Elementary Schools 269
CHAPTER 11 Career Development Interventions in Middle Schools 306
CHAPTER 12 Career Development Interventions in High Schools 325
CHAPTER 13 Career Development Interventions in Higher Education 355
CHAPTER 14 Career Development Interventions in Community Settings 388
CHAPTER 15 Ethical Issues in Career Development Interventions 408
APPEnDIx A
NCDA Code of Ethics Preamble A-1 APPEnDIx B
Educational and Career Planning Portfolio A-28
APPEnDIx C
Career Counseling Competencies of the national Career Development Association (nCDA) A-34
APPEnDIx D
2016 CACREP Standards Related to Career Development A-38
APPEnDIx E
national Career Development Guidelines (nCDG) Framework A-39
ix
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CHAPTER 1
Introduction to Career Development Interventions 1 The Meaning of Work Across Time 6 Linking Work with Worth 9 Providing Systematic Career Development
Interventions 10 Definition of Terms 11
Career 12 Career Development 12 Career Development Interventions 12 Career Counseling 12 Career Education 13 Career Development Programs 13 Career Development Practitioners 13
Important Events in the History of Career Development Interventions 13
Frank Parsons 14 Future Trends in Career Development
Interventions 25 Move to Viewing Career Decisions as Values-Based
Decisions 26 Move Beyond Objective Assessment 26 Move to Counseling-Based Career
Assistance 27 Move to a Stronger Emphasis on Multicultural
Career Development Theories and Interventions 27
Move to Focusing on Multiple Life Roles 28 Move to Advocating for Social Justice 28 SuMMARy 29 CASE STuDy 29 STuDEnT ACTIVITIES 30
CHAPTER 2
understanding and Applying Theories of Career Development 31 Career Development Theories 32 Super’s Life-Span, Life-Space Theory 34
Life Span 37 Life Space 40 Self-Concepts 41 Applying Super’s Theory 42 Contextual Factors Influencing Life-Role
Salience 44 Evaluating Super’s Theory 47
Anne Roe’s Personality Theory of Career Choice 48 Evaluating Roe’s Theory 49
Linda Gottfredson’s Theory of Circumscription, Compromise, and Self-Creation 49 Stage One: Orientation to Size and Power 50 Stage Two: Orientation to Sex Roles 50 Stage Three: Orientation to Social Valuation 51 Stage Four: Orientation to the Internal,
Unique Self 51
Contents
xi
xii contents
Applying Gottfredson’s Theory to Practice 51 Evaluating Gottfredson’s Theory 52
John Holland’s theory of types and Person- environment Interactions 53 The Realistic Type 54 The Investigative Type 54 The Artistic Type 54 The Social Type 55 The Enterprising Type 55 The Conventional Type 55 Congruence 56 Differentiation 57 Consistency 58 Vocational Identity 58 Applying Holland’s Theory 58 Evaluating Holland’s Theory 61
John Krumboltz’s Learning theory of career counseling 63 Social Learning Theory of Career Decision
Making 63 Learning Theory of Career Counseling 66 Applying LTCC 67 Evaluating Career Development
Interventions 68 Evaluating LTCC 68
summary 69 student actIvItIes 69
cHaPter 3
understanding and applying recent theories of career development 71 recent theories 72 Lent, Brown, and Hackett’s social cognitive
career theory 73 Applying SCCT 74 Evaluating SCCT 76
the cognitive Information Processing approach 78 Applying the CIP Approach 80 Evaluating CIP 82
savickas’s career construction theory 84 Applying Career Construction Theory 85 Evaluating Career Construction Theory 86
Hansen’s Integrative Life Planning 86
Applying ILP 88 Evaluating ILP 88
Postmodern approaches 88 Creating Narratives 89 Constructivist Career Counseling 90 Chaos Theory of Careers 92 Evaluating the Chaos Theory of Careers 93
summary 94 case study 95 student actIvItIes 96
cHaPter 4
Providing culturally competent career development Interventions 97 traditional assumptions of career theories in the
united states 101 universal versus culture-specific models 102 ethnocentrism 103 acculturation 104 Identity development models 105
Racial Identity Models 106 Gender Identity Models 108 Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/ Questioning
Identity Models 111 Persons with Disabilities 114
assessment 118 recommendations for culturally effective career
counseling 121 summary 123 case study 124 student actIvItIes 124
cHaPter 5
assessment and career Planning 126 The Relationship of Assessment to the Career
Planning Process 129 Step 1: Become Aware of the Need to Make Career
Decisions 129 Step 2: Learn About or Reevaluate Vocational Self-
Concept 130 Step 3: Identify Occupational Alternatives 130 Step 4: Obtain Information About Identified
Alternatives 130
contents xiii
Step 5: Make Tentative Choices from Among Available Occupations 130
Step 6: Make Educational Choices 130 Step 7: Implement a Vocational Choice 131
Purposes of Assessment 132 Learning More About the Needs of an Individual
or Group 132 Learning More About the Characteristics of
Individuals and Helping Them Learn More About Themselves 133
Determining the Change or Progress of an Individual or Group 134
Responsibilities and competencies of the counselor 135 Possess General Knowledge About Assessment 135 Have Detailed Knowledge About the Instruments
Used 135 Evaluate the Instrument for Usefulness with Diverse
Populations 137 Prepare Students or Clients Adequately 138 Administer Instruments Properly 139 Interpret Instruments Properly 139 Follow Through with Clients 140
Informal Assessments 141 Formal Assessments 143
Types of Formal Assessments 145 Ways in Which Assessment Instruments May Be
Administered 150 types of Reports 152 selection of Instruments 154 suMMARy 155 cAse study 155 student ActIvItIes 155
cHAPteR 6
career Information and Resources 157 the counselor’s Role in Providing data 159
Barriers and Decision Styles 160 Career Information and Diversity 161
the client’s Role in Receiving data 162 types of data needed by clients 163
Programs of Study 163 Occupations 165 Schools 167
Financial Aid 169 Jobs 170
other Methods of collecting data 170 organizing occupations 171
The Holland System 171 The World-of-Work Map 172 O*NET Classification System 173 The National Career Clusters 174
the career center 174 Helping clients turn data into
Information 175 suMMARy 178 cAse study 179 student ActIvItIes 179
cHAPteR 7
using Information and communication technologies to support career counseling and Planning 180 Information and communication technologies:
trends of the 21st century 182 the Internet as the deliverer of career
Guidance 183 Stand-alone Web Sites 183 Integrated Career Planning Systems 184 Virtual Career Centers 185 Mobile Phone Applications 186 Social Networking 186 Distance Counseling 188
counselor Responsibilities Related to Ict-supported career Guidance and counseling 188 Know and Abide by Ethical Guidelines 189 Select Web Sites and Integrated Career Planning
Systems 189 Add High touch to High tech 191
Counselor Competencies and Types of Support 192
Issues and concerns Related to use of Ict 193
the Promise of Ict 195 suMMARy 197 cAse study 197 student ActIvItIes 198
xiv contents
cHAPteR 8
career counseling strategies and techniques for the 21st century 200 Is career counseling effective? 201 expanding the Limited View of career
counseling 202 career counseling in the 21st century 203 Designing career counseling strategies 204
Providing Counseling-Based Career Assistance 205
Providing Support in Career Counseling 207 A Framework for career counseling 213
The Beginning or Initial Phase of Career Counseling 213
The Middle or Working Phase of Career Counseling 216
The Ending or Termination Phase of Career Counseling 218
career counseling Groups 222 An Example of a Structured Group Career
Intervention 222 Less-Structured Career Groups 225
career counseling Professional Designations and Related service Providers 227
summARy 229 cAse stuDy 229 stuDent ActIVItIes 230
cHAPteR 9
Designing, Implementing, and evaluating career Development Programs and services 231 steps for Designing and Implementing a career
Development Program 233 Step 1: Define the Target Population and Its
Characteristics 233 Step 2: Determine the Needs of the Target
Population 234 Step 3: Write Measurable Objectives to Meet
Needs 236 Step 4: Determine How to Deliver the Career
Planning Services 238 Step 5: Determine the Content of the
Program 240
Step 6: Determine the Cost of the Program 240 Step 7: Begin to Promote and Explain Your
Services 241 Step 8: Start Promoting and Delivering the Full-
Blown Program of Services 242 Step 9: Evaluate the Program 242 Planning Evaluation 243 Stakeholders 244 Types of Data Collected 244 Benchmarks for Evaluation 245 Methods of Evaluation 248 Using the Results of Evaluation 249 Roadblocks to Evaluation 252 Step 10: Revise the Program as Needed 252
some sample Programs 252 Example 1: An Elementary School 253 Example 2: A Middle School 255 Example 3: A High School 257 Example 4: A University 260 Example 5: A Corporation 262 Example 6: A Community Agency 264
summARy 267 cAse stuDy 267 stuDent ActIVItIes 267
cHAPteR 10
career Development Interventions in the elementary schools 269 overview of career Development standards for
constructing career Interventions in the schools 270
Important considerations in Developing career Development Interventions in the schools 273
systematic and coordinated Planning for career Development Programs in the schools 274
career Development in the elementary schools 276
Goals of career Development Interventions at the elementary school Level 279
career Development Interventions in the elementary schools 281
Parental Involvement 285 summARy 286 cAse stuDy 287 stuDent ActIVItIes 287
CONTENTS xv
CHAPTER 11
Career Development Interventions in Middle Schools 306 Middle/Junior High School 307 Career Development Goals for Middle
School Students 310 Career Development Interventions in
Middle School 310 SUMMARY 315 CASE STUDY 316 STUDENT ACTIVITIES 316
CHAPTER 12
Career Development Interventions in High Schools 325 Career Development Goals for High School
Students 331 Career Development Interventions in High
Schools 331 Career Development Interventions for At-Risk
Students 336 SUMMARY 338 CASE STUDY 339 STUDENT ACTIVITIES 339
CHAPTER 13
Career Development Interventions in Higher Education 355 The Changing Landscape of Higher
Education 357 The Evolution of Career Development
Interventions in Higher Education 361 Career Development Competencies in
Adulthood 364 Personal Social Development 364 Educational Achievement and Lifelong
Learning 365 Career Management 366
Models, Services, and Standards for Career Development Interventions in Higher Education 368 Models 368
Services 370 Standards 373
Managing Career Services in Higher Education 375
SUMMARY 378 CASE STUDY 378 STUDENT ACTIVITIES 379
CHAPTER 14
Career Development Interventions in Community Settings 388 Training, Certification, and Licensure 390 Competencies 391
Coordination 391 Consultation 393 Advocacy 393 Case Management 394
Similarities and Differences in Community-Based Settings 395
Settings for Community-Based Career Counselors 395 Private Practice 396 The World Wide Web: Online Counseling and Career
Advising 397 Mental Health Centers 397 Substance Abuse Centers 398 Rehabilitation Settings 398 Corrections and Probation 398 Military Settings 399 Job Service Offices and One-Stop Centers 399 Faith-Based Organizations 401 Corporations and Other Organizations 402
SUMMARY 403 CASE STUDY 403 STUDENT ACTIVITIES 404
CHAPTER 15
Ethical Issues in Career Development Interventions 408 Ethical Dilemmas Versus Moral
Temptations 412 Using Principles to Resolve Ethical
Decisions 413
xvi CONTENTS
The Role of Values in Defining Career Development Interventions 415
Using Ethical Codes 418 Progress on Ethical Challenges Facing Career
Counselors 418 Are All Individual Career Interventions Governed by
the Same Ethical Standards? 418 Should Those Without Traditional Training and
Credentials as Professional Career Counselors Provide Career Counseling Services? 420
How Should the Internet Be Used in Career Development Interventions? 421
The Ethical Standards of NCDA 422 Section A: The Professional Relationship 422 Section B: Confidentiality, Privileged
Communication, and Privacy 422 Section C: Professional Responsibility 423 Section D: Relationships with Other
Professionals 423 Section E: Evaluation, Assessment, and
Interpretation 423 Section F: Providing Career Services Online,
Technology, and Social Media 423 Section G: Supervision, Training, and
Teaching 424 Section H: Research and Publication 424 Section I: Resolving Ethical Issues 424 Using an Ethical Decision-Making Model 426
SUMMARY 427 CASE STUDY 428 STUDENT ACTIVITIES 428
APPENDIx A
NCDA Code of Ethics Preamble A-1
APPENDIx B
Educational and Career Planning Portfolio A-28
APPENDIx C
Career Counseling Competencies of the National Career Development Association (NCDA) A-34
APPENDIx D
2016 CACREP Standards Related to Career Development A-38
APPENDIx E
National Career Development Guidelines (NCDG) Framework A-39
REFERENCES R-1
INDEx I-1
1
Chapter 1
IntroductIon to career development InterventIons
Like it or not, what we do for money is a big part of our lives. In many ways it defines who we are, and it’s how most of us pay for the basic needs of day-to-day living, such as food, shelter, and transportation. In time, if you’re lucky, your job can provide more quality leisure time, investments for the education of your children, and a home. Every day we get up and go to work—there’s no getting out of it. So it’s imperative to choose a field or endeavor that will enrich your life. And whether you’re a contractor build- ing a house, a doctor repairing a heart, or a teacher educating students, you need to focus on the finished product and take pride in the process that achieves that finished product. You should never settle for anything less than your best effort, because it matters. It matters to the homeowner, the patient, and the students, and it most certainly should matter to you.
David H., Contractor
Work is something I do because I have to. If I won the lottery, I wouldn’t work. As a single parent of two young children, I have to be responsible. I do it for them. Can work be meaningful? I hope to experi- ence that someday. Right now, it’s how my family and I get by—that’s the most important thing. And most days it’s not fun.
Ann D., Food service worker
My work means everything to me—well, almost everything. As an oncologist, I am dedicated to my work and my patients. I feel a tremendous responsibility to be the best physician that I can be. I also feel a responsibility to be the best I can be as a representative of my family and the African American com- munity. I have dedicated much of my life to this activity. It is what gives me meaning and purpose. I feel fortunate to do the work I do.
Camille S., Physician
Chandra and her colleagues were discussing their career development course and won- dering why, as graduate students in counselor education, they were required to take it. José declared that he had no interest in providing career counseling and was not likely to need to know much about it. Jonathan added that he found the prospect of adminis- tering tests just plain boring. Beth was set on establishing a private practice and said
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2 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
that she would probably refer clients with career concerns to practitioners specializing in the field.
Chandra had a different take. She had witnessed the powerful impact of work on her family when her father’s employer moved overseas and laid him off from his engi- neering job. While Chandra’s father sought new employment, her mother struggled to keep her full-time nursing job while caring for Chandra and her two younger brothers. When her father had to settle for a position that provided less pay, challenge, and satis- faction than had his old one, she watched as he became depressed and tension mounted between her parents. No one was spared: Her brothers were getting into trouble at school, and Chandra, beset by anxiety, developed insomnia. Chandra under- stood all too well the link between work and well-being and hoped that learning about career development might empower her to help other families avoid what had hap- pened to hers.
David H., Ann D., and Camille S. communicate some of the diverse values, purposes, and goals that people attach to work. Some view work as a way to express themselves and confer meaning and purpose on life. Others work to provide for their families and, often due to circumstances beyond their control, approach work strictly as a way to bring in money. Some, like Camille S., the physician, see work as a way to fulfill their responsibility to an ethnic or cultural group. Still others struggle simply to find work. the unemployment rate in the United States in December 2014 was 5.6%; in April 2011 it was 9%; and in April 2001 it was 4.4% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). these numbers, however, can be misleading. For example, if you were unemployed and stopped looking for work for a month, you would not have been counted as unemployed—and there are significant numbers of people who have given up trying to find work. Moreover, in April 2013 an estimated 22 million Americans were unemployed or underemployed (underemployed workers include those who are highly skilled and working in low-paying jobs, highly skilled and working in jobs requiring less skill, and those working part-time who want to work full-time). this is a global issue. the International Labour Organization estimates the number of unemployed workers worldwide to be a record 202 million (Moore, 2013).
Chandra’s experience is not unusual. We live in uncertain times: Seasoned adults struggle to cope with their careers while recent college graduates have trouble landing their first job. Adoles- cents feel pressured to succeed but can’t see how high school life connects to their future lives as working adults. Children are constantly exposed to occupational stereotypes—police officer, firefighter, doctor—that influence their perceptions of what opportunities await them. So let us be clear: Counselors are expected to, and indeed must, provide career assistance in every profes- sional setting. Counselors in grade school, higher education, and community settings will, to varying degrees and at various times, encounter clients confronting career development issues. It is for good reason that the American School Counselor Association (2003) identifies career development as one of three areas essential to the work of school counselors. Survey results examining the concerns of college students consistently identify career planning assistance as their dominant issue. It’s no different for working adults who find themselves out of work as their employers downsize.
Despite this, many students in counseling and related programs react with as little enthusiasm as did José, Jonathan, and Beth when required to take a career information course
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 3
(Heppner, O’Brien, Hinkelman, & Flores, 1996). Perhaps some think they’ll be required to memorize blocks of data or spend hours learning how to administer and interpret occupational questionnaires. Perhaps they view career development interventions as separate from general counseling interventions, with the former involving information dissemination, advising, and test administration, and the latter employing more “sophisticated” therapeutic techniques. Maybe they envision mechanical career development interventions in which the counselor dic- tates a course of action and takes complete responsibility for the outcome. Or maybe, like Beth, they view career development interventions as irrelevant to their counseling careers.
No matter what their objections are to studying career development, we challenge them. We believe (and think Chandra would agree) that competent career practitioners must pos-
sess expertise in a broad array of counseling-related competencies. the knowledge and skills required for providing effective career assistance encompass and transcend those required for general counseling (Blustein & Spengler, 1995; Gysbers, Heppner, & Johnston, 2009; Herr, Cramer, & Niles, 2004). For example, the competencies identified by the National Career Devel- opment Association* (National Career Development Association, 2009) include knowledge and skills in career development theory; individual and group counseling; individual and group assessment; career information and resources; program promotion, management, and imple- mentation; career coaching and consultation; multicultural counseling; supervision; ethical and legal issues; and using technology effectively in the career intervention process. these competen- cies extend far beyond those required for career advising and test administration.
Moreover, areas of inquiry related to career development interventions are fascinating, chal- lenging, and connected to recent psychological emphases on optimal human functioning, maxi- mizing happiness, and fulfilling human potential (Hartung, 2002; Niles, Amundson, & Neault, 2011; Savickas, 2009). Career counselors meet their clients at the intersection of what has been and what could be in their lives; interventions help these clients consider how to develop and deploy their talents as their lives progress. Career development practitioners in the 21st century also seek to empower people to derive meaning from their unique life experiences and translate that meaning into rewarding occupational and other choices. translating life experiences into rewarding choices requires self-awareness. Accordingly, career practitioners provide interven- tions that help people clarify and articulate how they see themselves. these interventions may include formal, standardized assessments as well as informal, nonstandardized activities that creatively engage clients in the process (Amundson, 2009). Because planning a career and sort- ing through related concerns are complex processes, competent counselors must be skilled at developing effective working alliances with their clients (Anderson & Niles, 2000; Multon, Heppner, Gysbers, Zook, & ellis-Kalton, 2001; Perrone, 2005). When career counselors work collaboratively and innovatively with their clients to identify a clear career direction, both client and counselor experience the process as invigorating and fulfilling (Anderson & Niles).
We also realize that practitioners face multiple challenges in the career intervention process. Making career decisions is rarely simple, and good career counseling is never mechanistic or routine. People make decisions about work within the contexts of their other roles and responsi- bilities, and the complex and stressful nature of such decisions becomes clear (Perrone, Webb, & Blalock, 2005). What might seem to be a straightforward work decision can become frustrating
*Until 1985, the National Career Development Association was known as the National Vocational Guidance Association, or NVGA.
4 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
and overwhelming to someone who feels buffeted by limited work opportunities, family expectations, financial constraints, and multiple life-role commitments. Given the complexity of making career decisions, it isn’t surprising that many people who seek career counseling experi- ence substantial levels of psychological distress (Multon et al., 2001). Obviously, counselors must address clients’ distress as they help them identify their values, skills, life-role priorities, interests, and motivations. When clients also experience low self-esteem, weak self-efficacy, and little hope that the future can be more satisfying than the past, the counselor’s task becomes even more challenging (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2002). Such clients require more help resolving their career dilemmas than a test battery can provide. Given this fact, many clients describe a support- ive and effective alliance with their career practitioner as one of the most helpful aspects of the counseling experience (Anderson & Niles, 2000; Multon et al., 2001). Obviously, the abilities to establish rapport, listen closely, and express empathic understanding are essential career coun- seling skills.
Working collaboratively and effectively with clients also requires career practitioners to pos- sess advanced multicultural competencies (Leong, 1995). Clients operating from a collectivistic orientation, for example, engage in the career planning process differently than those coming from an individualistic orientation (Hartung, Speight, & Lewis, 1996). thus, working within a client’s cultural context is essential to providing effective assistance. Kim, Li, and Liang (2002) found that career counselors focusing on the expression of emotion were perceived as having greater cross-cultural competence than counselors focusing on the expression of cognition when working with Asian American college students with high adherence to Asian values. Leong (2002) found acculturation to be positively related to job satisfaction and negatively related to occupational stress and strain. Gomez and colleagues (2001) found that the career decisions of Latina clients were strongly influenced by sociopolitical, cultural, contextual, and personal vari- ables: Socioeconomic status, family obligations, cultural identity, and the existence of a support network were all concerns of the Latinas participating in the Gomez et al. study. Madonna, Miville, Warren, Gainor, and Lewis-Coles (2006) highlight the importance of understanding a client’s religious beliefs to effective career counseling. Paul (2008) describes the use of a con- structive-developmental approach that incorporates a client’s sexual identity into the career counseling process; Pepper and Lorah (2008) discuss the unique concerns of transsexual clients. Powell and Greenhaus (2012) offer a counseling framework that factors family influences into the career decision-making process.
Clearly, a client’s constellation of cultural and contextual variables affects the career interven- tion process. therefore, as with general counseling interventions, the career development inter- vention process is a dynamic, complex, and challenging one that requires practitioners to use multicultural counseling skills to help their clients.
Tips from the Field
Because there are few decisions more personal than choosing a career, it is important to remember that good career counselors are, first, good counselors.
In addition, indications are that the career development process will soon become more complex. Change, transition, and instability dominate the career development landscape. the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015) reports that one in four workers has been with his or her
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 5
current employer for less than a year. Also, in 2014, the median number of years that workers had been with their current employers was 4.6: 4.7 for men and 4.5 for women. this level of transition involves costs to companies, as they must train new employees, and to society, as tran- sitioning workers claim benefits from government programs such as temporary Assistance for Needy Families (tANF) and unemployment insurance.
In addition to decreased longevity with an employer, today’s workers operate in a globalized economy. thomas Friedman (2005) described this in The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century, noting that technological advances have created a more level economic playing field, with previously disadvantaged countries now rivaling the knowledge and wealth of the United States and other world powers. Computer and communication technologies, previously a strong- hold of developed countries, have been accessed and mastered by China and India, making these nations more competitive economically. this “flattening” of access and opportunity has had a major impact on the nature of work around the world, accelerating the economic interdepen- dence of national economies so that what happens in one country impacts the economies of oth- ers. recent global unemployment rates support this assertion.
Another effect of economic globalization is the outsourcing of jobs from one country to another. On the plus side, this improves the receiving country’s economy and standard of living: Its workers have greater employment opportunities, and the country gains access to the latest technology. the outsourcing country benefits from lower labor costs, and consumers benefit as well because globalization increases competition, and companies then lower their prices. Friedman’s theory is that these developments will continue until world economies are lateral— that is, they show a flat line. A flat world means we are economically dependent on one another and communicating more with one another.
What are the practical implications of the trends Friedman identifies? to compete effectively in a flat world, Friedman believes that 21st-century workers must focus on and develop some new capacities. First, they must be constantly engaged in learning: Workers must learn new ways of doing old things as well as new ways of doing new things. Second, they must cultivate a pas- sion for, and curiosity about, life. Passion and curiosity are potent forces that infuse the work- place with energy and innovation. third, they must expand their capacity to work collaboratively. employees with strong interpersonal skills are valued as team players who cope well with work- place challenges. Finally, they must be able to balance analytical thinking with creative energy, bringing a fuller perspective to solving complex problems. Friedman’s list of self-management skills for the 21st century can be expanded to include (a) the capacity to cope with change and tolerate ambiguity, (b) the ability to acquire and use occupational information effectively, (c) the ability to adjust quickly to changing work demands, and (d) a working knowledge of technology. Developing these capacities along with specific job content skills will enable workers to stay cur- rent in the expanding global economy.
Before leaving our discussion of globalization, we should note that the phenomenon is not strictly positive. Workers in manufacturing and some white-collar jobs have fewer opportunities in nations where this work has been outsourced: Computer programmers, editors, engineers, and accountants are some examples of the latter. Globalization has also led to the increased exploitation of workers in developing countries. A United Nations (UN) report (2000) asserts that globalization has increased inequality and discrimination, widening the gap between the haves and have-nots. Safety standards are often ignored to produce goods less expensively. Also, many developing countries lack child labor laws, and young workers often toil in inhumane con- ditions. Companies build factories in countries without environmental regulations and discharge
6 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
pollutants into soil and waterways. Also, globalization has sparked increased human trafficking. Finally, the UN report notes that multinational companies have become increasingly influential in local politics, influencing legislation and public policies that are friendly to business but not to the people they employ.
Adding to the new problems are some old ones: discrimination and disparities in opportuni- ties and income between men and women; workers from dominant and minority ethnic groups; heterosexuals and members of sexual minorities; those who are able-bodied and those who are physically challenged; those who have access to quality education and the doors it opens, and those for whom those doors are closed; and so on. Such issues highlight the need for career prac- titioners to advocate for social justice. In fact, we believe that the ability to advocate effectively for social justice is utterly essential for career practitioners in the 21st century.
Among other things, advocating for social justice requires career development practitioners to learn about legislation and public policies that support workers and provide career develop- ment services (the Workforce Investment Act and Americans with Disabilities Act, to name two). relating to this, Friedman (2005) identifies the need for legislation that makes it easier for people to switch jobs by connecting retirement benefits and health insurance less to their employers and providing insurance that would help cover a possible drop in income. Friedman also believes we should put more energy into inspiring young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (SteM), as fewer of them are entering these fields. this provides implicit support for inserting career development language into the next iteration of the elementary and Secondary education Act, familiarly known as No Child Left Behind.
It follows that knowing how to shape public policy and legislation is an important skill for career development practitioners: Acquainting legislators with the importance of career services to their constituents, and reminding them of the benefits that accrue to the community, are pow- erful actions that career practitioners can take. Being multiculturally sensitive and aware is also an essential component of providing effective career interventions. the bottom line is that all people at some point must cope with career development tasks to successfully manage their lives and careers. We believe that all counselors, regardless of their work setting, must understand the career development process and be skilled at providing career interventions.
the meanIng of Work across tIme Understanding the career development process and being able to provide holistic, comprehen- sive, and systematic career development interventions across a worker’s life span require prac- titioners to appreciate the role that work plays in people’s lives. Substantial evidence indicates that the meaning of work for people around the world is changing (e.g., Ardichvili & Kuchinke, 2009; Borchert & Landherr, 2009; Ferrar et al., 2009). Unfortunately, many shifts are not positive for workers. Most workers in industrialized nations now enjoy the benefits of paid vacation time (typically about three weeks per year) and paid parental leave. Currently, 134 countries have laws establishing a maximum length to the work week. the exception is the United States. According to the International Labour Organization, Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more than British workers, and 499 more than French workers. Currently, 85.8% of men and 66.5% of all women in the United States work more than 40 hours per week. So it should come as no surprise that Americans report sharply higher levels of work– family conflict than do citizens of other industrialized nations. Fully
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 7
90% of American mothers and 95% of American fathers report work–family conflict (Williams & Boushey, 2010).
the centrality of work to American life may have lessened since the 19th century, when the average citizen worked 70 hours per week, but current data indicate that work continues to dominate the lives of many Americans. this makes sense because the work you choose deter- mines the people with whom you will associate for a major portion of your daily life; it also affects how much time off you will get and when you will get it, the sorts of continuing education and training you will engage in, the type of supervision you will labor under, the degree of autonomy you will experience, and the lifestyle you will enjoy. thus, one of the first questions we ask a new acquaintance is, “What do you do?” Although people might respond by describing a variety of activities, they seldom do: there is an implicit, if not explicit, understanding that the query relates to what you do for a living. Such interactions reinforce the contention that occupa- tion is one of the principal determinants in industrial society of social status (Super, 1976). they also support Sigmund Freud’s statement that “work is the individual’s link to reality.” For better or worse, our choice of work colors the perceptual lens through which others view us and through which we view ourselves; we make different assumptions about people who say they are neurosurgeons compared to those who say they work at fast-food restaurants. In many countries, an occupational title tends to be used, correctly or incorrectly, to identify a person more than does any other single characteristic. It is important to note, however, that in some contexts and at different periods of history, one’s choice of work was not as closely connected to one’s identity as it is today; then, your surname or residence provided a primary means for self-identification.
How is it that work has become a core component of our identity? In primitive societies, work was taken for granted. You worked to survive. In classical societies, work was viewed as a curse insofar as it involved manual rather than intellectual labor. (It is interesting to note that the Greek word for work has the same root as the word for sorrow.) the early Christians viewed work as providing an opportunity to help those less fortunate by sharing the fruits of their labors. the notion that “idleness is akin to sinfulness” also emerged from early Christianity and was main- tained throughout the Middle Ages, with the growing idea that work was appropriate for all people as a means of spiritual purification.
the reformation brought little change to this attitude except for the influence of Martin Luther and John Calvin. Luther viewed work as a way to serve God: All work had equal spiritual value as long as you did it to the best of your ability. the meaning of work shifted dramatically in the theological perspective espoused by John Calvin and his followers. Calvin built on earlier traditions that viewed work as the will of God by adding the idea that the results of work— profits, for example—should be used to finance more ventures for more profit and, in turn, for more investment. In addition, Calvin’s doctrine of predestination—that your fate after life is predetermined by God, not determined by you during your time on earth—led his followers to search for visible signs in this life that they were predestined for eternal bliss in the next one. Success in work came to be viewed as a manifestation that one was predestined for eternal life. this evolved into the notion that one was obligated to God to achieve the most exalted and rewarding occupation; hence, striving for upward mobility became morally justified. this coin- cided with the belief that God rewards those who devote time and effort to work; thus was born the attitude known as the Protestant work ethic. the value attached to hard work, the need for all persons to work, and the justification of profit emerging from Calvinism would eventually form the basis of modern capitalism and industrialism. the values associated with the Protestant work ethic also served as the foundation of the 19th-century view of work labeled by Savickas (1993)
8 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
as the “vocational ethic.” this ethic valued independent effort, self-sufficiency, frugality, self-dis- cipline, and humility, and it was brought across the Atlantic by the Puritans.
the meaning of work continued to evolve as some countries industrialized and increased their reliance on mechanically generated energy to perform it. the determination of a person’s status became a question not only of how hard he worked but also a question of the type of work he did. In essence, occupation replaced work as a means of determining a person’s status. Savickas (1993) noted that this shift in the nature of work occurred on the brink of the 20th century, when people turned their efforts toward organizing craftspeople into companies and building large cities around industries. the rugged individualism reflected in self-employment on farms and in small, craft-oriented businesses was replaced for many people by the challenge of working for a company and moving up the corporate ladder. Because people working for companies found little reward for independence, self-sufficiency, and self-management, a new work ethic emerged in the 20th century, described by Maccoby and terzi (1981) as the “career ethic.” the career ethic can be described as exhorting workers to “find your fit and don’t quit.” It defined successful careers as work of extended tenure within the same company, and successful career paths as those that ascended through organizational ranks. today, this largely male, Caucasian middle- and upper-socioeconomic class model provides, at best, a minimally useful description of the careers most people experience.
recent developments in the nature of work bring into question the viability of the career ethic (McCortney & engels, 2003). Organizations served by the career ethic are downsizing in unprecedented numbers, with many workers finding that computers are performing the work they once did. Many employers view workers as expendable commodities. Workers who have lost their jobs to downsizing often feel betrayed and anxious about their prospects. After working long hours, and in some cases relocating to new communities to maintain their employment, many workers are less willing to sacrifice everything for their employers when their employers are so willing to sacrifice them. Survivors of downsizing realize that their situations are anything but secure (McCortney & engels).
In addition, companies are flattening their organizational structures, leaving fewer career ladders to climb. the elimination of vertical hierarchies challenges the definition of a “successful” career. Hall and associates (1996) argue that changes in the structure of employment opportuni- ties portend a future in which “people’s careers will increasingly become a succession of ‘ ministages’ of exploration-trial-mastery-exit, as they move in and out of various product areas, technologies, functions, organizations and other work environments” (p. 33). these shifts have led some people to suggest that “work has ended” and the “career has died” (Bridges, 1994; rifkin, 1995). the tragic echoes of September 11, 2001, and the recent global economic down- turn with resultant high unemployment reverberate widely, influencing politics, economics, international relations, and by logical extension, work. We are still sorting through how these events will shape people’s approach to work. McCortney and engels (2003) note that “it is essen- tial to consider whether the current concept of the work ethic can be accurately, uniformly applied to all individuals in the ‘salad bowl’ of the United States today” (p. 135). thanks to glo- balization, the question applies to nations outside the United States as well.
these changes in the work ethic highlight the fact that career development occurs amid relent- less economic, social, cultural, technological, political, global, and historical change. these changes also underscore the fact that career development, like human development, is an evolutionary process. However, unlike biological development—which is ontogenetic and fairly predictable— career development is dynamic, interactive, contextual, relational, and often unpredictable.
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 9
lInkIng Work WIth Worth Despite historical changes in the meaning people attach to work and whether it is viewed as a blessing or a curse, work continues to play a central role in our lives (Brief & Nord, 1990; Mannheim, 1993). More recently, Doherty (2009) found that work provided vital social interac- tions for study participants, fulfilling social and personal needs and providing a sense of personal identity and meaning. results supporting the primacy of work in the Doherty study were uni- form across workplaces and occupations.
this phenomenon is not limited to the United States; results of cross-national studies sug- gest that many people in other countries view work as being more important than leisure, com- munity, and even religion (Ardichvili & Kuchinke, 2009; Borchert & Landherr, 2009). Harpaz (1999) found that in several multinational studies, work was second in importance only to fam- ily activities. Not only do we continue to place an extremely high value on work, but people in the United States also tend to use psychological definitions of work. For example, Super (1976) defined work as:
the systematic pursuit of an objective valued by oneself (even if only for survival) and desired by others; directed and consecutive, it requires expenditure of effort. It may be compensated (paid work) or uncompensated (volunteer work or an avocation). the objective may be intrinsic enjoy- ment of work itself, the structure given to life by the work role, the economic support which work makes possible, or the type of leisure that it facilitates. (p. 12)
Psychologically oriented definitions of work place the perceptions and motivations relative to work within a person’s actions and control. Such definitions reflect a largely American view of work, which emphasizes individual control in career development (motivation, discipline, perse- verance, goal-directedness) and deemphasizes the role played by sociological contextual variables (opportunity structure, the economy, socioeconomic status) in shaping one’s career. thus, if a person has a “successful career,” we tend to attribute positive qualities to the person, regardless of whether we know him or her. the corresponding assumption is that a person without a success- ful career is inferior. Our denial of both the sociological factors affecting the trajectory of a per- son’s career and the centrality of work in our culture becomes problematic because we link work with self-worth (Shanahan & Porfeli, 2002; Subich, 2001). Obviously, if our sense of self-worth is dependent on how we feel about our work contributions, our self-esteem can unravel quickly when work situations go awry (Herr, Cramer, & Niles, 2004). If you have ever felt undecided about your career choice, or if you have ever been fired from a job, or worked in a dissatisfying job, or been unable to find a job, or lived with anyone experiencing any of these events, you prob- ably have a good sense of the bad feelings that often surface in negative work-related situations.
Linking work with self-worth also becomes problematic when we develop unrealistic expec- tations of work. For example, O’toole (1981) suggests that “when it is said that work should be meaningful, what is meant is that it should contribute to the self-esteem, to the sense of self- fulfillment, through the mastering of one’s self and one’s environment, and to the sense that one is valued by society” (p. 15). these themes still inform the expectations that many people have for their careers. Although these are clearly desirable experiences, issues such as dehumanizing work conditions, unemployment, prejudicial hiring practices, downsizing, and mismatches between people and their jobs lead to the conclusion that work is anything but meaningful for many people. Denying contextual factors can lead people to blame the victim when work experi- ences are negative for reasons beyond their control.
10 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
Not only do many workers experience negative work situations and job dissatisfaction; they also do not know how to improve things. A 2011 Harris interactive survey sponsored by the National Career Development Association (2011) revealed that 59% of adults in the American workforce would try to get more and/or different information about career options if they could start their work life over. In the same poll, 45% of adult workers thought they needed more train- ing or education to at least maintain their current earning power. An earlier National Career Development Association (NCDA) poll (NCDA, 1999) revealed that 39% of Americans did not have a career plan and 69% did not know how to make informed career choices. Obviously, many adults have information and skill deficits related to career planning and self-management. Many people also have limited opportunities to engage in systematic self-exploration for career develop- ment and are unclear about their training and educational needs. the same poll indicated that almost half of all U.S. workers experience job-related stress and think that their skills are being underutilized. Given the prevalence of these issues and our tendency to link work with self-worth, we may deduce that the need for competent career practitioners is substantial and urgent.
Difficulties in managing career tasks can be tracked developmentally. Mortimer, Zimmer- Gembeck, Holmes, and Shanahan (2002) offer evidence that many adolescents do not receive assistance in acquiring career development skills. Drawing on 69 interviews (43 females, 26 males) with participants in the Youth Development Project (n = 1,000), a longitudinal study of work through adolescence and early adulthood, researchers reported that the young participants had little formal instruction in how to find suitable work as they moved into postsecondary school. the lack of institutional support for young people making the school-to-work transition is perplexing given the centrality of work in people’s lives. Mortimer and her colleagues contend that “more systematic efforts are needed to provide vocational information to youth in high schools” (p. 463) and that effort should be made to connect students with the schools and occu- pations in which they express an interest. Having actual experiences with potential occupations is important in differentiating between satisfied and dissatisfied entrants to the labor force, as well as those whose interests and jobs are congruent. “For youth who lack vocational direction, shifting schools and jobs can entail substantial economic, personal, and social costs” (Mortimer et al., p. 463).
High levels of career uncertainty and occupational dissatisfaction correlate with high levels of psychological and physical distress (Herr, 1989). High levels of unemployment are associated with increased rates of chemical dependency, interpersonal violence, suicide, criminal activity, and admission to psychiatric facilities (Herr et al., 2004; Kalton, 2001; Liem & rayman, 1982). Difficult career situations often translate to difficult life situations. Fritzche and Parrish (2005) cite research supporting the “spillover hypothesis,” which suggests that feelings in one area of life affect feelings in other areas. the ripple effect occurring when career situations go awry can be dramatic and tragic. Moreover, all counselors, regardless of work setting, will encounter these ripple effects either directly (by working with a client experiencing career difficulties) or indi- rectly (by working with a family member of a person experiencing career difficulties).
provIdIng systematIc career development InterventIons the need to provide systematic assistance to people trying to manage the influence of work on their lives is tremendous (National Career Development Association, 2011). the young, the elderly, the unemployed, the underemployed, the displaced worker, and members of diverse
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 11
racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups all confront work-related issues that affect their lives. How well they can cope with these issues may be the difference between living a life that is mean- ingful and productive and one that is largely devoid of meaning and satisfaction.
Career counselors assist their clients in diverse ways. Counselors in high school, postsec- ondary, and community settings teach clients skills (self-assessment, job search, and career infor- mation acquisition) necessary for effective career planning and decision making. Counselors in all settings also help their students or clients realize that decisions about work influence one’s life outside of work. Correspondingly, counselors can help clients develop realistic expectations of what work can provide in terms of personal satisfaction, and they can explain that activities and relationships outside of work can provide satisfaction when it isn’t forthcoming on the job. Given our emphasis on intra-individual variables in career development, a major task confronting counselors is helping people see that their job doesn’t have to define their self-worth, and that self-worth derives more from how they live than where they work.
More specifically, effective career counselors help their clients or students learn how to do the following:
1. Use both rational and intuitive approaches when making career decisions. 2. Achieve clarity about the importance they attach to their various life roles and the val-
ues they want to embody by inhabiting these roles. 3. Cope effectively with ambiguity, change, and transition. 4. Develop and maintain self-awareness, especially as it pertains to their interests, values,
motivation, and aptitudes. 5. Develop and maintain occupational and career awareness. 6. Develop occupationally relevant skills and knowledge, and keep them up to date. 7. Access and participate in lifelong learning opportunities. 8. Search for jobs effectively. 9. Provide and receive career mentoring.
10. Develop and maintain skills in multicultural awareness and communication.
Skills related to these areas must be placed in a developmental context so that counselors working with children, adolescents, and adults can provide appropriate career interventions and respond to former labor secretary elaine L. Chao’s point that “to succeed in the 21st century, our nation must be prepared to adapt to changes in our economy—in how we work, where we work, and how we balance our professional and family lives. We cannot simply react to changes. We must anticipate them, thus helping all workers to have as fulfilling and financially rewarding careers as they aspire to have.”
defInItIon of terms A major issue in the career development field is the misuse of terminology by practitioners as well as clients. For example, it is common for counselors to use the terms career and work inter- changeably; it is also common for counselors to talk about “doing career development” as if it were an intervention rather than the object of an intervention. Similarly, counselors often con- flate career guidance with career counseling. this lack of precision confuses practitioners, students, and clients and compromises the efficacy of career development interventions. When people use language imprecisely, they imply that terminology does not matter. However, practitioners are
12 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
“engaged in a verbal profession in which words and symbols frequently become the content of the interactions they have with clients” (Herr, 1997, p. 241). their words have power, and they need to communicate with clarity and precision. this enhances the credibility of our profession and provides common ground for devising, implementing, and evaluating career development interventions. We define key terms in the following paragraphs.
Career
rather than limiting the definition of career to work, we advocate viewing career as a lifestyle concept. Accordingly, we concur with Super’s (1976) view of career as the course of events con- stituting a life, and Herr et al.’s (2004) notion of career as the total constellation of roles played over the course of a lifetime. these definitions are broader than the one offered by Sears (1982), which defines career as the totality of work one does in a lifetime. Broader definitions acknowl- edge both the multiple life roles people play and differences in the importance they assign to these roles, especially with regard to work (richardson, 1993). Broad definitions of career include the life role of homemaker, for example, as well as community volunteer.
Career Development
Career development refers to the lifelong psychological and behavioral processes as well as con- textual influences shaping a person’s career over the life span. As such, it involves the person’s creation of a career pattern, decision-making style, integration of life roles, values expression, and life-role self-concepts (Herr et al., 2004).
Career Development Interventions
Career development interventions, defined broadly, comprise activities that empower people to cope effectively with career development tasks (Spokane, 1991). every activity that helps people develop self-awareness and occupational awareness, learn decision-making skills, acquire job- search skills, adjust to occupational choices after they have been implemented, and cope with job stress can be labeled career development interventions. these activities include individual and group career counseling, career development programs, career education, computer-assisted career development programs, and computer information delivery systems as well as other forms of delivering career information to clients.
Career Counseling
Career counseling is a formal relationship in which a professional counselor assists a client or group of clients to cope more effectively with career concerns (choosing a career, managing career transitions, coping with job-related stress, looking for a job). Career counselors typically establish rapport with their clients, assess clients’ career concerns, establish goals for the coun- seling relationship, intervene in ways that help clients cope more effectively with career concerns, evaluate clients’ progress, and, depending on clients’ progress, either offer additional interven- tions or terminate counseling.
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 13
Career Education
Career education is a systematic attempt to influence the career development of students and adults through various kinds of educational strategies, including providing occupational infor- mation, worksite-based experiences, career planning courses, and infusing career-related con- cepts into the academic curriculum (Hoyt, evans, Mackin, & Magnum, 1972).
Career Development Programs
Career development programs are defined as “a systematic program of counselor-coordinated information and experiences designed to facilitate individual career development” (Herr & Cramer, 1996, p. 33). these programs typically contain goals, objectives, activities, and methods for evaluating the effectiveness of the activities in achieving the goals.
Career Development Practitioners
A variety of practitioners provide career assistance in various settings. Doctoral-level psycholo- gists specializing in career development interventions work in private practice, university coun- seling centers, corporate settings, and community-based agencies. they typically hold a doctorate in counseling psychology from a program accredited by the American Psychological Association and use the term vocational or career psychologist to describe themselves. Licensed professional counselors also provide career interventions in settings similar to those in which vocational psy- chologists work. In addition, they often work in school settings, introducing career information and providing assistance to students in elementary, middle, and high schools. Most practitioners have a master’s and/or doctoral degree in counseling, often from a program accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and related educational Programs (CACreP). Career development facilitators (CDFs) may or may not have a postsecondary degree but have com- pleted 120 hours of training with an approved provider that equips them to offer more entry- level career assistance, often focusing on job search skills (résumé writing, interview skills, networking) and using basic self-assessment activities. they work primarily in employment centers, schools, and postsecondary settings.
Important events In the hIstory of career development InterventIons
the rise of career development interventions accelerated in the late 1800s as the United States shifted from an agriculture-based national economy to one grounded in industry and manufac- turing. this shift brought new industrial and manufacturing work opportunities, which in turn created new dilemmas for American workers. Workers were confronted with identifying and accessing these new jobs, which were often located in urban areas and required them to move away from their rural homes. In addition, large numbers of immigrants arrived in the United States seeking new lives and opportunities (Herr, 2001).
In the early part of the 20th century, emphasis was placed on helping people identify and choose appropriate occupations and vocations. the time frame was limited as guidance for
14 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
vocational decision making emphasized the act of making a choice and viewed the process as a single point-in-time event. In his brief history of career counseling in the United States, Pope (2000) notes that this early phase continued until 1920 and emphasized job-placement services.
the early focus on job placement reflected the prevailing white, middle-class, male model of career development that dominated the field until recent times. this view involved choosing an occupation early in one’s life (usually upon leaving secondary or postsecondary school) and stay- ing in the chosen occupation until retirement. to help people cope with vocational decision making, practitioners used objectivistic methodologies, usually in the form of aptitude tests and interest surveys.
Important advances regarding the development and use of aptitude tests and interest sur- veys were identified and articulated in books such as Aptitude Testing by Clark Hull (1928); Apti- tudes and Aptitude Testing by Walter Bingham (1937); and Vocational Interests of Men and Women by e. K. Strong (1943). For most of the 20th century, the process of matching a person to a job based on his or her traits and the job’s demands dominated the ways practitioners helped people find suitable work.
frank parsons the early approach to career development—with its emphasis on testing clients, providing them with information, and advising them on which choices seemed to offer a good chance of occupa- tional success—evolved from the work of Frank Parsons. An engineer and social reformer in the early 1900s, Parsons merged his training and commitment to outline a systematic process of occu- pational decision making, which he referred to as “true reasoning.” Zytowski (2001) noted that in 1906 Parsons delivered a lecture entitled “the Ideal City” to the economic Club of Boston, in which he cited young people’s need of assistance in choosing a vocation. the lecture generated requests by recent high school graduates for personal meetings with Parsons, from which he gen- erated his systematic approach to vocational guidance. In his book Choosing a Vocation (1909), published a year after his death, Parsons enumerated principles and techniques he found useful in helping adolescents, first at Breadwinner’s College at the Civic Service House, a settlement house in Boston, and later at the Boston Vocation Bureau. Here are Parsons’s principles:
1. It is better to choose a vocation than merely to hunt for a job. 2. No one should choose a vocation without careful self-analysis, thorough, honest, and under
guidance. 3. the youth should have a large survey of the field of vocations and not simply drop into the
convenient or accidental position. 4. expert advice, or the advice of men who have made a careful study of men and vocations
and of the conditions of success, must be better and safer for a young man than the absence of it.
5. Putting it down on paper seems a simple matter, but it is one of supreme importance in study. (Parsons, 1909, p. viii)
these principles formed the basis for the techniques Parsons used to help young people choose a vocation. these techniques, including observing workers in their settings and reading biographies and existing occupational descriptions, were incorporated into the “Parsonian approach,” which consisted of three steps or requirements that would help someone make an occupational choice:
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 15
1. Develop a clear understanding of yourself and your aptitudes, abilities, interests, resources, limitations, and other qualities.
2. Develop knowledge of the requirements and conditions of success, advantages and disad- vantages, compensation, opportunities, and prospects in different lines of work.
3. Use “true reasoning” on the relations of these two groups of facts. (Parsons, 1909, p. 5)
Step one requires self-investigation and self-revelation, assisted by a career counselor when possible. the second step relies on accurate and comprehensive occupational information. Because the available occupational information rarely met these requirements during Parsons’s time, he developed materials that described occupations in great detail (compensation, task requirements, work settings). the third step, true reasoning, relied on the person’s capacity (with the help of a counselor) to integrate information acquired from steps one and two into a career decision—a task that appears straightforward but in practice proves challenging.
Parsons developed his model against a background of social upheaval (rapid urbanization, proliferation of child labor, immigration), economic change (the rise of industrialism and grow- ing division of labor), and scientific advances (the emergence of human and behavioral sciences) occurring in the United States. these shifts required workers trained to perform jobs demanding specific skills and aptitudes, help for young people to develop career plans, and protection from abuse for young people in the labor force. Parsons’s approach was also congruent with the domi- nant scientific thinking of the 20th century, which emphasized positivism and objective method- ology—that is, the Parsonian model encouraged practitioners to use standardized assessment to identify clients’ interests, values, and abilities, thereby helping discover where they fit into the occupational structure.
Parsons’s three requirements formed the basis of what evolved into the matching model and trait-and-factor approaches to career development interventions, which is located within the per- son-environment tradition of psychology. these elements are essentially self-knowledge, occupa- tional knowledge, and decision-making skills.
the basic assumptions of the person-environment tradition are:
1. As a result of one’s characteristics, each worker is best suited to a specific type of work. 2. Groups of workers in different occupations have different characteristics. 3. Occupational choice is a single point-in-time event. 4. Career development is mostly a cognitive process relying on rational decision making. 5. Occupational adjustment depends on the degree of agreement between worker charac-
teristics and work demands.
the matching model sought to address the challenges inherent in step three of Parsons’s model. An initial solution to the challenge of matching persons to environments was the practice of clinical matching, in which expert clinical judgments were made to ascertain a person’s chances of success within an occupational field based on the use of a psychograph. the psychograph, developed by Morris Viteles in 1932, was a graphic representation of a person’s relevant charac- teristics (abilities, trainings, specific vocational skills) and strengths in each area, rated from 1 to 10. Job psychographs were also developed with a similar system to rate characteristics relevant to successful performance in a particular occupation. the two psychographs were then compared, and a person’s “goodness of match” for the occupation was determined.
Next emerged the trait-and-factor approach, with its emphasis on a person’s relevant traits and characteristics, usually identified through the use of standardized tests or inventories. the same approach is used to describe occupational factors or requirements (occupations are profiled
16 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
according to the degree to which they require certain traits and aptitudes). then the person’s profile of traits is matched to requirements of specific occupations. the goal of this type of matching is to identify the degree of fit between a person and an occupation.
When conducting trait-and-factor career counseling, Williamson (1939) advocated a six- step process:
1. Analysis 2. Synthesis 3. Diagnosis 4. Prognosis 5. Counseling 6. Follow-up.
In this model, the counselor collects clinical data (using interview techniques) and statistical data (often using standardized assessment), synthesizes the information, and draws inferences about the client’s strengths and weaknesses. these help clarify the client’s presenting problem and identify its probable causes. For Williamson (1939), the client’s presenting problems can be diagnosed as (a) no choice, (b) uncertain choice, (c) unwise choice, or (d) a discrepancy between interests and aptitudes. Once the client’s problem is diagnosed, the counselor offers a prognosis that includes alternative courses of action or adjustments, and the degree of success the client is likely to encounter with each. Counseling in Williamson’s model involves “helping the client marshal and organize personal and other resources to achieve optimal adjustment either now or in the future” (Isaacson, 1985, p. 82). Finally, the counselor follows up by asking the client to evaluate the effectiveness of the counseling and whether she or he requires further assistance.
In classic trait-and-factor approaches, the counselor is active and directive while the client is relatively passive. It is the counselor’s responsibility to take the lead in the collection, integration, and organization of client data. Moreover, the counselor uses these data in conjunction with occupational information to help the client identify a plan of action.
the theory of Work Adjustment (tWA), developed by rené Dawis and Lloyd Lofquist at the University of Minnesota in the 1960s, is an excellent illustration of the person-environment tra- dition (Dawis, 1996). tWA addresses the “correspondence between the individual (abilities and needs) and the environment (ability requirements and reinforcer system)” (Dawis, england, & Lofquist, 1964, p. 11). tWA focuses on interactions between people and their environments, and posits “the person and environment attempt to maintain correspondence with each other” (Dawis, 1996, p. 81). Both the worker and the work environment have needs and requirements that must be satisfied. A person adjusts well to work when the person and the environment are corresponsive to each other’s requirements. Such correspondence is not always achieved, how- ever. the degree to which a worker is willing to tolerate discorrespondence defines the worker’s flexibility. Work environments also possess varying degrees of flexibility. the worker’s tenure in a job is influenced by the worker’s satisfactoriness (the work environment’s degree of satisfaction with the worker), the worker’s satisfaction (the degree to which the work environment provides the worker with sufficient and appropriate reinforcers, or rewards), and the work environment’s perseverance (Dawis et al., 1964). thus, there are four scenarios that describe a worker’s experi- ence: the worker is satisfied and the worker’s performance is satisfactory; the worker is satisfied but the worker’s performance is unsatisfactory; the worker is dissatisfied but the worker’s perfor- mance is satisfactory; or the worker is dissatisfied and the worker’s performance is unsatisfactory (Dawis, 2005). the first condition (satisfied and satisfactory) theoretically leads to continued
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 17
employment, whereas the latter three theoretically lead to actions to change the situation, also known as adjustment behavior (Dawis, 2005). Although research pertaining to tWA has gener- ally supported the theory, tWA has failed to generate robust research, and few empirical tests of tWA have been published in the past 15 years (Swanson & Gore, 2000).
Dawis (2002) also describes a more generalized tWA in his Person-environment Corre- spondence (PeC) theory. A basic assumption of PeC theory is that persons (P) interact with environments (e). Both P and e are active and reactive. Moreover, both P and e have require- ments and expectations that they expect their interactions to fulfill. For example, a counselor (P) working within a counseling environment (e) expects to have the opportunity to help others by using her counseling skills. Likewise, the counseling environment (e) expects the counselor (P) to perform competently and successfully. to the degree that such expectations are met, both P and e are satisfied, and corresponding behaviors are maintained. When expectations are not met, however, dissatisfaction occurs and P and/or e must adjust. Adjustments are made until satisfac- tion is achieved or until P and/or e gives up. A good fit, or correspondence, occurs when the person’s capabilities fulfill the environment’s requirements. A bad fit, or discorrespondence, occurs when the person’s capabilities do not fulfill the environment’s requirements.
recent studies on tWA are few, but there are some, and they tend to focus on the work experi- ences of adults. For example, Lyons, Velez, Mehta, and Neill (2014) used tWA in their study of work adjustment among economically distressed African American workers. their participants reported that perceptions of person-organization (P-O) fit were positively related to job satisfaction and nega- tively related to turnover intentions, and that job satisfaction was negatively related to turnover inten- tions (the greater the satisfaction, the less likely it is that the worker would want to leave his or her job). they also found that perceptions of racial climate were positively related to perceptions of P-O fit and negatively related to turnover intentions (the more positive the racial climate, the greater the perceived fit and the less likely that one would want to leave the job). Not surprisingly, racial climate is an important factor in job satisfaction and turnover intentions. the implication for tWA is that context matters and often overrides more familiar indicators of job satisfaction.
Although current techniques used in person-environment approaches such as tWA and PeC are more advanced than those advocated by Parsons, his contributions remain significant. In History of Vocational Guidance, John Brewer (1942) offered this list of Parsons’s innovations:
1. He paved the way for vocational guidance in the schools and colleges by advocating their role in it and offering methods they could use.
2. He began the training of counselors. 3. He used all of the scientific tools available to him at the time. 4. He developed “steps” to be followed in the vocational progress of the individual. 5. He organized the work of the Vocation Bureau in a way that laid the groundwork for groups
to model in schools, colleges, and other agencies. 6. He recognized the importance of his work and secured for it the appropriate publicity,
financial support, and endorsements from influential educators, employers, and other public figures.
7. He laid the groundwork leading to the continuance and expansion of the vocational guid- ance movement by involving friends and associates in it and preparing the manuscript for Choosing a Vocation. (p. 27)
But there were other contributors to the new field of vocational counseling. the testing move- ment born of the work of James Cattell, Alfred Binet, and Walter Bingham was a force in the growth of career development interventions and helped codify Parsons’s emphasis on self-understanding.
18 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
Influential publications, organizations, and legislation also emerged in the early part of the 20th century. The Vocational Guidance Newsletter was first published by Boston’s Vocation Bureau in 1911 (it opened in 1908 with Parsons as its first director and vocational counselor); the National Vocational Guidance Association (NVGA) was founded in Grand rapids, Michigan, in 1913; the U.S. Department of Labor was organized in 1913; the Vocational Guidance Bulletin was first published in 1915 by NVGA; the Vocational rehabilitation Act became law in 1918; and Harry D. Kitson of teachers College authored The Psychology of Vocational Adjustment, published in 1925.
the Minnesota employment Stabilization research Institute was established in 1931. Among the institute’s findings was that improved guidance services were needed to create a more stable labor force and foster recovery from the Great Depression. the U.S. employment Service was created in 1933 by the Wagner-Peyser Act, and 1939 saw publication of the first edition of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, in which 18,000 occupations were titled, coded, and defined.
In the early 1940s, personnel testing and placement activities were greatly expanded as a result of World War II (the G.I. Bill was enacted in 1944). An excellent example of the era’s advances in testing appears in 1943 in e. K. Strong, Jr.’s Vocational Interests of Men and Women, in which he documents nearly 20 years of interest measurement research. Also, dur- ing World War II women entered the workforce in unprecedented numbers, with many find- ing successful employment in manual and technical jobs that had been previously held exclusively by men.
As testing and placement activities were expanding, Carl rogers’s Counseling and Psychother- apy (1942) appeared in print. In the book, rogers highlighted the importance of attending to clients’ verbalized feelings: “Among the significant developments which resulted were a revamp- ing of the older cognitive concept of the client in vocational guidance to include the dynamics of affective and motivational behavior, the increased emphasis on self-acceptance, and self- understanding as goals of vocational counseling” (Borow, 1964, p. 57).
Another significant event occurred in 1951 when Donald e. Super launched the Career Pattern Study, one of the first longitudinal studies of career development. In his excellent histori- cal review, Borow (1964) noted that Super more than anyone else had helped shift the focus of career development interventions from a “static, single-choice-at-a-point-in-time concept” (p. 60) focused on vocational choice toward a model that conceptualized career development as an ongoing process involving the congruent implementation of the person’s self-concept in a com- patible occupational role. Super was primarily responsible for changing the definition of voca- tional guidance from “the process of assisting an individual to choose an occupation, prepare for it, enter upon it, and progress in it” to
[t]he process of helping a person to develop and accept an integrated and adequate picture of himself [sic] and of his role in the world of work, to test this concept against reality, and to convert it into reality, with satisfaction to himself and to society. (Super, 1951, p. 89)
Super’s multidisciplinary approach to studying career development incorporated contribu- tions from economics and sociology while placing career behavior in the context of human development.
the 1940s and 1950s also saw the emergence of professional organizations related to career development. In 1947, the American Psychological Association (APA) created organi- zational divisions resulting in the establishment of Division 17, which from 1947 to 1952
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 19
was known as the Division of Counseling and Guidance and later renamed Counseling Psy- chology. Since its creation, this division has served as the primary APA division for psy- chologists interested in career development interventions. More recently, a special interest group within Division 17 formed to focus more tightly on the topic of career development theory and practice.
the merging of the NVGA, the American College Personnel Association, the National Asso- ciation of Guidance Supervisors and Counselor trainers, and the Student Personnel Association for teacher education resulted in the formation of the American Personnel and Guidance Asso- ciation in 1951. the American School Counselor Association was formed in 1953, and its pri- mary focus was the provision of career services to young people. Finally, in 1957, the American Personnel and Guidance Association created the American Board on Professional Standards in Vocational Counseling, the functions of which “were to evaluate and certify qualified vocational counseling agencies and to foster the maintenance of high professional standards, including stan- dards of ethical practice” (Borow, 1964, p. 62).
Still, the primary organization for professional career counselors has been the NCDA. Since its inception as the NVGA, the NCDA has dedicated itself to improving the quality of services provided by career development practitioners. As early as 1920, it established a code of princi- ples to guide practitioners in the delivery of career-related services. In 1981 its board of directors approved the first policy statement for the roles and competencies of career counselors; it has been updated several times since, most recently in 2003. the most recent competencies are listed in Figure 1.1. this statement reflects a broad range of general counseling skills and specific career-related competencies. the competencies reflect the belief of the NCDA that professional career counselors are trained practitioners with specialized education in career development. the competencies also reflect the importance of providing a wide range of career development interventions to meet the needs of diverse client populations. An excellent history of the NCDA appears in The Career Development Quarterly, 36, 1988.
In the 1960s, the field expanded as new behavioral, developmental, and psychoanalytical theories of career development appeared; the number of career assessment instruments grew dramatically (see Kapes & Whitfield, 2002); and computer-assisted career guidance and information-delivery systems in secondary schools and higher education settings emerged (Bowlsbey, Dikel, & Sampson, 2002).
During the 1970s, career education became a federal priority, highlighting the impor- tance of providing career development interventions to both young people and adults. “the term ‘career education’ also symbolized the need to address systematically a range of condi- tions that were changing the relationship between education and work, particularly with regard to preparing students to understand the linkages between educational opportunities and the subsequent implications of these in work choice and work adjustment” (Herr & Cra- mer, 1996, p. 34). recent efforts in the 1990s by school-to-work transition proponents focused on imparting knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential to effective workforce partici- pation that closely resembled the ideas of career education efforts initiated in the 1970s (Lent & Worthington, 1999).
Another recent critical development has been increased attention to the career develop- ment needs of diverse client populations. research related to career development theory and practice has transcended addressing the needs of white, middle-class men. Issues of gender, class, ability status, sexual orientation, and cultural bias in career development theories, and practices have been exposed, resulting in greater attention to how such variables affect the
20 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
These competency statements are for those professionals interested and trained in the field of career counseling. For the purpose of these statements, career counseling is defined as the process of assisting individuals in the development of a life career with focus on the definition of the worker role and how that role interacts with other life roles.
Professional competency statements provide guidance for the minimum competencies necessary to perform effectively a particular occupation or job within a particular field. Professional career counselors (master’s degree or higher) or persons in career development positions must demonstrate the knowledge and skills for a specialty in career counseling that the generalist counselor might not possess. Skills and knowledge are represented by desig- nated competency areas, which have been developed by professional career counselors and counselor educators. The Career Counseling Competency Statements can serve as a guide for career counseling training programs or as a checklist for persons wanting to acquire or enhance their skills in career counseling.
Minimum Competencies
In order to work as a professional engaged in career counseling, the individual must demonstrate minimum competencies in 11 designated areas. These 11 areas are: Career Development Theory, Individual and Group Counseling Skills, Individual/Group Assessment, Information/Resources, Program Promotion, Management, and Implementation, Coaching, Consultation, and Performance Improvement, Diverse Populations, Supervision, Ethical/Legal Issues, Research/Evaluation, and Technology. These areas and their respective performance indicators are defined as follows:
Career Counseling Competencies and Performance Indicators
Career Development Theory
Theory base and knowledge considered essential for professionals engaging in career counseling and development. Demonstration of knowledge of:
1. Counseling theories and associated techniques 2. Theories and models of career development 3. Individual differences related to gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and physical and mental capacities 4. Theoretical models for career development and associated counseling and information-delivery techniques and resources 5. Human growth and development throughout the life span 6. Role relationships which facilitate life-work planning 7. Information, techniques, and models related to career planning and placement
Individual and Group Counseling Skills
Individual and group counseling competencies considered essential to effective career counseling. Demonstration of ability to:
1. Establish and maintain productive personal relationships with individuals 2. Establish and maintain a productive group climate 3. Collaborate with clients in identifying personal goals 4. Identify and select techniques appropriate to client or group goals and client needs, psychological states, and developmental tasks 5. Identify and understand clients’ personal characteristics related to career 6. Identify and understand social contextual conditions affecting clients’ careers 7. Identify and understand familial, subcultural, and cultural structures and functions as they are related to clients’ careers 8. Identify and understand clients’ career decision-making processes 9. Identify and understand clients’ attitudes toward work and workers
10. Identify and understand clients’ biases toward work and workers based on gender, race, and cultural stereotypes
Figure 1.1 Introduction to career counseling competency statements. Source: Revised by the NCDA Board of Directors, 2009. © 2009 National Career Development Association. Retrieved March 8, 2015, from ncda.org.
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 21
11. Challenge and encourage clients to take action to prepare for and initiate role transitions by:
• locating sources of relevant information and experience • obtaining and interpreting information and experiences • acquiring skills needed to make role transitions
12. Assist the client to acquire a set of employability and job-search skills 13. Support and challenge clients to examine life-work roles, including the balance of work, leisure, family, and community in their careers
Individual/Group Assessment
Individual/group assessment skills considered essential for professionals engaging in career counseling. Demonstration of ability to:
1. Assess personal characteristics such as aptitude, achievement, interests, values, and personality traits. 2. Assess leisure interests, learning style, life roles, self-concept, career maturity, vocational identity, career indecision, work environment preference (e.g., work satisfaction), and other related lifestyle/development issues 3. Assess conditions of the work environment (such as tasks, expectations, norms, and qualities of the physical and social settings) 4. Evaluate and select valid and reliable instruments appropriate to the client’s gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and physical and mental capacities. 5. Use computer-delivered assessment measures effectively and appropriately 6. Select assessment techniques appropriate for group administration and those appropriate for individual administration 7. Administer, score, and report findings from career assessment instruments appropriately 8. Interpret data from assessment instruments and present the results to clients and to others 9. Assist the client and others designated by the client to interpret data from assessment instruments
10. Write an accurate report of assessment results
Information/Resources
Information/resource base and knowledge essential for professionals engaging in career counseling. Demonstration of knowledge of:
1. Education, training, and employment trends; labor market information and resources that provide information about job tasks, functions, salaries, requirements and future outlooks related to broad occupational fields and individual occupations 2. Resources and skills that clients utilize in life-work planning and management 3. Community/professional resources available to assist clients in career planning, including job search 4. Changing roles of women and men and the implications that this has for education, family, and leisure 5. Methods of good use of computer-based career information delivery systems (CIDS) and computer-assisted career guidance systems (CACGS) to assist with career planning
Program Promotion, Management, and Implementation
Knowledge and skills necessary to develop, plan, implement, and manage comprehensive career development programs in a variety of settings. Demonstration of knowledge of:
1. Designs that can be used in the organization of career development programs 2. Needs assessment and evaluation techniques and practices 3. Organizational theories, including diagnosis, behavior, planning, organizational communication, and management useful in implementing and administering career development programs
Figure 1.1 (Continued )
22 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
Figure 1.1 (Continued )
4. Methods of forecasting, budgeting, planning, costing, policy analysis, resource allocation, and quality control 5. Leadership theories and approaches for evaluation and feedback, organizational change, decision making, and conflict resolution 6. Professional standards and criteria for career development programs 7. Societal trends and state and federal legislation that influence the development and implementation of career development programs
Demonstration of ability to:
8. Implement individual and group programs in career development for specified populations 9. Train others about the appropriate use of computer-based systems for career information and planning
10. Plan, organize, and manage a comprehensive career resource center 11. Implement career development programs in collaboration with others 12. Identify and evaluate staff competencies 13. Mount a marketing and public relations campaign on behalf of career development activities and services
Coaching, Consultation, and Performance Improvement
Knowledge and skills considered essential in relating to individuals and organizations that impact the career counseling and development process. Demonstration of ability to:
1. Use consultation theories, strategies, and models 2. Establish and maintain a productive consultative relationship with people who can influence a client’s career 3. Help the general public and legislators to understand the importance of career counseling, career development, and life-work planning 4. Impact public policy as it relates to career development and workforce planning 5. Analyze future organizational needs and current level of employee skills and develop performance improvement training 6. Mentor and coach employees
Diverse Populations
Knowledge and skills considered essential in relating to diverse populations that impact career counseling and development processes. Demonstration of ability to:
1. Identify development models and multicultural counseling competencies 2. Identify development needs unique to various diverse populations, including those of different gender, sexual orientation, ethnic group, race, and physical or mental capacity 3. Define career development programs to accommodate needs unique to various diverse populations 4. Find appropriate methods or resources to communicate with limited-English-proficient individuals 5. Identify alternative approaches to meet career planning needs for individuals of various diverse populations 6. Identify community resources and establish linkages to assist clients with specific needs 7. Assist other staff members, professionals, and community members in understanding the unique needs/characteris- tics of diverse populations with regard to career exploration, employment expectations, and economic/social issues 8. Advocate for the career development and employment of diverse populations 9. Design and deliver career development programs and materials to hard-to-reach populations
Supervision
Knowledge and skills considered essential in critically evaluating counselor or career development facilitator performance, maintaining and improving professional skills. Demonstration of:
1. Ability to recognize own limitations as a career counselor and to seek supervision or refer clients when appropriate 2. Ability to utilize supervision on a regular basis to maintain and improve counselor skills 3. Ability to consult with supervisors and colleagues regarding client and counseling issues and issues related to one’s own professional development as a career counselor
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 23
Figure 1.1 (Continued )
4. Knowledge of supervision models and theories 5. Ability to provide effective supervision to career counselors and career development facilitators at different levels of experience 6. Ability to provide effective supervision to career development facilitators at different levels of experience by:
• knowledge of their roles, competencies, and ethical standards • determining their competence in each of the areas included in their certification • further training them in competencies, including interpretation of assessment instruments • monitoring and mentoring their activities in support of the professional career counselor and scheduling regular consultations for the purpose of reviewing their activities
Ethical/Legal Issues
Information base and knowledge essential for the ethical and legal practice of career counseling. Demonstration of knowledge of:
1. Adherence to ethical codes and standards relevant to the profession of career counseling (e.g., National Board for Certified Counselors [NBCC], NCDA, and American Counseling Association [ACA]) 2. Current ethical and legal issues which affect the practice of career counseling with all populations 3. Current ethical/legal issues with regard to the use of computer-assisted career guidance systems 4. Ethical standards relating to consultation issues 5. State and federal statutes relating to client confidentiality
Research/Evaluation
Knowledge and skills considered essential to understanding and conducting research and evaluation in career counseling and development. Demonstration of ability to:
1. Write a research proposal 2. Use types of research and research designs appropriate to career counseling and development research 3. Convey research findings related to the effectiveness of career counseling programs 4. Design, conduct, and use the results of evaluation programs 5. Design evaluation programs which take into account the need of various diverse populations, including persons of both genders, differing sexual orientations, different ethnic and racial backgrounds, and differing physical and mental capacities 6. Apply appropriate statistical procedures to career development research
Technology
Knowledge and skills considered essential in using technology to assist individuals with career planning. Demonstration of knowledge of:
1. Various computer-based guidance and information systems as well as services available on the Internet 2. Standards by which such systems and services are evaluated 3. Ways in which to use computer-based systems and Internet services to assist individuals with career planning that are consistent with ethical standards 4. Characteristics of clients which make them profit more or less from use of technology-driven systems 5. Methods to evaluate and select a system to meet local needs
24 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
process and emphasizing the importance of including cultural context (Chung, 2001; Lee, 2012; Pope, 2012). Models of identity development as they relate to gender, race, sexual orien- tation, and disability status are increasingly being integrated into career development theory and practice (Pope, 2000). Career treatment outcome studies are also moving beyond tradi- tional college student samples to examine intervention effects with more diverse populations (Luzzo, 2000).
exposing the myriad ways that societal context artificially limits career development for many people has awakened career theorists and practitioners to the importance of addressing social justice in career development interventions (Blustein, 2013; Chope, 2006; O’Brien, 2001). Lee (1989) agrees, stating that career counselors must act as “career development advocates for disenfranchised clients by actively challenging long-standing traditions that stand in the way of equity in the workplace” (p. 219). Indeed, striving for social justice through career interventions commenced with the work of Frank Parsons and, therefore, is an important theme throughout the history of the field. In this regard, Herr and Niles (1998) note:
for most of the last 100 years, whether or not it has been explicit, counseling and, in particular, career counseling and career guidance have become sociopolitical instruments, identified by leg- islation at the federal level, to deal with emerging social concerns such as equity and excellence in educational and occupational opportunities, unemployment, human capital development, per- sons with disabilities, child abuse, AIDS, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, career decision making relative to the preparation for entrance into emerging skilled occupations, and the identi- fication and encouragement of students with high academic potential to enter higher education in science and mathematics. (p. 121)
revitalizing the spirit of social justice by maximizing opportunities for all members of society is becoming an essential aspect of career interventions for many practitioners (see Blustein, 2006).
Conducting career interventions for social change requires counselors to provide multifac- eted approaches and expand their roles beyond traditional practice. Career counseling for social change begins with practitioners possessing the multicultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to understand how a client’s environment influences the interpretations and meanings he or she attaches to work and employment opportunities. Multicultural competencies are the foundation for identifying social action strategies to facilitate career development.
Career practitioners engaged in social action also use community resources to give clients access to information and opportunities (employment offices, “one-stop career shops,” support groups). these counselors serve as facilitators of social change by providing information, refer- rals, and encouragement to clients (enright, Conyers, & Szymanski, 1996). to play this role effectively, career counselors are required to maintain files of useful resources, including names of potential mentors representing a diversity of backgrounds (African American; Asian American; persons with disabilities; members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community), information on accommodations for disabled persons with different functional limitations, names of employers willing to provide opportunities for job shadowing and internships, and names of persons willing to participate in informational interviewing experiences (p. 111).
Having a thorough knowledge of community career resources also empowers counselors to identify areas where services are lacking. When they do, counselors take on a strong advocacy role and seek to rectify service deficiencies in their communities (Lee, 1989).
Advocacy is also important when clients’ career concerns are the result of external factors such as large-scale downsizing, wage stagnation, and salary inequities experienced by women,
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 25
persons of color, and persons with disabilities. Women working full-time earn 77% of what their male counterparts earn (Pew research Center, 2014). the inequities experienced by persons with disabilities are even greater. In February 2015, 8.7 million people were unemployed in the United States, 2.7 million of whom had been unemployed longer than 27 weeks (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). those who have not experienced job loss, either directly or indirectly through a family member or close friend, are acutely aware of the tenuous nature of job security and experience high levels of guilt, fear, and anxiety.
Career counselors concerned with social justice address community concerns as well as those of individual clients (Cahill & Martland, 1996), and they do it by integrating individual career counseling skills and community counseling skills. Integrating strategies is critical in rural communities where economic restructuring can threaten their very existence. Cahill and Mart- land argue that community career counseling builds on the strength of individual career counsel- ing and offers assistance to people struggling to maintain their communities. thus, in addition to individual career counseling skills, career practitioners need skills in facilitating group problem solving and consensus building, and an understanding of social and economic factors that affect careers in contemporary society. Finally, Ludwikowski, Vogel, and Armstrong (2009) point out the importance of career interventions that engage potential clients via their social networks, electronic and otherwise. the use of social media to communicate the importance of career counseling and normalize use of pertinent resources may help reduce the stigma of seeking counseling in the first place.
Career counselors who instill hope in their clients and empower them to manage their careers are multiculturally competent. they convey information and referrals; advocate for their clients when employment practices and community traditions impede equity in the workplace; and integrate individual career counseling skills with community counseling skills to help people maintain their communities and create opportunities for career development (Blustein, 2006; Chope, 2006).
future trends In career development InterventIons Bingham and Ward (1994) note that “if vocational counseling was born from the changing demo- graphics and economic needs of this century, then clearly career counseling will need to change in response to the changing needs of the coming century” (p. 168). Indeed, technological advancement, the emergence of an interdependent global economy, and an increasingly diverse workforce demand that career development theory and practice be revised to meet the challenges confronting 21st-century workers.
Change is happening everywhere, all the time. News reports cite statistics about high levels of global unemployment, corporate downsizing, and a jobless economic recovery, suggesting that the social contract between employer and employee is gone. More companies are now offering day care and parental leave, more families require dual earners, and more and more people are working from home. this reflects the strong intertwining of work and family roles. thus, career theories, career interventions, and career development professionals must respond to evolution- ary shifts in the nature of work.
Moreover, career development interventions must reflect the shifts we are experiencing in work—that adults will change jobs and even careers numerous times during their lives, that life- long learning is essential to maintaining marketability, that life roles interact with both work roles
26 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
and one another, that rapid changes in the world of work are a given, and that everyone must become skilled at interacting with a diverse array of coworkers. In 2003, Herr contended that the demand for career assistance would expand due to rising unemployment rates and an increase in part-time work. His prediction is now a reality.
How we intervene in the lives of the clients we serve is guided by our understanding of how these contextual shifts influence what people must do to further their careers. Savickas (1993) offers an interpretation of what is required to move the profession forward—namely, that in the 21st century career development professionals will shift from supporting the 20th-century notion of careerism to fostering self-affirmation in their clients. People will need to be encouraged to make a commitment to their culture and community and learn how to develop and express their values in the real world. rather than providing clients with predefined services in a one-size-fits-all approach, counselors will collaborate with them to help interpret their life experiences within the context of their evolving careers. rather than emphasizing a singular truth or objective, counselors will move toward appreciating multi- ple realities, perspectives, and relationships (Savickas). A primary task of career practitio- ners involves clarifying rather than assuming how they can be useful to their clients. Achieving this basic and essential understanding requires them to be skilled at providing culturally appropriate career interventions.
In addition to the Savickas (1993) article, a special issue of The Career Development Quarterly (September 2003) is one of the few examples in the literature in which future direc- tions for career counseling are identified. Building on these contributions, we identify several ways in which career development professionals can construct interventions that respond to clients’ concerns.
move to vIeWIng career decIsIons as values-Based decIsIons
Career decisions are values-based decisions. Some values will figure prominently, and others will be abandoned, subordinated, or distorted in a career transition. Indeed, career decisions entail determining what is to prevail and what is to be sacrificed (Cochran, 1997). Without the promise of gain and the threat of loss, there is no decision to make. One might seize what appears to be a perfect opportunity. Yet people must evaluate to decide, and their values influence who they will become and the lives they will live. Career practitioners can empower clients to make choices that implement their values by serving as counselor, coach, and advocate for their clients.
move Beyond oBjectIve assessment the increased emphasis on values clarification means that providing clients with information about themselves and the world of work through objective assessment is not enough. Whereas information about how one’s interests compare with those of others and where one stands on the normal curve is helpful, most people don’t think of themselves as locations on a curve. rather, they focus on trying to extract meaning from their life experiences. Some experiences command more attention than others—usually the painful ones. A painful or negative experience creates a yearning for its opposite, which becomes an ideal toward which to strive (Watkins & Savickas,
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 27
1990). In this sense, our early preoccupations point us toward what may later become our occu- pation. Our experiences are the backdrop against which we identify our values, interests, and skills, which we then try to connect to career options. Contemporary career development inter- ventions must help people clarify and articulate these experiences and their meaning.
move to counselIng-Based career assIstance We have established that personal and career concerns are inextricably intertwined. Many adults who seek career counseling are struggling with uncertainty, ambiguity, low self-efficacy, and per- sonal as well as occupational information deficits (Niles & Anderson, 1995). Clients also report valuing the relationship they have with their counselor, and often discuss general as well as career concerns (Anderson & Niles, 2000). Many conclude that few things are more personal than career choice, and that the overlap between career and general concerns is substantial (Anderson & Niles, 1995; Krumboltz, 1993; Savickas, 2010; Subich, 1993). Career develop- ment practitioners respond by offering counseling-based career assistance.
Practitioners offering counseling-based career assistance do not view their clients as the problem and the counselor as the solution (Savickas, 1993). rather, they seek to empower clients to articulate their experiences and direct their own lives. Savickas noted that such practitioners function as collaborators in the process and pay special attention to the counseling relationship (Anderson & Niles, 2000). Moreover, Savickas (2010) contends that all career counseling involves helping clients make decisions by increasing their “(1) concern about work, (2) sense of control over their career, (3) curiosity about opportunities, and (4) confidence in their ability to make a choice” (p. 1843). We agree with Savickas but extend his recommendations to increasing the client’s confidence beyond making a choice to implementing and adjusting to that choice. We also believe it is necessary for clients to become curious about themselves as well as their oppor- tunities. Career counselors may express curiosity about a client’s situation to foster and model curiosity within the client.
move to a stronger emphasIs on multIcultural career development theorIes and InterventIons
Meeting the career development needs of a diverse population has been a significant issue in the literature since the early 1980s (Sue et al., 1982). It becomes even more significant given the increasing diversity within society and the workforce (Parmer & rush, 2003). Career develop- ment interventions must address the “effects of social and economic barriers such as economic hardship, immigration disruption, and racial discrimination on the career behavior of ethnic minority individuals” (Leong, 1995, p. 550). We can expand Leong’s list to include persons with disabilities and persons who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, or questioning ( Hershenson, 2005). Moreover, career practitioners must be aware of the world views embedded in their interventions and offer assistance congruent with the client’s worldview (Fouad & Byars- Winston, 2005). Byars-Winston and Fouad (2006) recommend that career counselors engage in self-reflection throughout the counseling process so they may examine how their personal cultural contexts influence it. thus, providing multicultural career development interventions requires counselors to be culturally sensitive and aware of both their own values and how their
28 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
cultural assumptions affect their clients. Pope-Davis and Dings (1995) noted that multiculturally competent counselors must also:
consider factors such as the impact of the sociopolitical system on people of color in the United States, have knowledge and information about particular cultural groups, and be able to generate a wide range of appropriate verbal/nonverbal responses to client needs. (p. 288)
this contrasts with many career theories and practices with limited relevance for clients out- side eurocentric worldviews emphasizing individualism and self-actualization in career behavior (Byars-Winston & Fouad, 2006; Hershenson, 2005; Leong, 1995). It also reinforces the impor- tance of context in career development. Blustein (1994) defined context as “that group of settings that influence developmental progress, encompassing contemporary and distal familial, social, and economic circumstances” (p. 143). Diversity among clients and their concerns requires that context be considered when constructing and implementing career development interventions. to do otherwise is to risk providing “culturally encapsulated” (Wrenn, 1962) career assistance.
move to focusIng on multIple lIfe roles Incorporating context into career development interventions also requires practitioners to acknowledge that the “boxes of life” metaphor does not reflect life as many people know it. We don’t live in compartmentalized life-role “silos.” For some people, work provides a structure for personality organization; for others, work is more peripheral. to understand a person’s career, you must understand the person’s web of life roles. How a person structures the basic roles of living organizes and shapes his or her engagement with society (Super, Savickas, & Super, 1996). theories and interventions that don’t acknowledge this are addressing life situations that don’t exist. Life roles interact and influence each other so that the same job may hold different mean- ings for two workers who live in different contexts. People seek to express specific values in each of their life roles, so practitioners must encourage clients to clarify and articulate the values they seek to express. Once they clarify and articulate these values, clients can be encouraged to iden- tify outlets for expressing them in their salient life roles (Super, 1980). the increase in work- family conflict reported by both men and women (Williams & Boushey, 2010) reinforces the need for career interventions to address a person’s life structure. Career development interven- tions in the 21st century must address the totality of a client’s career concerns so she or he can be empowered to not only make a good living but also make a good life.
move to advocatIng for socIal justIce the NCDA Career Counseling Competencies (2009) identify the need for career counselors to engage in advocacy for social justice and note the following competencies:
• Identify community resources and establish linkages to assist clients with specific needs. • Assist other staff members, professionals, and community members in understanding the
unique needs/characteristics of diverse populations with regard to career exploration, employment expectations, and economic/social issues.
• Advocate for the career development and employment of diverse populations. • Design and deliver career development programs and materials to hard-to-reach populations.
CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions 29
Such competencies require counselors to move beyond individual and group counseling inter- ventions. toporek (2006) also emphasizes the role of career counselors as social change agents and advocates. toporek and Liu (2001) define advocacy as “action taken by counseling professionals to facilitate the removal of external and institutional barriers to clients’ well-being” (p. 387). toporek and Liu also note that advocacy involves counselor actions ranging from empowerment to social action. empowerment tends to involve individual and group-level interventions; social action involves engaging in the political process via actions such as writing a letter to the editor, meeting with congressional representatives, conferring with lobbyists, collaborating with special interest groups to influence the legislative process, and organizing labor demonstrations or strikes. As we write this, Indiana and Arkansas are passing new legislation permitting businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples on religious grounds, sparking protests and boycotts by entities as diverse as Walmart, Apple, the NCAA, and entertainers canceling tour dates (tabuchi & Barbaro, 2015). the broad-based reaction against this legislation has caused states to back away from religious free- dom discrimination acts written in such a way as to allow discrimination against sexual minorities. When a popular restaurant chain engaged in discriminatory practices toward sexual minorities a few years ago, human rights groups organized protests at several of its locations. the negative pub- licity persuaded the chain to change its practices. Similar actions and congressional testimony have led to more stringent workplace safety standards, legislation protecting persons with disabilities, nondiscriminatory practices in hiring racial and ethnic minorities, and so on.
MyCounselingLab®
Start with Topic 1—Work and Topic 2—American Occupational Structure.
summary
Careers are person specific and created by choices we make throughout our lives. Careers emerge from constant interplay between people and their environ- ments, and they include a person’s activities both prior to entering the workforce and after. Careers are personal and encompass the constellation of life roles that we play. thus, managing a career effec- tively involves integrating life roles effectively. Careers are manifestations of our attempts to derive
meaning from our experiences. the career develop- ment process is a spiritual journey reflecting interac- tions between how we choose to spend our time on earth and the opportunities we experience while we’re here. Professional counselors must be mindful of this as they begin to intervene in the lives of their clients. If Chandra and her classmates were to read this, we hope they’d agree that helping others build a career is exciting and fulfilling work.
case study
Carlos came to an urban career center for counsel- ing. At his first appointment, he said he had heard that career counselors survey people’s interests, and he wanted to take such a survey to find out what he should do with the rest of his life. He said that he
decided to pursue career counseling because his wife had been urging him to get help.
Carlos said that he had been in the navy for the last 21 years and joined up after graduating from high school because there were no jobs in rural
30 CHAPter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
student actIvItIes
1. What are your assumptions about career devel- opment interventions? rate them on a scale of 1 (boring) to 10 (exciting). Discuss your reasons for your rating.
2. Have you ever received career counseling? What happened? What was helpful? What was not helpful?
3. Consider your own motivation for working. Do you think you work to live, or do you live to work? What are the pros and cons of these approaches?
4. review the history of career development inter- ventions. Identify two ways in which cultural and historical events have influenced career de- velopment interventions.
5. Identify which of your life roles are most impor- tant to you. How do your life roles interact with one another? What is your most important life role now? What values do you try to express in your most important life role?
Arizona, where he grew up. Carlos’s expertise was in radar and sonar maintenance, and he spent most of his naval career on ships and submarines, managing crews of 15 to 50 people. He enjoyed the work but said that being a supervisor was very frustrating at times, and he often decided it was easier to do a job himself than to rely on others. When he was not pro- moted to a higher rank, he retired.
Carlos began looking for work as a manager, but after eight months of searching had received no offers. Although his retirement income and his wife’s part-time job had been sufficient to meet the mort- gage and basic utility bills, Carlos had borrowed heavily to meet other expenses. He and his wife were rapidly depleting the savings intended for the educa-
tion of their children—two sons ages 16 and 18, and a daughter, 12.
Carlos reported that lately he had been feeling tired most of the time. even horticulture, his hobby and passion since boyhood, was not satisfying now. He confessed that he had been drinking heavily for the past month and that some days he just stays in his bathrobe and watches television. He said he hopes that finding out about his interests will help him get back on track.
How would you work with Carlos if you were his career counselor? Would you give him the interest assessment he seeks? Would you refer him for personal counseling? What additional information would you elicit from Carlos were you to work with him?
31
Juana is a 17-year-old Latina in 12th grade in a predominantly white, middle-class public school. She is highly intelligent but dislikes school. She associates with a group of girls who are often in trouble with the police; recently, some of them were arrested for possession of marijuana. It is your impression, however, that these friendships are
MyCounselingLab®
Visit the MyCounselingLab® site for Career Development Interventions, Fifth Edition, to enhance your understanding of chapter concepts. You will have the opportunity to practice applying what you learned in the chapter by completing the video- and case-based exercises in the MyLab. Taking the Licensure Quizzes will help you prepare for your certification exam.
CHAPTER 2
Understanding and applying theories of Career development
Don’t Let Theories Boggle Your Mind! It’s easy to be intimated by the word theory. A theory is just an explanation—an oversimplified
explanation of what is going on. The real world is an extremely complicated place. Human beings and their behavior are so complex
that no one understands completely why people think, feel, and act as they do. A theory is like a road map. Suppose you have a map of California and you want to drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles. You see a red line marked “101” stretching between the two cities. Aha, you think, I’ll drive down that red highway 101. But when you get to the highway, you see it is black asphalt. Why does the map show it to be red? The map lies! Why does the map lie? Because the mapmaker wants to make it easier for you to see the path. You drive down the highway and see office buildings, gardens, and swimming pools, but none of them are indicated on the map. The map not only distorts reality—it also omits zillions of details. Why? Because all those details would make it too complicated to find the best route between two cities.
In the same way, a theory attempts to explain a complex situation by overemphasizing and distort- ing the importance of certain variables while ignoring completely other variables that the theory-maker considers irrelevant. Theories are oversimplifications, just as road maps are oversimplifications. Yet road maps are very useful for certain purposes—even with all their faults. Similarly, theories can be useful— even with their faults.
A theory is just a way of oversimplifying a complex situation so that it is easier for you to see the big picture. That picture is not reality itself—just one theory maker’s version of it.
John Krumboltz Professor, Graduate School of Education
Stanford University
32 CHAPTER 2 Understanding and Applying Theories of Career Development
superficial. Juana is not hostile or disrespectful. However, she routinely hands in school- work late, if at all. Her parents have asked you to help her make a good career choice.
Juana is apathetic in most of her classes, but she enjoys art (especially painting) and playing flute in the school band. She dislikes math but has fairly strong interests in politics and has strong language skills. Juana has two younger sisters, ages 12 and 14. Her mother works as a teacher’s aide in a local elementary school, and her father works as a salesman in a local car dealership. Juana’s current plans are to finish high school; she has no plans beyond that, although she has said she “might like to be in a rock band.” She agrees to meet with you to discuss her future.
Career development theories As you read about career development theories in the pages ahead, we encourage you to keep John Krumboltz’s comments in mind and reflect on how effectively each theory addresses Juana’s potential career path. You will notice that the theories differ in their coverage of career develop- ment compared to career decision making. Savickas (2002) notes that theories emphasize either individual differences related to occupations (describing how people can find their fit within the occupational structure) or individual development related to careers (how people manifest career behaviors across time). For example, developmental theories (Super, Gottfredson) highlight the manifestation of career behaviors over time. Person-environment theories (Work Adjustment Theory, Holland) address the essential ingredients (occupational and self-information) for choos- ing an occupation. One reason for studying various approaches to career theory is that no one theory adequately explains the totality of individual or group career behavior. As Super (1992) observed, the question of which theory is better is specious because the theories complement one another in addressing various facets of career behavior. As John Krumboltz (1996) notes, theories are useful despite their faults. We encourage you to become familiar with research into career theories, integrating the literature and your own experience to determine how career development theories help you work effectively with students and clients.
