Career Counseling

Career Counseling Charlene M. Alexander, Ph.D. Ball State University

History of Career Counseling • Guidance and Counseling emerged in the 1920s for the primary purpose of assisting students with occupational selection and placement • The National Defense Education Act of 1956 (NDEA) provided funding for secondary school counselors who were required to have expertise in college admissions and skills to help students resolve personal problems that might be a barrier to academic success. • Guidance and Counseling have been used interchangeably since the terms were first introduced more than fifty years ago. Robert Mathewson (1949) is credited as being the first writer to use the term developmental guidance in the school counseling literature. • The terms vocational, occupation, and job are also used interchangeably. Career refers to the activities and positions involved in vocations, occupations, and jobs as well as to related activities associated with an individual’s lifetime work.

Career Counseling Theories Historical • Trait and factor Theory • Personal-Environment-Correspondence Counseling • Developmental Theories • Ann Roe: A Needs Approach • John Holland: A Typology Approach • Krumboltz’s Learning Theory of Career Counseling and • Sociological Perspective of Work and Career Development

Trait and Factor Theory • Trait and Factor means to match the individual’s traits with the requirements of a specific occupation. Proponents of this theory were Parsons (1909) and Williamson, (1939, 1965) • This theory evolved from early studies of individual differences and developed closely with the testing or psychometric movement • The Key characteristic of this theory is the assumption that individuals have unique patterns of ability or traits that can be objectively measured and correlated with the requirements of various types of jobs • Critics of the theory argue that it is a static theory rather than a developmental one. It does not account for how interest, values, aptitudes, achievement and personalities grow.

Personal-Environment-Correspondence (PEC)Counseling • This theory has a long history and as late as the 1990s it was referred to as the theory of work adjustment. • This theory explores how individuals interact in their everyday lives as well as how they interact in the work environment. • The main points of this theory are: • Work personality and work environment should be amenable • Individual needs and most important in determining an individual’s fit into the work environment. • Individual needs and the reinforcer system that characterizes the work setting are important aspects of stability and tenure and • Job placement is best accomplished through a match of worker traits with the requirements of a work environment. • Research suggest a strong relationship between job satisfaction and work adjustment • Critics argue that it is difficult for counselors to identify occupational reinforces because of the lack of relevant research in this area.

Developmental Theories • The assumptions of these developmental theories are similar to those of the trait-and factor approach but the primary assumption is that career development is a process that takes place over the life span • Ginzberg and Associates identified 3 stages of career development: fantasy, tentative, and realistic. • Fantasy: (before age 11). Purely play orientation in the initial stage; near end of this stage, play becomes work-oriented • Tentative: (ages 11-17). Transitional process marked by gradual recognition of work requirements; recognition of interest, abilities, work rewards, values, and time perspective. • Realistic: Middle adolescence (ages 17 to young adult). Integration of capacities and interest: further development of values; specification of occupational choice; crystallization of occupational patterns

The Life-Span, Life-Space Approach to Careers • Developed by Donald Super. Self-concept theory is a vital part of Super’s approach to vocational behavior. Five vocational developmental stages were identified: • Growth: (birth to age 14 or 15), characterized by development of capacity, attitudes, interests, and needs associated with self-concepts. • Exploratory: (ages 15-24), characterized by a tentative phase on which choices are narrowed but not finalized • Establishment: (ages 25-44), characterized by trial and stabilization through work experiences. • Maintenance (ages 45-64). Characterized by a continual adjustment process to improve working position and situation • Decline: (ages 65+), characterized by pre retirement considerations, reduced work output, and eventual retirement.

The Life-Span, Life-Space Approach to Careers (Cont.) • Crystallization: 14-18, a cognitive process period of formulating a general vocational goal through awareness of resources, contingencies, interests, values, and planning for the preferred occupation • Specification: 18-21, a period of moving from tentative vocational preferences toward a specific vocational preference • Implementation: 21-24, a period of completing training for vocational preference and entering employment • Stabilization: 24-35, a period of confirming a preferred career by actual work experience and use of talents to demonstrate career choice as an appropriate one • Consolidation 35+, A period of establishment in a career by advancement, status, and seniority

Ann Roe: A Needs Approach • Ann Roe (1956) explores early relationships within the family and their subsequent effects on career direction. • Her main trust was to analyze differences in personality, aptitude, intelligence and background as related to career choice. • She emphasized that early childhood experiences (frustrations and satisfactions) play an important role in finding satisfaction in one’s chosen field. • Roe classified occupations into two major categories: Personal -oriented and nonperson-oriented. Roe believed that those who choose to work in person oriented occupations were reared by warm and accepting parents and those who avoid contact with others were reared by cold or rejecting parents

John Holland : A Typology Approach • Holland (1992) believes that individuals are attracted to a given career by their particular personalities and numerous variables that constitute their back-grounds. • Holland proposed six kinds of modal occupational environments and six matching modal personal orientations: Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Artistic (A), Social (S), Enterprising (E), and Conventional (C). • Holland proposed that personality types can be arranges in a coded system according to dominant combinations. • Four basic assumptions underlying Holland’s (1992) theory: • Most people can be categorized as one of the six types. • There are six kinds of environments; • People search for environments that will let them exercise their skills and abilities, express their attitudes and values, and take on agreeable problems and roles. • A person’s behavior is determined by an interaction between his personality and the characteristics of his environment

John Holland : A Typology Approach (cont.) • Holland introduces five key concepts to explain the model • Consistency : relates to personality as well as to environment. Some types have more in common with others, e.g social and artistic have more in common than investigative and enterprising. • Differentiation : Individuals who fit a pure personality type will express little resemblance to other types. Conversely, those individuals who fit several personality types have poorly defined personality styles and are considered undifferentiated or poorly defined. • Identity : describes those individuals who have a clear and stable picture of their goals, interest, and talents. Individuals who have many occupational goals, as opposed to a few, have low identity. • Congruence : occurs when an individual’s personality type matches the work environment. • Calculus: the relationship between types of occupational environments lend themselves to research.

Krumboltz’s Learning Theory of Career Development • Krumboltz (1975) first proposed a social learning approach to career decision making. Now known as the Learning Theory of Career Counseling (LTCC). • LTCC suggest the following four factors contribute to career development: • Genetic endowments and special abilities ( inherited qualities that may set limits on the individual) • Environmental conditions and events ( events beyond the individual’s control, government policies etc.) • Learning experiences (these are experiences learned through reactions to consequences and negative and positive reactions to pairs of previously neutral situations, e.g. all politicians are dishonest) • Task approach skills (these are skills the individual has developed, e.g. problem solving skills, work habits, emotional responses)

Sociological Perspective of Work and Career Development • Developed by Blau, Gustad, Jessor, Parnes, and Wilcox (1956). • This theory suggest that the effects of social institutions on career choice and development is due in part to the interrelationship of psychological, economic and sociological determinants of occupational choice and development. • Individual characteristics that are responsible for choice are biologically determined and socially conditioned through family influences, social position, and developed social-role characteristics.

Sociological Perspective of Work and Career Development (cont.) • Factors Influencing the Sociological Perspective • Status Attainment Theory: Parental status greatly affects the occupational level of their children. • Sociology of Labor Markets: institutional practices rather than individual career aspirations shape career outcomes • Race and Gender Effects: Women tend to be concentrated in a narrow band of occupations that pay less than men earn. • School Processes: Ability grouping and tracking of students mirrors the larger society and inhibits student development. • Youth Competence and Outcomes of Youth Work: Adolescent competence regarding mastery of behavior during high school years greatly influences later educational attainment, career stability and marital status. • Family Effects: No relationship found between maternal employment and the child’s social behavior • Work Commitment:The stronger the intrinsic rewards, and match to workers abilities leads to greater worker attachment.

Theories of Career Development II Current Theories • Career Development from a Cognitive Information Processing Perspective • Career Development from a Social Cognitive Perspective • Brown’s Values-Based, Holistic Model of Career and Life-Role Choices and Satisfaction • A Contextual Explanation of Career and • Self-Efficacy Theory

Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) Perspective • CIP theory was developed by Peterson Sampson, and Reardon (1991). • Refers to how individual make a career decision and use information in career problem solving and decision making.

Major assumptions of CIP • Career choice results from an interaction of cognitive and affective processes • Making career choices is a problem-solving activity • The capabilities of career problem solvers depend on the availability of cognitive operations as well as knowledge • Career problem solving is a high-memory-load task • Motivation to make satisfying career choices through a better understanding of world and self is critical • Career development involves continual growth and change in knowledge structures

Major Assumptions of CIP • Career identity depends on self-knowledge • Career maturity depends on one’s ability to solve career problems • The ultimate goal of career counseling is achieved by facilitating the growth of information-processing skills • The ultimate aim of career counseling is to enhance the client’s capabilities as a career problem solver and as a decision maker

Career development from a social cognitive career perspective (SCCT) • Developed by Lent, Brown, and Hackett (1996) • Goals are: • Find methods of defining specific mediators from which learning experiences shape and subsequently influence career behaviors. • Attend to: • Personal and physical attributes • External environmental factors • Overt behaviors

National Standards for Career Development • Standard A: Students will acquire the skills to investigate the world of work in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions • Standard B: Students will employ strategies to achieve future career success and satisfaction • Standard C: Students will understand the relationship between personal qualities, education and training, and the world of work.

Career Development: Standard AStudents will acquire the skills to investigate the world of work in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions • Student Competencies • Develop Career Awareness, Students will: • Develop skills to locate, evaluate, and interpret career information • Learn about the variety of traditional and non-traditional occupations • Develop an awareness of personal abilities, skills, interest, and motivations • Learn how to interact and work cooperatively in teams • Learn to make decisions • Learn how to set goals • Understand the importance of planning • Pursue and develop competency in areas of interest • Develop hobbies and vocational interests • Balance between work and leisure time

Career Development: Standard AStudents will acquire the skills to investigate the world of work in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions • Student Competencies • Develop Employment Readiness, Students will: • Acquire employability skills such as working on a team, problem-solving and organizational skills • Apply job readiness skills to seek employment opportunities • Demonstrate knowledge about the changing workplace • Learn about the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees • Learn to respect the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees • Learn how to write a resume • Develop a positive attitude toward work and learning • Understand the importance of responsibility, dependability, punctuality, integrity, and effort in the workplace • Utilize time and task management skills

Career Development: Standard BStudents will employ strategies to achieve future career goals with success and satisfaction • Student Competencies • Acquire Career Information, Students will: • Apply decision-making skills to career planning, course selection , and career transitions • Identify personal skills, interest, and abilities and relate them to current career choices • Demonstrate knowledge of the career planning process • Know the various ways which occupations can be classified • Use research and information resources to obtain career information • Learn to use the Internet to access career planning information • Describe traditional and non-traditional occupations and how these relate to career choice • Understand how changing economic and societal needs influence employment trends and future training

Career Development: Standard BStudents will employ strategies to achieve future career goals with success and satisfaction • Student Competencies • Identify Career Goals, Students will: • Demonstrate awareness of the education and training needed to achieve career goals • Assess and modify their educational plan to support career goals • Use employability and job readiness skills in internship, mentoring, shadowing, and/or other world of work experiences • Select course work that is related to career interests • Maintain a career planning portfolio

Career Development: Standard CStudents will understand the relationship between personal qualities, education, training, and the world of work • Student Competencies • Acquire Knowledge to Achieve Career Goals, Students will: • Understand the relationship between educational achievement and career success • Explain how work can help to achieve personal success and satisfaction • Identify personal preferences and interest which influence career choices and success • Understand that the chainging workplace requires learning and acquiring new skills • Describe the effect of work on lifestyles • Understand the importance of equity and access in career choice • Understand that work is an important and satisfying means of personal expression

Career Development: Standard CStudents will understand the relationship between personal qualities, education, training, and the world of work • Student Competencies • Apply Skills to Achieve Career Goals, Students will: • Demonstrate how interest, abilities, and achievement relate to achieving personal, social, educational, and career goals • Learn how to use conflict management skills with peers and adults • Learn to work cooperatively with others as a team member • Apply academic and employment readiness skills in work-based learning situations such as internships, shadowing, and/or mentoring experiences

Outline of The Career Intake Interview • Current Status Information • General Appearance • Attitude and behavior • Affect and Mood • Demographic Information • Volunteer/Work Experience • Medical History • Educational History • Family History

Outline of The Career Intake Interview (con.t) II. Discovering the student’s understanding of life Roles and Potential Conflicts A. Worker Role B. Homemaker- Spouse, Parent C. Leisure Role D. Citizen Role III. Identify problems that may Interfere with Career Development A. Problems in living B. Behaviors that can lead to Work Maladjustment C. Faulty Cognitions D. Memory and Persistence

Outline of The Career Intake Interview (CONT.) IV. Developing Goals and Objectives A. Identify Student Goals B. Determine the Feasibility of Goals C. Establishing Sub-Goals D. Assessing Commitment to Goals

Planning for Life Strategies • “Planning for Life” is a national program that recognizes outstanding career counseling programs. The specific elements are: • Clarity of purpose is the sharing of the program’s purpose with school, family, business, and community • Commitment suggest that an investment of resources from all parts of the community is essential • Comprehensiveness ensures that the program addresses all participants in the community with all career and educational opportunities • Collaboration refers to the degree to which schools, family, business, and community share program ownership • Coherence is the term used to make certain that there is a documented plan for all students. • Coordination is the degree to which the program in interdisciplinary and career planning is developmental • Competency is proof of student attainment

Career and College Exploration ProgramsCareer Week Speaker ProfileSpeaking Outline • Introduce yourself with name and title • Describe what you do. Use stories or examples to relate details of every-day work. If you have a visible job that students may already know something about, tell something about your job that might surprise them. • Describe your working conditions including the physical setting, dress requirements, hours, pay range, and availability of similar positions • Relate how you became interested in this occupation • Discuss ways these students might explore a possible interest in your field, such as classes to take, volunteering, internships, shadowing, and others • Tell about related careers in your field, including those with different educational requirements

Career Information on the Internet • www.advisorteam.com- The Keirsey Temperament Sorter • http://icpac.indiana.edu/exercises/merklerex.xml Merkler Style Preference Inventory Scavenger hunt • www.career net. Org www.bls.gov U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics • www.bls.gov/oco/- Occupational Outlook Handbook • http://stats.bls.gov/oco/oco2003.htm Tomorrow’s jobs • http://jobsmart.org/tools/career Jobstar Guides for Specific Careers • www.udel.edu/csc/mrk.html University of Delaware-choosing a major in college • www.monster.com Job search • www.pbs.org/jobs Kids and Careers • www.how-to-study.com • www.thecircuit.org • www.usnews.com/usnews/nych/work/wocciss.htm- Campbell Interest and Skills Survey

Career Counseling