Comprehensive
Exam Review
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Career and
Lifestyle
Development
Part 2
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Issues and Factors In
Career Development
This section builds on understanding of
career development theories and decisionmaking models in the previous section.
Some career development theories are more
explicit than others about the interactions
among work, family, and other life roles.
One approach is to view work as one
element of a larger system that also
includes leisure and family (defined in the
broadest terms).
In this model, psychological adjustment is
enhanced by achieving a healthy balance
among work, leisure, and family.
For many, it is difficult to balance life roles
because work consumes so much time.
One role of the counselor is to help clients
become more aware of the need for balance and
assume more responsibility for intentionally
acting to better integrate work, leisure, and
family.
While many understand the importance of
family interaction, many others underestimate
the importance of leisure in psychological
adjustment.
Outcomes of effective leisure include that:
Leisure can provide physical exercise,
diversion, and opportunity to receive feedback
and demonstrate competence as a way to deal
with work and family stress.
Leisure provides opportunities to satisfy
values, engage in interests, and demonstrate
skills not associated with employment.
Leisure provides opportunities for interaction
with family members, helping individuals to
make more efficient use of time.
Two specific family career development issues
include dual-career problems and family
relocation.
A dual-worker couple is comprised of two wage
earners, while a dual-career couple also has a
greater likelihood of holding professional
positions, continuous employment, and
increased importance placed on the value of
work.
Dual career couples are more likely to
experience problems associated with
competition and frustration over unequal
distribution of family responsibilities.
A blend of career and marriage counseling
often is needed to help couples deal
appropriately with competition and
renegotiate family roles and responsibilities
to reduce tension in the family.
Family relocation occurs when a family moves
from one geographic location to another as a
result of a change in employment.
Relocation issues may include employment of
the spouse, selection of and moving to a new
place of residence, education of children, or
care for aging parents.
Relocation services, including self-help
resources, workshops, and counseling,
increasingly are being used to reduce stress
and maximize employee productivity during
family relocations.
While there has been debate concerning need
for population-specific career theory (such as
unique career theories for women as opposed
to applying general theories to various
groups), it is generally agreed that counselors
need to be aware of career development
issues and typical interventions for specific
populations.
Any of the following group characteristics
may impact the career development of
individuals: age, gender, disability,
immigration status, race, ethnicity, and
sexual orientation.
While being a member of one or more of the
preceding groups can have a positive impact,
such as providing networking opportunities,
most of the impact is adverse as a result of
stereotyping and discrimination.
Stereotyping involves the perception of
knowledge about an individual based on group
membership, rather than knowledge based on
specific experience with an individual.
Stereotyping is a common problem for all of
the groups previously identified.
Stereotypes can be positive or negative.
A negative stereotype assumes that an
individual cannot do something competently
because of his or her group membership.
A positive stereotype assumes that an
individual can do something competently
because of his or her group membership.
Both negative and positive stereotypes can
result in a negative impact on individuals.
In both cases, the assumption of either
limitation or capacity may be incorrect and
a restricted range of options may result.
Also, individuals may be denied valid
feedback on their performance.
Discrimination involves an action taken by one
person or group that limits the range of opportunities available to another person or group.
Discrimination can occur by not allowing
individuals to apply for employment or
educational opportunities.
Discrimination also can be subtle by
systematically not providing individuals with
opportunities for mentoring or gaining
knowledge and skills necessary for advancement,
by or selecting individuals for employment or
education on the basis of group membership.
Career and Educational
Placement, Follow-up, and
Evaluation
Career and employment decision making
share both similarities and differences.
Both types of decisions involve knowledge of
self, knowledge of occupations, application of
decision-making skills, and cognitive processes
that influence decision making.
Both types of decisions tend to occur over a
period of time, as opposed to all at once.
However, differences do exist between career
and employment decision making.
Career decision making tends to be futureoriented (long-term), while employment
decision making tends to be immediate in
focus (short-term).
Career decision making typically involves the
consideration of occupational, educational, and
training alternatives, while employment
decision making typically involves the
consideration of industry, employer, position,
and job-offer alternatives.
Employment decision making may be more
anxiety provoking due to the immediate
consequences of failure, whereas career decision
making is more future oriented and potential
for failure is typically more remote.
Placement in employment involves helping
individuals to obtain paid and nonpaid work
options that are appropriate for their
aspirations and capabilities.
Counselors can be involved in helping
individuals clarify self and employment
knowledge, expand and narrow their options,
select the most appropriate option, and learn
job search skills.
Placement in education typically involves
helping individuals locate education and
training options that are appropriate for
their aspirations and their capabilities.
Counselors can help individuals assess their
skills realistically, determine whether
remedial or new skill education is
appropriate, and then select the education
options that best meet their needs.
Numerous specialized information resources
exist that counselors and clients can use to
facilitate appropriate employment decisions.
Computer-assisted job banks (position
openings) and talent banks (potential
applicants) can help individuals and employers
identify potentially appropriate matches.
Job banks and talent banks can operate on an
institutional, state, or national basis.
Counselors also can assist individuals to
gain the knowledge they need to make a
successful transition and adjustment to
work.
For example, counselors may teach individuals employability skills or work behaviors
appropriate for initial stages of employment.
Counselors also may become involved in
follow-up and evaluation efforts.
Follow-up data provide useful information
about the outcomes of completing various
education or training programs.
Both follow-up and evaluation efforts can
help provide the accountability typically
necessary for the continued provision of
funds.
Assessment, Career
Planning, and Decision
Making
The purposes of assessment in career planning
and decision making are to clarify individuals'
self-knowledge and stimulate career
exploration.
Using assessment to clarify self-knowledge
helps individuals know what to pay attention
to when reviewing career information and to
narrow alternatives based on important
personal characteristics.
Using assessment to stimulate career exploration helps individuals consider alternatives
that they may not have considered previously.
A problem in using assessment in the
delivery of career services is that many
clients expect assessment to provide quick
answers for their career problems.
Public-relations efforts, informed-consent
forms, and assessment-orientation efforts
can help minimize this problem.
While much assessment is delivered via
standardized instruments, other valid and
useful assessment options exist, including:
structured interviews administered by a
counselor or on a computer,
unstructured interviews administered by a
counselor, or
projective measures, such as published or
counselor-developed card sorts.
The career counselor is responsible for
selecting quality instruments that are used
appropriately.
Both counselor-mediated and self-assessment
instruments are used widely in career
counseling.
It is important to communicate that any selfassessment used in the delivery of career
services has been validated for use without
input from a counselor.
Providing clients with unsupervised access
to counselor-mediated assessments is
inappropriate at best and harmful at worst.
It is important to communicate clearly with
clients regarding the meaning of various
assessment constructs by providing easy-tounderstand definitions.
Specific assessment instruments are available
to measure a large variety of constructs.
In career centers, interest, value, skill, and
personality measures are the most common
assessments available.
In schools and rehabilitation settings,
aptitude, intelligence, and achievement
measures are used in addition to interest,
value, skill, and personality measures.
Some career assessments are theory-based,
and one obvious option for applying career
theory to assessment is to select assessments
with a theory base that fits the counselor's
theoretical orientation.
Computer-Based
Career Development
Computer-based career development
applications evolved from computer-assisted
career guidance (CACG) systems.
CACG systems include interrelated
assessment, generation of options, and
information dissemination subsystems, often
coupled with counseling interventions and
various print and media-based support
resources, that are used to assist individuals
in making career decisions.
Some CACG systems include state-specific
information and are referred to as career
information delivery systems (CIDS).
Typical components of a CACG system
include:
1. Needs assessment and recommended use
User needs assessment and subsequent
recommendations for system use;
2. Assessment
Assessment of psychological constructs,
such as values, interests, and skills, and
labor market constructs, such as
preference for indoor work;
3. Search for options
Generation of occupational,
educational, financial aid, and
employment options;
4. Information delivery
Delivery of occupational, educational,
financial aid, and employment
information;
5. Instruction
Instruction in effective career,
educational, and employment decision
making; and
6. Action planning
Development of an action plan for
implementing a career choice.
Examples of other computer-based career
development applications include
assessments; career, educational, training,
financial aid, and employment information
databases; resume writers; and talent banks
delivered on personal computers or over the
Internet.
Computer-based career development
applications are designed to stimulate career
exploration and aid individuals in solving
career problems and making career decisions.
Computer-based career development
applications can be delivered as a component
of self-help, brief staff-assisted, or individual
case-managed interventions.
A basic, three-step model can be used in
brief staff-assisted and individual casemanaged interventions to help individuals
make effective use of computer-based career
development applications.
The three steps of the model are screening,
orientation, and follow-up.
Screening is intended to ensure that system
use is appropriate for the needs of the
individual.
Orientation is intended to ensure that
individuals make effective use of system
capabilities by promoting a realistic
understanding of the potential benefits,
limitations, and functions of the system in
relation to their needs.
Follow-up is intended to ensure that
individuals have used used CACG features
appropriately to meet their previously
identified needs and have a plan for future
action.
Career Counseling Techniques
The career counseling process is shaped by
several factors, the first being the career
theory used.
Career theory shapes the counseling process
by helping counselors and clients know
which factors to pay attention to in clarifying
the nature of the client's problem and in
developing a strategy for problem solving
and decision making.
Career theory also may contribute to the
counseling process through the use of theoryspecific assessment instruments, information
and instructional resources, and counseling
procedures.
The career counseling process also is shaped
by the general practice of counseling in
regard to development of the counseling
relationship; understanding of
developmental, social, and cultural factors;
assessment; group procedures; evaluation;
and ethics.
Finally, the career counseling process is
shaped by the integration of career counseling
and mental health counseling.
Given the substantial proportion of time
most individuals spend working,
employment is both a substantial source of
stress and an opportunity for therapeutic
change.
Strategies for dealing with anxiety,
depression, interpersonal conflict, and
traumatic events are particularly important
in dealing with issues such as dual-career
conflict, job dissatisfaction, retirement,
sexual harassment and violence in the
workplace, unemployment, work
adjustment, and work addiction.
A generic process for career counseling can
be described as follows.
First, the counselor assesses the readiness of
the client for career decision making.
Readiness assessment may be as simple as
clarifying the client's presenting problem.
If the counselor judges a high degree of
readiness on the client's part, then a self-help
intervention may be appropriate.
If this first interaction indicates that a more
substantial problem exists, the counselor
may use a readiness screening measure to
determine if it is best to recommend a brief,
staff-assisted intervention (moderate
readiness) or individual, case-managed
intervention (low readiness).
After clarifying with the client the nature
of his or her career problem, the counselor
and client collaborate on establishing goals
for career counseling.
The counselor then creates a written plan to
recommend a sequence of resources
(assessment, information, and instructional)
and services (individual counseling, career
courses, group counseling, and workshops)
designed to assist in reaching client goals.
The counselor further reinforces a
collaborative relationship by seeking and
using client input about the selection of
resources and services where appropriate.
The client then follows through with the
agreed-upon plan for using career resources
and services, with termination occurring
when the client's goals have been achieved or
when a referral is made due to lack of
progress or other circumstances.
The career counseling process can and should
be modified to meet the needs of specific
populations, such as those relating to age,
gender, disability, immigration status,
race/ethnicity, or sexual orientation.
Population-specific career interventions are
developed on the basis of knowledge plus
supervision.
Knowledge should include the typical life
experiences and successful coping
strategies of specific populations, as well as
typical counseling strategies.
Regular supervisory contact with a
professional experienced in delivering
counseling services to specific populations
can help the career counselor to better
monitor and improve the quality of services
for various populations.
Considerable evidence exists that withingroup differences are greater than betweengroup differences.
Therefore, it is important for counselors to
avoid stereotyping clients in an attempt to
be sensitive to diversity.
Career counselors can aid clients in dealing
with stereotyping and discrimination by
helping them confront these barriers where
appropriate and cope where possible.
Ethical Considerations
Ethical issues in career counseling are
similar to ethical issues in the general
practice of counseling and other counseling
specialties.
However, several ethical problems,
including imposition of counselor values,
confidentiality of counseling records, and
counselor competence, are more frequently
problematic in career counseling.
Counselors may be unaware that they are
imposing their values on their clients in
terms of career choice and are therefore
limiting career exploration.
For example, a counselor may be careful
not to impose personal values on his or her
clients in regard to relationship issues, but
may unintentionally (verbally or nonverbally) indicate that a particular career is an
“inappropriate” choice.
In some cases there is confusion about who
the client is in relation to the release of
counseling records.
For example, if an employer is paying for
career counseling for an employee, it is
important to clarify at the beginning of the
counseling process who will have access to the
counseling records.
The same requirement is true for parents or
guardians of minor children.
For example, some counselors may
erroneously believe that assessment results
in career counseling are less "sensitive" data
in comparison with assessment results in
"personal" counseling, and are less subject
to restrictions on disclosure to third parties.
Assessment data from any type of counseling
should be released only with the permission
of the client or client's parent/guardian.
Some poorly trained counselors may be
unaware of the specific skills required for
effective career counseling.
This is especially true for counselors who
erroneously believe that career counseling is
composed mostly of giving assessments and
interpreting the results (often referred to as
"test-and-tell" career counseling).
The knowledge and skills described in this
presentation are recognized as essential for
the competent practice of career counseling.
Counselors practicing in any specialty area
need to be competent in the general practice
of counseling as well as the counseling
specialty, as stated in national ethical,
credentialing, and accreditation standards.
Finally, career counselors may deliver poor
quality services by using invalid assessment
measures or as a result of providing invalid
occupational, educational, training, or
employment information.
As a result, clients may restrict their
occupational exploration unnecessarily or
make inappropriate decisions on the basis
of bad information.
One common strategy to deal with these
ethical problems involves use of informedconsent forms that are signed and witnessed
by the client and counselor at the start of
counseling.
Informed consent deals proactively with
issues such as confidentiality of records and
counselor qualifications.
Another common strategy is to increase
counselor awareness of potential problems
through preservice and inservice counselor
training.
A variety of standards exist to guide the ethical
practice of career counseling.
The National Career Development Association
(NCDA) "Ethical Standards" build upon
ethical standards developed by the National
Board for Certified Counselors and the
American Counseling Association by adding
content specific to the delivery of career
counseling and other career services.
The NCDA "Career Counseling Competencies"
are designed to help counselors evaluate their
knowledge and skills in relation to the
competencies expected of an effective and
successful career counselor.
The NCDA "Guidelines for the Use of the
Internet for the Provision of Career
Information and Planning Services" help
counselors use the Internet as a resource in
delivering career services and develop valid
Internet-based, self-help, or counselorassisted career resources.
This concludes Part 2 of the
presentation on
CAREER AND
LIFESTYLE
DEVELOPMENT