Multiple agendas in a changing society: Policy challenges confronting career guidance in the USA

Career guidance services in the United States are diverse in the settings in which they are located and comprehensive in their coverage of populations. Even though career guidance services are socio-political mechanisms, as reflected in their support from government policy, legislations and statutes, there is no unifying policy of career guidance at the federal or state government levels. There are, instead, many policies, guidelines, and legislative acts, the influences of which are often not distinguishable. These tend to differentiate career guidance services and practitioners by setting and population rather than co-ordinating such interventions and purposes under a comprehensive policy. Recommendations for the depoliticisation of and the use of a life-cycle approach to public policy in career guidance are discussed.