Use Career Theories to Design Career Services for Universities and Students

1. Use Career Theories to Design Career Services for Universities and Students Robert C. Reardon, PhD, & Janet G. Lenz, PhD Florida State University China International Forum of Career Planning & GCDF Global Summit October-November 2008

2. Issues with Career Theories • Not easily translated for practice or instruction/training • Lack of guidelines for career counseling interventions • No practical, cost-efficient assessment tools • Overemphasis on individual counseling as intervention

3. Where We Need To Go…. • “Clients and career services practitioners need to be able to understand and apply an integrated approach (the best of modern and post-modern). The stakes are too high for theorists, researchers, and practitioners to continue debating which approach is best” (J. P. Sampson, Jr., June 2005)

4. The Context • 4th largest state in the U.S. • Tallahassee, FL--state capital • Florida State University, 4-year, public university, 40,000 students

5. Center for the Study of Technology in Counseling and Career Development A unit of the Florida State University Career Center and College of Education Integrating theory, research, and practice Theory Research Practice www.career.fsu.edu/techcenter

6. Our partners in career services practice & theory

7. The Florida State University Context • Comprehensive, university-based career center • Provides drop-in, self-help, and appointment-based services • Open to the community • Career theory applied in practice for 35 years

8. Key Career Theories Used in Our Career Services • Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) • John Holland’s RIASEC Theory

9. Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) “Give people a fish and they eat for a day, but teach them how to fish and they eat for a lifetime” (adapted from Lao Tzu) Goal: Individuals learn how to be skillful career problem solvers and decision makers throughout their lives

10. Nature of Career Problems According to CIP • Complex and Ambiguous Cues • Interdependent Courses of Action • Uncertainty of the Outcome • Solutions Present New Problems

11. CIP Approach Guiding Principles • Both clients and practitioners play an active role • “Expert” and client versions of concepts • Model is practical, easy to learn and apply, yet accounts for complexity • Emphasis on “getting inside the client’s head” to look at how information is processed

12. Misconceptions About CIP • CIP is mostly concerned with cognition (what people think) • Rationality and logic are valued over intuition in problem solving and decision making

13. CIP Pyramid of Information Processing Domains Client Version Thinking about my decision making Knowing how I make decisions Knowing about myself Knowing about my options

14. Self-Knowledge Domain • Perceptions of one’s values, interests, skills, employment preferences, etc. • Schemata developed from ongoing construction of life experiences • Two processes—interpretation & reconstruction—episodes stored in long term memory

15. Option Knowledge Domain • One’s unique representation of the world of work • Knowledge of specific options • Structural relationship between occupations, e.g., RIASEC

16. Holland’s RIASEC Hexagon • RIASEC hexagon accounts for underlying personality type and structure of occupations • Support for hexagon structure found across varied cultures throughout the world • Intuitive use of hexagon related to better decision making • More complex models are difficult to understand

17. RIASEC Theory and Tools Applicable to Diverse Persons • The SDS is available in more than 25 languages • Exact RIASEC hexagon structure is generally positive, but not supported equally in all cultures • 1,600+ references from 1953-2007 in 197 different journals • 48% references for theory applications • 16% for diverse populations, e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, socio-economic status

18. RIASEC Theory Captures the Complexity of Today’s World-of-Work • New global market economies • Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes (3rd ed.) primary U.S. source • 1960-2000 U.S. census data

19. Employment and Six Kinds of U.S. Work

20. Holland’s RIASEC Theory Can Apply to New and Emerging Jobs • The Position Classification Inventory (PCI) can be used to develop codes for jobs • Jobs can be difficult to classify, e.g., job titles vs. occupational titles • 2016 U.S. labor market forecasts can be based on RIASEC codes

21. 10 Fast Growth U.S. Occupations, 2006-2016 Employment projections, Monthly Labor Review, 11/07. Summary Code Order: SREICA (E has moved from 5th to 3rd place since 2002).

22. CIP Decision-Making Skills Domain • Generic information-processing model • How do individuals usually make important decisions? • CIP uses a 5-step model known as the CASVE cycle

23. CASVE Cycle - Client Version Knowing I Need to Make a Choice Knowing I Made aGood Choice C ImplementingMy Choice Understanding Myself and My Options E A Choosing AnOccupation, Program of Study, or Job Expanding andNarrowing My Listof Options S V

24. Communication • Information is received—”gap” awareness • Discomfort becomes greater than fear of change • Internal states & external demands

25. Analysis • Involves all aspects of the pyramid • Causes of the “problem” • Relationships among problem components are considered

26. Synthesis Avoid missing alternatives, while not becoming overwhelmed with options Elaboration - Identify possible options Crystallization - Narrow potential options (3-5).

27. Valuing • Judge the costs and benefits of each option considering • Self • Significant Others • Community • Society • Prioritize alternatives • Make tentative primary and secondary choices

28. Execution Formulate & execute a plan for implementing a tentative choice

29. Communication Review external demands and internal states • Has the gap been closed? • Have the negative emotions and physiological states improved? • Am I taking action to achieve my goal?

30. Executive Processing Domain • “Thinking about thinking” • Metacognitions • Self-talk • Self-awareness • Control and monitoring

31. Executive Processing Domain • Controls the selection and sequencing of cognitive strategies to achieve a goal • Monitors the execution of a given problem-solving strategy to determine whether goal has been achieved

32. Readiness • The capability of an individual to make appropriate career choices taking into account the complexity of family, social, economic, and organizational factors that influence career development Source: Sampson, J. P., Jr., Reardon, R. C., Peterson, G. W., & Lenz, J. G. (2004). Career counseling and services: A cognitive information processing approach. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

33. Capability • Cognitive and affective capacity • Willingness to explore self-knowledge • Motivation • Willingness to learn about and engage in career problem solving and decision making • Awareness of how thoughts influence decisions

34. Complexity • Family • Amount of family responsibilities or stressors, role overload, “dysfunctional” family input • Social—can be positive or negative • Modeling, mentoring, discrimination, stereotyping • Economic • trends, stability of occupations, industries; personal factors • Organization • size, culture, stability

35. CIP Readiness Model • Complexity(high) • Low readinessModerate readiness • High degree of Moderate to low degree • support needed of support needed • (Individual Case-(Brief Staff-Assisted • Managed Services) Services) • Capability • (low) (high) • Moderate readinessHigh readiness • Moderate to low degree No support needed • of support needed(Self-Help Mode) • (Brief Staff-Assisted • Services) • (low)

36. Intervention Options • Self-Help Services • Brief Staff-Assisted Services • Individual Case-Managed Services

37. Self-Help Services • Guided by the user • Served in library-like or remote setting • High decision making readiness • Little or no assistance needed

38. Brief Staff-Assisted Services • Guided by a practitioner • Served in library-like, classroom, or group setting • Moderate decision-making readiness • Minimal assistance needed

39. Individual Case-Managed Services • Guided by a practitioner • Served in an individual office, classroom, or group setting • Low decision-making readiness • Substantial assistance needed

40. Readiness • Consider complexity and capability prior to • Selecting interventions • Administering assessments • Prescribing learning experiences

41. CIP Readiness Assessment:The Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) • 48-Item measure of negative thoughts in career choice • Self-administered • Objectively scored

42. Career Thoughts Defined Outcomes of one’s thinking about • assumptions, • attitudes, • behaviors, • beliefs, • feelings, • plans, or • strategies related to career choice

43. CTI Theory Base Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) Theory Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Theory (1976): Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders.

44. Self-knowledge Occupational Knowledge Communication Analysis Synthesis Valuing Execution Executive Processing 8 CIP Content Dimensions

45. Beck’s Cognitive Theory • Dysfunctional cognitions have a detrimental impact on behavior and emotions • Dysfunctional cognitions can be replaced with functional cognitions

46. Use of the CTI & CTI Workbook • Screening • Needs Assessment • Learning

47. Screening CTI Total Score – A global indicator of dysfunctional thinking Helps practitioners determine how much assistance individual needs Practitioner and client collaborate in decision making

48. Needs Assessment Identifying the specific nature of dysfunctional thinking CTI Construct scores • Decision-making confusion (DMC) • Commitment anxiety (CA) • External conflict (EC)

49. Learning CTI and CTI Workbook used to help clients correct negative thinking: • Identify • Challenge • Alter • Act

50. Summary • CIP & RIASEC offer practical ways to integrate theory and practice • Unique Web site supports theory, research and practice • Team is still at work, looking toward the future….come see us in our new building, Dunlap Success Center, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL