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TITLE: ADULT CAREER COUNSELING: AN INTERACTIVE MODEL

AUTHOR: Sandra Kerka

SOURCE: ERIC Clearinghouse Adult, Career, and Vocational Education

YEAR: 1987

ABSTRACT: Describes an interactive adult career counseling model including (1)
intake, (2) formal assessment, (3) exploration and information gathering, (4)
decision making, (5) planning, and (6) transition. Suggests approaches for the
needs of special groups: dislocated homemakers, the long-term unemployed,
limited-English proficient, disabled adults, the incarcerated, the older
workers.

KEYWORDS: Career Counseling, Adults, Adult Counseling, Models, Counselor
Client Relationship, Career Development

TEXT: As the provision of career development services for adults becomes
increasingly important, a systematic approach can be useful in identifying and
using all available resources for adult career counseling. A comprehensive
career counseling delivery system can help counselors deal with diverse client
populations, adults' need for personal involvement in career planning, and
the time constraints often present in working with adults. Advantages of
systematic delivery include a developmental emphasis, effective use of
resources, amenability to change, built-in ongoing evaluation, and focus on
process and product (Walz and Benjamin, 1984).

ADULT CAREER COUNSELING DELIVERY SYSTEM

A comprehensive adult career counseling delivery system includes (1) needs
assessment, (2) resource assessment, (3) goal setting, (4) planning, (5)
establishment of specific objectives, (6) program development, (7)
implementation, (8) evaluation, and (9) modification.

In assessing needs for an adult career counseling program, both the needs of
the clients and of the service providers should be addressed. Client problems
in career decision making -- getting started; gathering information;
generating, evaluating, and selecting alternatives; and formulating plans --
as well as the barriers to participation clients may face should be
determined. Service providers should evaluate what programs they are currently
offering and what services are being contemplated, which can reveal unmet
counseling needs in the community. The assessment of resources can investigate
current and potential funding sources, physical facilities and staff,
availability of assessment instruments and career information, and community
resources to which clients can be referred.

These needs and resource assessments can be used to establish goals for the
adult career counseling program. Examples of general goals include assisting
adults in making career decisions, assisting in training or education
placements, and assisting employers with hiring decisions.

At the planning stage, the particular circumstances of adult clients require
attention. Varying stages of adult development, accessibility of the physical
location and hours of service, immediacy and concreteness of adult concerns,
implications of family circumstances, and the need for supportive services
should all be taken into account. Specific objectives that are sequenced and
related to the functions of the career counseling program model should be
formulated. Specific incremental objectives may be used to provide positive,
reinforcing feedback to the client.

In program development and provision, the primary consideration is the
relationship between the clients and the service providers. A partnership
approach demonstrates awareness that adults should direct their own career
planning, that the client has answers and the counselor's role is to help the
client realize this, and that the client should come to "own" the career
development process.

To evaluate the effectiveness of career interventions, Fretz (1981) recommends
that three dimensions be considered: clients (demographic, psychological, and
career-related attributes), treatments (content domain, interpersonal context,
degree of structure), and outcomes (career knowledge, skills, and behavior;
feelings; effective role functioning). Summative evaluation measures the
degree of success in terms of achieving satisfying, gainful employment. Other
evaluation considerations are indications that the client accepts personal
responsibility for career planning, cost-effectiveness of various treatments,
length of time for program completion, client satisfaction, dropout rate, and
service to all segments of society.

AN INTERACTIVE MODEL FOR ADULT CAREER COUNSELING PROGRAMS

The model for an adult carer counseling program developed by Vetter and others
(1986) involves a great deal of interaction among its six steps: (1) intake,
(2) formal assessment, (3) exploration and information gathering, (4) decision
making, (5) planning, and (6) transition (to education, training, or
employment).

Intake. The intake interview is a means of obtaining information about the
client and of establishing a foundation for the counseling relationship. For
both purposes of intake -- determination of eligibility and orientation to
the program -- documentation and recordkeeping should be objective, accurate,
and thorough. Components of intake forms include name and address, marital and
family status, work-related health factors, educational background, employment
history, financial resources, motivation for involvement in counseling, and
work values. In addition to determining eligibility, this information can be
used to consider possible referrals to other agencies, to increase
understanding of the purposes of the program, and to explore problems or
barriers that affect success.

Formal assessment. Formal assessment provides an accurate and thorough
information base with which to develop realistic career goals. It generally
includes analyzing client strengths, weaknesses, skills, abilities, attitudes,
interests, values, and personality. Flexibility in format allows counselors to
deal with the needs of special populations. Test administrators must
understand the strengths and limitations of the instrument in judging its
appropriateness for program use. The possibility of test anxiety in many
adults must be considered. The use of computerized career guidance systems is
expanding. Heppner and Johnston (1985) provide 17 criteria for evaluating
these systems. Vetter and others (1986) devote half of their publication to a
description of 76 formal assessment instruments in terms of name, author,
source, purpose, primary user population, materials, technical information,
advantages/disadvantages, and sources of additional information.

Exploration and information gathering. Exploration activities are designed to
identify and clarify work values, investigate occupational interests, acquire
information about work skills, and facilitate exploration of specific
occupations. Work values clarification helps people determine why they want to
work and what characteristics a desirable occupation might have. Examples of
values activities include using the LifeCareer Rainbow, which relates short-
and long-range work goals to the goals of other life roles; specifying job
preferences; and rating work values in terms of their relative importance to
the individual.

Decision making. The decision-making phase of the model applies the
information gathered in a structured way that can help clients avoid such
common problems as too much or not enough information, too many or too few
alternatives, and poor evaluation of risks and potential outcomes. The
interaction between model steps is intensified when it becomes clear that
additional exploration/information gathering or formal assessments are needed
before decision making can progress.

Career decision making focuses on identifying, prioritizing, and selecting
alternatives; it is a process that occurs continously throughout an adult's
life. Examples of decision-making activities include (1) the Life Line
Exercise, a means of examining an individual's history of decision making and
determining the degree of personal control that has been used; (2) force field
analysis, in which forces that work for and against one's goals are evaluated
and rank ordered; and (3) analysis of the degree of difficulty and motivation
for the risks one has taken.

Planning. The planning phase completes assessment, exploration, and decision
making by translating information into action. Counselors should ensure that
career plans are concrete, specific, and realistic. Exercises can help clarify
goals and objectives, identify resources for attaining them, and determine
barriers and strategies for overcoming them. In planning, the counselor and
client assess skills needed and match them with the educational and training
opportunities available. Flexibility is added by considering contingency or
alternative plans to increase the possibility of success.

Transition. The outcome of the decision-making and planning phases of the
model, depending on the individual client, may be entrance into a training
program, an educational program, a job-seeking program, or directly into
employment.

NEEDS OF SPECIFIC CLIENT GROUPS

This section describes some special group characteristics that require
different counseling approaches to meet the career planning needs of these
adults.

Dislocated workers may experience shock, denial, anger, and depression; they
may also reach a stage of job search burnout. Most tend to have a negative,
limited, and underestimated view of their skills. Special attention to formal
and informal assessment instruments can help identify client assets to be
communicated to prospective employers.

In addition to career counseling, displaced homemakers often need assistance
with job training, search, and placement as well as support services such as
child care.

The long-term unemployed include inner-city minorities, high school dropouts,
single parents, and recent immigrants, among others. These economically
disadvantaged persons are likely to require longer, more expensive training.
Personality traits such as responsibility, self-esteem, and self-confidence
influence their success or failure. Intelligent and discretionary use of
testing as well as long-term observation of behavior patterns are needed in
the career counseling process.

The limited-English proficient face many barriers to full employment despite
the fact that they often have marketable job skills. A clear understanding of
their degree of proficiency in English, training plans that include
English-as-a-second-language instruction, and special counseling about
culturally appropriate behavior are needed.

Counselors of adults with disabilities should help clients explore their
employment expectations and discuss potential employer prejudice and
supervisory discrimination. Many career guidance and assessment tools
specifically relate to disabled populations, and the tangible benefits of
computer applications in rehabilitation services are being recognized.
The incarcerated present a unique challenge to career counselors, who must
strive to develop in them fundamental values consistent with societal
expectations and to assist them with realistic career development plans.

Although older workers tend to be self-directed and somewhat resistant to
change, their experience provides a great resource for problem solving.
Planning for career change should build on their unique experiences and
abilities and should consider the effects of aging on their physical
capabilities. Creativity in dealing with fear of testing may be required.

RESOURCES FOR ADULT CAREER COUNSELING

As mentioned, Vetter and others (1986) provide descriptions of 76 assessment
instruments, indexed by title, instrument type, population, time of
administration, reading level, and scoring procedures. In addition, the volume
includes numerous illustrations of appropriate exercises for the different
phases of the program model. The bibliography also provides resources for
additional instruments, activities, and program development.

This digest is based on ADULT CAREER COUNSELING: RESOURCES FOR PROGRAM
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT BY Louise Vetter, William L. Hull, Christine
Putzstuck, and Gary J. Dean, published by Meridian Education Corporation in
Bloomington, Illinois in l986.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Fretz, Bruce R. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Career Interventions."
JOURNAL OF COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY 28 (1981): 77-90.

Heppner, Mary J. and Joe A. Johnston. "Computerized Career Guidance
Information Systems: Guidelines for Selection." JOURNAL OF COLLEGE STUDENT
PERSONNEL 26 (l985): 156-63.

Walz, Garry R., and Libby Benjamin. "A Systems Approach to Career Guidance."
VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE QUARTERLY 33 (1984): 26-34.