Historical Development - Essay Example

(Swanson & Parcover, 1998) Career counseling debuted in the early 1900’s with the onset of industrialization and the need for white males to adjust to the new life ethic of work where the linear model of career development was implemented. That is, a career choice was made early in life and the person would remain in the same company moving up vertically in the career ladder until retirement. Thus Pope (2000) notes that career counseling in the early 1900’s was essentially focused on job placement.

To help people make the correct career choice counselors relied on standardized aptitude tests that were based on theory now known as traits and factor theory propounded by Frank Parson in his book “Choosing a Vocation” published in 1909. According to this approach the counselor helps identify a person’s characteristics and suitability to certain vocations through various aptitude and interest tests and matches him to an appropriate occupation. Occupations are also profiled according to the degree to which they require certain traits.

Important developments in the use of testing were articulated in Aptitude Testing (1927) by Cark Hull, Aptitudes and Aptitude testing (1937) by Walter Bingham and Vocational Interests of Men and Women (1943) by E.K.Strong. In addition to the early theories and books on career counseling many organizations and publications were launched in this field. The Vocational Guidance Newsletter was first published in 1911 by Boston’s Vocational Bureau, the U.S. Department of Labor was organized in 1913, the National Vocational Guidance Association (NVGA) was founded in 1913 and it published the Vocational Guidance Bulletin starting from 1915.

leislation was also enacted in 1918 as the Vocational Rehabilitation Act became a law. The mid 1900’s saw a great change in the work environment and workforce with the