Career Counseling: Vocational Preference Inventory

After doing an assessment it matched me up with a number of jobs including Coach, Professional Athlete, and Sports Official. These jobs are absolutely the jobs I wanted mostly because they involve sports and teaching others how to play. One job I am surprised that I didn’t get matched up with was lawyer, being a lawyer was if not my favorite, my second favorite job; it’s my back-up plan behind sports. According to my assessment I am a tactile learner, which means I learn better hands-on, I agree with this because I believe I learn better from an activity compared to just taking notes or lecturing. This learning style kind of associate with the jobs I was matched up with because when you’re an athlete you mostly

The career path of vocational rehabilitation counselor has come to me later in my professional career and it is not a path I would have anticipated taking. I do not recall taking interest assessments in high school, but if I had I would have probably fallen into the category of conventional personality type on John Holland’s personality scale. My early educational pursuits leaned toward administrative and business type positions. Most of my career I have worked in positions that were structured, predictable and very routine. Even though I worked in positions such as these I was often called upon to teach, train and instruct new employees. I found the most satisfaction in my job when I would work with individuals helping them to learn new tasks and obtain new skills.

The counselor would begin by presenting a copy of the report to Jane so she may follow along with as it is presented. The counselor would carefully explain each section and what the results are stating. For example, the General Occupational Themes (GOTs) measures an individuals work personality (Grutter & Hammer, 2012). In Jane’s situation her strengths lie in social and artistic themes. Therefore, she enjoys interpersonal roles along with art and culture (Grutter & Hammer, 2012). Osborn (2012) explains that career assessments are used to help individuals realize and maximize their true career potential.

In this paper I will be discussing a career counseling interview completed with an individual of a different gender. The interview was conducted in 90 minutes; we discussed the interviewee’s work experience, education, and training. In addition, we explored his recreational and leisure activities, and we looked at strengths and challenges related to his work.

The test measures 11 different vocational interests areas that fall within 5 cluster dimensions. The 11 vocational interest areas are:

The words “career counseling” and “substance abuse treatment” on the surface appear as two completely isolated areas, with little interconnection. Personally, as an individual in recovery from addiction, as well as professionally, working as a drug and alcohol case manager, experience has shown me that vocation is very relevant to this population. It is one of the primary goal areas in which I work with my clients on a daily basis. Many of these individuals have completed treatment and are looking for new ways to enter the workforce and provide for themselves and their families, while also battling past career mistakes and missteps. Furthermore, education levels have

The Strong Interest Inventory (SII) and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator(MBTI), are the two instruments that resonate with the most. The Strong Interest Inventory is an advanced self-administered online inventory that assesses career interest. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator(MBTI), is another type of inventory that correlates with the Jungian Theory. This too is self -administering reporting questionnaire designed to evaluate the psychological preferences and how they make perceive the world and make decisions. (Donnay, Morris, Schaubhut, Thompson, Grutter, & Hammer, 2012). Using these inventory instruments would allow the counselor to get a complete overview of both

To help clients through the process about their career goals they can explore their skills and limitation while balancing their interest and openness to the idea. As readily apparent, the information collected during the evaluation phase enables the counselor and client to use occupational information resources to access the appropriateness of the client’s expressed vocational objectives (Rubin and Roessler, 2008). Clients can utilize The New Guide for Occupational Exploration, use The Self-Directed Search, Occupational Outlook Handbook, also The Worker Traits Data Book. These resources inform the client on professional requirements, intellectual limitation in the profession and/any other needs the clients may need to explore for their given goal. Transferable skills

This self-assessment test was something that narrowed down possible interest and helped the participants open their mind to new careers. In-fact when I finished my test I was able to view the different careers that feel in my interest category. Taking a survey and calculating the different likes each field had accumulated determined my test outcome. After gathering the likes that had accumulated I was able to determine which inventory category was strongest. My top inventory was conventional which states, I am one who likes to follow set rules and procedures, and prefers detail and clear lines of authority (Self-Assessment, n.d.). My second strongest inventory category was Social, which states, I like work activities that promote learning and development (Self-Assessment, n.d.). Not only did I learn what my strongest inventory was I also had the ability to learn which jobs fell under those categories. Out of each category within the level 5-education requirement, I had one job that stood out over the others; category one conventional had Math Professor. This job is something that would be interesting, but I am not sure if I would want this job as a career. The social category had one job that also caught my eye, health educator. After all the research and looking at each one of the categories and the possible job opportunities I have come to the realization that the test are estimates. I personally do not think

With the advancement of technology, the trait-factor approach has been incorporated into several computer-based services, such as the various computer- assisted career guidance (CACG) systems (James & Gilliland, 2003). Through these systems, clients can access tools and assessments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any location to get help with career planning. Further, clients’ interests, abilities, and values, as well as search tools for occupational and educational information, are accessible through CACGs, all of which use the trait-and-factor approach as the premise of their

In recent years, there has been growing pressure for school districts to ensure that students graduate college and career ready. Moreover, educational laws now require schools to offer career guidance to their students. As a result, school leaders are utilizing a series of assessment tools to identify students’ interest and prepare them for a global society. According to Timmons, Podmostko, Bremer, Lavin, and Wills (2004), career interest inventories are designed to assist students in recognizing their predominant interests and preferences. In addition, they allow students to identify areas of strength as well as areas that may need improvement. Hulleman and Harackiewicz (2009) maintain that career assessments help low-performing students achieve

Aptitude tests come in many different shapes and sizes. Tests such as the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) is given often in schools. SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) and ACT (American College Testing) tests are often used to help students get into certain schools, to John Holland’s six personality types theory. Each of these aptitude tests are designed to give the test taker a better view of where their strengths and perhaps weaknesses lye. To help them start on the path of different possible careers or career learning. Currently, Holland’s theory of career choice is being used by the U.S. Department of Labor. This is being billed as “What do you want to do for a living”. Holland’s career choice theory is broken down to

     According to Ratts and Santos (2012), the definition of multiculturalism has been expanded to include sexual orientation, economic status, age, and religion (p. 113). The original definition of the term contained only the social constructs of race and ethnicity.  Traditional methods of career interventions are limited because multicultural issues were not considered in the development of technique and theories (Ratts & Santos, 2012). Before a career counselor can become culturally competent they much first explore their own unconscious biases and be willing to consider how they might negatively and positively affect clients (Teal, Gill, Green, & Crandall, 2012).

Career counselors are going to to have clients who are in different places in the career path. Some may have decided what they would like to do and may simply need support on getting it. There are some who have an idea of what they would like to do, however, they need guidance in figuring out the right choice. As for those who are indecisive, career counselors can guide you while exploring different options. It is best if clients have at least some type of idea mind. this will This will allow more time to be spent on occupational searches that clinets have more potential in joining that spending time looking at the wrong career options

Career Counseling, or Career Services depending on the institution, is frequently offered on a one-on-one basis, but at times this service is provided through group workshops, classes, or computerized guidance systems. Traditionally a standard function of the career services role is to help students develop job search skills however the scope of the