Developmental Approach - Career Counseling and Development

DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH

Career counseling and development are processes in which counseling activities, strategies, and interventions are used to work with people who seek help in making career exploration, planning and transition decisions. Career counseling and development consider both the people and the environment in which they learn and work.

CAREER COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT

Most influential developmental approach is that of Donald Super -1957.

It focuses on the influence of self-concept on occupational choices. Although self-concept is fairly stable after late adolescence, any change with time and experience make choices a continuous process.

CAREER COUNSELING AND DEVELOPMENT

Stages of Development

Characteristics of Elementary School Children:

Self-concept is determined by what others say about them and expect of them Begin to develop their ability to show empathy and move through several stages of moral development. Sex identification becomes stronger and friendships are formed with members of the same gender

Elementary

Counseling Approaches:“Elementary school level the

introductory stage of career development should include activities that target the students’ awareness of self, feelings of autonomy and control, need for playful behavior, and desire for exploration.” - Miller, 1989

Example: What Do Your Parents Do?

Elementary

The period consists of four stages: the interest, the capacity, the value and

transitional.

High school - A Transition Period

1. The adolescents want to know and to be better informed about the world of work and the type of training and educational requirements of different occupations.2. The values of adolescents become a more important factor in their career decision making, implicit values such as security dominate their thinking.

Characteristics counselors need to consider when working with adolescents:


Chickering and Havinghusrt (1981) – Developmental Task:

1.Achieving emotional independence

2.Preparing for marriage and family life

3.Choosing and preparing for a career

4.Developing an ethical system

COLLEGE

3. Parents still have a strong influence on their career choice and are perceived by adolescents as helpful in the process.4. Their personal experiences in school become more important in the decision making of adolescents.

Characteristics counselors need to consider when working with adolescents: --cont.


Career Development: Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad and Herma (1951) – developed the realistic period with three stages:

1.Exploration Stage - Youths begin to narrow their goals

2.Crystallization Stage - Young adults have definite ideas of what they want to do and not do

3.Specification stage - Young adult selects a specific job or graduate school

COLLEGE

Young adults create their own system of beliefs and

behaviors based on the complex context in which

they find themselves.

COLLEGE

No Goals“I really don’t know what I want to do. Nothing

seems to interest me. I just try to survive one day at a time.”

Choice Conflict“I would like to be a counselor or a psychologist.

They both work with people, don’t they? What is the difference between the two? Are there differences in what courses I need to take?”

Five Categories of Career Counseling problems: --cont.

Counseling Strategies

Failure“I was turned down for veterinarians’ school. I

guess I didn’t have good enough grades or test scores. I had my mind set that was what I wanted to do. I am depressed.”Need Information

“I see that paralegal workers will be in great demand. What do they do? What salaries do they make? Who hires them? Is there any future in that field?”



Indecision, Indecisiveness“My mother says I should prepare to be a

teacher. My dad says I should go into law. I don’t think I like either one. Dad will be disappointed because he is a lawyer … and he will be paying for my college, but I don’t think I would like either career.”

