1. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
Amy Mazur, Ed. M., NCC, MCDP
Career Development Specialist
amym@careercounselorsne.org
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your
one wild and precious life?
-Mary Oliver

2. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Take a Breath
– What happens?
A Metaphor
– What we will do today
– What you will do with clients

3. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Outline
– Introduction
– Career Development Overview
– Principles and Processes
– Theory and Ethical Guidelines
– Helping Relationship: 5 Step Process
– Career Information & Resources
– Wrap up

4. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Welcome
– Name
– Title and Work Functions
– Experience with Career Counseling
– Expectations of the Day

5. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
- Maintaining Boundaries
- Evaluating Realistic Options
- Motivating Clients
- Understanding Possibility
- Engendering Hope

6. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 What is Work?
 What Is Working?
 What is Career?
 What is Career Counseling?

7. What is Work?
 Job  Right Livelihood
 Occupation  Calling
 Career  Mission
 Vocation  Life’s Work

8. Job vs. Career
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA2W_oa3lSE&v

9. What is Working?
The Psychology of Working
by David Blustein, 2006

10. What is a Career Counselor?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV5O

11. Who is a Career Counselor?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LCggmsCXk

12. Definition of Career Counseling
The process of assisting individuals in the
development of a life-career with focus on
the definition of the worker role and how
that role interacts with other life roles.
 NCDA in Swanson & Fouad

13. Career Development Model
Self
Action Options
Match

14. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Self (Reflection)
– Includes:
 Interest
 Roles
 Skills
 Values
 Personal Style
 Aptitudes
 Priorities
 Environments

15. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Options (Exploration)
– Includes:
 Research on occupations, industries and labor market
 Job shadowing
 Volunteer or part-time work
 Informational interviews
 Written materials, the internet

16. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Match (Decision-Making)
– Includes:
 Identifyingand evaluating possibilities
 Exploring alternatives
 Choosing options – long and short-term
 Goal Setting

17. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Action (Strategy)
– Includes:
 Buildingin support, accountability and rewards
 Networking
 Resumes, Cover Letters, Interviews
 Negotiating Employment

18. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Considering Context
– Gender
– Family
– Racial/Ethnic
– Dominant Culture
 Rosie Bingham, 2007

19. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 What is a Counseling Theory?
Aconceptual framework
Describes complex human development
May explain, generalize and summarize what
we do in counseling
Helps client make constructive changes
Outcome: Success and Satisfaction

20. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Why Use a Theory?
 To make sense of experience
 To bridge gaps
 To summarize information
 To explain information
 To make predictions
 To point out relationships
 To formulate goals
 To stimulate research

21. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
Five Central Tenets
Most career theories assume:
1. Individualism and autonomy
2. A certain level of affluence
3. Opportunities are available to all individuals who
work hard
4. Work is central in people’s lives
5. Linearity in the career counseling process
-Neville, Gysbers, Heppner, and Johnson (1998), working from a multicultural
perspective

22. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Examples of Career Development Theory
 Structural-Interactive
(Trait & Factor)
 Life-Span (Developmental)
 Social Learning/Social Cognitive
 Parental Influence
 Constructivist
 Culturally and Contextually Diverse

23. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Trait & Factor Theory (1909)
Parsons
Vocation depends on:
 Accurate knowledge of yourself
 Thorough knowledge of job specifications
 Ability to make a proper match between the two

24. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Person Environment Fit (1960)
Holland
Job satisfaction is the result of congruence
between personality and work environment
 Realistic
 Investigative
 Artistic
 Social
 Enterprising
 Conventional

25. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Developmental Theory (1957)
Super
- Career Maturity is manifested in the successful
accomplishment of age and stage developmental
tasks throughout the lifespan.
- Growth, Exploration, Establishment,
Maintenance, Disengagement
- Stages & Tasks

26. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Social Learning Theory (1976)
Krumboltz
Certain behaviors are modeled, rewarded and
reinforced.
– Positive and Negative
Learning experiences (interaction with the
environment) provide information moving us
toward or away from occupational options.

27. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 SocialCognitive Career Theory (SCCT)
(1980’s)
Betz
 One’s belief in one’s capabilities to successfully engage
in a specific area of behavior (performance
accomplishments, vicarious learning, emotional arousal,
and social persuasion & encouragement)
 Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectation

28. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Parental Influence Theory
– Individuals can predict occupational selection based on the
psychological needs that develop from the interaction
between children and their parents.
– Child-rearing practices and family systems can significantly
influence career choice and decision making.

29. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Constructivist Theory
Career Construction Theory…surveys how
individuals construct their careers by using life
themes to integrate self-organization of
personality and the self-extension of career
adaptability into a self-defining whole that
animates work, directs occupational choice
and shapes vocational adjustment.
-Savickas

30. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Constructivist Theory
Shift from:
 Information to Experience
 Psychometric self to Storied self
 Objective to Subjective
Career as carrier of personal meaning
Client & Counselor as Co-Collaborators
Builds on development framework:
 Takes context and development into account

31. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Multicultural Considerations
Work is a cultural negotiation.
Cognitive appraisals of individuals’ environment (e.g.,
opportunities, supports, and barriers) and of themselves
(self-referent beliefs) direct their academic and career
choice behavior.
Cultural identity may be indicator of how cultured
experiences may be appraised/interpreted that shape how
individuals approach or evaluate vocational choices and
outcomes.

32. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Multicultural Considerations (cont’d)
Occupational landscape is uneven.
Bias and preference privilege members of some groups
over others in the job market.
Perceptions of vocational opportunity may contribute to
uneven representation of groups in career fields.

33. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
Relational Cultural Theory
A Healthy Psychological Self
 Staying in connection with one’s self, with others & with the
world.
– Gilligan, 1991
 Increasing proficiency in connecting to others.
– Jean Baker Miller, 1976

34. 5 Good Things
 Sense of Zest/Well-Being
 Empowered Action
 Increased Knowledge of Self & Other
 Increased Sense of Worth
 Desire for More Connection

35. Relational Cultural Practice in
Career Decision-Making
 Awareness of relational perspective as central
 Assessing client’s relational world
 Exploring a range of relationships - connections &
disconnections
 Assessing client’s relational self & voice - resonant spaces
 Using relational resources & minimizing negative influences
 Validating & assisting with disconnections around career
issues
 Enhancing relational connection between client & counselor

36. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Ethics
– Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the
truth to other people.
 Spencer Johnson
– Live so that when your children think of fairness and
integrity, they think of you.
 H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

37. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Ethics (www.ncda.org)
American Counseling Association
 1959 - First formal ethics document reviewed
 1961 - Document reviewed by membership
Career Counselors - NCDA
 One of 17 divisions of ACA
 Ethics Guidelines based on ACA document

38. Training for New & Aspiring
Career Counselors
 Ethics
 The Counseling Relationship
 Confidentiality
 Professional Responsibility
 Relationship with Other Professionals
 Evaluation, Assessment and Interpretation
 Teaching, Training and Supervision
 Research and Publication
 Resolving Ethical Issues

39. The Helping Relationship
 Five Steps
 Relationship Building
 Assessment
 Goal Setting
 Intervention
 Termination and follow-up

40. The Helping Relationship
 Relationship Building
– Listen with Authenticity
– Slow Down, Do not anticipate
– Start with blank slate, Do not assume
– Understand contexts
– Focus on Process, not Outcome
– Trust Yourself, Use Intuition

41. The Helping Relationship
 Assessment: Traditional
 Identifying Skills
 Clarifying Values
 Exploring Interests
 Assessing Abilities

42. The Helping Relationship
 Assessment: Non - Traditional
– Hear the Story
– Consider Contexts
– Witness and Reflect
– Interests, Values & Skills – non-traditional approaches
– Relational Map, Vocational Genogram, Developmental
Work History, Peak Experiences

43. The Helping Relationship
 Goal Setting
S specific
M measurable
A achievable
R realistic
T timely
Career Planning & Development Questions

44. The Helping Relationship
 Intervention
 Assessing Readiness
 Role Playing
 Information Giving
 Challenging Assumptions
 Identifying Road Blocks

45. The Helping Relationship
 Termination and Follow-up
 Review
 Articulate future plans
 Follow-up
 Use of Technology