This book was created to provide the reader with an easy to understand text covering the basic career counseling processes most often utilized by practitioners in a variety of fields. The authors use their wealth of experience as practitioners and educators in the field to explain and explore a variety of successful techniques as well as to discuss emerging trends in career counseling. The authors incorporate a series of case studies to engage and exemplify how each technique or process can be applied in a given situation. The use of case studies is a valuable tool to understanding for the beginning career counselor. Throughout the book, the emphasis on the complex interaction between careers and the life context is highlighted as is the fact that the world of work is changing at a rapid pace. The inclusion of the influence of technology on the field of career counseling is treated with detail while reminding the reader that the human factor in counseling is still of paramount importance. Emphasis is also put upon the necessity for career counselors to recognize and advance their training and skills to address career guidance in a global world arena.
The authors provide two useful appendices at the end of the text: the National Career Development Associations (NCDA) career counseling competencies and performance indicators and the NCDA ethical standards (2003 revision). The textbook publisher, Prentice Hall, offers a companion website to provide a virtual learning environment for professors and students alike. The Syllabus Manager ™ is included for the ease of creating and updating course syllabi for professors. This component is a time-saving device which also precludes the need for a professor to learn HTML. The student web support component is composed of a section on current counseling topics, an annotated bibliography, web destinations, professional development links, an electronic “bluebook” to enable completion and electronic submission of written assignments directly to the professor, a virtual message board and a chat room. The easy to navigate electronic companion can be accessed through http://www.prenhall.com/amundson.
The book begins by describing the evolution of career counseling as related to the changing needs of our society. As our country has changed from an agrarian society to one based on information and technology, the types of careers have by default been altered. Career changes occur more frequently as a result of economic hardship, personal and/or corporate relocations and mergers; career ladders are becoming “flattened” with less opportunity for advancement and businesses are beginning to be more dependent on their bottom line and less dependent on employee longevity. The concept of a lifelong career is no longer a reality for most people. Career counseling, thus becomes a necessity for many workers who may be unfamiliar with the goals of the counseling process. The authors define career counseling as a process in which a counselor works collaboratively to help clients/students clarify, specify, implement, and adjust to work-related decisions. Career counseling addresses the complex and intricate interaction of work with other life roles.
The book offers a brief overview of the three main career counseling theories often utilized by practitioners. The treatment of career development within personal context is also addressed. The book presents the theories of John Holland, Donald Super and John Krumboltz in concise summaries which are then explored and applied to the same case study-a fictitious student Sue. The authors also summarize, explore and apply the more recent “constructivist theory.” Each of the career counseling theories is presented logically and includes a brief list of counseling goals appropriate for the tenets of that theoretical perspective. This is by no means a comprehensive treatment of counseling theories and serves only to highlight those theories which are most often used in career counseling. If one were to enter the field of career counseling, one would need additional sources of information to understand the breadth and depth of these and other career counseling theories. The companion website offers electronic links to many theories but is only useful if accessed by the practitioner.
The book then proceeds, over several chapters, to address the concept that career development takes place within the context of the person and the environment. The emphasis upon positive client-counselor interactions is described and explored as well. These principles are components of most successful counseling relationships and are simply applied to career counseling in this text. The internal characteristics of an individual, such as intelligence, interests, aptitudes, values and needs are often determined through the use of formal assessment tools such as interest and vocational inventories. The external variables include school, family, community, the economy, society and the labor market. The interaction of external and internal variables is a complex matrix which must be explored in order to achieve a positive outcome for the client. In some cases, clients may not understand that it is a necessity to view the world of work within the context of life. It is one goal of counseling to help the client recognize and address these interactions. In the systemic belief that a change in one area of life can affect benefits in other areas, the work of contextualizing the multiple factors is of paramount importance to success.
There are several employability domains defined by the Human Resources Development Canada (pp 48-49) as typical areas in which career questions fall. These areas are: career exploration and decision making; occupational or generic skill development; job search techniques; job maintenance skills. The authors emphasize that in many cases, personal concerns such as alcohol or drug abuse and child care issues are intertwined with career concerns and thus career counselors must be connected to the additional services of the community in which they work in order to provide appropriate referrals and support for their clients. The authors suggest and demonstrate through case studies the use of a variety of techniques as options for exploration of career/life interactions. The reality of career counseling and its interaction with life circumstances is that it is not a linear process and at times, a change in direction may be needed in order to affect real change.
The book briefly covers formal structured assessments. It lists several common career assessment instruments (e.g.: Self-Directed Search, Holland, 1994; Strong Interest Inventory, Campbell, Strong & Hansen, 1991; Kuder Career Search with Person Match, Zytowski &Kuder 1999; Myers Briggs Type Indicator, Consulting Psychologists Press, 1993) and includes the basic information that each type of assessment can yield in terms of self-knowledge. Caution is advised in that some clients expect too much from formal assessments and also that formal assessments can be biased and or limited in terms of culture, language and diversity.
The world wide web has had a great impact on the field of career counseling. The authors address the some of the more common uses of technology in career counseling and also provide a model of how to create a successful virtual career center. The authors group electronic resources into three categories: comprehensive systems; partial systems; and websites. The decision of whether or not to include technology-based interventions is one that is based on the needs of the clients, their learning styles and their familiarity with technology in general. The needs of some clients such as data-gathering and formal assessments can be met though web-based sites and systems but the selection and proper use of sites and systems should be done under the guidance of a trained counselor. The counselor should be familiar with the systems, their strengths and weaknesses and their appropriateness for a presenting issue. Several professional groups in including the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and the American Counseling Association (ACA) have created specific guidelines dealing with the ethical use and application of electronic based interventions with clients.
This text provides a concise overview of career counseling and illustrates several commonly utilized processes and techniques. It could easily serve as a manual for the beginning career counselor. The underlying premise of this text is that career counseling is a subset of counseling. The authors utilize many case studies as examples of how to apply a specific theory or technique to a potential client but maintain a Rogerian client-centered approach throughout the book. The basic reality of career counseling is that a career counselor must be a counselor first and foremost and work in the area of helping to define and guide a client through the process of making sense out of career choice and/or change. As the job market and global economy continues to evolve, more people will be faced with the task of finding a second or third career and may not have the skills or knowledge to make such changes. In this new world of work, a skilled, insightful and creative career counselor can make the process of career transition one of empowerment and growth for the client.
Pages: 192 Price: $20.67 ISBN: 0-13-112271-1
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