Blog #14 Chapter 18

            Chapter 18 reports statements that are germane to activities we conducted in class. Personally, I have never heard of O*NET or the Occupational outlook Handbook. But thanks to the in-class activity, I have a better understanding of what’s out there as a resource. They came in handy for my interview and the presentation. I agree with Brown when he commented on the delivery of occupational information being through the Internet in the next 20 to 25 years. It isn’t very difficult to see that it’s already here and possibly on Smartphone’s already (I’m not sure if there’s an app for that or not). The only problem that stands in the way of utilizing these resources is ignorance. It took me 26 years before I found out this information was not only available, but that now it’s available online.

            I also think that resumes will become part of an online database that describes a person in greater detail. I am aware that Millersville has a FOCUS database in which you can upload more information than just a resume. I think this is a great idea, but we must not forget the purpose of a resume: to get an interview. An individual can create a link on the resume to the FOCUS database, but it will be all for not if the prospective employer doesn’t like your resume or it’s difficult to understand. I think that the focus should remain on the resume and once the interview is scheduled, then you can refer to your FOCUS database to show yourself off.

            Finally, career counseling will become a more specialized field and will require expertise in various avenues (Brown, 2012). I agree with this concept 100%. There will be an increase in the need for career counselors and a need for specialized degrees/certifications.  According to Brown, the profession of psychology has been rather lenient on the requirements of being certified in the area of career counseling. I see this aspect changing as it fills a desperate need. Someone else’s career and future cannot hang in the balance of an undertrained and under qualified individual. That is doing a disservice to both the client and the field of psychology in general.  This should be considered both ethically and morally on the behalf of the counselor. Also, proper training is paramount on behalf of the counselor when helping another individual decide his career for the future.

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

Blog Finale

Blog Finale

Having blogged on all of the chapters, I am going to focus on what stood out to me in our workshops. I was very impressed by the hard work and creativity that went into each workshop. I would like to extend a thank you to my classmates for such enjoyable learning experiences. I have not been to any career development workshops, so in the beginning of the year, I was not sure what to expect. I experienced the workshops as helpful and would attend a career workshop in the future because of it. I must admit, I am grateful that I am not currently in need of those services.

Several things stood out to me in the workshops – interviewing, resumes, internships, and learning the skills applicable to certain jobs. I have had many interviews. I always try to remember that I am interviewing the job as much as the potential employer is interviewing me. I learned this idea very early in my work life. I was 19 and looking for an office job after high school. I will never forget the interview I had with the office supervisor at a local business. She made prejudice comments about Jewish people during my interview. I knew I would never agree to work for her in one million trillion years (as my daughter says).

It was interesting to me that “teamwork” was the most desirable soft skill. I always think this term is so vague. A person must possess a variety of social and interpersonal skills to be a good team player. We have a “commitment to my co-worker” initiative at my job currently. It is meant to improve teamwork and overall morale. There have been a lot of improvements and I think the program will be successful. I noticed that the people who don’t want to “get on board with it” have or are leaving.

I agree that internships are not only helpful experiences, but probably essential. I did not have any “real life experience” when I embarked on my undergraduate internship. That experience did not lead to my first job, but it did contribute to a later one. I think there is a strange unwritten commandment that all psych grads must work as a TSS at some point in their careers. Anyway, of course TSS was my first job after college. I am about to enter an internship again at the graduate level. This one has a different feel – but I am not sure I can put words to it. I was definitely more active in choosing the environment for my internship this time, and I have a great deal more to balance. I no longer work flexible waitress hours and I am responsible to make sure a child has health care benefits. I don’t want to compromise the job I already have and worked so hard for. I don’t feel the luxury of working my life around my internship. Instead it has to somehow fit into an existing life. I really do believe that these graduate struggles are somehow part of the overall experience and a benefit. I think I am looking forward to a hindsight perspective.

I hope everyone has happy holidays and an excellent winter break. I enjoyed being in class with you all.

Blog #14: Chapter 18

                 I felt like this final chapter in the book was very fitting.  It is so beneficial for us to have an idea of not only the job market for our clients, but also for ourselves.  It was interesting to see what some of the predictions were years ago and how they relate to what we are going through now.  Overall it seems like technology is having the largest impact on career development practices.  The internet and online databases have changed the nature of the position entirely.  Career counselors are no longer just focusing on their counseling on the career aspect, but they also need to counsel individuals on the personal level as well (Brown, 2012). This holistic approach is becoming more common as counselors tend to move towards a more modern approach to counseling (Brown, 2012).

One of the trends that Brown identified was the decline of print materials (2012).  I absolutely agree with this and I am familiar with it in my work.  As an Admissions Representative, I am responsible for going out to high school guidance offices and updating our school’s file.  In this file we put information about our programs, program costs, applications, etc.  Each year I simply take out the old information and put in new information because no students are taking any of this information.  These files are useless because students are going online to look at information and they will fill out applications online as well.  Additionally instead of mailing out information about a school, individuals can just visit their website.  Although I do believe this is a positive trend in general, it makes it really hard to get information to these students. 

With all of the changes coming to the job market, more people are relying on the internet for their information rather than going to get help from a counselor (Brown, 2012).  This is not only bad for the career counselors, but it is unfortunate for the job hunters as well because there is so much information out there and sometimes it can be confusing.  Job hunters are now on their own to interpret this information, apply for, and negotiate potential jobs.  In addition to adults, this also affects high school students that are seeking information on colleges.  They are relying solely on the internet rather than seeking advice or help from their school counselors.  This is unfortunate for them because there are so many options out there that I am certain they are unaware of.

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

Chapter 18

As I was reading the chapter for this week, I kept thinking “there needs to be a more holistic approach to career counseling” only to come upon the trend of career counseling section and the issue posed at the end of having a more holistic approach to career counseling in the future (Brown, 2012). I know that the only experience I had pertaining to career development prior to this class was taking an assessment of my interests and the potential careers I may be interested in pursuing. I also agree with Brown (2012) that career counseling should be seen as a specialty. The only coursework I have done thus far pertaining to career counseling is taking this class. How would I possibly be able to help individuals with both personal and career issues unless career development is an important component of my education spanning more than just a semester long course?

In addition, Brown (2012) brings up the need for career counselors to be aware of potential values expressed by particular cultural and racial identity groups. It definitely made me think how helpful a career counselor would be to me: a female, biracial, and LGBT client. This was also something I thought about a lot as my group will be presenting a career workshop for the LGBT community, and I have also taken multicultural counseling this semester. I realized that even though I bring a lot of factors from my own life to the table I still need to be knowledgeable of the multitude of racial and cultural backgrounds present in this world today.

I appreciate that more career information will be provided to individuals through online resources (Brown, 2012). The only concern I have about this is whether or not individuals will understand the importance of these resources without the aid of a career counselor. The creation of websites that are easily accessible should also provide information as to why the resource is beneficial to the user, and how it can be applied directly to the user’s own need of information for career development issues. Just as Brown (2012) writes that graduate career counseling courses put more emphasis on counseling than providing counselors an opportunity to orient themselves to career information, I think the opposite for online resources for individuals. It would be incredibly helpful to combine both factors stemming from an individual’s personal history and career information in both online and counselor/client interactions.

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

Blog #14

          Brown’s chapter “Trends and Issues in Career Information, The Job Search, Career Development, and Career Development Programming” gave a very thorough description of changes that may develop over the years.  In this chapter, Brown states, “technology will continue to drive much of the innovation in career development” (2012, p. 373). I absolutely agree with Brown’s statement because so much that we do today (not only things relating to careers) revolves around recent technological advances.  Just think about the job search itself.  We no longer rely on newspapers to find job postings, but mainly focus on the Internet in order to find job openings.  Today, there are numerous resources on the Internet to help individuals find information about jobs.  According to Brown, the use of the Internet will improve the availability of career information and simultaneously decrease the use of print materials available (2012, p. 375). Finding career information is now easier than ever with resources such as O*NET and the Occupational Outlook Handbook.  With just a few clicks on the computer, individuals can easily find information about various jobs.  Even Internet job search sites such as Monster, Careerbuilder, and Linkedin, have made great changes in how individuals search for jobs today.
            It was interesting for me to see how the different theories we discussed in class were associated with future trends in career development.  According to the text, “John Holland’s theory will continue to dominate the assessment of interest and research on variables such as occupational satisfaction” (Brown, 2012, p. 378).  Since the beginning of the semester when I learned about Holland’s theory, I identified with his ideas more than any of the other theorists we learned about.  It just makes sense to me that individuals would seek out careers that matched their interest and abilities.  I believe that it will be important for career counselors in the future to continue using John Holland’s theory (as well as other theories when necessary) in helping individuals make career decisions that are appropriate for them. 
            Overall, this course has really taught me a lot about career development.  When I first began the course, I honestly knew very little about what was involved in career counseling and how to help someone that was unsure of their career path.  I believe that through this course, I will able to take what I have learned and use it to counsel individuals on different career options that are available.

Reference

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

Chapter 18

            In chapter 18, Brown notes the trends specific to career development and the like. One thing that I did notice is the increased use of technology in the future. Online job information, services, assessments, and openings will continue to increase. This makes sense because of the development of technology over the past 10 years. Also, it was interesting to see that the many theories that we learned will still be of interest in the future. Holland’s theory will continue to dominate, Super’s, Krumboltz’s, and postmodern theories will continue to have an impact in career counseling. It seems that using an eclectic method of career counseling (depending on the client) will be the best method going forward.

            I was glad to see that Brown recognizes that career development programming will be secondary to the school reform movement that grips many of this country’s public schools (Brown 2012, page 380). I am not glad because as a teacher I will not have to worry about it, I am glad because Brown understands the state that we are in right now with school reform. Like we have discussed in class, implementing a career development program in schools would be beneficial, but it is very difficult to do. This does not mean that it is impossible to do. I feel that a teacher could choose to teach his or her students about career development during social studies, but of course, the teacher would have to run it by the administration. The teacher could do this by showing any research based studies that have shown student growth due to the program.

            Lastly, I would like to comment on the way Brown set up this chapter. I like the list format on his predictions for the future. Also, I liked how he listed one issue at the end of each list. It made me stop and think about it. I do think career counselors will rely on free online information issued by the government. We have been moving towards a paperless society, and I think that will continue to grow. I also think that many more people will use the internet to search for jobs. I do think virtual job interviews will increase (especially if it is an interview that is in another state or country). At the same time, I think face to face interviews will still be prevalent. I think that quantitative and qualitative research strategies for assessment will continue to be used in the future. One will not limit the other because both types of research are important to finding out which assessments are best. I do think that there is a need for a more holistic approach to career counseling. As I mentioned in the first paragraph, it seems that career counselors are trying to be more eclectic to help meet the needs of their clients. I think that the emphasis on career development programs will stay the same (neither grow nor contract) due to the 2007 – 2010 recession. Now, if the government takes control of the current educational situation by pushing for career development programs, obviously, I would change my answer to grow. But, until that happens, career development programs will continue to be ignored in most states, districts, and schools.

           

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

Chapter 18 Blog Post

 

I found the information on trends in career information to be the most interesting part of this chapter. We have spent a lot of time throughout this class looking back on both theories of career development and trends of the past. I enjoy looking forward to what is to come for the field of career development. Even if we do not become “Career Counselors” we will still be able to affect some amount of change on either clients or students. Careers are such a huge part of people’s lives and a necessary piece to explore when you are counseling someone, even if it seems you are helping through an unrelated problem. I was pleased to read that “there will be a continuing effort to improve the delivery of occupational information” (Brown, 2012, p. 375) (i.e. O*NET and Career One Stop, among various other online sources). Staying familiar with the resources available to our clients will only serve us in a positive way in the future. 

I also feel very strongly about the future of our adult workforce; those who are far from their graduation days yet not nearly close enough to start thinking about a life after their full-time jobs. These are the people who tend to be affected the most by a down economy because this is the population that has young children, mortgages, many bills to pay and are looking toward paying for their children’s college educations, weddings, cars, etc. Helping adults to use the occupational information out there could have a huge effect on their future planning. “The current economic downturn and the human misery it has created will, at least in the short-term, prompt people to engage in information-based decision making” (Brown, 2012, p. 376).

Another segment of this section on trends in career development that I was happy to read is that “The reduction in time spent on career information is partially because of the recognition of the need to pay more attention to career counseling, which is a healthy sign” (Brown, 2012, p. 376). The more we cultivate the idea of “careers” into our young students, the more informed they will be when they are thrust into the workforce. We need to keep working with our students so that their college and career moves are thoughtful and well-planned out decisions. The down side of this is that “career counselors and career development specialists will increasingly have to rely on their own study and in-service training for their knowledge of career information” (Brown, 2012, p. 376). You could also look at this as a positive thing. Since most career counselors will have little built-in support, the field will most likely only attract people who are highly motivated to be in the field and want to do a lot of self-education to stay well-informed.

 

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