The world of the Counselor An introduction to the counseling profession 5e chapter 11

Career Development: The Counselor and the World of Work... Employment Services  Dictionary of Occupational Titles  1950s: Explosion of Career Development Theories  Ann Roe’s classific

Career Development:

The Counselor and the World of Work

 The 3-year-old who plays house or hammers a peg into a hole.

 The 5-year-old who joins a T-ball league.

 The 10-year-old inner city youth who has few role models.

 The 12-year-old who begins to examine her abilities and likes and dislikes.

 The 14-year-old who discovers that her parents are getting divorced.

 The 17-year-old who considers what college to go to.

 The 17-year-old who ponders what job to take after high school.

 The 25-year-old who takes a new job and also leads an aerobics class.

 The 30-year-old who gives up a full-time job to do childcare.

 The 37-year-old who is promoted and is vice-president of the local PTA.

 The 45-year-old who hates her job but loves and makes $ with her hobby.

 The 50-year-old who wonders, “Is this all there is?”

 The 60-year-old who ponders whether he should retire in a couple of years.

 The 70-year-old who never worked, raised a family, and became a great

tournament bridge player.

 Lifelong process

 Involves many life roles

 Involves psychological, economic, and social aspects of

the person

 See Table 11.1, p 362

 Early part of 20th Century

▪ Counseling profession started with vocational guidance

▪ Frank Parsons

▪ Founder of vocational guidance

▪ “True Reasoning” Three step process

 Know oneself

 Know job characteristics

 Match knowledge of self with job characteristics

▪ Establishment of Guidance Services in the schools: Jesse

 1930’s

 Wagner O’Day Act (1932) U.S Employment Services

 Dictionary of Occupational Titles

 1950s: Explosion of Career Development Theories

 Ann Roe’s classification system relying on childhood development

 Ginzberg’s Theory and Super’s Theory—developmental

 NDEA: Stressed career guidance in schools

 1970s:

 New comprehensive models of career guidance

▪ Lifelong patterns of career development

▪ Making choices that reflect sense of self

▪ Examining leisure and avocations

▪ Viewing the career process as flexible and changeable

▪ John Holland’s personality “fit” theory

 Expansion and refinement of theories

 CACREP includes career counseling as one of its content areas

 Trait-and-factor Approach (pp.366-367)

 Individuals have unique traits that can be measured, discussed,

and examined

 Occupations necessitate that individuals have certain traits

 The better the ability of the individual to match his or her traits to occupations, the greater the likelihood the individual will have success and feel satisfied.

 The interaction between client and therapist is a dynamic process that includes both affective and cognitive components.

 The ability of an individual to match his or her traits with

occupations is a conscious process that can occur in a deliberate fashion

Ann Roe’s Psychodynamic Theory

 Career choice based on type of parenting received (Protective, Demanding, Rejecting, Neglecting, Causal, or Loving)

 Type of parenting results in one of eight orientations toward the world of work

▪ See Figure 11.1, p 368

▪ Research on her theory has shown mixed results.

 Although not a theory in wide use today, it is important because it focuses on the impact of early childhood

 Holland's Personality Theory

 5 Personality and Work Types

▪ RIASEC (See box 11.1; and Figure 11.2, p 368)

 Better the match, the more satisfaction at the job

 Hexagon model: Traits closer to one another, more like one another

 Find your Holland Code (Figure 11.3, p 369)

 Career development is an ongoing, continuous, and orderly

 People’s abilities, personality traits, and self-concepts differ

 Occupations tend to be specific for certain kinds of qualities

 Self-concept is function and result of career development

 Change in occupational levels influenced by many factors

 Career development assisted by helping individuals understand and develop their abilities and interests

 By understanding development, counselors can pick interventions that assist individuals in their career development process

 Career development is developmental, generally irreversible, although people can “recycle”

 See Figure 11.4, p 371

 Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT)

 Dynamic interplay between environment and beliefs

 Anchored in Self-efficacy Theory: Choices we make are based on our beliefs about whether we can do Related to:

▪ Family experiences (placement in family, what we’re told we’re good

at, etc.)

▪ Sociological influences (discrimination, the economy, mobility, etc.)

▪ Abilities, aptitudes, interests, personality

 People are affected by:

▪ Objective factors: economic hardship, educational experiences,

societal factors

▪ Perceived environmental factors: how we experience objective

Constructivist Career Counseling: A Post-Modern Approach

 Related to how people make meaning out of the world of work

 Try to understand client’s narrative, or life story

▪ Dominant narratives often drive a person’s life story

 Counselors ask questions to understand the client’ s narrative, show respectful curiosity, focus on new narratives

 Help client’s deconstruct their dominant narratives

 Help clients construct new narratives

 Sometimes, counselor helps client understand how some

narratives are a function of language and influences from larger system (culture, society)

 Many counselors today try to integrate the various models

▪ Psychodynamic Theory (e.g., Roe)

▪ Social Cognitive Career Theory

▪ Constructive Development Theory

Occupational Classification Systems

 O*NET Online and O*NET Dictionary of Occupational Titles

▪ Provides large array of worker attributes and job characteristics for 1000 occupations

▪ See Box 11.5, p, 377

▪ See Box 11.3, p 378 for O*Net description of school and mental health counselors

 Guide for Occupational Exploration

 16 interest areas (see Box 11.4, p 379)

 , 100 work groups

 Lists about 900 occupations

▪ Cross referenced with interest areas and work groups

 Includes information job, interests, values, etc

 Occupational Outlook Handbook

 Online “handoobk”

 Offers a broad range of information on jobs and job outlook

 See counselor info at: www.bls.gov/oco/ocos067.htm

Assessment Instruments

 Interest Inventories Some Examples:

▪ Strong Interest Inventory

▪ Career Decision-Making System

▪ Career Assessment Inventory

▪ Self-Directed Search

 Assessment of Aptitude Some Examples:

▪ Differential Aptitude Test (DAT)

▪ Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB)

 Personality Assessment Some Examples:

▪ Myers-Briggs

▪ California Personality Inventory (CPI) (see Box 11.5, p 380)

 Computer-assisted Career Guidance

 Comprehensive Computer-Based Programs Some Examples:

Can help counselor gain important information

 Operationalizes our career development theories

 Can examine family-of-origin’s impact on career decisions

 Helps us and the client understand the client’s

meaning-making system

 Can help client see how emotional issues impacts career

decision0making

 Ten steps (see pp 383 for steps in detail)

1. Conduct a thorough clinical interview (see p 381)

2. Assess abilities, interests, and personality characteristics

3. Devise treatment strategies in collaboration

4. Make available appropriate informational resources

5. Assist client in understanding the world of work and factors

6. Have client make tentative career decisions

7. Explore practicality of choices and begin to crystallize a choice

8. Have client take preliminary steps (e.g., informational interviews)

9. Follow up with the client

10.Recycle if necessary

 See 12 steps to consider in cross-cultural career counseling (pp 383)

382- Multicultural Career Counseling & Development Competencies (NCDA, 2009)

 Minimum competencies for career counseling in:

1 Career development theory Coaching and consultation

2 Counseling skills 6 Supervision

4 Information technology 8 Research and Evaluation

5 Program Development

 Social Justice Focus: Reshaping Clients’ Stories

 Relational Constructionist Approach

 Assumes change does not reside “within” the person, but is a

function of interactions with people (including counselor)

 Assumes individuals can see how biases, racism, and

discrimination has affected them

 Counselors are increasingly called on having clients look at their narratives and see how certain beliefs systems have affected them

 Counselors need to be a good listener of clients’ stories and be an advocate for oppressed groups

Ethical Issues

 Ethical Standards for the Practice of Career Counseling and

Consultation

▪ Developed by NCDA—used with ACA ethical code

 NCDA Competency Guidelines for Career Development

 Professional Issues

 Professional Associations: NCDA and NECA

▪ Publications: Career Development Quarterly (NCDA) and Journal

of Employment Counseling (NECA)

 Professional Issues (Cont’d)

 Optimizing Career Development: Career counselors should broaden choices and raise consciousness, not limit choices and discourage people

 Legal Issues

 Carl Perkins Act: Career guidance for individuals with special needs

 Americans with Disabilities Act: Cannot be discriminated

against in job application procedures

 PL94-142 (Education of All Handicapped Children Act):

Requires students in occupational education programs be given vocational assessment

 Legal Issues (Cont’d)

 PL93-112: Colleges required to provide career services for

students with disabilities

 Rehabilitation Act of 1973: Assures access to voc rehab if

adults with severe disabilities

 School-to-Work Opportunities Act: Incentives to help schools and community colleges integrate academic learning with on-the-job experiences

 Title VII of Civil Rights Act and Title IX of Education

Amendments of 1972: Prohibits discrimination against women and minorities in employment

 Career Development as a Lifespan Process:

 “The committed and wise career counselor is willing to flow, for a short while, along this river with his or her client; and, perhaps, if the helper is a good navigator, he or she can assist in guiding the client down the river along the most direct and stable route.”