Career Counselling

Four core elements are typical characteristics of most forms of career guidance and counselling: (1) A focus on
psychologically healthy clients; (2) a focus on client’s resources and strengths; (3) a relatively short duration of
the guidance/counselling process; and (4) considering the client in context (Gelso & Fretz, 2001).
One important element of career guidance and counselling is the fact that it is not focused on people with
pathological disorders (Gelso & Fretz, 2001). Rather, career guidance and counselling aims to deal with
problems, challenges, and topics that every person could be confronted with during his or her lifetime (e.g.,
career undecidedness, unemployment, lack of knowledge about the labour market, job dissatisfaction). The
concepts and interventions in career guidance and counselling are thus primarily based on helping
psychologically healthy people (Gelso & Fretz, 2001). Also, empirical findings show that people suffering from
serious psychological problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, or panic attacks) benefit less from career interventions
than clients without these problems (Whiston & Rahardja, 2008). The counsellor therefore needs to possess the
competencies to recognize psychological disorders and to refer such clients to psychotherapy if needed. The
therapy of psychological disorders is thus not a goal of career guidance or counselling nor does it belong to the
sphere of typical competencies of a career counsellor.
An additional important feature of career guidance and counselling is that career counsellors traditionally focus
on clients’ strengths and resources (Gelso & Fretz, 2001). In career guidance and counselling, it is assumed that
every person possesses certain resources and strengths that can be activated and taken advantage of to enhance a
positive development. One consequence of the combination of focusing on psychologically healthy clients as
well as their resources and strengths is that career guidance and counselling interventions have typically a short
duration. Efficacy studies showed that career interventions can already generate maximal efficacy with five to
six sessions (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000).
Another core aspect of career guidance and counselling is that counsellors focus on the clients in context. Career
guidance and counselling cannot be only about the individual but also needs to take into account how the
individual interacts with the environment. Therefore, gaining clarity about personal interests, strengths, and goals
is only one aspect of the guidance and counselling process. It is equally important to link these personal factors
with the environment. This may be the more proximal social environment (e.g., how personal interests and goals
are influenced by and influence the spouse of the client) as well as the more distal macro-environment such as
the labour market (e.g., how personal interests and goals are shaped by and may be realized in the current labour
market). This dual focus on the client and his or her environment implies that career guidance and counselling
does not just require psychological competencies such as psychological assessment (Whiston, 2008) or
motivational interviewing (Klonek, Wunderlich, Spurk, & Kauffeld, 2016; Rochat
& Rossier, 2016).
Paradigms And Theories
The two major paradigms for career interventions in the 21st century were vocational guidance and career
education. Vocational guidance remains a psychology of fixed characteristics and types that can be objectified
by tests and then matched to occupations that offer stable long tenure. Career education remains a predictable
trajectory of development tasks that can be alleviated by teaching individuals mature attitudes and skills that
prepare them to unfold careers in different organizations. Matching the vocational guidance and career
preparation through education may not adequately address the design life of the individuals‘ needs in the
information society.
Psychological Theories: There are a number of theories that have attempted to explain the phenomenon of career
choice. Psychological theories argue that this decision is the result of the action of personal factors (interests,
skills, personal values) and some factors related to the environment in which the person lives (labour market
requirements, analysis of consumer‘s job). One of the most accepted theories in this category argues that certain
Eshita Das 7003059214 NET Qualified M.Sc. in Applied Psychology
personal characteristics and elements of environment expose the person to certain learning experiences.
Individual's belief system is emerging from these learning experiences. Early performance in childhood will
influence beliefs on the ability to perform certain tasks and the results if engaging in certain tasks. In return, these
beliefs underlie human shaping professional interests. In accordance with interests, the individual will set some
goals, will act in accordance with them and, in perspective, will perform in the chosen field.
Sociological Theories: In response to these psychological theories there have emerged some sociological theories
supporting that the career decision is not influenced in such a great manner by personality factors, but it is
anchored in social environment. These theories suggest that the most important role is played by variables such
as social class or existing opportunities in the labour market at a time. In general, graduates who want to start
working are ready to accept almost anything they are offered. Preference for a certain type of occupation is not
driven just by the individual aspects (skills, aspirations, interests, values), but is determined by a system of social
stratification. Because of family environment and learning experiences to which he has been exposed to, the
individual will occupy a certain place in society - will be part of a specific „social layer that will cover alternatives
in making decisions about their own career. Thus, each person is closer to certain occupations and so will focus
on this kind of occupations. However, none of these theories are full proof and all inclusive. There are supportive
evidences for both the theories.
Trait-factor Approaches: Research of contributors such as Parsons, Williamson, Dawis and Lofquist, emphasizes
the importance of analyzing interactions between individual characteristics and work environment factors in
making career decisions. Building on the discussion about the Parsons‘ model and trait-factor type approaches,
Super's theory provides a useful framework for conceptualizing the career development throughout life. Super
suggests that the process of choosing an occupation that permits maximum self-expression occurs over time and
can be summarized in four career stages:
1. Exploration, a period of engaging in self-examination, schooling, and the study of different career
options;
2. Establishment, a period of becoming employed and finding a niche;
3. Maintenance, a period of holding on to one‘s position and up-dating skills;
4. Disengagement, a period of phasing into retirement (Super, Thompson, & Lindeman, 1988).
His theory also recognizes various personal determinants (needs, values, skills) and situational determinants
(family, employment) that influence career development. Super‘s theory places the work in the context of
multiple roles played in life. Finally, the theory has addressed the support of people in clarifying, articulating and
implementing their own concepts about their life roles. Super‘s theory provides a useful framework for observing
general career development processes. To develop personal and situational influences on the subject of career
development, the theory of career developed by Anna Roe and then the conceptualizations elaborated by Linda
Gottfredson may be discussed. Roe‘s theory indicates the importance of early life experiences in career
development. Gottfredson‘s theory addresses the idea that creating gender role stereotypes influence the career
aspirations of men and women (Gottfredson, 1996, 2002). Second theory provides a sociological development
and career development perspective. Theory focuses primarily on career development process to the extent that
it relates to the types of compromises people make in formulating their occupational aspirations. The most
complex career theory belongs to Holland, which has generated more research than any other career theory.
Arguably Holland‘s typology provides the most useful framework for understanding and predicting individual
behaviour (the general satisfaction with job performance at work and occupational stability) in the environment.
Life Design: A New Paradigm For Career Development:
Life design is a new paradigm for career interventions. Kuhn (1996) describes a paradigm as a set of practices
that define a scientific discipline at any particular period of time. A paradigm is a conceptual model that is widely
accepted in a community of practice and is usually prevailing view of best practice. Career interventions paradigm
means general pattern of practice that includes many specific examples. Paradigm for vocational guidance is to

Eshita Das 7003059214 NET Qualified M.Sc. in Applied Psychology

(a) improve knowledge about itself, (b) increase occupational information, and (c) to match self with occupation
specific substantiations of this conceptual model including person-environment fit approach advocated by
Holland (1997) and Lofquist, and Dawis (1991). Paradigm for career education is to (a) evaluate the status of
development, (b) directs the individual to imminent development tasks, and (c) develop attitudes and skills needed
to master those tasks. Specific examples of this conceptual model and its emphasis placed on learning can be
found in instances known as career development and counselling assessment (Niles, 2001 Super, 1983),
integrative life planning (Hansen, 1997), social-cognitive framework for choosing and career counselling (Brown
and Lent, 1996) and learning theory of career counselling (Krumboltz, 1996).
All these specific instances of life design paradigm share the same life purpose: to prompt activities aim to further
self-designing, to shape identity, and career building (Savickas, 2010). Each method uses autobiographical stories
that lead customers through their ambiguity by creating scenarios linking future initiatives of past achievements.
In due course, each client is the author of a biography which may express their personal truths and authorizes an
identity that projects the client into the future. Life design paradigm structures life interventions in (a) build a
career through short stories, (b) deconstructing and rebuilding these stories in a narrative identity or a portrait of
life, and (c) co-building intentions that lead to the next episode action in the real world.
One of the main theories involved in the life design paradigm is the career construction theory (Savickas, 2013).
According to this theory, careers are constructed as persons make choices in which their self-concepts are
expressed, that is, as individuals derive meaning from their vocational behaviours. Specifically, career
construction theory has highlighted three key features: (a) vocational personality (i.e., career-related abilities,
needs, values, and interests, that foster individuals' reputation among a group of people and define what career
they construct); (b) career adaptability (i.e., how individuals construct their careers, by being concerned about
their future as workers, increasing personal control over their vocational future, displaying curiosity by exploring
possible selves, and strengthening the confidence to pursue their career aspirations); and (c) life themes (i.e., why
individuals construct their careers, the meaning behind making a specific career choice). As a result, careers are
subjectively defined in a coherent and meaningful story that integrates various jobs. Put differently, career
experiences from the past, present, and those expected in the future are reunited into a coherent life theme.
The Chaos Theory of Careers – CTC: Chaos theory is a mathematical theory (Lorentz) that has been applied
successfully in many of the natural sciences. In career counselling, this theory is relevant as a basis for practice
when helping clients deal with complexity, chance and change. The complexity of influences on career
development challenge accurate predictability. CTC core concepts regard:
• Complexity- Processes and influences shape each person‘s life. Chaos theory emphasizes encouraging
understanding these processes and patterns instead of ―defining or predicting stable variables as outcomes‖
(Bright & Pryor, 2005, p. 296).
• Emergence - Chaos theory focuses on the complexity of human experience, in complexity patterns begin to
emerge. Emergence works to make sense out of past experiences.
• Nonlinearity - Small changes or influences can make a dramatic, if not disproportionate impact. When
reviewing past career experiences, it is important to look at everything, even what seems to be trivial, to help
shed light on the result.
• Unpredictability - Chance events will influence a client‘s career. Encouraging exploration of these events will
help clients understand the uncertain nature of careers. Counsellors can help clients recognize and take
advantage of future chance events.
• Phase Shifts - Clients ―can undergo radical changes in career direction‖ (Bright & Pryor, 2005, p. 296).
These changes can be due to external factors or internal factors.
• Attractors - Attractors influence behaviour as a pull or as a constraint. Within chaos theory, the notion of
‗attractors‘ is used to describe the way in which complex dynamical systems behave.
According to Bright & Pryor (2005) there are 4 types:

Eshita Das 7003059214 NET Qualified M.Sc. in Applied Psychology

• Point: ―behaviour when the object is attracted to one specific thing‖ (p. 300); This describes a system that
moves toward a fixed or defined point or outcome. In many respects, the career notions of being on the right
track or finding a good fit through matching are consistent with this view of movement in a singular direction
toward a clearly identifiable goal. There is no room here for deviation from a well-constructed life or career
plan.
• Pendulum: ―constrains behaviour to a regular, predictable pattern‖ (p. 300); With this type of movement the
system begins to incorporate shifts between two points or outcomes, like the swinging of a pendulum. There
are competing sources of attraction and people are faced with choosing between two very different options.
• Torus: ―more complex but is ultimately constrained and repeating‖ (p. 301); With this form of attraction
there is an increase in complexity, but at the same time also a high level of predictability.
• Complex patterns are repeated over a period of time. While there is some challenge in learning the nature of
the pattern, there is also a certain constancy that one can depend upon. As long as one follows the prescribed
pattern there is certainty about the outcome.
• Strange: ―never repeating but self-similar‖ (p. 301); This final pattern is complex in a similar manner to the
torus attractor but there is one fundamental difference, the outcome is not predictable.
The Chaos Theory of Careers (Pryor and Bright; 2011) provides an overview of the common models in career
choice and guidance and presents the limitations of these theories in today‘s complex, ever changing and
unpredictable world. At the core of CTC we will find complexity, which allows many different perspectives to
be embraced, even those that contradict and oppose one another. The other main concepts are self-organization,
which causes systems to seek out and form patterns; and change, viewed in terms of adaptation and resilience.
As authors describe, chaos theory is related to goal setting, strategic planning, career paths, creativity and
leadership, presenting the broad value that the theory can bring to organizations. Chaos theory introduces new
themes into careers work as it did in the scientific world, namely embracing uncertainty, the importance of chance
and recognition that the order we try to impose on nature is often too simplistic.
The CIP Model: One of the most prominent and frequently researched models to assist clients in making better
career decisions is the cognitive information-processing approach (CIP) by (Sampson, Reardon, Peterson, &
Lenz, 2004). The CIP postulates a model of career guidance and decision-making based on a general process of
problem solving, represented in the CASVE circle (named after the starting letters of the five stages of the
proposed process). The first stage of the CASVE Model is communication (C), followed by analysis (A),
synthesis (S), valuing (V), and finally execution (E). these are described in the diagram below:

Eshita Das 7003059214 NET Qualified M.Sc. in Applied Psychology

 Career Counselling with Adolescents
In working with adolescents in regard to career matters, the American School Counsellor Association (ASCA)
National Model (2012) emphasizes that school counsellors should provide career counselling on a school-wide
basis. This service should involve others, both inside and outside the school, in its delivery. Cole (1982) stresses
that in middle school, career guidance activities should include the exploration of work opportunities and
students’ evaluation of their own strengths and weaknesses in regard to possible future careers. Assets that
students should become aware of and begin to evaluate include talents and skills, general intelligence, motivation
level, friends, family, life experience, appearance, and health (Campbell, 1974). “Applied arts curriculum such
as industrial arts (applied technology), home economics (family life education) and computer literacy classes …
offer ideal opportunities for integrated career education. Libraries and/or career centers may have special middle
level computerized career information delivery systems (CIDS) for student use” (National Occupational
Information Coordinating Committee [NOICC], 1994, p. 9). The four components common to most CIDS are
assessment, occupational search, occupational information, and educational information (Gysbers et al., 2014).
Overall, “career exploration is an important complement to the intellectual and social development” of middle
school students (Craig, Contreras, & Peterson, 2000, p. 24).
At the senior high school, career guidance and counseling activities are related to students’ maturity. Some
students know themselves better than others. Regardless, many high school students benefit from using self-
knowledge as a beginning point for exploring careers (Roudebush, 2011). The greatest challenge and need for
career development programs occur on this level, especially in the area of acquiring basic skills (Bynner, 1997).
In general, career counselling at the high school level has three emphases: stimulating career development,
providing treatment, and aiding placement. More specifically, counsellors provide students with reassurance,
information, emotional support, reality testing, planning strategies, attitude clarification, and work experiences,
depending on a student’s needs and level of functioning (Herr et al., 2004).

Eshita Das 7003059214 NET Qualified M.Sc. in Applied Psychology

Several techniques have proven quite effective in helping adolescents crystallize ideas about careers. Some are
mainly cognitive whereas others are more experiential and comprehensive. Among the cognitive techniques is
the use of guided fantasies, such as imagining a typical day in the future, an awards ceremony, a midcareer
change, or retirement (Morgan & Skovholt, 1977). Another cognitive technique involves the providing of
fundamental information about career entry and development. For example, a career day or a career fair “featuring
employers and professionals from a variety of occupations allows students to make a realistic comparison of each
occupation’s primary duties, day-to-day activities, and training needs” (Wahl & Blackhurst, 2000, p. 372).
Completing an occupational family tree to find out how present interests compare with the careers of family
members is a final cognitive approach that may be useful (Dickson & Parmerlee, 1980). In addition to helping
youth in school, career counselors must make special efforts to help high school students who leave school before
graduation (Rumberger, 1987). These young people are at risk of unemployment or underemployment for the rest
of their lives. Educational and experiential programs, such as Mann’s (1986) four Cs (cash, care, computers, and
coalitions), can help at-risk students become involved in career exploration and development.
According to Bloch (1988, 1989), successful educational counselling programs for students at risk of dropping
out should follow six guidelines:
1. They make a connection between a student’s present and future status (i.e., cash—students are paid for
attending).
2. They individualize programs and communicate caring.
3. They form successful coalitions with community institutions and businesses.
4. They integrate sequencing of career development activities.
5. They offer age- and stage-appropriate career development activities.
6. They use a wide variety of media and career development resources, including computers.

Career Counselling with College Students

“Committing to a career choice is one of the main psychosocial tasks that college students face” (Osborn, Howard,
& Leierer, 2007, p. 365). Approximately half of all college students experience career-related problems (Herr et
al., 2004). Part of the reason is that despite appearances “most college students are rarely the informed consumers
that they are assumed to be” (Laker, 2002, p. 61). Therefore, college students need and value career counselling
services, such as undergraduate career exploration courses (Osborn et al., 2007). Even students who have already
decided on their college majors and careers seek such services both to validate their choices and seek additional
information. As Erikson (1963) stated: “it is primarily the inability to settle on an occupational identity which
disturbs young people” (p. 252).
In responding to student needs, comprehensive career guidance and counselling programs in institutions of higher
education attempt to provide a number of services. Among these services are
• helping with the selection of a major field of study;
• offering self-assessment and self-analysis through psychological testing;
• helping students understand the world of work;
• facilitating access to employment opportunities through career fairs, internships, and campus interviews;
• teaching decision-making skills; and
• meeting the needs of special populations (Herr et al., 2004).
College counselling centres can also offer group career counselling. Such a service has been found to make a
significantly greater increase in career decision-making abilities for students participating in a group than for

Eshita Das 7003059214 NET Qualified M.Sc. in Applied Psychology

those not participating (Rowell, Mobley, Kemer, & Giordano, 2014). Part of the reason was group members’
added processing of external as well as internal information (Pyle, 2007).
Besides offering these options, students need “life-career developmental counselling,” too (Engels, Jacobs, &
Kern, 2000). This broader approach seeks to help people plan for future careers while “balancing and integrating
life-work roles and responsibilities” in an appropriate way, for example, being a worker and a family member,
parent, and citizen” (p. 192). Anticipating problems related to work, intimate relationships, and responsibilities
is an important career related counselling service counsellors can offer college students. Counsellors can often
be the bridge that connects college students to school and work (Murphy, Blustein, Bohlig, & Platt, 2010). By
sharing information pertinent to their intended career field and knowledge about the emerging adulthood
transition, counsellors can help prepare these students for their first work experience and beyond (Kennedy,
2008a). Such knowledge can help prevent work–family conflicts (WFC) that might otherwise arise and negatively
affect a person’s behavior, emotions, and health (Frone, 2003).
Despite all of the services institutions of higher education offer, some college students sabotage their career
decisions by adopting maladaptive perfectionism and dysfunctional career thinking. Interventions addressing
these maladies in career decision making can enhance students’ confidence and help them be more realistic
(Andrews, Bullock-Yowell, Dahlen, & Nicholson, 2014). One way this is done is through the creation of realistic
job previews (RJPs) of a specific job. The process involves contacting and interviewing people with knowledge
about the careers that the students are considering. RJPs ultimately benefit potential job seekers in an occupation
by both decreasing employee turnover and by increasing employee satisfaction (Laker, 2002).
Students should supplement these types of interviews by completing computer-based career planning systems
(CBCPSs). The reason is that the completion of such systems is active, immediate, empowering, and rewarded
with a printed result that promotes self-efficacy and the likelihood that individuals will complete other career-
exploratory behaviours (Maples & Luzzo, 2005).
Career Counselling with Adults
Career interest patterns tend to be more stable after college than during college. Emerging adults (young adults
from 18 up to age 30) are especially in need of relationship support and space to develop autonomy and
competence as they transition from college to career (Murphy et al., 2010). However, many older adults continue
to need and seek career counselling even into late adulthood (adults 65 years and older) (AARP, www.aarp.org;
Swanson & Hansen, 1988). Indeed, adults experience cyclical periods of stability and transition throughout their
lives, and career change is a developmental as well as situational expectation at the adult stage of life (Kerka,
1991). Developmentally, some adults have a midlife career change that occurs as they enter their 40s and what
Erik Erikson described as a stage of generativity versus stagnation. At this time, adults may change careers as
they become more introspective and seek to put more meaning in their lives.
Situationally, adults may seek career changes after a trauma such as a death, layoff, or divorce (Marino, 1996).
Adults may have particularly difficult times with their careers and career decisions when they find “themselves
unhappy in their work yet feel appropriately ambivalent about switching directions” (Lowman, 1993, p. 549). In
such situations they may create illogical or troublesome career beliefs that become self-fulfilling and self-
defeating (J. Krumboltz, 1992). An example of such a belief is “I’ll never find a job I really like.” It is crucial in
such cases to help people change their ways of thinking and become more realistic.
There are two dominant ways of working with adults in career counselling: the differential approach and the
developmental approach. The differential approach stresses that “the typology of persons and environments is
more useful than any life stage strategies for coping with career problems” (Holland & Gottfredson, 1976, p. 23).
It avoids age-related stereotypes, gender and minority group issues, and the scientific and practical difficulties of
dealing with lifespan problems. “At any age, the level and quality of a person’s vocational coping is a function
of the interaction of personality type and type of environment plus the consistency and differentiation of each”
(Holland & Gottfredson, 1976, p. 23).
Eshita Das 7003059214 NET Qualified M.Sc. in Applied Psychology
According to this view, a career counsellor who is aware of typological formulations such as Holland’s can predict
the characteristic ways a given person may cope with career problems. For example, a person with a well-defined
social/artistic personality (typical of many individuals employed as counsellors) would be expected to have high
educational and vocational aspirations, to have good decision-making ability, to have a strong and lifelong interest
in learning, to have moderate personal competency, and to have a marked interest in creative and high-level
performance rather than in leadership (Holland, 1997). A person with such a profile would also have a tendency
to remold or leave an environment in the face of adversity. A major advantage of working from this approach is
the ease with which it explains career shifts at any age. People who shift careers, at any point in life, seek to find
more consistency between personality and environment.
The developmental approach examines a greater number of individual and environmental variables. “The
experiences people have with events, situations and other people play a large part in determining their identities
(i.e., what they believe and value, how they respond to others, and what their own self images are)” (Gladstein &
Apfel, 1987, p. 181). Developmental life-span career theory proposes that adults are always in the process of
evaluating themselves in regard to how they are affected by outside environmental influences (e.g., spouse,
family, friends) and how they impact these variables. Okun (1984) and Gladstein and Apfel (1987) believe the
interplay of other people and events strongly influences career decisions in adulthood. Gladstein and Apfel’s
(1987) approach to adult career counseling focuses on a combination of six elements: developmental,
comprehensive, self-in-group, longitudinal, mutual commitment, and multimethodological. These elements work
together in the process of change at this stage of life. This model, which has been implemented on a practical
level at the University of Rochester Adult Counselling Centre, considers the person’s total identity over time. In
a related model, Chusmir (1990) stresses the interaction of multiple factors in the process that men undergo when
choosing non-traditional careers (careers in which people of one gender are not usually employed). Whether or
not careers are non-traditional, the fact is that many forces enter into career decisions.

Eshita Das 7003059214 NET Qualified M.Sc. in Applied Psychology