Career Intervention and Issues - Ms. Estesa Xaris Legaspi12th PGCA- ZCC Annual Seminar

Career Interventions and Issues in SchoolsSpeaker: Estesa Xaris C. Que-Legaspi, MA, RGCAteneo de Zamboanga University

1. Vocabulary in Career Counseling 2. Theories of Career Counseling and Development 3. Roles of the Counselor in Career Development 4. Objectives of Career Counseling 5. Processes in Career Counseling 6. Key Skills used in Career Counseling 7. Assessment and Career Counseling 8. Career Counseling in Schools 9. Emerging Issues in Career Development 10. Some activities you can use

VOCABULARY IN CAREER COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT

Career. The sum total of one’s work experiences in a general occupational category such as teaching, accounting, medicine, or sales (Gibson and Mitchell, 2003).

Occupation. A specific job or work activity(Gibson and Mitchell, 2003).

Career development. That aspect of one’s total development that emphasizes learning about, preparation for, entry into, and progression in the world of work (Gibson and Mitchell, 2003).

Career education. Those planned-for educational experiences that facilitate a person’s career development and preparation for the world of work. The totality of experiences through which one learns about and prepares for engaging in work as part of a way of living. A primary responsibility of the school with an emphasis on learning about, planning for, and preparing to enter a career (Gibson and Mitchell, 2003).

Career guidance. Those activities that are carried out by counselors in a variety of settings for the purpose of stimulating and facilitating career development in persons over their working lifetimes. These activities include assistance in career planning, decision-making, and adjustment (Gibson and Mitchell, 2003).

Occupational information. Data concerning training and related educational programs, careers, career patterns, and employment trends and opportunities (Gibson and Mitchell, 2003).

Vocation. A trade or occupation (Gibson and Mitchell, 2003).

Vocational education. Education that is preparatory for a career in a vocational or technical field. (Gibson and Mitchell, 2003)

Career Counseling. A largely verbal process in which a professional counselor and counselee(s) are in a dynamic and collaborative relationship, focused on identifying and acting on the counselees’ goals, in which the counselor employs a repertoire of diverse techniques or processes, to help bring about self-understanding, understanding of career concerns involved and behavioral options available, as well as informed decision making in the counselee, who has responsibility for his or her own actions (Herr, Cramer, and Niles, 2004).

Career maturity. The repertoire of behaviors pertinent to identifying, choosing, planning, and executing career goals available to a specific individual as compared with those possessed by an appropriate peer group; being at an average level in career development for one’s own age. (Super, 1957). Attitudinal and cognitive readiness to cope with the developmental tasks of finding, preparing for, and getting established in, pursuing, and retiring from an occupation (Super, 1984).Career intervention. Any activity (treatment or effort) designed to enhance a person’s career development or to enable that person’s career development or to enable that person to make more effective career decisions. (Spokane, 1991).

Career guidance. A systematic program of counselor-coordinated information and experiences designed to facilitate individual career development and, more specifically, career management; a major component of career education integrating family, community, and school to facilitate self-direction; A set of multiple processes, techniques, or services designed to assist an individual to understand and to act on self-knowledge and knowledge of opportunities in work, education, and leisure and to develop the decision-making skills by which to create and manage his or her own career development. May include the development of job search, job interview and job adjustment skills and placement into a chosen occupation (Herr, Cramer, and Niles, 2004).

CAREER INTERVENTIONS AND ISSUESSpeaker: Estesa Xaris C. Que, MA3rd Regional Conference on CounselingOctober 9 to 11, 2007Ateneo de Zamboanga University_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Career awareness. The inventory of knowledge, values, preferences, and self-concepts that an individual draws on in the course of making career-related choices. (Herr, Cramer, and Niles, 2004).

Leisure. Time free from required effort or for the free use of abilities and pursuit of interests (Super, 1976). Relatively self-determined activities and experiences that are available owing to discretionary income, time, and social behaviors; they may be physical, social, intellectual, volunteer, creative, or some combination of all five (Sears, 1982).

Work. The systematic pursuit of an objective valued by oneself (even if only for survival) and desired by others; directed and consecutive, it requires the expenditure of effort. It may be compensated (paid work) or uncompensated (volunteer work or avocation). The objective may be intrinsic enjoyment of the work itself, the structure given to life by the work role, the economic support that work makes possible, or the type of leisure that it facilitates (Super, 1976). An activity performed for the purpose of providing goods and services to others and in some way making a social contribution (Hall, 1986).

Life-role readiness. The possession of knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary for effective life-role participation in a multicultural setting (Erford, 2003).

THEORIES OF CAREER COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT

I. Major counseling theories applied to career counseling

A. Psychoanalytic Edward Bordin’s psychodynamic approach emphasized the interplay between a client’s general personality and vocational choice. Bordin also proposes that play is the basis for the role of personality in work and career. Play, or spontaneity, is used to refer to elements of self-expression and self-realization in persons’ responses to situations.

B. Client-centeredCrites (1974, 1981) states that the most important contribution of the client-centered approach is the counselor’s heightened sensitivity to the client’s role in decision making and recognition of how an occupational role can affect a person’s self-concept.

C. ExistentialMcIlroy (1979) states that one must find one’s own meaning in life and through this discovery one will find happiness. Career counselors ,ust help clients find meaning, understanding, and an ability to deal with uncertainty in lifestyle and work.

D. Cognitive-BehavioralThis approach helps clients challenge their vocational irrational beliefs so they can attain their career and personal goals.

II. Structural theories

A. Trait and FactorChoice of vocation depends on the following: 1. accurate knowledge of oneself (aptitudes, abilities, interests, ambitions, resources, and limitations); 2. knowledge of job specifications (requirements and conditions, advantages and disadvantages, compensation, opportunities for growth, etc.); and 3. the ability to match knowledge of self and job specifications.

B. Holland’s TypologyMost persons can be categorized as one of the six types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional (RIASEC). Environments can also be categorized into those six types. The underlying idea is that people search for environments that will let them exercise their skills and abilities, express their attitudes and values, and take on agreeable problems and roles. A person’s behavior is determined by an interaction between his/her personality and the characteristics of his/her environment.

C. Roe’s Needs Theory

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Combinations of early parent-child relations, environmental experiences, and genetic features determine the development of a need structure. Occupations are classified into twp major categories: person-oriented (service, business contact, managerial, general culture, and arts and entertainment) and non person-oriented (technology, the outdoors, and science).

D. SociologicalPeople arrive at a particular occupation more by chance than through planning because of the influence of the environment, social class, culture, etc.

E. EconomicAvailability of types of jobs versus the availability of qualified workers for these jobs is a major consideration. Job security is a factor of career choice.

F. Decision-MakingCritical points in persons’ lives when choices are made greatly influence their career development. Decisions that people make are influenced by their awareness of the choices that are available to them and their knowledge of how to evaluate those choices.

III. Developmental theories

A. Ginzberg, Ginsburg Axelrad, and Herma (1951)“Occupational choice is a developmental process; it is not a single decision, but a series of decisions made over a period of years. Each step in the process relates to those that precede and follow it.”

Four sets of factors influence vocational choice: 1. individual values; 2. emotional factors; 3. amount and type of education; 4. the effect of reality through environmental pressures.

B. Super’s Life-Span, Life-Space ApproachCareer development if life long and occurs throughout five major life stages: Growth, Exploration, Establishment, Maintenace, and Disengagement. Each stage has a unique set of developmental tasks and accounts for the changes and decisions that people make from career entry to retirement.

In making a vocational choice, an individual is expressing his or her understanding of self; his or her self-concept. People seek career satisfaction through work roles in which they can express themselves and implement and develop their self-concept. Self-knowledge is key to career choice and job satisfaction.

Some important concepts include life space, life-role salience, and career maturity.

C. Havighurst’s Developmental TasksEach age period has characteristic tasks that must be successfully achieved if a person is to attain happiness and success with tasks appropriate to the vocational stages that follow.

D. Erikson’s Stages of Personal and Social DevelopmentStages in a person’s development consists of a crisis that must be resolved. These stages play a major part in career development.

IV. New evolving theories

A. Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent, Brown, Hackett, 1996)This theory focuses on a blending of cognitive, self-regulatory, and motivational processes.

B. Values-based (Brown, 1996))Values are the most important in career decision-making process, are strong determinants in rationalizing behavior roles, and are developed through the interaction of inherited characteristics and experiences.

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C. Person-environment fit theoryThis theory is based on three assumptions: 1. People are capable of making rational decisions; 2. People and work environments differ across various situations, thus, identifying patterns could be helpful in organizing people and environments; 3. The greater congruence between personality traits and requirements on the job, the greater the possibility of finding job satisfaction (Chartrand, 1991).

D. ConstructivismThis theory is founded on the idea that humans actively construct their personal realities and create their own representational models of the world.

Career counseling needs to keep up with society’s progression into the postmodern era. It proposes six innovations:

a. No more expertsCareer counselors should be agents that promote conversation rather than interpreters of interest inventories.

b. Enable rather than fitCareer counseling and development should foster a paradigm that encourages clients to define for themselves the meaning of success, and the role of work in their lives.

c. Rewrite the grand narrativeA person should be helped to be able to design his own life and career choice.

d. Career is personalThe subjective and personal meanings the clients construct to make a sense of life, which was often neglected, should be considered as objective methods of vocational assessment and career guidance.

e. Career development theory is not counseling theoryCounselor and client should work together for co-construction of the meaning and client’s direction in life.

f. Stories rather than scoresThe emphasis is to listen to the story of the clients and not only based on the scores of the test, in order to help the client understand how it matches with what he knows about himself and the interests that he has.

Implications of career theories for counselors(Gibson and Mitchell, 2003)

1. Counselors must understand the process and characteristics of human development, including readiness to learn and successfully complete particular tasks at certain developmental stages.

2. Counselors must understand the basic human needs as well as the special needs of persons and their relationship to career development and decision making.

3. Counselors must be able to assess and interpret individual traits and characteristics and to apply these assessments to a variety of client career-related needs.

4. Counselors must assist clients to recognize that unforeseen or chance factors may, on occasion, alter career planning.

5. Counselors must recognize that the rapid changes in the way people work and live in this high-tech era require a constant examination and updating of the theory and research we use as a basis for our career counseling efforts.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER WHEN FORMULATING YOUR CAREER COUNSELING PHILOSOPHY

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1. What are my personal beliefs about human nature? Are people essentially energetic and self-motivated or by nature lazy and in need of external motivation? What are the forces that cause people to grow and change? What retards that process?

2. With regard to formal theories of human development, how does normal development occur? What leads to abnormal functioning? How can abnormal behavior be changed? What circumstances may result in normal people becoming abnormal?

3. How do interests and work values develop? Why do they change? How can I measure them?

4. What are the indicators of abnormal behavior? Why do they change? How can I measure them?

5. How does the work role interact with other life-roles? How can they be interrelated? What happens when conflict between life-roles occurs? How can the work role and other roles be brought into harmony?

6. How do I establish relationships with my clients?

7. How do I use information from tests and inventories in counseling?

8. How do I assess work satisfaction? How can I facilitate this process?

9. How do I motivate unmotivated clients?

10. What are the potential problems in providing career counseling to clients from other cultures? How can these be avoided?

11. How can I evaluate the outcomes of my work?

ROLES OF THE CAREER COUNSELOR(Engels, 1994, as cited by Peterson and Gonzales, 2000)

Career counselors do one or more of the following:1. Conduct individual and group personal counseling sessions to help clarify life/career goals.2. Administer and interpret tests and inventories to assess abilities, interests, and other factors, and to

identify career options.3. Encourage exploratory activities through assignments and planning exercises.4. Utilize career planning systems and occupational information systems to help individuals better

understand the world of work.5. Provide opportunities for improving decision-making skills.6. Assist in developing individualized career plans.7. Teach job hunting strategies and skills and assist in the development of resumes.8. Help resolve potential personal conflicts on the job through practice in human relations skills.9. Assist in the understanding the integration of work and other life-roles.10. Provide support for persons experiencing job stress, job loss, and career transition.

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OBJECTIVES OF CAREER COUNSELINGAccording to Figler and Bolles (1999), clients’ careers may be more meaningful and purposeful when career counselors facilitate the client to accomplish the following objectives:

1. Assume responsibility. Client takes charge of making and acting on their own decisions, so the counselor must facilitate self-empowerment.

2. Imagine career ideas. The counselor helps client to tap into the materials in their imagination, to include career ideas that seem unlikely or unconventional.

3. Use one’s favorite functional and adaptive skills. Career counselor facilitates the client’s discovery and building of skills they most like using, and helps the client develop the belief “I have something valuable to offer.”

4. Deal with negative emotions or thoughts which inhibit career progress. The counselor helps the client work with and overcome anxieties, fears or self-defeating thoughts that lead to avoidance of career action.

5. Know how to determine “steps to a career goal.” The client must know how to accomplish goals from career ideas and plans made in the counseling relationship.

6. Choose work that has a sense of meaning and purpose. Careers that have personally-established purpose and meaning in the client will lead to motivation and perseverance, and a deep sense of fulfillment in work.

PROCESSES USED IN CAREER COUNSELING

A. Individual Counseling

Career Counseling Process (Isaacson and Brown, 1997)1. Establishing relationship2. Assessment3. Goal setting4. Intervention5. Evaluation

Structure of Career Counseling (Gysbers and Moore, 1987)Problem Identification

1.1 Establishing a working relationship and defining goals1.2 Developing an understanding of the client’s characteristics and environment1.3 Making a diagnosis of the client’s problem

Problem Resolution2.1 Making an intervention2.2 Evaluating the impact of the intervention2.3 Termination, if the intervention is successful

B. Programs

Steps for designing and implementing a career development program1. Define the target population2. Determine the needs of the target population3. Write measurable objectives4. Determine how to deliver the career services5. Determine the content of the program6. Determine the cost of the program7. Begin to promote and explain your services8. Promote and deliver the full blown program of the service9. Evaluate the program10. Revise the program as needed

C. Information

Some strategies Orientation seminars

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Catalogs for careers or further education Career information center Placement bulletin areas Computer-assisted systems Alumni newsletters

D. Placement Job fairs Linkages with schools for further education Linkages with companies and agencies for potential employment

E. Work Experience Job shadowing Internship programs Placement for part-time work Work-study programs

F. Outreach Career seminars Mentoring programs Parental involvement in programs

12 Key Skills of the Career Counselor(Developed by Howard Figler and Kathy Strawser Worgul. Career Center, University of Texas, Austin, as cited by Figler and Bolles, 2009)

1. Clarifying content. Restating what you believe to be the essence of the client’s statement.2. Reflecting feeling. Restating the emotional quality of the client’s response, identifying the feelings

and the content to which they were attached.3. Open-ended questioning. Asking questions that encourage the fullest range of possible responses.4. Skill identifying. Naming the specific areas of talent or strength revealed in the client’s description

of her past experiences.5. Value clarifying. Identifying the sources of enjoyment and satisfaction in a person’s description of

past activities and experiences.6. Creative imagining. Methods which encourage the client to envision job and career possibilities

through open-ended brainstorming, imagining, visualizing, fantasizing, etc.7. Information giving. Giving pieces of job or career information that enable the client to understand

better a particular job or career or a particular process, such as job hunting. 8. Role playing. Helping the client “practice” in the counseling room situations that he will face later. 9. Spot checking. Verifying if the conversation has met the client’s expectations or covered the

concerns she had when she first came into the counseling relationship.10. Summarizing. Collecting what the client has said thus far, and reviewing it for purposes of moving

forward.11. Task setting. Asking the client to gather information or engage in experiences that are directly

relevant to her job or career objectives. 12. Establishing the YES, BUTS. Identifying the client’s concerns, main obstacles or roadblocks she

believes may stand in the way of her job or career goals.

How to elicit career ideas from clients

1. Ask directly. Persist gently in asking “What kind of work do you think you’d most like to do?”2. Mental imagery. Use methods to stimulate the client’s imagination, such as guided

visualizations. 3. Focus on the client’s accomplishments. Help the client identify skills they used in things

they accomplished, and which of these skills they would like to do again.

1-2-3 Career Counseling

1. ”What do you want to do?” Encourage the client to talk about any fleeting career ideas she has had that she might consider. Allow questions to linger in the client’s mind, which she could reflect on even while not in the counseling room.

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2. “What’s stopping you?” Clients must be asked to discuss obstacles in stated career possibilities. The counselor can help the client unearth these problems, give them form, and clarify them. It is important to note that the counselor must assess the level of motivation of the client in his pursuit of any stated career possibility.

3. “What are you doing about it?” At this point, the counselor facilitates Reality Testing, which allows the client to see how far their motivation will carry them. This is where the counselor can use “Yes, But…”

Reality Test Type A: “How accurate is my perception of the problem? How can I get better data?” Reality Test Type B: “If Type A reality testing shows that I have less skill than I need, what can I do to improve my situation, to begin overcoming obstacles?”

Assessment and Career Counseling

Assessment is the use of formal or informal techniques to collect data about a client. Its important use is to assist individuals at a given point in time to identify current interests and skills in order to determine the next educational or vocational choice in the sequence that makes up career development.

The most familiar tool to counselors is the administration and interpretation of standardized tests such as the Strong Interest Inventory, the Campbell Interests and Skills Survey, and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Purpose of assessment

1. Learning more about the needs of an individual or group of individuals 2. Learning more about the characteristics of an individual and helping him learn more about himself3. Determining the progress of a person or a group of persons in areas related to career development

On a cautionary note: Assessment, especially testing, may give the client the impression that the process of career planning and choice is simplistic.

Some problems with testing (Figler and Bolles, 1999):

1. The Fortune-Teller syndrome.2. Testing encourages clients to be dependent.3. Testing gives clients a cloak of false authority.4. Clients believe that tests have a high validity.5. Tests infer high predictive validity.6. Testing is a crutch for the counselor.7. Testing undermines the development of the career counseling profession.

As an alternative, unobtrusive methods are strongly encouraged, such as facilitating open-ended discussions about career ideas, and exploring and reality testing, and open-ended questionnaires such as the Career Assessment Profile.

(See the CAREER ASSESSMENT PROFILE activity sheet)

Taking Charge of the SAFEKEEPING SELF(From Figler and Bolles, 1999)

George Prince of the Mind-Free Group, Inc., proposed that the two sides of the brain have very different approaches to life. The left side of the brain functions as the SAFEKEEPING SELF, and the right side is the EXPERIMENTAL SELF. The Safekeeping Self is that side which likes to maintain status quo, freedom from fear, and familiarity. On the other had, the Experimental Self is that side which likes to try new directions, likes adventure, and a better life. In normal circumstances, both sides are designed to work together, maintaining balance and equilibrium with each other.

The BRAINLeft Side Right Side

Excels at seeing the pieces. Excels at assembling the pieces into a coherent picture.

Is good at perceiving details or individual elements (i.e. text).

Is good at seeing the broad picture, the overall-context, at making connections, and integrating elements.

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Processes information in a linear manner. Deals with inputs one at a time.

Processes information more diffusely and simultaneously. Integrates many inputs all at once.

Specializes in logic and analytical reasoning or thinking.

Specializes in intuition and holistic perception or thinking.

Specializes in memory and recognition of words and numbers.

Specializes in memory and recognition of objects, persons, faces, music, and pitch.

Specializes in anything related to time, such as history, planning.

Specializes in things related to space, such as body movement.

Is connected to the right side of the body, and the right side of each eye’s vision.

Is connected to the left side of the body and the left side of each eye’s vision.

Three Rules for Taming the Safekeeping Self

1. Urge clients to put a lot of music in their lives.2. Encourage clients to do lots of information gathering about the new “phase” they are getting into.3. Describe for clients how the Safekeeping Self does, and how it behaves.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT IN SCHOOLS

National Standards for School Counseling Programs

The purpose of a counseling program in a school setting is to promote and enhance the learning process. To that end, the School Counseling Program facilitates Student Development in three broad areas: Academic Development, Career Development, and Personal/Social Development.

II. Career Development

Standard A Students will acquire the skills to investigate the world of work in relation to the knowledge of self and make informed career decisions.

Standard B Students will employ strategies to achieve future career success and satisfaction.

Standard C Students will understand the relationship between personal qualities, education and training, and the world of work.

The emphasis is success for all students, not only those students who are motivated, supported, and ready to learn. The school counseling program based upon national standards enables all students to achieve success in school and to develop into contributing members of our society.

School success requires that students make successful transitions from elementary school to middle/junior high school to high school. Graduates from high school have acquired the attitudes, skills, and knowledge that are essential to the competitive workplace of the 21st century.

The program standards for career development guide the school counseling program to provide the foundations for the acquisition of skills, attitudes, and knowledge that enable students to make a successful transition form school to the world of work, and from job to job across the lifespan.Career development includes the employment of strategies to achieve future career success and job satisfaction as well as fostering understanding of the relationship between personal qualities, education and training, and the world of work. Career development standards and competencies ensure that students develop career goals as a result of participation in a comprehensive plan of career awareness, exploration, and preparation activities.

National Career Development Guidelines Competencies and Indicators For elementary, middle school, and high school from NOICC (1996), cited by Peterson and Gonzales (2000).

Table 1 Self-knowledgeELEMENTARY MIDDLE SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL

Knowledge of the importance of a positive self-concept

Skills to interact positively

Knowledge of the influence of growth and change

Skills to interact positively

Understanding the influence of a positive self-concept

Skills to interact positively with

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with others

Awareness of the importance of growth and change

with others

Knowledge of the importance of growth and change

others

Understanding the impact of growth and development

Table 2 Educational and Occupational ExplorationELEMENTARY MIDDLE SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL

Awareness of the benefits of educational achievement

Awareness of the relationship between working and learning

Skills to understand and use career information

Awareness of the importance of personal responsibility and good work habits

Awareness of how work relates to the needs and functions of society

Knowledge of the benefits of educational achievement to career opportunities

Understanding the relationship between work and learning

Skills to locate, understand, and use career information

Knowledge of skills necessary to seek and obtain jobs

Understanding how work relates to the needs and functions of the economy and society

Understanding the relationship between educational achievement and career planning

Understanding the need for positive attitudes towards work and learning

Skills to locate, evaluate, and interpret career information

Skills to prepare to seek, obtain, maintain, and change jobs

Understanding how societal needs and functions influence the nature and structure of work

Table 3 Career PlanningELEMENTARY MIDDLE SCHOOL HIGH SCHOOL

Understanding how to make decisions

Awareness of the interrelationship of life roles

Awareness of different occupations and changing male/female roles

Awareness of the career planning process

Skills to make decisions

Knowledge of the interrelationship of life roles

Knowledge of different occupations and changing male/female roles

Understanding the career planning

Skills to make decisions

Understanding the interrelationship of life roles

Understanding the continuous changes in male/female roles

Skills in career planning

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VOCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS

PRESCHOOL CHILD1. Increasing ability for self-help2. Identification with like-sexed parent3. Increasing ability for self-direction

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILD1. Ability to understand cooperative enterprises2. Choice of activities suited to one’s abilities3. Assumption of responsibility for one’s act4. Performance of chores around the house

HIGH SCHOOL ADOLESCENT1. Further development of abilities and talents2. Choice of high school or work3. Choice of high school curriculum4. Development of independence

YOUNG ADULT1. Choice of college or work2. Choice of college curriculum3. Choice of suitable job4. Development of skills on the job

MATURE ADULT1. Stabilization in an occupation2. Providing for future security3. Finding appropriate avenues for advancement

OLDER PERSON1. Gradual retirement2. Finding suitable activities for skills to occupy time3. Maintaining self-sufficiency insofar as possible

Career Development in the Elementary Schools

Emphases Avoidance of premature closure of future options Positive attitudes towards self and opportunities, feelings of competence, and experiences for

exploration and preparation of the future Development of positive habits and attitudes towards work Programs must be developmental to cater to the changing developmental characteristic of

children.

Goals of career development1. To counteract environmental pressures to prematurely commit to educational and occupational

options.2. To provide an environment that fosters the pupil’s natural sense of curiosity.3. To encourage pupils to participate in activities that foster their interests

Career developmental tasks of pupils in this stage1. Become concerned about the future2. Increase personal control over their lives3. Convince themselves to achieve in school and at work4. Develop competent work habits and attitudes

Techniques Curriculum infusion Group activities

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Community involvement

Career Development in the Junior High or Middle Schools

Emphases Facilitation of students’ crystallization and articulation of their identities. Acknowledgement of the transitional character of this period Facilitation of the understanding of the consequences to later options of curricular and

course choices made in this period. Timely, relevant, and accurate information is important to foster career exploration

and selection. Gender differences, models available, self-efficacy, and bias toward or away from

particular choices are major factors.

Goals of career development1. To facilitate development of a positive self-concept in students2. To help develop specific competencies in educational and occupational exploration

Career developmental tasks1. Develop a clear sense of identity2. Specify occupational preferences3. Develop a positive self-concept

Techniques Career information Resource speakers Simulation activities Curriculum infusion Community involvement

Career Development in the High School

EmphasesStimulating career developmentProviding treatmentAiding in placementPrimary focus of career development is to help students identify occupational preferences and clarify career and lifestyle choices

Goals of career development1. To provide opportunities for “transition enhancement” assistance (Baker, 2000).2. To develop in students “career maturity” (Super, 1957).3. To orient students to tasks and decisions they will encounter in high school (Savickas, 1999).4. To foster exploration and identity development related to a career domain (Marcia, 1989)

Techniques Group and individual career counseling Topical workshops Computer assisted programs Self-directed activities Internet use for career exploration Assessment Mentoring Job placement

Career Development in Higher Education

National Career Development Competencies for Adults

I. SELF-KNOWLEDGE

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Skills to maintain a positive self-conceptSkills to maintain effective behaviorsUnderstanding developmental changes and transitions

II. EDUCATIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL EXPLORATIONSkills to enter and participate in education and trainingSkills to participate in work and lifelong learningSkills to locate, evaluate, and interpret career informationSkills to prepare to seek, obtain, maintain, and change jobsUnderstanding how the needs and functions of society influence the nature and structure of work

III. CAREER PLANNINGSkills to make decisionsUnderstanding the impact of work on individual and family lifeUnderstanding the continuing changes in male/female rolesSkills to make career transitions

Olson and Matkin (1992) provides a comprehensive list of activities which career counselors in postsecondary education and training institutions are involved in, including

1. Assessment of needs2. Administration and interpretation of psychological tests for career counseling3. Counseling of personal problems4. Assistance in career exploration5. Provision of workshops on study skills6. Coordination of a job placement program7. Plans and conducts career fairs and seminarsAnd many others

Study by Healy and Reilly, cited by Niles and Harris-Bowlsbey (2005) reported the needs of 10 community colleges in California. These are:

Knowing more about themselvesBecoming more certain of their career plans Exploring career optionsEducational planningLearning job-search skills

Niles and Harris-Bowlsbey (2005) add two additional component: 1. balancing of academic demands and other roles; and 2. needs of international students as needs of higher education students.

Approaches to deliver career guidance in higher education4. Courses, workshops and seminars that offer structured group exercises in career planning, job

access skills, decision-making, and related topics.5. Group counseling activities6. Individual counseling7. Placement programs

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Career/ Life Planning Module for University Liberal Arts Students

Module 1: A Beginning1st and 2nd year undergraduates

Choosing an Educational Program

3rd and 4th year undergraduates and graduate students

Choosing Occupational Fields

3rd and 4th year undergraduates and graduate students

Choosing a Job

Module 2: Exploring yourself

Module 3: Career Research and Decision Making

Module 4: Translating a Degree into an Occupation

Module 5: Resume writing

Module 6: Interview Skills/Job Search Techniques

EMERGING ISSUES

Career Related Concerns of Filipino Students(Clemeña, 2002)

1. Sociologicala. No choice, uncertain choice, unwise choiceb. Based chiefly on socio-cultural expectation

2. Psychologicala. Lack of informationb. Low self-worth

3. Generala. Problems of skill or aptitude

Othersa. lack of interest in anythingb. lack of matching between interest on one hand, and academic performance and work opportunities

on the other.

Challenges(Clemeña, 2002)

1. Family Ties and Peso Signs Career choice is strongly influenced by parents’ advice. Primary considerations are affordability

of education and employability.

2. Employability There is a mismatch between training and employment. The employability of graduates who

enter courses that have low employment opportunities will be a challenge.

3. Appropriateness of Career Counseling Models There is a misconception of Trait and Factor theories Approaches in career counseling are of Western origin and not entirely suited for Filipino clients

4. Career Development Focus Career development is largely focused on the school-to-work transition. There is a lack in focus

on other populations.

5. Research There is a need for further researches on career development among Filipinos.

6. Cultural Diversity There is a need to come up with career counseling approaches that will address the Philippines’

largely diverse culture.

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The Changing Nature of the World of Work

No longer one career—one’s lifetime work Women-only, men-only jobs are disappearing Globalization of the marketplace Technological revolution Changing organizational structures and work patterns In the Philippines, the phenomenon of OFW’s

Qualities employers will demand of workers(ILO, 1998)

1. Knowing how to learn2. Basic literacy and computational skills3. Good communication capacity4. Group effectiveness5. Adaptability6. Ability to balance life

Workers of the future must be able to:(Pelsma and Arnett, 2002)

Cope with uncertaintyOvercome obstacles and setbacksTake risksMake good decisions

References:

Clemeña, R. (2002). Family ties and peso signs: Challenges for career counseling in the Philippines. The Career Development Quarterly, 50, 3, 246.

Crites, J. (1981). Career Counseling: Models, Methods, and Materials. New York: McGraw-Hill.

International Labor Organization (ILO) (1998). Human resource development in Asia and the Pacific in the 21 st

Century: Issues and challenges for employers and their organizations. www.ilo.ord.HRDAsia21stCent.htm. Retrieved March 12, 2006.

Figler H. and Bolles, R. (1999). The Career Counselor’s Handbook. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

Gibson, R. and Mitchell, M. (2003). Introduction to Counseling and Guidance, 6th Ed. Upper Saddle, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Pelsma, D. and Arnett, R. (2004). Helping clients cope with change in the 21 st century: A balancing act. Journal of Career Development, 25, 3, 169-179.

Peterson, N. & Gonzales, R. (2000). The Role of Work in People’s Lives: Applied Career Counseling and Vocational Psychology. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

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http://www.ilo.ord.HRD/

Career Intervention and Issues - Ms. Estesa Xaris Legaspi12th PGCA- ZCC Annual Seminar

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