A Process and Outcome Study Examining Career Indecision and Indecisiveness

Despite the abundance of research on undecided and indecisive students, there is a lack of literature on the actual change process of counseling these individuals. No published studies have applied advances in single-subject methodology to career research. This study uses both process and outcome measures to investigate the counseling process with an undecided and indecisive college student to examine (a) what specific events were the most significant in each session, (b) counselor intentions in the “best” versus “worst” sessions, (c) role of the working alliance with career clients, and (d) differential counseling outcomes. Participants were two female counselors, one male undecided student, and one male indecisive student. Results (a) support previous speculation about the differential utility of interventions for undecided and indecisive clients, (b) suggest that the relationship may be important to clients in career counseling, and (c) raise questions about previously assumed intervention strategies for career clients.     

Career counseling meets motivational interviewing: A sequential analysis of dynamic counselor–client interactions

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a client-centered communication style with the aim to resolve client ambivalence within a change-related counseling. Its potential benefit for career counseling has been discussed by several scholars but no empirical research has investigated MI in this context so far. The current study used process measures from MI to investigate dynamic interactions within a career counseling intervention. Overall, we analyzed two videotaped sessions of 14 unique counselor–client dyads. Verbal behavior of counselors and clients were coded with two observational coding schemes from MI (one for counselors and one for clients, respectively). Behavior profiles of counselors were compared with benchmarks of good MI. Furthermore, client verbal ambivalence was compared between sessions. Finally, we conducted lag sequential analyses to analyze temporal dynamics between counselor behavior and immediate client verbal responses across N = 6883 behavioral events. Our results showed, first, behavior profiles of career counselors did significantly differ from recommended counseling benchmarks of good MI practice. Second, as assumed on the basis of past studies, client ambivalence decreased across sessions. Third, MI consistent counselor behaviors showed a positive sequential association with client positive career talk, whereas MI inconsistent counselor behaviors showed the reverse pattern. Our results suggest that counseling behaviors recommended from MI are facilitating career interventions. We discuss how trainings in MI could amend career counseling interventions and provide ethical implications when integrating MI into career counseling programs.     

The effect of client attachment style and counselor functioning on career exploration

This longitudinal research investigated the interactive effect of social attachment style and perceived-counselor behavior on exploratory behavior exhibited by clients during and after career counseling. Results from 96 clients in career counseling indicated that social confidence and comfort, and the perception that the counselor had created social comfort and personal security, enhanced the range and effectiveness of career exploration by the client. The counselor’s functioning as a “secure base” moderated the association between clients’ avoidance and anxiety attachment style and their career exploration. Specifically, when the clients who were high in social avoidance or in social anxiety perceived-counselors as providing an atmosphere in which they feel secure, they engaged in career exploration far more than similar clients who did not perceive their counselor as a secure base.     

Identifying process variables in career counseling: A research agenda

Remarkably little is known about what underlying processes and mechanisms lead to effective change in career counseling. This article examines potential reasons why career counseling process research has been infrequently conducted and provides 10 avenues from psychotherapy process research, and the limited pool of existing career counseling process research, that hold promise for advancing a productive process-research agenda in career counseling. These 10 avenues include: (a) examining the working alliance and five promising counselor techniques; (b) reconceptualizing career counseling as a process of learning, and investigating the processes that lead to effective learning; (c) investigating differences in career counseling process and outcome due to subtype membership, cultural perspectives, and other critical client attributes; (d) investigating differences in career counseling process and outcome based on counselors’ levels of self-efficacy, cultural perspectives, and other critical counselor attributes; (e) examining influential session events; (f) utilizing a common problem resolution metric for examining change across clients; (g) examining client change longitudinally to examine stability of change and functional practicality of assessed outcomes; (h) examining cognitive processes that may be mediating the career counseling process; (i) developing molecular and global taxonomies of counselor behaviors; and (j) utilizing advances in methodological approaches and statistical analyses.     

The mediating effects of career indecision subtypes on career-counseling effectiveness

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that career indecision subtypes serve as a mediating variable in regard to career-counseling effectiveness, and to an attempt to detect two other mediators, i.e., individual- versus group-counseling modes and direct versus indirect test interpretation. In a pre-post design conducted on 149 undergraduate clients who went through a standard counseling process it was found that: (a) Different subtype groups gained differentially in their career decidedness; clients who “lack structure” gained the most from the treatment while clients who “perceive external barrier” and who experienced “personal conflict” gained the least, (b) Neither counseling mode nor test interpretation directiveness had significant effects or interactions with career decidedness. It was proposed that career counseling should be conducted with different contents rather than processes in order to benefit clients with various problem types.     

The effect of client attachment style and counselor functioning on career exploration

This longitudinal research investigated the interactive effect of social attachment style and perceived-counselor behavior on exploratory behavior exhibited by clients during and after career counseling. Results from 96 clients in career counseling indicated that social confidence and comfort, and the perception that the counselor had created social comfort and personal security, enhanced the range and effectiveness of career exploration by the client. The counselor’s functioning as a “secure base” moderated the association between clients’ avoidance and anxiety attachment style and their career exploration. Specifically, when the clients who were high in social avoidance or in social anxiety perceived-counselors as providing an atmosphere in which they feel secure, they engaged in career exploration far more than similar clients who did not perceive their counselor as a secure base.     

Using the myers‐briggs type indicator® in career counseling

The Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®; I. B. Myers & K. C. Briggs, 1943/1976) is a personality instrument with numerous applications. The focus of this article is on its utilization in the career counseling process. Although limitations of the instrument exist and ethical issues regarding its usage have been itemized, information gained from clients' MBTI® assessments have been proved to be useful to professionals in counseling and strategizing with clients about clients' psychological preferences, optimal career families, and potential employment opportunities.     

The Opportunity Structure: Implications for Career Counseling

Traditional career counseling methods are based on the assumption that matching clients' interests, values, abilities, and aptitudes to a suitable occupation will result in opportunities for self-actualization and personal expression. However, vocational psychology tends to neglect a critical extra-individual factor: the nature of the opportunity structure. True career choice may be the experience of only a small proportion of clients. Vocational psychology has focused almost exclusively on individuals to the neglect of social, economic, and political realities.     

social network sites: a starting point for career development practitioners

This action research study explores the career influence of social network sites (SNSs) by examining 14 web‐based articles that consider the risks and opportunities of SNSs from a job search perspective. Three themes are discussed: user visibility, self‐presentation, and network connections. Practical strategies are identified to help career development professionals update their counseling approaches and engage clients in conversations concerning privacy issues, negotiating public and private boundaries on the web, self‐presentation, and applying networking best practices to SNSs.     

Can career self-directedness be improved through counseling?

We examine the learnability, antecedents and outcomes of career self-directedness using a longitudinal dataset of Flemish career counseling clients. The results show that the career counseling clients improved their career self-directedness during the counseling and that this improvement lasted for at least 6 months. Furthermore, we found career self-directedness to be explained in a significant way by self-awareness and adaptability, two competences identified by Hall [Hall, D. T. (1996). Protean careers in the 21st century. Academy of Management Executive, 10(4), 8-16; Hall, D. T. (2004). The protean career: A quarter-century journey. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(1), 1-13] as crucial for steering one’s career. Also, career self-directedness related positively to training participation, job mobility and career satisfaction. The main implications of our findings for the protean career and the career counseling literature are discussed.     

Occupational Wellness: The Integration of Career Identity and Personal Identity

Historically, career and vocational counseling have served as cornerstones to the counseling profession. Still, there are several survey studies that indicate that interest in career counseling among counseling professionals has eroded. Conversely, there has been an overwhelming response from counselors to the idea of wellness. The intent of this article is to encourage practicing counselors and researchers to consider career development as a key ingredient in the conceptualization of wellness. Furthermore, it is imperative that we begin to assist clients in achieving this aspect of occupational wellness through the integration of career identity and personal identity.     

Career Counseling With Couples

As an outgrowth of the developmental and systemic trends characterizing career counseling in recent years, the role of the family has been highlighted. Nonetheless, inadequate attention has been given to incorporating family members in the career counseling setting with adult clients. This article explores a career counseling paradigm that takes into account the couple dynamics active in the adult's career choice process. Unique elements of the conjoint model, such as couple career assessment, along with directions for further study, are offered.     

Applications of Group Career Counseling Techniques in Asian Cultures

In this article, applications of group career counseling techniques to Asian cultures are discussed. The article first identifies how group-oriented cultures differ from individually oriented cultures, reasons that group career counseling is especially appropriate for group-oriented cultures, and relevant issues in group career counseling with Asian populations. Interventions that illustrate the use of group career counseling with Asian clients are prescribed.     

Integrating motivational interviewing in career counseling: A case study

Motivational interviewing (MI) is receiving increasing attention in the field of career counseling. However, none of the previous studies have concretely presented how this method could and why it should be integrated in career counseling. Through the use of a single case study design, this paper illustrates how a brief MI (BMI) intervention can be integrated into career counseling interventions to help resolve career dilemmas. An analysis of the interactions between the client and his counselor using the Motivational Interviewing Skills Code 2.1 illustrates why this method can be useful for career counseling. Immediate and long-term effects of the global career counseling intervention on the client's career decision-making difficulties, as well as the specific impacts of the BMI intervention, are assessed. This case study shows that the BMI approach can be integrated in a career counseling intervention to help career counseling clients overcome career dilemmas and increase their readiness to make career choices.     

Career and personal counseling: Comparing process and outcome

Increasingly, there is a call to support the integration of career and personal counseling. However, few empirical studies have examined the overlap between these 2 domains. This study examined how career and personal counseling compared on both process and outcome measures. The participants included real clients who sought career and personal counseling at 3 college counseling centers in the U.S. The findings indicated that except in the area of expectations about counseling, there were no significant differences between career counseling and personal counseling. The implications for counseling practice and training are discussed.     

The role of problem-solving appraisal in the process and outcome of career counseling

Because problem-solving appraisal has been demonstrated to be a critical variable in psychological adjustment, this study examined its potential role as both a static and dynamic client attribute influencing the process and outcome of career counseling. Participants were 151 adults who received an average of five sessions of naturally occurring career counseling; data were collected before, during, and after counseling. The results indicated that: (a) in line with a static attribute model, clients' pre-counseling problem-solving appraisal scores predicted post-counseling career and psychological outcomes as well as career decidedness even after partialling out clients' pre-decidedness scores; (b) in line with a dynamic attribute model, clients who experienced positive changes in problem-solving appraisal in counseling were more likely to have more positive career resources to use in their career transitions as well greater goal directedness; (c) participation in career counseling related to positive change in problem-solving appraisal scores at a level similar to problem-solving training workshops; and (d) clients' changes in problem-solving appraisal related to changes in the working alliance over time.     

Clients As Change Agents: What Color Could My Parachute Be?

Morrill and Forrest (1970) advocate an approach to career counseling (Type 4) that helps clients (a) understand career choice as a developmental process, (b) learn decision-making skills, and (c) become active change agents in their own lives. Referring to the Morrill and Forrest article as a benchmark statement about career counseling, Remer and O'Neill present a decision-making model that encompasses the tenets of Type 4 counseling. The model has 13 sequential steps; the authors indicate the role of the counselor and the objectives for the client at each. The article discusses the potential impact of this self-directed, decision-making model on career counseling. Specific counseling outcomes are discussed along with anecdotal evidence that supports the power of the model to create these outcomes.     

Mental Imagery in Career Counseling and Life Planning: A Review of Research and Intervention Methods

The use of imagery in career counseling and life planning continues to increase just as the use of imagery in counseling and psychotherapy increases. The rationale for using imagery in career counseling and life planning is the same as in counseling and psychotherapy: It allows the client and counselor to bring into awareness unconscious material that is already influencing choices and makes this material usable in future planning. Imagey also allows the client to try on alternative roles. Several studies are cited that indicate that the imagery components of daydreams and fantasies are useful tools for career exploration and life planning when they are accessible to clients and properly processed. Relevant counseling applications and research studies are cited. Some recent tools for eliciting and processing these daydreams and fantasies are presented, and limits as well as benefits of techniques are discussed.     

Counseling Military Populations: A Content Analysis of Counseling Journals From 1998 to 2018

Mental health scholarship of military populations is largely guided by researchers in psychiatry and psychology. Recent advocacy efforts have created increased opportunities for professional counselors to serve military clients, but the research within the profession has yet to be explored. A content analysis of 23 professional counseling journals from June 1998 to June 2018 was conducted to determine military population research trends. Findings indicated that counselors are researching topics similar to those of other mental health fields, such as posttraumatic stress, but are contributing to those topics conceptually rather than empirically. Topical areas in which counselors do produce more empirical studies include career counseling, and these studies relied on college student veteran populations. Suggestions for incorporating the philosophical principles of counseling into future research are provided to inform the trajectory of military scholarship in the profession.     

Who Benefits From Computerized Career Counseling?

The Adaptive Counseling and Therapy (ACT: Howard, Nance, & Myers, 1986) model was used to predict who would benefit from computerized career counseling. Specifically, clients who had more stable goals and aspirations and more defensive independence were expected to derive more benefit from computerized career counseling, an intervention that provides low levels of direction and support. A total of 54 clients who came to the Career Planning and Placement Center seeking career assistance were referred to the System for Interactive Guidance and Information PLUS (SIGI-PLUS). As hypothesized, clients with more stable goals had the greatest gains in vocational identity. Additionally, clients who showed more defensive independence were more satisfied with the SIGI-PLUS treatment. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.