Chapter 2 Plus Genogram Article

Last class got me thinking about the Trait-and-Factor theory.  It makes sense that you would be more satisfied with your job, if your traits matched up with the traits of the particular job that you are interested in (Brown, 2012).  For some people in our culture, they do not even recognize what traits would match up to a job and then they go into a job blinded.    I feel this might be because we only start thinking about careers when we’re in high school.  Sure when we are younger, we find out what were good at and what kind of traits we have but when we start thinking about careers in high school, we do not always pair all of our traits to that career.  For example, when I was younger, I was really good at math.  I also liked it, so I thought I wanted to do something in math.  My school counselor in high school wasn’t really helpful with career stuff so I thought that with my one trait, I would choose to be a math major.  Long story short, I decided that I was good at math, but I had so many other traits that paired up with counseling.  I changed my major and I am happier because of it.  Matching your traits with your future career is really helpful and I wish someone would have gone through that with me before I went to college. 

Thinking about becoming more aware of traits and careers, I think Donna Gibson (2005) does a great job on why we need to do career family trees when kids are younger.  I think that making a Genogram for kids is a great idea to make them more aware of jobs all around them, because Gibson (2005) explains in her article that parent have a big influence on children’s aspirations.  This makes kids more aware of what kinds of things they could do.  When were younger, we do think about job positions, but we do not really match their traits with their job choice when they are in elementary school.  I think that if we start teaching children about their traits and career choices then maybe when they get ready for college they will be prepared and more confident in their decision.  Now I am not saying that we will tell a child that they cannot do a certain career because their traits do not match them, but maybe introduce them to new things.  Gibson (2005) suggests that when children are in elementary school they learn about their families jobs then when they get older they learn more and more about career pathways.  I think it is important for school counselors to focus on career development at all stages so that when children get older, they feel more confident in their choices.

Brown, D. (2012). Career information, career counseling, and career development (10^th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.

Gibson, D. (2005). The use of genograms in career counseling with elementary, middle, and high school students. The Career Development Quarterly, 53, 353-362. Retrieved from https:// millersville.desire2learn.com/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=750610&tId=5560162