Non-career-Specific Issues for Career Counselors - Article Example

?Non-Career-Specific Issues for Career Counselors Career counseling is an increasingly important field that is designed to help people find a new career or to find job satisfaction in their current one. This can be based upon a number of factors, including the emotions of the individual, qualifications, home commitments, work-life balance, gender, job satisfaction and education levels. These all need to be taken into account by the career counselor when offering advice, making this role require significant training and experience. The purpose of this literature review was to explore the different areas with which the career counselor may experience problems when trying to advice an individual looking to improve upon their career prospects. The three areas that have been focused on below are as follows: gender roles, and how this influences job satisfaction and job choice; career confidence, and how this affects an individual’s ability to make good choices about their own career and to interact in the workplace; and conflicts in the workplace, and how a career counselor must acknowledge these before offering advice to an individual. These are all areas which have a strong emotional impact on an individual, and are also areas that have not always typically been part of a career counselor’s role, and may rely more on the current literature than traditional career counseling techniques. These have also been chosen as part of this literature review because they are not directly related to the actual choice of career or field, but are more individual-centric and therefore may pose a significant problem when working as a career counselor. Introduction Whilst the career is important for most people’s lives (both financially and emotionally), there are often times when it can be difficult to choose a career or to know what choice is best for an individual on a personal level. It is for this reason that career counseling exists, a service which is generally designed to introduce people to the best career options and to work as a sounding board for those who have some idea about what they would like to do with their working life (Amundson, Borgen, Iaquinta, Butterfield & Koert, 2010). It can also cover issues like work-life balance, which is very important as there is often a link between emotional well-being overall and career satisfaction (Burton, 2010), which can be overlooked by some more traditional career counseling methods. The purpose of this literature review is to give a brief overview of career counseling using current research, and then to investigate some of the issues that career counselors will face when trying to do their job. The focus here is on issues that are not directly related to the choice of career, but to take a more narrow focus and look at issues such as gender roles, low career confidence and conflicts in the workplace, all of which can have a negative effect on career happiness for individuals. These things can also have a strong emotional impact on the individual on their home life, which is generally accepted to play a big role in career enjoyment and the ability to get out of bed in the morning, as well as maintaining a suitable work-life balance (Erford & Crockett, 2012). What is Career Counseling? Career counseling can take many forms. In essence, it is a form of counseling that is based around the career, so a career counselor will be using information provided in sessions to help guide a person into being happy in their career. This can involve telling the individual what type of career they should go into (based on several factors) or how to improve their feelings about their current career (Erford & Crockett, 2012). Many career counselors also have links in the employment world that they can use to help an individual get placements or interviews with. Career counselors will often need to be professionally trained so that their advice is appropriate for the individuals that they are working with and so that their guidance is as helpful as possible (Al-Darmaki, 2012). There are many different types of training, and there are also many different methods that career counselors can use. There are also movements to infuse systems thinking into career counseling as a way of improving the service to the individual and to move towards using career counseling in a non-linear way (Ryan & Tomlin, 2010). Additionally, modern career counseling literature also encourages using emotional information about the client to help them to integrate all areas of their life into their career choices, as this has been shown to make a significant improvement in career satisfaction (Amundson et al, 2010). Career counseling also involves the counselor being aware of several problems that the individual may face in their career path, which is the focus of this literature review. There are, for example, some difficulties for men choosing to go into traditionally non-male career roles (Dodson & Borders, 2006). This can cause conflict in the workplace, as well as making a huge difference to a man’s career confidence. Additionally, career counseling literature has found that low career confidence (stemming from either an insecurity in qualifications or ability) can also be a major deciding factor in career satisfaction (Erford & Crockett, 2012). Finally, career counselors may notice that conflicts in the workplace can have a huge impact on how someone feels about their current role (Erford & Crockett, 2012). Conflicts should also be taken into account when placing someone into the appropriate role, and potential sources of conflict can also be identified early to help provide the best advice for an individual (Al-Darmaki, 2012). Although many people experience conflict in the workplace at one time or another, helping an individual to avoid this conflict or to know which areas are most likely to cause conflict is another major role for career counselors (Erford & Crockett, 2012). Gender Roles It is evident that there are certain careers that appear to be more traditionally male than others. For example, Dodson & Borders (2006) conducted a study comparing male mechanical engineers with male elementary school counselors on a number of different areas to judge career satisfaction and gender roles in the workplace. Although the mechanical engineers did appear to have more traditional views on gender roles than the elementary school counselors, it was interesting to see that there appeared to be very little difference in career compromise choices (sex type vs. prestige in this case), which is interesting for career counselors looking to advise males on traditional or non-traditional career roles. However, there was a notable difference in job satisfaction between the two groups, which was able to be judged using the Gender Role Conflict Scale. This scale works on judging how well men are psychologically adapting to their lives as compared with what is seen as a traditional male role. In this case, men in non-traditional careers were able to voice their concerns about having a non-traditional job role and may experience more difficulty in career satisfaction than their traditional counterparts. Perrone, Wright & Jackson (2009) examined the traditional and non-traditional gender roles in the workplace for both men and women in light of the changing attitudes towards gender roles in the workplace. This examination also looked at role strain. It may be a challenge for women particularly who have a strong career role to have a work-life balance that is more traditional in the gender role. For example, women who have children as part of their family may often feel strain based on their gender role, as these women can often feel guilt about their attitudes towards their career and their needs in the workplace. Wiersma (2011) studied 155 males and 161 females who were all employed and married to examine this gender role conflict further. Gender was found to play a significant role in career orientation and career choice, work conditions and parental support. Women were also shown to have more conflict in the workplace, perhaps due to these conflicting gender roles and the difficulties that many women have juggling a home and a career. This suggests that career counselors need to take gender into account when offering career guidance, but also that they need to take into account gender roles within the individuals chosen workplace. Low Career Confidence McAuliffe et al (2006) correctly identified that there are certain emotional blocks which can make career decisions difficult for some individuals, and it is these emotional blocks that career counselors must identify and tackle as part of their role. This can be termed as career indecisiveness and, as identified by McAuliffe et al (2006), is usually accompanied by at least a moderate anxiety and is accompanied by low career confidence. Conversely, an improvement in career confidence brought about by a skilled career counselor is more likely to allow an individual to enact their career goals as well as identify them properly. Creed & Hughs (2012) conducted a study on 130 university students and assessed them on a number of variables, one of which was career confidence. As part of the study, the authors aimed to test a model which provided a link between career confidence (and perceptions of employability) and compromise in taking up a new career. What was found that low career confidence was more likely to lead to compromise in making career decisions, which can have a huge impact on the happiness and well-being of an individual with respect to their career. Additionally, compromise in the workplace is also associated with a higher level of career distress and may feed back into low career confidence, which provides a negative feedback loop that can be distressing for individuals. This means that it is obvious that career counselors will have to identify low career confidence as part of their role, and use this identification as part of helping the individual in their chosen career. Career confidence as shown by McAuliffe et al (2006) and the Creed & Hughs (2012) study may be one of the most important factors in career satisfaction and therefore should not be ignored in favor of more traditional career counseling methods revolving around education and qualification. Conflicts in the Workplace The final section of this literature review is dedicated to how career counselors can tackle conflicts in the workplace and how they affect those who are looking for career success. This includes not only conflict directly in the workplace but also the conflict between home life and the career. For example, Burton (2004) identifies that it can be extremely difficult working in a hostile environment and many people attempt to change the other person involved in the conflict. In this scenario, Burton (2004) advises that it is much more productive to attempt to change yourself, rather than the other person involved. This type of thinking is extremely important in career counseling, which obviously focuses on the individual involved in the sessions. In this manner, a person can become more aware of what causes workplace conflicts and more aware of how they can deal with this type of situation to improve matters. Overall, this type of approach could help individuals who are targeted by a lot of negativity in the workplace to overcome their immediate emotions and put the conflict to a more positive use and to grow in their ability to deal with such situations. This type of approach can be very useful for career counselors. Butterfield, Borgen, Amundson & Erlebach (2010) prepared a study based on those who felt that they dealt well with change in the workplace and with managing their work-life conflicts. . Using the enhanced critical incident technique methodology, the authors extracted 790 incidents from 45 participant interviews (Butterfield et al, 2010) and identified certain factors which career counselors can use in their advice for those struggling with conflict. These include support from friends and family, work environment, management style, personal life and taking action. In the situation where an individual is really struggling to deal with conflict in the workplace, allowing them to focus on these factors could really help them to make a positive change. This positive change will, in turn, allow these individuals to become more confident in their career and could reduce low career confidence. Conclusion Overall, this literature review found that the three areas (gender roles, conflicts in the workplace and low career confidence) were greatly explored in the literature, suggesting that these areas have been problematic for career counselors, particularly those who are looking to move away from more ‘traditional’ methods and to focus on a more holistic approach to career counseling. Gender roles can be difficult to deal with, particularly for men, as working in a non-traditional environment can be challenging. Women are more likely to suffer from trying to protect their traditional gender roles in the home whilst trying to balance their career and home life. Low career confidence can lead to a negative feedback loop in which low confidence leads to compromise, which in turn breeds more low career confidence. Finally, conflict in the workplace can be difficult to deal with, but can be mitigated by the career counselor offering advice on how to deal with hostile individuals. Additionally, there are several factors which can be used to help improve an individual’s approach to conflict resolution and change in the workplace, including support from friends and family and the work environment itself. By focusing on these areas, a career counselor can move away from more traditional placement methods and really focus on the psychological well-being of the individual. This will benefit employers, as happy employees are generally more productive and are able to manage their work-life balance a lot more easily (Burton, 2004). References Al-Darmaki, F. R. (2012). Relationships between career counseling attitudes and self-esteem and self-efficacy among Emirati university students. Journal of Career Development, 39(2), 143–161. Butterfield, L. D., Borgen, W. A., Amundson, N. E., & Erlebach, A. C. (2010). what helps and hinders workers in managing change. Journal of Employment Counseling, 47(4), 146–156. doi:10.1002/j.2161-1920.2010.tb00099.x Creed, P. A., & Hughes, T. (2012). Career Development Strategies as Moderators Between Career Compromise and Career Outcomes in Emerging Adults. Journal of Career Development. doi:10.1177/0894845312437207 Perrone, K. M., Wright, S. L., & Jackson, Z. V. (2009). Traditional and Nontraditional Gender Roles and Work—Family Interface for Men and Women. Journal of Career Development, 36(1), 8–24. doi:10.1177/0894845308327736 Wiersma, U. J. (1990). Gender differences in job attribute preferences: Work—home role conflict and job level as mediating variables. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63(3), 231–243. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8325.1990.tb00524.x Read More