Review of Career Assessments

1. Review of Career Assessments

2. Agenda • Review how assessment fits into career counseling process • Review specific assessments • Standardized: Self-Directed Search, Career Thoughts Inventory • Non-standardized: Card Sorts, Ideal Day, Genograms, Decision Space Worksheet

3. which test is right? • Client need • Test purpose • Standardized vs. non-standardized • Psychometric properties • Cost • What’s available

4. Goals of Career Assessment? • Identifying skills, proficiencies, abilities • Unearthing career beliefs • Identifying academic achievement • Identifying/confirming interest • Discovering personality variables • Determining values • Exploring career readiness variables

5. Part of the Process www.onetcenter.org http://www.bls.gov/ooh/

6. Interest Inventories • Rationale: people who have interest patterns similar to those in a certain occupational group will probably find satisfaction in that occupational group

7. Issues with Interest Testing • Stability of interests • Job success correlated with aptitudes more than interests • Easy to fake • Response set • Flat profiles hard to interpret • Forced choice difficult Low scores just as important as high scores and more predictive than high scores • SES Class (mid/high more predictive) • More geared towards professions (than semi-skilled)

8. Self-Directed Search-Let’s Party!

10. SDS Secondary Constructs • Consistency • Congruency • Commonness • Differentiation • Profile Elevation • Similar to Strong Interest Inventory

11. SDS-Other • Dealing with Unusual Codes • “I don’t like these jobs” • Occupations Finder • narrowing the list, theme analysis, next steps

12. Campbell Interest & Skill Model

13. Campbell Interest & Skill Model

14. Defining Barriers • General: • something material that blocks or is intended to block passage • a natural formation or structure that prevents or hinders movement or action • a medieval war game in which combatants fight on foot with a fence or railing between them • something immaterial that impedes or separates

15. Potential Barriers

16. What else? Correlates of Career Indecision • Anxiety • Procrastination • External locus of control • Lower levels of vocational identity • Lower career decision-making self-efficacy • Perfectionism • Self-consciousness • Fear of commitment

17. How do we know a barrier exists? • Some questions to consider: • Just one, or many? • Is there a theme? • What is the impact? • On self-knowledge • On knowledge about options • On decision making (acute or chronic indecision?) • When/how do you address? • Real or perceived? Or Both?

18. Impact of negative thinking I’m not smart enough to go into that field. I’ll never be able to decide I should have made up my mind about a career by now. If I change my mind now, Everyone will think I Wasted my time & money. I can’t make good decisions. My interests are always changing I’m so anxious, I know I’ll make the wrong choice. I have to make the right decision. I always regret the decisions I make. There are too many options to choose from; it’s too overwhelming to even get started.

19. But one negative thought isn’t so bad, is it? Even just one negative thought could blocka client’s viewof their options even more, given the particular nature of the thought and it’s impact on your decision-making process. I’m not good at anything!!!

20. Negative Impact of negative thinking? • They color: • A client’s perception of interests and abilities • Whether they think a certain career is a good choice • How the client evaluates options • How the client make career decisions • Negative thoughts trickle down into all other components of career decision making Thinking About Decisions Decision- Making Knowledge About Options Self- Knowledge

21. Standardized Instruments Others: CASI, Career Decision Profile; Career Factors Inventory; BESI

22. www.vocopher.com

23. General Administration & Interpreting for these instruments • How to introduce? • “I’d like to get a better sense of what might be getting in the way of your decision.” • Interpreting • Overall • Specific items • Workbook (CTI) • Reframing

24. Career Thoughts Inventory • Measures dysfunctional career thoughts • Why??? • Based on Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) theory DCTs make up over 60% of the variance in career indecision.

25. Pyramid of Information Processing Domains (Understanding What’s Involved in A Career Choice) Dysfunctional Career Thoughts Executive Processing Domain Meta-cognitions Decision-Making Skills Domain CASVE Cycle SelfKnowledge OccupationalKnowledge Knowledge Domains http://www.career.fsu.edu/techcenter/designing_career_services/index.html

26. DCT + Correlations • conflict in the family of origin • Indecision • Neuroticism • Anxiety • angry hostility • depression • self-consciousness • impulsiveness • vulnerability • perfectionism • career indecision • state anger • depression • self-appraised problem solving ability for substance abusers • higher Realistic scores • higher E scores • boys

27. Subscale Examples • Decision-making confusion • “I get so overwhelmed I can’t get started.” • Commitment Anxiety • “I’m afraid I’m overlooking something.” • External Conflict • “A significant person in my life disagrees with my current choice.”

28. Snapshot of CTI

29. Scoring & Interpreting the CTI Next, non-standardized…