Sunday, November 18, 2012

Chapter 16 and 17 - Program Evaluation and Evidence-Based Practice, Trends in the Labor Market and the Factors that Shape Them


Both of these chapters are highly influential in the process of developing career development programs that will best suit individuals of today and in the future. Implementing programs that are aware of the current job market and how to properly assess how helpful career services are to the individual will only help to develop more comprehensive ways of assisting clients. It is much more important to move beyond taking just an interest inventory but developing a program requires an evaluation of some sort to realize the pros and cons and be able to modify a practice that meets the needs of the population.

Reading over the section, "Levels of Questions," got me thinking about my group's own career workshop that we will be presenting in class (Brown, 2012).  As our workshop pertains to a particular cultural group, it would be helpful to provide a background on what these individuals face in the world of work before presenting ways on how to deal with these things within the workplace. Administering a pre-test before the workshop is under way would enable a great way to measure the prior knowledge of the issues within the workplace that affect the LGBT community. Comparing this information to a post-test after the workshop would enable our group to evaluate whether the class gained more insight into the LGBT community and what topics within the scope of career development are important factors to these individuals.

Chapter 17 definitely got me to think about not only the future of the type of career I am pursuing but also about the workplace in general for people living in the United States. I was not surprised to see both of the occupations help by my parents being listed in the table of  occupations predicted to suffer the greatest drop in the 2008-2018 period (Brown, 2012). Both my parents held/hold occupations that fall under "factory work" so it is not a surprise that these types of occupations are disappearing due to changes in geographic location and the use of computerized devices that take care of the work that my parents were responsible for in the workplace environment. In my own hometown there were two sewing factories, a textile manufacturer, and a trailer making plant. Most of the individuals in my community saw these places as their main opportunity for employment, but many of these facilities have closed or moved production to another country. I haven't been back to my hometown in a number of years, but I wonder where these individuals moved on to find work. Just having this occur in a location where I resided for a majority of my life makes me also think about how many areas in the country have been affected the same way. 

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

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