Career Counselor Training: Review of Recent Efforts
In the field of career counseling, while professional organizations exist, many public and private employers of career counselors do not require that certification for employment. The National Career Development Guidelines provide information about what recipients of career services should come out of the experience knowing. The National Career Development Association has a statement of competencies that states what career counselors should be knowledgeable in as professionals in their field (Reardon, 2009).
While high schools and college campuses often require career counselors to hold a master’s degree and participate in continuing education, many public organizations hire career counselors without such requirements. Instead, the assumption seems to be that the individual experience of the career counselor, combined with a general college education, should translate into the ability to assist individuals seeking employment services.
People in career transition, particularly adults, tend to come to career service centers with other underlying issues that affect everything from career choice to the ability to retain employment in the long term. Because of this, career counseling often involves assisting individuals with things like self-esteem, interpersonal issues, family issues, and financial issues.
Effective career counseling often requires a more holistic approach to address the multiple needs of clients who seek career services and involves much more than providing job leads and making referrals to social service organizations to meet other needs. Many people who seek out career services seek assistance indirectly related to their career. (Scott, 2002)
The lack of specialized training among career counselors in the public sector is not limited to the United States but also presents an issue across Europe. In March 2002, The European Council in Lisbon stated that Europe has stepped into the knowledge age, making lifelong learning necessary. Pukelis and Navickiene (2010) argue that career counseling is regarded as a critical component for lifelong learning. An integrative approach to career counseling is needed, requiring more specific training for those who work in the field.
A Paradigm Shift in Career Counselor Training Methods – From Positivist to Constructivist
Taking a constructivist approach, Peavy (1992) suggests some revisions to the then-current format for most career practitioner training, which, in the past, have been presented from the positivist standpoint on education and learning.
Changes would include reducing the gap between career and life and introducing self-reflection and transformative learning theory into career counselor training. Peavy (1992) suggests utilizing methods outlined in Schon’s Education of the Reflective Practitioner (1987).
In keeping with this constructivist viewpoint, Peavy (1992) posits that we take advantage of the human ability to envision alternatives when providing training to career counselors. We should attempt to overcome reductionist concepts and practices, such as micro-skills training, with a de-emphasis on matching client characteristics with particular employment, and instead focus on increasing dialogue with the clients in a more holistic way. In other words, career counselors must focus on the person’s whole life rather than hold a singular focus on career.
Micro skills training is criticized for the following reasons: First, it is often the counselors’ ability to understand the subtleties of client experience, rather than the counselors’ ability to carry out specific skills, that determines the success or failure of the counseling. Secondly, micro skill training may produce behaviors in counselors that lead them to be unable to respond to the diversity of client needs. Finally, finely honed micro-skills do not necessarily translate into fruitful behaviors in the everyday experience of counselors or their clients (Peavy, 1992).
While skill training will always be necessary, there is necessary to move beyond skills-only training, and different theorists have advocated several approaches. As cited by Peavy (1992), Schon’s work advocated for artistry in action, while Mezirow’s (1990) work, Fostering Critical Reflection in Adulthood: A Guide to Transformative Emancipatory Learning, discusses the benefits of critical reflection and transformative learning. “A great deal of counseling is directed toward assisting clients in moving toward a more open range of possibilities and alternatives. A curriculum for education counselors should embody those same goals” (Peavy, 1992).
In Peavy’s view, the constructivist career counselor uses four types of experiments that may aid the client in coming to an important decision.
First-level experiments could consist simply of guided fantasy or focusing techniques. Next, second-level experiments live in the realm of cognition and emotion and include thinking, belief and perspective. One example is engaging the client in critical reflection, repgrid, or a laddering procedure, two different interviewing methods. Third-level experiments would involve role-play or other forms of situation experience, for example, role-playing a job interview. Finally, fourth-level experiments are those actions carried out in the real world (Peavy, 1992).
Furthermore, a constructivist career counseling training would consider the following four dimensions by asking the following questions of concern to a career counselor in working with clients: How can I form a cooperative alliance with the client? (Relationship), How can I encourage self-helpfulness with this client? (Agency), how can I help this client elaborate and evaluate his or her constructions and meaning germane to this decision? (Meaning making factor), Moreover, how can I help this client reconstruct and negotiate personally meaningful and socially supportable realities? (Negotiation).
Yalom, in his book, Existential Psychotherapy (1980), as cited by Peavy (1992), states that “decisions can be defined as the fundamental psychic events which steer movement in life. A decision is a bridge between wishing and action; to decide is to commit oneself to a course of action.”
A National Credential for Career Counselors and Career Counselor Trainers
As Thomas R. Stowell (2009) notes, the presence of career counselors, coaches, consultants, and facilitators has grown in the face of economic stresses and changing employment trends. One of the most significant resources for career counseling practitioners and counselor trainers has been the National Career Development Association (NCDA), which has established a core curriculum for professional career counselors and provided guiding ethical standards of practice.
In particular, the NCDA’s Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF) Program provides an internationally adapted curriculum and is taught by highly experienced trainers and instructors. This credential was developed to address the professional development concerns of career practitioners without a master’s degree.
Hoppin and Splete (2013) note that many career counselors have been asked to go beyond assisting people along their career development path and work to help clients overcome other barriers to employment ranging from criminal records, domestic violence, and other life issues. However, many received no training in career development and general counseling and helping skills.
To address this need, in 1992, Hoppin and Splete applied for and received grant funding for a total of 6 years to focus on creating a training program for those providing career services to adults. Thus, the Career Development Training Institute (CTDI) at Oakland University was born. Along with the original GCDG curriculum, other CTDI publications were published, such as Workforce in Transition: A Blueprint for Adult Career Development and Job Search Readiness (Hoppin, 1993) and Training Needs of Career Development Facilitators (Hoppin & Splete, 1994) (Hoppin & Splete, 2013).
Upon receiving the grant funding to address career counselors’ training needs, the CTDI conducted a national needs assessment of 1,007 career development practitioners. The respondents came from a diverse array of practices, including adult education, business and industry, colleges and universities, community agencies, community colleges, employment security commissions, job training partnership agencies, military, private practice, trade and technical schools, and vocational rehabilitation.
A curriculum was then developed and field-tested based on the data gathered from the responses. While experiential learning had not yet become the most popular method for providing instruction, the curriculum for the CDF included information in short lectures of up to 20 minutes, followed by activities designed to facilitate the application of concepts covered and exercise for reflection. Once the curriculum was created, the need to train instructors to teach the curriculum became apparent, and a workshop of nearly four days was created for this purpose (Hoppin & Splete, 2013).
Due to the increasing demand for the GCDF credential, training is needed to prepare those who have taken the rigorous coursework and earned their GCDF to train others interested in doing the same. Thus, GCDF Master Trainer credential exists for this purpose. Many individuals who hold this credential exceed the NCDA’s minimum standards and hold master’s and doctoral degrees in addition to significant work experience in the field. Today, this model remains largely intact with online delivery of course content training. In 1997, the Center for Credentialing in Education finalized approval of the CDF credential, and in 2000, expanded the certification to global status. Today, there are over 20,000 certified GCDFs globally (Hoppin & Splete, 2013).
Significant revisions to the CDF curriculum occurred in 2005, and more recently, in 2012. Currently, the twelve competencies covered in the curriculum are helping skills, labor market information and resources, assessment, diverse populations, ethical and legal issues, career development models, employability skills, training clients and peers, program management and implementation, promotion, and public relations, technology, and supervision (Hoppin and Splete, 2013). Additionally, issues related to the supervision of career practitioners are gaining recognition as being important. As a result, a manual entitled Career Practitioner Supervision: A Supervision Training Curriculum for Career Service Providers (Manoogian, 2011) was published by the NCDA.
In 2005, after the passage of the Education and Economic Development Act, South Carolina became one of the first states to fund over 550 positions dedicated to supporting career development efforts in K-16 education. Today, over 1,400 GCDFs support the career development of South Carolina children. Though there is no data yet regarding the impact, a culture shift resulting from the partnership is expected (Stowell, 2009).
Another partnership was made between the National Institute of Corrections Offender Workforce Development Division and the National Career Development Association to automatically allow those who have completed the OWDS partnership Training to earn the GCDF credential. In short, the GCDF goes a long way to ensuring quality standards of practice in career development. (Stowell, 2009).
Continuing Challenges in Career Counselor Training
A 2007 joint symposium of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance, Society for Vocational Psychology, and the National Career Development Association identified three challenges in the career development profession: the need for public policies to address career development, the need for greater competency standardization, and the need to create innovative training programs (Niles, Engels, & Lenz, 2009).
Public policies significantly impact the career development profession as these regulations determine what services can be delivered and to whom. The authors noted the difference between Australian and United States career development policies. The Australian government favors policies that engender respect and commitment to worker career preparation and workforce sustainability. At the same time, the United States takes a macroeconomic approach, focusing on the employment of workers rather than career development.
Because career counselors are in the best position to identify the needs of those they serve, we would do well to ensure that our career counselors are training in aspects of public policy and advocacy if we want to see the changes needed.
Since career counselors often advocate on behalf of clients to help them access needed services, we should also ensure that the career practitioner is trained in data collection and analysis to the extent that they can demonstrate program needs, accountability, and performance. As the authors note, “when career practitioners are not training to engage in advocacy, then many factors that inhibit career development go unaddressed,” particularly at the policy level (Niles et al., 2009).
One of the challenges of determining competencies in career counseling is determining which competencies are essential across the board and which are useful only in specific contexts. The International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG) developed international competencies that largely reflect those of the NCDA, with a couple of notable differences. The NCDA competencies include sections related to technology and diversity, while the IAEVG does not.
However, the IAEVG does include a section on community capacity building and collaboration, whereas the NCDA does not. In any case, taken together, the competencies established by the above reference organizations provide a good starting point for other nations interested in creating their own nationally recognized competencies (Niles et al., 2009).
Concerned about the accessibility of career counselor training, Neault (2007) created modularized learning formats, which now allow those seeking the GCDF credential through the NCDA to do so in an online format. Students can enroll in the entire program, which is approximately ten courses or take one course at a time (Niles et al., 2009).
Besides accessibility, trainees need exposure to “carefully sequenced behavior rehearsal experiences.” N. Amundson (as cited by Niles et al. 2009) suggests strength challenge training where the focus is first placed on the learners’ strengths. In this approach, learners have an opportunity to demonstrate their already hard-won skills prior to challenging them with new skills. Additionally, providing critical reflection techniques from the beginning allows for a habit of critical self-reflection to aid the learning of career counselors in such training (Niles et al., 2009).
Currently, the average school counselor in the United States has 476 students to work with at any given time. While the one-to-one individual counseling method has been the most predominant form of service delivery in the field, given the uptick in need, career counselors could benefit from training in other service delivery methods, such as small group interventions and web-based services (Niles et al., 2009).
More recently, Buser, Buser, Peterson, and Seraydarian (2012) conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness practice on the counseling skills development of graduate students. Their findings indicate a positive relationship between mindfulness practice and counseling skills development. Participants in the experimental group reported increased comfort with silence in sessions, improved attention, and a new appreciation for the importance of spiritual themes in counseling. The most significant limitation of this study is that the results are based on self-reported data rather than on actual outcomes.
However, in a randomized, double-blind, controlled experiment, an earlier study conducted by Grepmair, Mitterlehner, Loew, Bachler, Rogher, and Nickel (2007) found that interns who engaged in meditative practice had better clinical outcomes than those who did not. Mindfulness practice may enhance counseling skills and outcomes and aid in preventing burnout among those working in the counseling field and could easily be included as part of any career counselor training.
A study published by Lara, Kline, and Paulson (2011) sought to explore counseling students’ perceptions of career counseling as they moved through the completion of a graduate-level career counseling course. The results indicated that while participants felt they developed a greater understanding of the importance of career counseling, they also indicated a need for practical experience and did not feel comfortable carrying out the duties of a career counselor specifically. The data also suggested that participants found the lecture portions of the coursework boring. At the same time, application-oriented teaching contributed to understanding how to apply the theories and greater self-confidence in performing.
A decision is the bridge between wishing and action; to decide is to commit oneself to a course of action.”
Yalom, Existential Psychotherapy (1980)
Research conducted by Parks, Rich, and Getch (2012) provided the opportunity for graduate students enrolled in an advanced career counseling course to work directly with undergraduate technical college students enrolled in a career planning course. They found that adding an individual component to the coursework aided the technical college students by reinforcing current career goals and building a greater sense of self-efficacy. Surprisingly, the researchers did not analyze any of the potential data related to any effects of the study on the career counselors’ professional and academic development.
However, a previous undertaking by Osborne and Usher (1994) did integrate graduate students to work individually and in groups with undergraduates who were enrolled in a career planning course. This effort allowed the master’s degree students to practice their assessment skills and teach positive job-seeking behaviors to the undergraduates. Additionally, doctoral students were allowed to supervise the master’s degree students and teach a college-level course. This effort was beneficial to the career development of all three groups.
Another issue for career counselors in our modern times is the issue of cultural sensitivity. Because career counselors work with very diverse populations, any training must include guidance on this issue. Lofrisco and Osborne (2012) found many articles outlining experiential activities to introduce the concept of multicultural sensitivity. They could not locate any articles detailing how these activities could be introduced into career counseling coursework or how the effectiveness of such activities could be evaluated. Further research could certainly be done in this arena.
Discussion/Conclusion
Many career counselors employed at One Stop and other workforce development centers provide these services with little to no formal training in career development or decision-making. (Stowell, 2009).
Based on the above literature review, a comprehensive training program is suggested for career counselors within the workforce development system overall. This training program should include various aspects of the total person who is enrolled in the career counselor training course and take a holistic view of the clients they serve and the barriers they face. The training should include skills training in giving feedback, interviewing techniques such as motivational interview, reprgrid, and laddering techniques.
Additionally, it would be helpful for career counselors to receive training in advocacy skills and public policy and data management. Mindfulness training could be introduced to reach the whole person and bolster career counselors’ confidence, focus, and attention.
As noted, there is a general lack of research on how to introduce activities that will educate career counselors on cultural sensitivity. This is an area of interest to many for further research. As the curriculum for the career counselor training is created, it would be helpful to keep in mind the results of this literature review and create a program that offers experiential learning where possible. Local training for career counselors could include such training followed by an evaluation of how well it worked for the learners, and changes could be made to future programs based on the results.
A survey of 115 career counselors within the Job Center office in Austin, TX revealed that they would benefit from training in stress management, time management, and creating and maintaining boundaries with clients. More research into the literature on these subjects could be done, and additional modules for this type of learning could be added to the career counselor training curriculum.
References
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Yalom, in his book, Existential Psychotherapy (1980) as cited by Peavy (1992), states that “decisions can be defined as the fundamental psychic event which steers the movement in life.