This past week, I have been gathering information from my interviewee for the case study paper.  He has had a life long struggle with finding and keeping employment for an extended period of time and this is due to a variety of reasons that include psychological, cultural, economic and familial stressors.  When I read over Chapter 8 in Brown’s Career Information, Career Counseling, and Career Development (2012) text, I found a wealth of knowledge about resources that I had never knew existed.  I am meeting with him one last time and I plan on giving him some of the resources from the text for him to research. 

    This chapter has helped me realize there is whole new world of information on the web and how important it is for people to have access to these sites.  I did realize that there are career/job websites; I just didn’t realize how extensive the information is to the public.  When I think of finding a job, I think of going to the newspaper and reading the classified section.  Does the general public know about these websites?  I didn’t and I’m a fairly educated person with access to a computer.  Are these resources offered to the poor or individuals that do not have access to a computer?  Do schools offer this education to their students as a required class or do individuals have to seek out career information through counseling?

     Brown (2012) also discussed the variety of occupational information that can be done on an experiential level, such as simulations, direct observation, and interviewing experts. Role plays are such a great way for children, teens and adults to formulate ideas about career development.  Interviewing experts seems like a great tool as well.  What a wonderful idea to gather information from someone who has a longstanding history in a particular job.  A local teen from a local area school district, was interested in learning about the financial aspects of the agency I work for.  He was able to meet with the CFO of our agency and spend about a two weeks interviewing the fiscal department member.  He also accompanied the CFO at leadership meetings and was able to simulate some financial transactions for the agency.  This experience has led him to attend college in pursuit of an accounting degree. This experience or this young man made a significant impression on him.  Prior to having that experience he was uncertain if accounting/fiscal management was something he wanted to pursue.  However, the hands-on experience set the stage for him to start his college career as an accounting/business major.  This example supports the idea that increased career education that includes direct observations/interventions, will help with the decision making process of our youth.

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