Abstract The paper explores aspects of careercounseling and answers several questions on major issues in this field. This includes: How does fear of femininity impact men's career development? Compare characteristics of African American and Asian men and identify related careercounseling implications. How does the socio-economic status of parents impact the expectations parents have for their children?
From the Paper "Researchers examining issues concerning career development have noted the fact that many men exhibit a fear of femininity which affects their career path. This idea has been inculcated in men by means of the normal gender-role socialization process and some have suggested that this has created a masculine/feminine polarity. Zunker (1994) lists characteristics associated with each gender, based on the socialization process. Masculinity is therefore associated with the following: power and the exercise of power, strength and toughness, logical and analytical thought and ambition and achievement. These are all characteristics that are associated with success, with forging ahead, with taking charge, with achieving something in life."
Abstract While thousands of teens have become pregnant every year for centuries, it has only been in the last three decades that teen-pregnancy has been addressed in any kind of open manner. Now, we as a community have the opportunity to help our pregnant teenage girls achieve a full and rewarding life. The problem is that we have few structures developed within our school systems for career and life counseling specifically designed to help this population. The information that follows is a justification for the development of a comprehensive career-counseling program that will directly improve the current and future lives of pregnant teenage girls.
This paper studies three books: 'Brief Counseling in Action' by John M. Littrell, 'Counseling Children and Adolescents' by Ann Vernon and 'CareerCounseling' by Norman C. Gysbers, Mary J. Heppner and Joseph A. Johnston.
Abstract This paper provides book report on three books regarding counseling. The three books discussed are: 'Brief Counseling in Action' by John M. Littrell, 'Counseling Children and Adolescents' by Ann Vernon and 'CareerCounseling' by Norman C. Gysbers, Mary J. Heppner and Joseph A. Johnston. The reports examine the author's main points. The writer of this article discusses the validity of these points, critical issues raised, language used, types of evidence (primary, secondary) and looks at what the books have in common. The paper also discusses the relevance of the books to a B.A. degree in Counseling and reveals what was learned from the books.
From the Paper "This book is an introduction to brief therapy for counselors and counseling students that will enable the reader to establish the mindset for brief counseling. It will help them master the key steps in the solution-focused model and acquire the necessary techniques for speeding up the action. The book uses many vignettes and three in-depth single-session cases demonstrating the use of brief counseling in different settings such as schools, counseling centers and in private ... "
Tags: brief counseling, child and adolescent counseling, careercounseling
Abstract Culture is a critical variable in careercounseling and should enter into every part of the careercounseling process. This paper explains that, in order to effectively utilize a valid frame of reference in which to place cultural variables, counselors need to be familiar with theories of acculturation, world-views, aspirations and expectations, societal barriers and intra-group socialization, and racial and ethnic identity development.The writer explains that it is clear that career counselors working with multi-cultural students must be trained in such a way as to ensure that they are completely sensitive to and well-versed in matching individual students to the appropriate work environment. It discusses how careercounseling is a process occurring between two or more individuals and designed to help students reach a career decision. It concludes that, in order to be effective as a career counselor with racial and ethnic minority students, counselors must become skilled in cross-cultural counseling.
From the Paper "Good career counseling always takes place within a cultural context, which is true regardless of ethnicity. Current theoretical models may not be adequate to explain the career behavior of racial and ethnic minorities. Vocational assessment has to be culturally sensitive, and only culturally appropriate tools should be used in vocational assessment. The goal of career counseling is to help clients make career choices that are culturally appropriate, rather than to try to have all clients make the same choices. Today, with the changes in the balance of ethnic representations in the United States, and a greater recognition of the changing needs of racial and ethnic minority members, it is generally agreed that counselors must be competent to work with a diverse population and effectively deliver vocational counseling services to racial and ethnic minorities."
Abstract The paper overviews John Holland's career assessment theory, considered the most influential in the field of careercounseling. The paper applies this theory to a client who has sought careercounseling, participated in an interview, and took Holland's RIASEC assessment. The paper shows how the client's profile and her performance test results can guide her towards the most suitable career path.
From the Paper "To begin with, John Holland's theory connects an individual's personality to particular work environments or occupations. Often called the RIASEC theory for short due to the six typologies that take into consideration personal characteristics and interests: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, or Conventional. Essentially, the theory states that if a person and an environment have the same or similar traits, then the individual will most likely be content in that environment (Holland, 1997). For example, an artistic person who perhaps has an active imagination, enjoys creating original work, and is impulsive, nonconforming, and original might enjoy being a dancer, actor, or painter. The importance of one's environment or occupation being similar to his or her personality traits is that a career path can be supportive enough for that individual to be authentic and express their personality. In other words, certain work environments encourage the right individuals to express their interests, skills, attitudes, and values (Johns Hopkins University, 2006), and thus thrive in that environment."
Abstract The paper provides a literature review of careercounseling of physically and mentally disabled individuals. The paper also discusses the types of programs that have been implemented and the outcomes of some of the programs. The review shows how careercounseling and development for the physically disabled is vitally important in ensuring that these individuals are able to acquire and keep jobs. The paper concludes that programs in the United States have been relatively successful. However, researchers have found lower occurrences of employment amongst women and African Americans that are disabled and have participated in such programs.
Contents:
Introduction
Literature Review
Discussion and Conclusion
From the Paper "Wadsworth et al (2004) explains that career development is essential to the promotion of a productive life for those with physical and mental disabilities. The authors also point out that most of the current research on the topic of career development for the disabled is focused on occupational choice instead of career development (Rumrill & Roessler, 1999; Wadsworth et al 2004). The authors explain that occupational choice concerns itself with a person's vocational decision at any point in time (Wadsworth et al 2004). On the other hand, career development is concerned with the sustained developmental process that integrates both personal and environmental information (Wadsworth et al 2004). In addition the authors assert that career development is a unique process that forces individuals to engage in the unending analysis, and combination of information about the workforce and self (Wadsworth et al 2004)."
Abstract In this article the writer notes that careercounseling is becoming increasingly sophisticated in terms of the methods of study and the implications gained from research and case studies in the field of counseling. The writer points out that one of the more recent developments in careercounseling is in the area of inter-personal relationships that exist outside of the work environment and looks at how these can impact both the job candidate's professional aspirations and the likely outcomes for job performance. This paper examines how relationships among and between work, family, and associated factors that are involved in relationships can affect job performance. Further the writer discusses how it is the career counselor's responsibility to identify these aspects and contextualize then in respect to potential job openings and career decision-making.
Outline:
Introduction
Literature on Careers and Inter-personal Relationships
Summary
From the Paper "Recently, author Barbara Ehrenreich called attention to the problems that many older professionals face when they lose their existing position and need to move into another. In her book, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream, Ehrenreich pretended to be a woman in her mid-fifties who had been downsized from a competitive white-collar job and was seeking to enter the workplace. Initially, the book was intended to document her experiences as an older woman in the modern workforce, but after more than six months of actively seeking a job through various placement services, the book instead focuses on the challenges that older persons encounter when they look for new employment opportunities. She cautions against the use of career "coaches," who appear to take on the role of career counselors but are more likely to upsell their services and guarantee placement in jobs of the client's choice, as opposed to working with the client to help make appropriate decisions and build an effective career-oriented strategy."
Abstract In this article, the writer notes that to be an effective career counselor, a counselor must address the psychological needs and desires of a prospective client, not simply prescribe a career based needupon the individual's education as it fits into the current job market. However, the writer also points out that theories of matching personalities to career paths, or using an individual's hobby to suggest what he or she really ought to be doing, is only helpful in answering the question of what one would like to do. While answering this question is undeniably an important part of a career counselor's task, an equally frequent issue that occurs in counseling is when a person does not feel able to do a particular job. The writer discusses treating issues related to a lack of self-efficacy. The writer concludes that the counselor must help the client unburden him or herself of specific concepts of a lack of self-efficacy related to career skills and goals--but there also must be a more general component of raising the client's self-esteem and efficacy that is essential to fully realize the individual's maximum potential in the workforce.
From the Paper "Answering this question by empowering the client's self esteem requires a certain basic knowledge of the concept of self-efficacy, one of the core concepts developed from the larger psychological theory of attachment. Attachment theory was the brainchild of the British psychoanalyst John Bowlby who wished to explain the intense distress experienced by infants separated from their parents, even for a short time. Bowlby stated that this response was a necessary evolutionary mechanism to ensure that children were cared for by their parents, and that the separation between child and parent was taken seriously. Bowlby theorized that children who grew up in a household with accessible and attentive caregivers grew up feeling secure and became greater risk-takers and more sociable because their basic needs for secure attachment and attention were satisfied. A child without such an available caregiver who was forced to cry without being comforted developed a sense of learned helplessness, a low sense of self-efficacy or ability to affect the environment, and eventually may sank into despair and finally, depression as an adult. A person whose attachment needs was unsatisfied as a child may be highly avoidant of new tasks that may provoke anxiety, as well as fearful of others."
Abstract Careercounseling, from the outside, appears to be little more than an established network of people who maintain binders of job postings and help people with tips about interviews. At the high school level, they are seen as the people who carry binders of college materials and help students fill out applications and write essays. These misconceptions do a significant injustice to the field of career guidance, for they miss the entire point of what it is that the career counselor does. Helping a person discover what it is that they want to define their life with and helping them achieve that goal requires the analytical skills of a psychologist, the patience of a priest and the business eye of a CEO. At the core of career guidance are schools of philosophy and thought which center upon the work of scholars the like of John Holland and Donald and Ann Roe. It is the purpose of this paper to explore these two theories of career guidance and to find their common and uncommon ground.
Abstract This paper explains that job satisfaction and job counseling are both management and an employee issues. The paper quotes that the usual way of measuring job satisfaction through Total Quality Measurement (TQM) questionnaires is not effective because two people who do the same work for the same salary rarely record the same level of satisfaction as the motivation factor is missing from the questionnaire. The author concludes that job satisfaction is a component that can be tested through surveys and that can be promoted by means of in-house programs, but it is best promoted by good company policies that nurture an atmosphere that supports the needs and ambitions of workers and so motivates them to work their best.
From the Paper "The author further notes that the advent of the computer has contributed to the trend by placing a premium on innovation and creativity. To achieve this, a company must create an environment in which people do not feel alienated so that they only do what is required of them. The company needs commitment and loyalty, which are nurtured by affiliation, which is a product of the progressive management approaches characterized as giving attention to spirituality. This means a new emphasis on values and culture, though this as well may raise people's expectations too high. To decide which policies, programs, and cultures are merely "nice to have?, which actually have a positive effect on business, more, and more companies are routinely conducting attitude, productivity, and employee and customer satisfaction surveys."
Abstract The paper examines a number of career development theories as they apply to the cases of Pat and Marla, two young people who are at a point in their lives when decisions about career directions are of paramount importance. The paper suggests that all of these theories are valid in their own ways, but Holland and Krumboltz provide especially insightful ideas and intellectual paradigms.
From the Paper "The following paper will briefly consider Pat and Marla, two young people coming of age and coming to terms with who they are and what they are. Over the next few pages, a closer examination of some general developmental theories - developmental theories which might explain the thinking and behavior of Pat and Marla - will be advanced. In the end, what this paper should underscore is the complexity of human beings and the battery of theories which have been developed to explain them. Under general trait theory, which basically holds that some people are born leaders while others are not, it is clear that Pat is a leader. He takes the initiative; he seeks out responsibility; he wants to help people. There is no evidence - yet - that Pat is a "Grand Person", but there is little reason to doubt that he can become one."
Abstract Theocentric counseling is a Christian method of psychotherapy that concentrates on situating the useful parts of modern therapeutic techniques in a Christian dialogue and culture. This paper gives an explanation of theocentric counseling methods, and explains how theocentric counseling can be used in career guidance and life skills development therapy.
Abstract This paper reviews the MBTI, a psychometric instrument designed to sort people into groups of certain personality types. The paper takes a look at the four basic scales with opposite poles used to measure a person's preferences. All four indices are dichotomous, as people tend to develop one preference on the scale at the expense of the other.
Contents:
Overview
Scoring
Criticism
Structure and Administration
Career Management and School Counseling Personal Experience
Overall Evaluation
From the Paper "The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator was developed in part to offer a form of Jung's personality type theory that is more coherent and useful in people's lives. It has become one of the most accepted and widely-used development tools for assessing personality characteristics in non-psychiatric populations. Applications have been made across a broad range of human knowledge, including in areas such as psychotherapy and counseling; education, learning methods, cognitive styles, career counseling, and management and leadership in organizations."
Tags:career, counseling, extraversion, interest, introversion, judging, jungian, perceiving, scales, theory
Abstract This paper examines issue fronts concerning vocational counseling for persons with hearing impairment. It discusses the social and developmental context of career plans of the hearing impaired, and the concerns and challenges that might arise from such plans. The paper explores attributes that a successful vocational counselor needs.
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to examine the issue fronts surrounding vocational counseling of individuals with disabilities in particular those who may be hearing impaired. The plan of the research will be to set forth the social and developmental context ..."
This paper uses peer-reviewed journal articles to explore the thoughts of leading career counselors on the history, present state, and future of this field in schools.
Abstract This paper explains that, just as students benefit from rigorous academic study, they also gain from more knowledge about career options and the skills and training required for different jobs. The author points out that the initiative, ?The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994? (STWOA), provides state funding to create local partnerships with the goal of meeting students' transition-to-career needs. The paper relates that the new economy necessitates a career development method whereby students must first identify broad industry sector goals and prepare themselves for multiple roles within these sectors.
From the Paper "In recent years, educator E.L. Herr has emphasized that the schools in the United States have developed ?inconsistent educational and workforce development policies.? He argues that the failure of career development services to become an integral piece of each school's educational mission results in large part from federal policies and initiatives that, in reality, are not interrelated to current national educational reform movements. He feels that it is not surprising that, given this scenario, many school counselors and administrators have demonstrated a lack of familiarity with and commitment to national workforce preparation policies."
