Career Counseling Obstacles

The role of a counselor takes on many different forms, and it is a very important career, because it helps people make better life choices. The personal values we have, and also how we view the world, can help shape the type of counselor we will be. I will take a self-reflective view of what I hold dear, and also explain how my personal experiences have led me to chose a career in this particular helping profession. I will also describe the differences between the professional counseling, and other helping professions, such as social work for an example. I also will look at how accreditation, licensure, and certification, are important in defining what a counselor is, and does.

The career path of vocational rehabilitation counselor has come to me later in my professional career and it is not a path I would have anticipated taking. I do not recall taking interest assessments in high school, but if I had I would have probably fallen into the category of conventional personality type on John Holland’s personality scale. My early educational pursuits leaned toward administrative and business type positions. Most of my career I have worked in positions that were structured, predictable and very routine. Even though I worked in positions such as these I was often called upon to teach, train and instruct new employees. I found the most satisfaction in my job when I would work with individuals helping them to learn new tasks and obtain new skills.

A professional who holds a Master’s degree in counseling my also chose to have a career as a Vocational counselors. They may also be referred to as a career or employment counselors. These counselors offer counseling services in places other than the school setting. Their main objective is to help individuals with career choices, examine an educational background, employment history, skill and abilities, personalities and other aspects to help them. Additionally, career counselors may offer support services to people who have lost their jobs or experiencing career change issues (Baxter, 1997).

During the interview, Stashia presented issues of career changed frequently as she diverted from majoring in one career path to another. She divulged in the interview that she had once listened to others and not decided on her own path. She reported changing her major, considered doing things differently if she could, and not having taken any vocational assessments that would have helped her. The writer will conceptualize interviewees barriers with theories of career counseling.

The words “career counseling” and “substance abuse treatment” on the surface appear as two completely isolated areas, with little interconnection. Personally, as an individual in recovery from addiction, as well as professionally, working as a drug and alcohol case manager, experience has shown me that vocation is very relevant to this population. It is one of the primary goal areas in which I work with my clients on a daily basis. Many of these individuals have completed treatment and are looking for new ways to enter the workforce and provide for themselves and their families, while also battling past career mistakes and missteps. Furthermore, education levels have

One of the overall goals of the career counseling process is for the counselor to assist the client to transition from a stage of exploration of themselves and their abilities, interests and values to that of making career decisions. By identifying this in Ruby helped me guide her throughout our sessions and formulate an action plan to overcome her obstacles and challenges at work. As a counselor I must informed Ruby of the many phrases that we may go through during the career counseling process as well as to discuss the goals of each phase. This process is called “Exploring Phase” then “Decision-Making Phase” (Andersen and Vandehey, 2006, p.179).

What I have learned over the time in this course is career counseling incorporates all aspects of the individual. Yes, career counseling is focused on helping people find that career that fits them best matching their interests and personality but deals with other issues in the individuals’ life. The theory that resonates most with me is Holland’s theory and the use of Self-Directed Search (SDS) to identify interests, abilities, and personality (Sharf, 2013). When we were able to complete the Strong Interest Inventory and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Career Report and compare the result with the SDS to recognize the consistencies. These assessments reinforced my choice of becoming a professional counselor, although with my past career history

The main point of the article is how to include assessments into a career counseling session when clients are making decisions. The article strongly supports using assessments by showing only the benefits of using assessments. This is unlike the textbook that shows that some counselors see using assessments labels clients and that there is cultural bias. Like the textbook, it supports the idea the counselors have to select the assessment based on the client's needs. The article uses the Cognitive Information Processing Model (CIP), a seven- step process on how to use assessments to help the client. The steps include the preliminary interview, preliminary assessment, defining the problem and analyzing the cause, forming goals, developing a learning plan, executing the learning plan, and summative review and generalization. In the CIP model, this happens in the second step, the preliminary assessment. Unlike the textbook, the article describes screening assessments. These assessments are used gather information on the client's career problems, the level of readiness, and factor's impacting career decisions. These assessments seem to be another way to better understand the mind state of the client.

A brief background overview on a few career development theories will help direct this literature review and give a foundation to current theories in career development. Career development is a complex, lifelong process that is influenced by a variety of factors. Niles and Harris-Bowlsbey (2005) defined career development as “the lifelong psychological and behavioral processes as well as contextual influences shaping one’s career over the life span” (p. 12). Although there are many career development theories, this literature review will focus on just a few. Donald Super’s Life-Span, Life-Space Career Theory highlights the “complex and multifaceted nature of career development” (Niles & Hutchinson, 2009, p. 69). Super’s theory builds upon 14 assumptions and supports three key aspects of career development: life-span, life-space, and self-concept (Niles & Hutchinson, 2009). Life-span focuses on the development over one’s life through growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance, and

My name is Karen. I am considering continuing my education in graduate school with the goal to pursue counseling career. I would appreciate the opportunity to have an informational interview with you to learn more about the field, about your career path in it, as well as about your experiences in graduate school. I think as a recent graduate who is now working towards obtaining professional licenses you would be one of the most enlightening people I could possibly interview.

The intent and importance of this manuscript is to present informative information that is supported by accredited resources and facts regarding helpful career development strategies that improve the quality of success. Today, many are overwhelmed by finding balance between family, friends, leisure time and their career, this article is meant to be an observation of many causes pertaining to stress in the workplace as well as challenges and how to effectively develop the strategies needed to achieve a productive career without the feeling of burnout. Many of the methods have been approved by experienced health professionals in addition to candid peer-reviews. My supporting statements will be used in the body of my scholarly paper.

Patton and McMahon (2006) developed a systems theory framework for development of careers called the Therapeutic Framework. The system categorizes the various factors that influence the choice of career into individual factors (for both the learner who is to choose their career and their counselor), organizational factors, or environmental factors (Patton & McMahon, 2006). The system also recognizes the effect of timing on these factors; thus incorporating the aspects of past, present and future (McMahon, Forde, & Dickson, 2015).

For many people, finding a career that is both fulfilling and practical is a strenuous task. Fortunately, there is a plethora of different interventions, techniques, assessments, and inventories designed to aid those individuals in making the wisest career choices possible. But are any of those routes inherently better than the others? Or are all the differing options separate but equally effective? Donald Super’s Life Span Theory and John Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choice are just two of the many theories used for career counseling. Both methods are distinct in the way they approach career issues, yet despite their differences, there are some resemblances between the two theories as well. Comparing and contrasting these two theories will make it easier to see if one theory is better than the other for career counseling or if they are both equally effective.

Gysbers (2003) proposes that the value of career theories comes from providing practitioners with a framework to examine client behaviour, help understand the possible meanings of or explanations for the behaviour and subsequently, enables them to identify and respond to clients’ goals or problems. Significantly then, such theories may help explain an individual’s vocational behaviour, such as their initial career choice or later aspects of career development. This essay attempts to identify the theoretical framework that will underpin my guidance practice in the future.

Career Counseling, or Career Services depending on the institution, is frequently offered on a one-on-one basis, but at times this service is provided through group workshops, classes, or computerized guidance systems. Traditionally a standard function of the career services role is to help students develop job search skills however the scope of the