Chapter 1 - Roots, Growth, and Trends

Career History

• initial career guidance provided by elders, priests, parents, and families

• vocational guidance emerged when industrialization brought more opportunities and families and the church were no longer enough

• the surge of immigrants to the U.S. led to organized efforts to find employment

• by the 1900’s with the increase of technology, rising poverty, and more types of employment available, guidance programs were established to help people make good career choices

• Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 supported vocational education training in secondary schools

Vocational Guidance as a Profession

• Post WWII led to counseling becoming a true profession

• 1940-1959 career guidance counseling expanded into colleges and universities

• GI Bill of 1946 funded veterans to go to college and receive job training

• Psychological testing also went through an overhaul, with the Myers-Briggs Types Indicator being developed and the Strong Interest Inventory being revised

• career counseling broadened its definition from job placement and training to developing self-understanding and satisfaction

Pope’s 6 Stages of Career Counseling History

• 1819-1919: job placement services

• 1920-1939: solidified education guidance in schools

• 1940-1959: guidance and vocational services in colleges and universities

• 1960-1979: organized career counseling movement and “meaningful work”

• 1980-1989: growing number of career counseling in independent practice

• 1990-present: internalization of career counseling, technology boom, and multicultural considerations\

• Pope saw these 6 stages taking place across 3 periods

  • vocational guidance, career education, and life design

Frank Parsons

• pioneer of career counseling

• 3 step approach are the guidelines for all career counseling and the4 basis of the trait-and-factor approach (discussed later)

  • 1 - clear understanding of self

    • aptitudes, abilities, resources, and limitations

  • 2 - knowledge of what it takes to succeed

    • compensations, opportunities, prospects

  • 3 - true reasoning on how these two relate

Evolution of Career Counseling

• Progressive Education (late 1800s)

  • education was initially for the elite and not to prepare people for careers

  • child labor was still legal so children did not go to school beyond 2-3 years

  • Jesse Davis first to suggest incorporating guidance into school curriculum

  • John Dewey - comprehensive education for all regardless of college/vocational choices

• Standardized Testing

  • psychometric testing helped to group people in a standardized and objective way

• Legislation

  • 1958 National Defense Education Act funded and placed guidance counselors in schools

  • 1976 Career Education Incentive Act enabled career development into school curriculum

  • 1994 School to Work Opportunities Act reemphasized the link between school and work

Professional Organizations & Publications

• these organizations and publications furthered career counseling which helped the overall counseling profession to have professional identity

• National Vocational Guidance Association became National Career Development Association (NCDA) - what it is known as today

• primary journal of NCDA is the Career Development Quarterly

• American Counseling Association was a merge of 3 vocational/guidance associations

• O*NET (Occupational Informational Network) was previously the DOT or Dictionary of Occupational Titles published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Career Counseling Training

• career counseling is a required (though seemingly dreaded?) course in all CACREP-accredited programs

• career counseling is a specialty area in CACREP meaning a program could provide a degree in just career counseling

• this is a large portion of what counselors do because work is such a huge part of life for people

• settings for career counseling are community, schools, colleges and universities, private practice and businesses (EPAs)

Career Counseling CACREP Standards

• career development - studies that provide an understanding of career development and related life factors, including all of the following

  • theories and models of career development, counseling, and decision making

  • approaches for conceptualizing the interrelationships among and between work, mental well-being, relationships, and other life roles and factors

  • processes for identifying and using career, avocational, educational, occupational, labor market info resources, technology, and information systems

  • approaches for assessing the conditions of the work environment on clients’ life experiences

  • strategies for assessing abilities, interests, values, personality, and other factors that contribute to career development

  • strategies for career development program planning, organization, implementation, administration, and evaluation

  • strategies for advocating for diverse clients’ career and educational development and employment opportunities in a global economy

  • strategies for facilitating client skill development for career, educational, and life-work planning and decision making

  • ethical and culturally relevant strategies for addressing career development

Credentials

• Certified Master of Career Services (CMCS)

• Certified Career Counselor (CCC)

• Certified Clinical Supervisor of Career Counseling (CCSCC)

• Certified Career Counselor Educator (CCCE)

• Certified School Career Development Advisor (CSCDA)

• The NCDA is the professional organization of career counselors and provides guidance on competencies and ethics

Career Counseling Today

• changing workforce

  • diversity in the workplace, mainly women and ethnic minorities

• structure and meaning of work

  • information age and changing economic structure\

• technology and social media

  • psychological impacts, changes in human interaction, and business

• globalization

  • free market capitalistic economy and competition

• life roles across the life span

  • changes in identity connected to work due to workplace longevity

• multiculturalism, social justice, and advocacy

  • need for career counselors to become culturally competent to address genderism, ageism, sexism, ableism, and other forms of discrimination at work