Career Development Interventions Individual Perspectives

1
Career Development InterventionsIndividual
Perspectives
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Overview

• Approaches to Career Counselling (or vocational
  guidance)
• Differentialist Approach
• Behaviourist Approach
• Developmental Approach
• Relationship between careers education and career
  counselling

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Aims of Career Development Counselling

• Traditional View (1970s) educating people to
  make career decisions wisely, usually in advance
  of employment by any one particular organisation.
• Contemporary View organisations see the
  relevance of career counselling as a means of
  managing the process of organisational change -
  therefore increasingly occurs once the individual
  is within an organisation
• Activities
• opportunity awareness
• self-awareness
• decision learning
• transition learning
• US trained for career
• UK educated to make wise career decisions

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Theoretical Approaches to Vocational Counselling

• Differentialist Approach matching individual
  differences with differences in careers and jobs
• Behaviourist/Social Learning Approach
  teacher-learner approach. Use of behavioural
  methods to guide career development
• Developmental Approach emphasises the role of
  emotional factors in facilitating/blocking
  effective occupational decision making.
• N.B. counselling vs guidance

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Differentialist Careers Counselling

• talent matching (i.e. more guidance than
  counselling)
• Williamson (1926-1969) Trait-Factor Approach
• Underlying Assumptions
• each individual is an organised and unique
  pattern of capabilities
• individuals pattern of capabilities are
  identifiable by objective tests
• different capabilities are significantly involved
  in (and correlated to) different work tasks
• success in work tasks and academic achievement is
  best predicted by a battery of tests
• Williamsons 6 steps for vocational guidance
• Analysis
• Synthesis
• Diagnosis
• Prognosis
• Counselling/Treatment
• Follow-up

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Differentialist Careers Counselling (II)

• Rodger (1957) 7-point Plan
• System for gathering material to form a working
  image of the persons occupational assets and
  liabilities
• Assumes a matching model of vocational guidance
  allows for the use of tests
• 7 points
• physical make-up
• attainments
• general intelligence
• special aptitude
• interests
• dispositional
• circumstances

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Differentialist Careers Counselling (III)

• Hollands Modern Differentialist Approach
• Based upon Hollands hexagon - interaction
  between personality and environment
• Individuals can resolve their own vocational
  problems if they have suitable opportunities for
  obtaining information and are encouraged in the
  exploration
• Techniques
• placement/work experience services
• transition service
• counselling service
• vocational education services
• Hollands Self-Directed Search (self-assessment
  booklet and occupational classification booklet)

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Behaviourist Approach Careers Counselling

• the application of behavioural methods to the
  problems of occupational choice and development
• Approach utilised more in US than UK
• Counsellor conducts an initial assessment of the
  client, to make informed decisions about
• what specific behaviours need to be
  changed/reinforced
• what the most appropriate treatment methods are

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Behaviourist Approach (II)

• Treatments
• systematic desensitisation (interview/presentation
  anxiety)
• verbal reinforcement (Krumboltz and Thorsen)
• modelling (e.g. videotapes - examples of
  effective behaviour)
• simulated work experience
• teaching decision-making skills
• behavioural rehearsal
• behavioural self-control

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Developmental Approach

• Emphasises the importance of clients emotions
  and attitudes.
• Heavily influenced by Rogers person/client-centr
  ed therapy Supers theory of vocational
  development.
• Occupational choice and developmental decisions
  are processes involving the whole person.
• Theoretical Concepts
• Occupational Self-Concept those parts of the
  self-concept relating to work leisure
  activities (see Super)
• Organismic Valuing Process innate capacity for
  adequate valuing of experience within themselves
  (those pertinent to occupational choice and
  development)

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Developmental Approach (II)

• Theoretical Concepts, continued..
• Conditions of Worth Occupational Self-Concept
• introjected value patterns (from assessments of
  others) accumulated over the lifespan. Often lead
  to faulty career decision making
• Occupational Self-Concept allowing Realistic
  Perception
• Rogers people have a locus of evaluation -
  we try to understand and clarify our personal
  meanings (e.g. failing chemistry... do I really
  want to be a Doctor?)

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Developmental Approach (III)

• Practical Considerations
• Increasing realisation that most people are
  unable to adjust to life without distortions of
  reality
• Both client and/or counsellor may be
  misperceiving themselves, each other, the world
  of work
• Clients come into counselling at varying states
  of readiness for making/implementing
  occupational decisions
• Goal of counselling is to facilitate the clients
  self-actualisation, by providing a safe
  environment in which to explore their
  occupational self-concept.

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Elements of a Developmental Counselling Approach

• Fundamental Counselling Relationship
• Counsellor tries to create an emotionally
  supportive, empathic climate
• Use of tests to facilitate occupational
  self-exploration
• Developmental careers counselling differs from
  traditional person-centred counselling in that
  it often centres on the use of psychometric tests
  (NB requested or provided). Issue of low test
  scores
• Use of occupational information to explore work
• Issue of unfavourable occupational information
• Focused Exploration to assist occupational
  decision making
• focus on client thinking difficulties impeding
  occupational decision making
• Planning the implementation of an occupational
  self-concept
• Action Planning following the crystallisation
  of a career decision

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Comparison of Career Counselling Approaches

• All approaches
• aim to help the client obtain greater fulfilment
  by an adequate matching of their capabilities to
  work
• acknowledge the importance of self-direction and
  development
• Developmental - more sensitive than other
  approaches to the notion that career choice can
  be highly irrational
• Behavioural - place more emphasis than other
  approaches on the mechanics of career decision
  making
• Differentialist - use typologies to explain to
  clients how they interact with their environments.

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The Societal Context of Careers Counselling

• Herr Cramer (1992) potential clients of
  career counselling - more than just youth,
  pre-employment.
• Additional contributions workplace counsellors
  can make
• counselling workers in dual-career families
• counselling for individual self-analysis and
  planning
• assessment centres (development centres)
• life career planning workshops
• outplacement counselling , pre-retirement
  counselling
• consultation with mgmt about job enrichment
  schemes
• provide support for employees coping with
  transition
• educate line managers on the importance of
  individual differences in needs and interests

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Redundancy Counselling

• Lopez (1983) Ways in which counsellors can
  assist those made redundant
• identify individuals marketable, transferable
  skills
• outlet for individuals to let off steam
• discuss individuals support networks (social,
  financial etc)
• reinforce individuals self-worth, build
  self-confidence
• Pre-Retirement Counselling
• feelings of loss bereavement
• Hopson Adams (1976) 7 phases of transition
• 1. Immobilisation 5. Testing
• 2. Minimization 6. Searching for Meaning
• 3. Depression 7. Internalisation
• 4. Acceptance of Reality

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Conclusions

• Herr Cramer (1992) shift from personnel
  management to personal development
• Employees are increasingly being seen
  holistically
• Employees as corporate resources links being
  made between development and behavioural
  health
• Shift in careers counselling from economic health
  (FMJ and preparation for work) to encompass
  development of self-efficacy, coping with stress
  and transitions, organisational life generally.