Striving for Excellence in Career Advising: A
Case Study Approach
Ken Hughey
Dan Wilcox
Kansas State University
Dorothy Nelson
Southeastern Louisiana University
2011 NACADA Conference
Denver, CO
October 3, 2011
Career Advising Resources
“All students need career advising, even those
who are decided on an academic major”
(Gordon, 2006, p. 5)
Career advising is a dynamic, interactive process that “helps
students understand how their personal interests, abilities, and
values might predict success in the academic and career fields they
are considering and how to form their academic and career goals
accordingly” (Gordon, 2006, p. 12). “It is a process aimed at
helping students effectively use information about themselves (e.g.,
interests, abilities, values, strengths) and the options available (e.g.,
majors, occupations, internships)” (Hughey & Hughey, 2009, p. 6).
Gordon’s (2006) 3-I Process:
A Career Advising Framework
Inquire
Inform
Integrate
Inquire
“The inquire phase involves identifying students’
academic and career concerns, clarifying their
needs, and making appropriate responses to help
them move to the information-collecting phase”
(Gordon, 2006, p. 47).
Inform
“The acquisition and effective use of educational and
career information is an integral part of academic advising.
Three areas where students need to gather career
information are (1) their personal attributes, such as their
likes and dislikes; (2) educational information, such as how
academic decisions (e.g., major, coursework) relate to
possible career directions and the acquisition of marketable
skills; and (3) the type of occupational information that is
pertinent to their academic situation and career goals.”
(Gordon, 2006, p. 63)
Integrate
“In the integrate phase, advisors and students determine
what additional assistance is needed to help students
organize and make meaningful connections between the
information sources they have collected. The term
integrate is used in this context to mean coordinating or
blending all the student knows into a functioning or
unified whole.” (Gordon, 2006, p. 63)
Career Advising Questions
1--What do you want to do?
2--What is stopping you from doing it?
3--What are you doing about it?
(Figler & Bolles, 2007, p. 106)
Questions to Consider Related to Case Studies
1—What are important considerations or issues (e.g., information,
needs) in the case?
2—How might you describe or conceptualize the case? What
would help you understand the case? What are appropriate goals
for the student?
3—What are recommendations (e.g., interventions, strategies,
programs, resources, actions) that might be considered to facilitate
the student’s career and academic planning and development?
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
Capability – Individual student factors
Complexity – Factors outside the student
Sampson, Peterson, & Reardon, (2004). Career counseling & services: A cognitive information processing approach.
.
Capability
Capability
Cognitive and affective capacity to
engage in effective career choice
behaviors
How are my career choices influenced
by the way I think and feel?
Capability
• Honest exploration of values, interests, and skills
• Motivated to learn about options
• Able to think clearly about career problems
• Confident of their decision-making ability
• Willing to assume responsibility for problem solving
• Aware of how thoughts and feelings influence behavior
• Able to monitor and regulate problem solving
Complexity
Complexity
• Contextual factors, originating in the
family, society, economy, or employing
organizations that make it more difficult
(or less difficult) to solve career problems
and make career decisions
• How does the world around me influence
my career choices?
Readiness Model
Complexity
(high)
Low Readiness
High Support
Moderate Readiness
Moderate-low support
needed
Capability
(low)
(high)
Moderate Readiness
Moderate-low support
needed
High Readiness
Little support needed
(low)
Continuum of Decision Styles
Decided Individuals
1) Very decided
2) Somewhat decided
3) Unstable decided
Undecided Individuals
1) Tentatively undecided
2) Developmentally undecided
3) Seriously undecided
4) Chronically indecisive
Gordon, V. N. (1998). The undecided college student: An
academic and career advising challenge.
Career Decidedness Types
Seriously
Undecided
Chronically
Indecisive
Tentatively
Undecided
Developmentally
Undecided
Somewhat
Decided
Unstable
Decided
Gordon, V. N. (1998). The undecided college
student: An academic and career advising
challenge.
Very
Decided
Assessing Career-related Attributes
•
•
•
•
StrengthsQuest
Hollands Self-Directed Search
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Informal discussion
Resources for Occupational
Information
• DISCOVER (http://www.act.org/discover/)
• Occupational Outlook Handbook
(http://www.bls.gov/oco/)
• O*NET (http://www.onetonline.org/)
Ten Career Advising Questions
How can I help you . . .
1.
discover what motivates you . . . what gets the best out of you?
2.
become curious and innovative (entrepreneurial thoughts/
ideas)?
3.
get the people skills needed to work in teams/cooperate/ inspire?
4.
get the oral skills you need to persuade/change another’s
attitude or opinion?
5.
embrace technology (productivity)?
How can I help you . . .
6. gain higher math and science competencies without
“saying uncle”?
7. practice business writing (regardless of field, the more
responsibility gained the more persuading others in
writing using documentation is valued)?
8. see education is a means to develop competencies not an
end in itself (lifelong learning)?
9. read, travel, and experiment with new environments to
see beyond present boundaries?
10. see that polished effort looks a lot like ability? (Feller & O’Bruba, 2009, p. 41)
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