Mapping Career Counseling Interventions: A Guide for Career Practitioners

251 Pages·2022·6.065 MB·English

by  Shékina Rochat

Mapping Career Counseling Interventions
Mapping Career Counseling Interventions provides an innovative insight into
identifying and resolving problems within career management. In recent years,
myriad counseling tools have been developed so that practitioners can offer
the most appropriate support possible. To guide the selection of such tools,
this book offers a “map” that introduces and links 63 frequent career manage-
ment difficulties with more than 160 qualitative interventions and solutions.
Through its highly organized layout and extensive detail, major career man-
agement difficulties—namely lack of motivation, indecisiveness, dysfunctional
beliefs, lack of information, conflicts, and lack of employability—are scruti-
nized and divided into specific, more manageable sub-difficulties. Targeted
interventions to address each of those difficulties, originating from vocational,
motivational, and positive psychology, are then suggested and described. From
these conclusions, the book delivers practical advice to help conduct these
interventions in a sensitive and respectful manner. Overall, this book outlines
the most effective ways to foster a good working alliance. One of the book’s
standout features is its inclusion of an inventory and card sort to facilitate the
identification of obstacles to professional choice and career management.
This book is a pivotal resource for the large and diverse community of
career development practitioners, such as career counselors, career advi-
sors, employment counselors, and career coaches, regardless of their specific
audience and work settings.
Shékina Rochat, PhD, is substitute Senior Lecturer at the University of
Lausanne and previously worked as a career counsellor and service manager
at the Vaud state office of career counselling. Her research focuses on the
effects of methods and processes in career counseling, positive psychology,
and motivational interviewing interventions (www.shekinarochat.com).

Mapping Career Counseling
Interventions
A Guide for Career Practitioners
Shékina Rochat
Cover image: © Getty Images
First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Shékina Rochat
The right of Shékina Rochat to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rochat, Shékina, 1988- author.
Title: Mapping career counseling interventions: a guide for career
practitioners/Shékina Rochat, Institute of Psychology, University
of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge,
2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index. |Identifiers:
LCCN 2021047821 (print) | LCCN 2021047822 (ebook) | ISBN
9781032212265 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032212289 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003267386 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Vocational guidance.
Classification: LCC HF5381 .R73 2022 (print) | LCC HF5381 (ebook) |
DDC 331.702–dc23/eng/20211005
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021047821
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021047822
ISBN: 978-1-032-21226-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-21228-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-26738-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003267386
Typeset in Adobe Caslon Pro
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Contents
Foreword ix
Introduction 1
0.1 Career Decision-Making Difficulties 2
0.2 Interventions 3
0.3 Approach 6
0.4 Using the Map 7
In Summary 10
1 Lack of Motivation 11
1.1 Clarifying the Goal 12
1.2 Reinforcing the Goal’s Importance 16
1.3 Increasing the Goal’s Priority 18
1.4 Increasing Self-Confidence 20
1.5 Increasing Confidence in the Environment 24
1.6 Clarifying Emotions 26
1.7 Fighting Procrastination 29
In Summary 32
Notes 32
V
VI contents
2 Indecisiveness 33
2.1 Reviewing Pessimistic Views 35
2.2 Fostering Self-Esteem 38
2.3 Reviewing the Fear of Making a “Bad Decision” 42
2.4 Facing Uncertainty 44
2.5 Decreasing Career Decision-Making Anxiety 47
2.6 Handling General Anxiety 50
2.7 Considering Relational Factors 52
In Summary 55
Notes 55
3 Dysfunctional Beliefs 57
3.1 Downplaying the Criticality of the Decision 58
3.2 Downplaying the Centrality of Work 61
3.3 Reassigning the Roles of Luck and Fate 62
3.4 Reframing Professional Help 65
3.5 Specifying the Role of Tests and Questionnaires 67
3.6 Giving Back Their Rightful Place to Significant Others 69
3.7 Questioning Career Stereotypes 70
In Summary 72
4 Lack of Information about the Career
Decision-Making Process 73
4.1 Stages of Career Development 74
4.2 Stages of the Career Decision-Making Process 76
4.3 Components of the Choice 79
4.4 Combining Information 82
4.5 Exploration and Engagement 84
4.6 The Role of Reason and Emotions 86
4.7 Synthesizing with a Metaphor 90
In Summary 92
Note 92
5 Lack of Information about the Self 93
5.1 Vocational Interests 94
5.2 Personality 101
contents VII
5.3 Skills 105
5.4 Values 107
5.5 Character Strengths 109
5.6 Meaning 112
5.7 Life Story 117
In Summary 120
Notes 121
6 Lack of Information about Career Options 123
6.1 Identifying Information Gaps and Unrealistic
Views 124
6.2 Giving Information 127
6.3 Sources of Information 129
6.4 Critical and Objective Assessment of Information 131
6.5 Existing Careers and Their Characteristics 134
6.6 Occupations of the Future 137
6.7 Educational Systems 139
In Summary 141
Notes 141
7 Internal Conflicts 143
7.1 Simultaneous Attraction to Multiple Options 144
7.2 Compromise between Dream and Reality 146
7.3 Compromise with Regard to Leisure 149
7.4 Ambivalence Regarding Career Changes 151
7.5 Ambivalence Regarding the Development
of a Back-up Plan 153
7.6 Ambivalence between Several Options 156
7.7 Exploring the Sides of Ambivalence 159
In Summary 161
8 External Conflicts 163
8.1 Revealing Sources of Influence 165
8.2 Identifying Family Influences 168
8.3 Eliciting Family Expectations 170
8.4 Reconciling the Spheres of Life 172
VIII contents
8.5 Addressing Structural Constraints 174
8.6 Addressing Cultural Differences 177
8.7 Teaching Assertiveness 180
In Summary 182
9 Lack of Employability 183
9.1 Pursuing “Happiness” 185
9.2 Acknowledging the Cycles of Change 187
9.3 Overcoming Transitions 189
9.4 Planning for the Unexpected 193
9.5 Handling Failure 196
9.6 Solving Problems 200
9.7 Adopting a Spirit of Adventure 203
In Summary 206
Conclusion 207
Acknowledgements 209
Appendix A: The Career Difficulties Inventory 211
Appendix B: The Career Difficulties Inventory–Cards 215
References 219
Index 237
Foreword
Two years ago, I received a French book, L’art du conseil en orientation,
by Shékina Rochat. Despite not knowing French, I was able to depict its
goal after I scanned it and, being very impressed, I asked Shékina about
the English version. So, I was pleased, but not surprised, when I received
the English version. The title of the book, Mapping Career Counseling
Interventions: A Guide for Career Practitioners, reminded me about the theme
of the 12th Biennial Conference of the Society of Vocational Psychology in
Tallahassee, Florida, in May 2016—Integrating Career Theory, Research,
and Practice. This book is an outstanding demonstration of how integration
of theory, research, and practice can be implemented: it makes it possible
for career practitioners to incorporate the ideas, knowledge, and practical
experience-derived specific recommendations in their work.
One of the dominant characteristics of today’s dynamic world of work
is the increasing frequency of the need to make career decisions. Today’s
information and communication technology provides ever-growing access
to career information; however, the quantity and (often questionable) qual-
ity of the information available lead to difficulties and challenges involved
in making career decisions. Contrary to the past concerns of career prac-
titioners that ICT-based self-help sites will make the career counseling
profession obsolete, the actual demand for career counseling is increasing.
There is an increasing tendency to regard the goal of career counseling as
facilitating clients’ career decision-making and awareness of the need to
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