Intervention Strategies in Career Counseling - Essay Example

The Intervention Strategies of Career Counseling Career development is an important of every persons life whether they approach it during a first career or sometime throughout their lifespan. An individuals career starts with their first job and can pull them towards the pursuit of different aspects of job satisfaction and career choice. When an individual enters career counseling it is very different from what they may experience when approaching personal counseling. Career counseling works with the individual in any aspect that works with job or career. Because of their scope of practice, career counselors do not work with personal issues unless they affect an individuals career. When an individual has a personal issue they are referred to a licensed professional counselor (LPC) who works with personal issues. Career Counseling is different from Career Coaching although many career counselors use a coaching approach. The objective of career counseling is to help an individual find a satisfying career or make a career transition. Although in our society the words "career" and "job" tend to be used interchangeably career counseling encompasses much more than job search, resume writing and interview skills. DEFINITION OF CAREER COUNSELING According to the National Career Development Association (NCDA) the voice of career counseling that sets the standards for all career counseling in the United States, Career counselors hold a graduate degree in counseling with a specialization in career counseling. Services of career counselors differ, depending on the counselors level of competence, the setting, client needs, and other factors. National Certified Career Counselors, Registered Professional Career Counselors, and other professional career counselors help people make and carry out decisions and plans related to life/career directions (NCDA, 2008). Career counselors are professionals and hold at least a Masters Degree which sets them apart from many people who are now calling themselves Career Coaches. The counselor also has an obligation to do professional development as they go throughout their career in order to keep current with trends and innovations in the workplace. Professional career counselors will provide services that are specific to the individuals needs and they will use one or more of the following techniques and strategies: Conduct individual and group counseling to help clarify career or life goals Administer and interpret career tests that include an assessment of abilities, interests, personality and skills to help an individual identify career options Create assignments for clients to explore different careers Provide tools to improve decision making skills Assist clients in developing personal and individualized career plans Review resumes and assist with job hunting strategies as well as the assessment of job skills. Help clients resolve conflicts at work where necessary Help clients assess how career and life roles work together to create a whole person. Provide support for individuals who are experiencing job loss, job stress or career transition. (modified from NCDA, 2008b). In conducting career counseling the professional career counselor has not only the knowledge that comes from their degree but also a variety of skills referred to as there "toolbox" that holds the strategies that they use for giving clients the assistance they need. In todays world career counselors are being looked upon more directly to help people in resolving career issues because of the state of the economy and the degree of unemployment. Many people have found that they can access a career counselor at most community colleges for a small fee or for free. They can have their resumes assessed, take a class or explore careers in this setting. Many have never explored careers because they went quickly into the job market. Because of this career counseling continues to be an integral part of employment and training programs at many colleges across the country. INTERVENTION STRATEGIES: BEST PRACTICES Intervention strategies for career counselors are numerous and what they use will depend on the individual needs of the client. The interesting part about career matters is that it appears that the same interventions can be used cross culturally although the way they are used may be different. Strategies will also differ depending on where an individual is experience the need for career assistance. Feller ,Russell, and Whichard (2005) studied the application of several career strategies and they found that several were being used successfully across cultures. They found that the following strategies were being used effectively on a cross cultural basis: Written exercises including the keeping of journals, diaries or workbooks. Self assessment of career tests and other self assessment instruments Career interviews -- both in modeling behavior and connecting people with those people already doing a career they are interested in. Helping clients build networks of people who are supportive of their career pursuits (Feller et. al, p. 37). Their study also found that when a career development program was instituted it would need to have several components in order for the individual client to get the most out of the interventions. These components included self assessment, updated career materials for exploration of careers, career planning activities, decision making exercises and career interviews. The strategies are geared towards making sure that an individual has all the tools they need in order to make an informed career decision. These strategies have been used for a variety of people and they have been shown to be the best practices for helping an individual find a career. Intervention Strategies for Individuals and Groups When an individual enters a career setting they will be exposed to a variety of career information. The process is the same in the beginning stages. Generally career testing will start so that the career counselor has baseline information on the needs of the individual. They will assess skills, personality and likes/dislikes because most people have only pursued a job or one career. Within this process they must do self reflection and think about what they want to do. Many counselors have them use a workbook or write in a journal what they are feeling and the areas of their lives that are most important when thinking about a career decision. The point of the testing is to help an individual or group identify the various occupations that have been shown to be worth exploring. The testing usually involves some combination of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, the Strong Interest Inventory and often a skills test of some sort which could be a pen and paper test or a Card Sort. Once the tests are taken the individual will be instructed to get information on these occupations. The greatest challenge for those seeking a career is that the materials that are available were created by the Department of Labor. The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) is a good example of traditional material. Their site instructions the viewer to go to the O*Net which is the listing for jobs. If an individual is looking for a traditional job, they will find a listing of several jobs in a "job family." As an example, the job family of Education, Training, and Library includes a myriad of jobs within those categories. An individual can look at each individual job or using the DOT Code they can find out how several jobs relate to one another. An individual can get bogged down in the research because there is so much information but this is a major research tool. However, the DOT does not have listings for entrepreneurship or guidelines for business startup. Once an individual has decided on a few careers, the next step is to do career interviews. They choose people who are already working in the field and devise a list of questions. These questions are geared towards a short interview and they are generally done at the individuals place of work. In some colleges career classes are taught that take students through career counseling strategies step by step. This enables an individual to go through the process in a group setting and to have others that can help brainstorm ideas for career search. The hope is that at the end of the research an individual will have identified a career choice that they can life with for awhile that will fit easily into their lifestyle. The career counselor would have helped them to identify a written career plan that has the information about their chosen career, any new training they need and any elements of their journey that was important to take into consideration during the career transition. OTHER IDEAS FOR INTERVENTION STRATEGIES In the beginning career counseling was seen as a vocational program. If an individual was looking for a job they went to a vocational guidance counselor. This individual was there to help an individual find a specific line of work. Work as career was not mentioned. According to NCDA, the National Vocational Guidance Association was founded in 1913 to assist individuals in looking further than jobs. The name was changed to the National Career Development Association in 1986 with the aim to " promote career development throughout the life span." (NCDA, 2008c). Since then they have become the voice for professional career counselors and they set the standards for credentialing and ethical behavior. Out of this organization has come a variety of ideas as to what career counseling should do for the individual. In the early days there was no consideration of how the personal or family life of an individual would be affected by career choice. As time went on career counselors began to see that career was important across the lifespan. Hansen (2001) was one of the individuals to approach the idea that work, family and the community were important to an individuals well being as they worked through career matters. She began to see that career counseling was changing because to the times. She identified two basic factors that began to change the way counselors would work with clients: 1. A national emphasis on information technology to reinforce traditional methods of job matching which included resume writing and getting people the job skills they needed and 2. A smaller trend that showed that career counselors were beginning to look at the "holistic human development, balance and career over the lifespan" (Hansen, 2001, p. 262). This meant that the entire life of an individual would need to be looked at when they were approaching their career. Many economists have supported this information by projecting that there would eventually be an end to work as we know it and society would become a place for entrepreneurs. In fact, Jeremy Rifkin (1995) suggested that the economic arena would create more automation and this would replace people in jobs. This is significant when talking about career counseling because career counseling has to keep up with the trends and the strategies would look different in that type of society. The point that Hansen makes is that as the world changes, career counseling changes and it reflects the needs of the individuals in society on a more direct basis. This also means that the whole person becomes more important. She also predicts that career counseling as it is known today will give way to an integrative life approach (Hansen, p. 265). The interventions that worked in career counseling many years ago also work today. The holistic approach is not new but it changes because the world is changing. As the world changes people are going to be more creative in their approach to career counseling because they must change along with the world. Career counselors have been predicting this change for a very long time. As an example, Charland (1993) stated that the world was changing from a "pyramid model" where you had blue collar workers and white collar workers to a "diamond shaped model" where you had Managers and Clerical Workers on the top and bottom with Service Providers in between these two classifications. He stated that this new diamond would create a different way to look at jobs. (Charland, p. 21-22). Daniel Pink (2006) suggests that the world as we know it today is changing from an information age to a conceptual age and that people will want to learn by concepts. He says there will be more emphasis on teamwork and problem solving. Although he does not say it, an implication of this is that the educational system as we know it would have to change as well. These two examples are about the resiliency of career counseling. Although many counselors change to embrace the innovations of the Internet and other new tools, there is always room for the traditionalists. Redifer and Crandell (2003) suggest that career counselors who use the Internet will have some ethical challenges especially when they are doing career counseling at a distance for students who take part in distance learning. This prompted the National Board for Certified Counselors and others to develop to adopt guidelines for career counseling particularly in the areas of confidentiality. Another area that was developed with best practices in mind was NCDAs Career Development Facilitator Training. This is a program that takes into consideration that there are jobsites and other types of training where workers who do not have a background or credentials in Career Counseling are called upon to do career work. This training was created "to provide standards, training specifications and credentialing for these career providers" (NCDA "CDF Training"). CAREER COUNSELING :STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES A LOOK TOWARD THE FUTURE Although CDF Training is a good idea there are many untrained people who are doing career work without any credentialing in the field. Tang (2003) pointed out that many counseling programs at the Masters level do not include career information. She also points out that one of the reasons is because insurance will not pay for career counseling in most situations. This means that the counselor has to find a specialty or they have to read and study information in order to assist clients adequately. Those counselors who really want to do career counseling well have the outlets to find the training that they need. NCDA offers several trainings as well as a conference once a year. The International Career Development Conference provides workshops and speaking opportunities for counselors once a year. There are both innovations that help the career counselor improve their skills. The challenge for counselors is to keep up with what is going on. CAREER COUNSELING AND CAREER COACHING Within the last ten years coaching has become a lucrative profession for many people. There are coaches that go to a coaching school and there are others who just hang out a shingle without any credentials at all. This has caused a stir in the career counseling fled because many "Career Coaches" have no background or training in career matters. They are able to deal with their own ideas of what their work should entail. They do not adhere to the standards set forth by NCDA and there are no ethical standards that are set forth. According to Chung, Coleman and Gfroerer (2003) career coaching is created to help clients through their career needs by acting as consultants to help people through. Although many people use career coaches it is at their own risk. Many do not have a solid foundation in career. According to Chung et.al, 90% of coaches old a bachelors degree and their backgrounds are varied from accountants to clergy (p. 146). CONCLUSION Career counseling has been a profession for a very long time and it has evolved over time. Generally career counseling will change as time to reflect the current state of the world. As more people come into the field it will be difficult to know which are credentialed and which are not, however within the framework of career matters, it does not seem to be a problem for the consumers of career services. Although career coaches are paid more than career counselors they are not governed by any standard other than coaching. In the future, it may be that coaches and counselors will do more collaboration so that training across the board so that both parties could gain an understanding of the others profession. This paper has attempted to look at the interventions and some of the issues in career counseling that will affect a new counselor coming into the field. References Charland, W.A. (1993). Career shifting: Starting over in a changing economy. Massachusetts: Bob Adams, Inc. Chung, Y Barry, Coleman, M. and Gfroerer, Allen. (2003). Career Coaching: Practice, training, professional, and ethical issues. The Career Development Quarterly, 52(2), 141-152. Retrieved November 12, 2008, from ProQuest Database (Document ID: 525513001). Feller, R. W., Russell, M., Whichard, J. A. (2005). Career techniques and interventions: Themes From an International Conversation. The Career Development Quarterly, 54(1), 36-47. Retrieved November 11, 2008, from ProQuest Database(Document ID: 889893881). Hansen, L Sunny (2001). Integrating work, family, and community through holistic life planning. The Career Development Quarterly: Special Millennium Issue, 49(3), 261-274. Retrieved November 12, 2008, from ProQuest Database. (Document ID: 69742182). National Career Development Association [NCDA]. (2008a). What is a career counselor? Retrieved November 11, 2008 from http://www.ncda.org/. National Career Development Association [NCDA] (2008b). What Do Career Counselors Do? Retrieved November 11, 2008 from http://www.ncda.org/. National Career Development Association [NCDA] (2008c). NCDA History And Purpose. Retrieved November 11, 2008 from http://www.ncda.org/. Pink, Daniel. (2006) A whole new mind: Why right brained thinkers will rule the future. NY: The Berkley Publishing Group. Redifer, C. and Crandell Peterson, A. (2003). Career Services For Distance Students: A low-budget approach to a high-tech challenge. NCDA News ("articles"). Retrieved November 12, 2008 from http://www.ncda.org/. Rifkin, J. (1995). The end of work: Technology, jobs and your future. NY: Putnam. Tang, Mei (2003). Career counseling in the future: Constructing, collaborating, advocating. The Career Development Quarterly, 52(1), 61-69. Retrieved November 16, 2008, from ProQuest Database. (Document ID: 432179061). Read More