An Analysis of the Two Founders of Career Therapy, John L Holland and Donald E. Super

The theoretical career development framework that I chose to assist in Catherine’s career counseling process is Donald Super’s counseling theory. I decided to chose this particular career development framework because I thought it would be the most effective and appropriate to use with the client. The client is thirty-seven years of age and is dealing with a lot on her plate. Equally important, people grow and change throughout their lives and this theory respects that.

Nemko’s article is established on a personal and relatable exemplum, “a device for clarifying or simply, example”, that immediately connects to his audience – who have seemingly had this exact conversation he’s had as a career counselor (Johnson 105). He briefs us on the “saddest moments as a career counselor [] when [he] hear[s] a story like this: ‘I wasn’t a good student in high school, but I wanted to prove to myself that I can get a college diploma--I’d be the first one in my family to do it. But it’s been six years and I still have 45 units to go’” (Nemko 32). Right off the bat, Nemko gains trust through his appeal to ethos. His “saddest moments as a career counselor” tell us of his knowledge of the

According to Niles & Harris (2013), Donald Super developed his theory segmentally. There is no ‘Super’s theory’; there is just the assemblage of theories that Super sought to synthesize. The result is really a “segmental theory” describing three key aspects of career development: (a) life span, (b) life space, and (c) self-concept. The theory culminates in an intervention model labeled as the Career Development Assessment and Counseling (C-DAC) model.

During the interview, Stashia presented issues of career changed frequently as she diverted from majoring in one career path to another. She divulged in the interview that she had once listened to others and not decided on her own path. She reported changing her major, considered doing things differently if she could, and not having taken any vocational assessments that would have helped her. The writer will conceptualize interviewees barriers with theories of career counseling.

Pamelia E. Brott, an associate professor of counselor education at Virginia Tech with a Ph.D. in Counseling and Counselor Education at the University of North Carolina, wrote the article “A Career Story Approach to Management, Business, and Financial Occupations”. The article discusses what the future outlook is on business, while giving a personal story on how to achieve a good future outlook in the field. The target audience deals with business majors in general, with some specific majors in mind. Searching for something to do for the remainder of one’s life requires a lot of thinking, which produces a large amount of stress and uncertainty. For one to be able to pick a career that he or she will find a passion for many years will never be

Having my future sights at working with first generation college students, I saw the applicability of constructivist theory in the combine use of solution focused and narrative therapy in servicing such a diverse group of students. Constructivist theory as a whole is applicable with addressing diverse issues surrounding culture, gender, and social context that influence career choices that are unique to a client when compared with others. Through a recent article titled the “Use of Constructivist Approach in Higher Education: An Instructors’ Observation”, focused on the constructivist approach being used in a career counseling setting, which presented an insight into clients ' stories. The article provided some of the positive aspects of narrative therapy by express how gaining insight to a client’s stories “amplify clients ' self-awareness, and develop with clients a future orientation through action steps” (Hussain, 2012). The article showed how students were able to externalize their career-related problems and confront them through each counseling session (Hussain, 2012). Each counseling session Hussain emphasized the importance of the SFT techniques of complementing (i.e. direct, indirect, and self complementing) when introducing the narrative technique of leagues from other students as to create a positive narrative for change (p.179-184). The study also highlighted portions SFT techniques through the use of a “goal map”,

One of the overall goals of the career counseling process is for the counselor to assist the client to transition from a stage of exploration of themselves and their abilities, interests and values to that of making career decisions. By identifying this in Ruby helped me guide her throughout our sessions and formulate an action plan to overcome her obstacles and challenges at work. As a counselor I must informed Ruby of the many phrases that we may go through during the career counseling process as well as to discuss the goals of each phase. This process is called “Exploring Phase” then “Decision-Making Phase” (Andersen and Vandehey, 2006, p.179).

This autobiography will present events, people, and experiences that have been integral to my career development. My life will be outlined starting from early childhood and leading up to present day. Each stage of my life will discuss examples that explain how I got to where I am today. Career development theories will then be related to my life experiences.

Most individuals struggle at the stage of making career choices and hence they decide to go for career counselling to guide them to the right path by weighing various factors that influence a career like personality. This is where career development theories come into place, these are frameworks that guide the career counsellors in examining and explaining individuals’ career related behaviour. Each career development theory gives a certain unique way to career development and choice. As quoted in Schreuder & Coetzee (2011),” Career counsellors must understand well established and emerging career theories, their strengths and weaknesses and how to apply them to client career development and choice to be able to effectively and

Though a generally overlooked and unappreciated field of work, career counseling has made significant impact in the field of psychology. Frank Parsons’ 1906 lecture, “The Ideal City,” emphasizes the need for young people to receive assistance in choosing a vocation (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013). Further, Parsons was one of the pioneers in linking personality traits to vocational success, thus coining him as the father of vocational guidance (Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2013).

Patton and McMahon (2006) developed a systems theory framework for development of careers called the Therapeutic Framework. The system categorizes the various factors that influence the choice of career into individual factors (for both the learner who is to choose their career and their counselor), organizational factors, or environmental factors (Patton & McMahon, 2006). The system also recognizes the effect of timing on these factors; thus incorporating the aspects of past, present and future (McMahon, Forde, & Dickson, 2015).

Donald Super’s theory of career development focuses on the different stages people progress through as they go through life, and how these stages correlate with important events and career choices. During growth (birth-14 years), people grow physically and begin to form ideas of their self-worth. During this time, many people

Super’s Life Span Theory is one of several developmental theories. Developmental theories are concerned with career choices made over an individual’s lifetime. They are based around the influence that biological, psychological, sociological, and cultural factors have on career decisions as well as other choices that are made in a person’s life. Super’s Theory is different from other developmental theories because it proposes that psychological and socioeconomic factors have a role in the development of the self, that self-concept affects vocational development, that both individual and life roles play a key part in

Gysbers (2003) proposes that the value of career theories comes from providing practitioners with a framework to examine client behaviour, help understand the possible meanings of or explanations for the behaviour and subsequently, enables them to identify and respond to clients’ goals or problems. Significantly then, such theories may help explain an individual’s vocational behaviour, such as their initial career choice or later aspects of career development. This essay attempts to identify the theoretical framework that will underpin my guidance practice in the future.

Life-Span Theories. Trait and factor theories tend to deal with career issues at one point in time, whereas life-span theories take a long-term, developmental perspective (ibid.). The most widely known life-span theory is Super’s Theory of Vocational Choice, which suggests that individuals pass through stages of vocational development involving developmental tasks at each stage; it also considers the performance of multiple roles and their interaction across the life-span (Stitt-Gohdes 1997). However, some studies have shown that the life stages Super outlined are not exactly applicable to women, especially as their roles have changed in the last few decades (Sharf 1997). Super considered self-concept and vocational maturity to be important