Career Counseling Skills For Guided Discovery and Career Assessment

Counseling Skills for Guided
Discovery and Career Assessment

Video Leader Guide
Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.

Teachers College, Columbia University
Distributed by Microtraining Associates:

www.emicrotraining.com
COUNSELING SKILLS FOR GUIDED DISCOVERY AND CAREER ASSESSMENT
PURPOSE
The purpose of this Leader Guide is to introduce you to a training video entitled Career
Counseling Skills for Guided Discovery and Career Assessment (Warren, 2005) and
suggest strategies for using it as a training tool. The video features Dr. Anika K. Warren
demonstrating career counseling skills culled from career counseling and development
theories and techniques as well as multiple clinical theoretical orientations and
multicultural counseling theories. The primary objective of this video is to facilitate the
learning of graduate students and professionals interested in developing and/or improving
their general, career, and multicultural counseling skills. In this video, Dr. Anika K.
Warren demonstrates discrete skills in each segment by using different strategies and
interventions to help the client make meaning out of her presenting concerns. This video
is designed to be used in conjunction with other training modalities and counseling skills
and is not designed to replicate an actual counseling session. That is, this video is not a
comprehensive demonstrate of career or multicultural counseling techniques and will not
highlight each counseling skill that is important for viewers to become culturally
sensitive career counselors.
VIDEO DEMONSTRATIONS
This training video is based on the integration of multiple theories and models of career
counseling and development. The client in this video is a college-educated
Black/African-American female who has worked full-time for nearly 10 years in the nonprofit sector. She is considering a career change and decided to come to counseling. The
Copyright 2005 Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.
Counseling Skills for Guided Discovery and Career Assessment
Distributed by Microtraining Associates: www.emicrotraining.com
client used in this video is not an actress; it is an actual person who agreed to participate
in this training video by sharing her career concerns on videotape. The video includes
five career counseling skill segments that conclude with discussion questions and
comments aimed at enhancing the training and development of students and
professionals. The career assessment used in the final segment of this video is the SelfDirected Search Form R 4th Edition.
In this video, viewers will observe how combining multiple counseling modalities helps
enhance clients career clarity. Specifically, Dr. Warren provides examples of using
career theories and models in session, facilitating guided discovery career visualization
activities, combining multicultural and career counseling theories,
administering career assessments, and integrating assessment results with clients
background, interests, values, abilities, priorities, and goals. Since the client used in this
video is not an actor and is sharing her actual career concerns, it is expected that viewers
will treat the material discussed in this video with cultural sensitivity and in accordance
with the ethical guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA).

Career Counseling Skill 1: Exploring the clients unique personal and professional
background
Exploring the clients unique personal and professional background is an essential

part of career counseling. Oftentimes clients come to career counseling because they are
interested in completing career assessments that will help them determine the most
appropriate academic and career path to take. To help clients make informed decisions,
Anika must first understand Erikas unique background and the multiple factors that
might facilitate or challenge her academic or career paths of interest.
Content: This segment focuses on understanding what brings Erika to
counseling. In her work with Erika, Anika used her knowledge of career theories and
assessment techniques to inform the questions that she asks Erika. The counselors
questions are aimed at learning more about the clients personal, educational, and
professional experiences. Following is the list of discussion questions, comments and/or
theories that appear on the screen after the Career Counseling Skill 1 dyad.
Discussion Questions:
1. What are some of the career counseling theories and assessments that informed
the counselors questions?
2. What information has the client provided to help you determine future counseling
questions, directions, and interventions?
3. What did you learn about the clients values, interests and abilities?
4. What are some of the counseling skills used in this segment?

Comments:
Leong & Hartungs (1997) have a five stage model for incorporating culture into career
counseling which indicates that the client must first recognize that she or he has
vocational problems. The authors suggest that the counselor must understand how the
clients background (cultural, familial, social, and educational) has influenced the clients
perceptions of their vocational problems, options, and decisions.

Career Counseling Skill 2: Understanding past decision making experiences
Understanding decision making experiences is a critical aspect of career

counseling; it provides the counselor with insight on the client values, priorities,
assumptions, and beliefs and with potential strategies for helping the client make
decisions in the future. Some clients are unaware of their own decision making processes
and may struggle in career counseling without a richer understanding on their decision
making skills and challenges.
Content: Through asking open-ended questions about her educational
experiences and career decisions, the counselor focuses on exploring how Erika has made
decisions in the past. In this segment, Erika discusses how her educational experiences
influenced her career interests and decisions. Following is the list of discussion questions,
comments, and/or theories that appear on the screen after the Career Counseling Skill 2
dyad.
1. What have you learned about the clients decision making experiences?
2. What have you learned about the clients decision making skills?
3. How might understanding the clients past decision making experiences inform
your work as a career counselor?
Comments:
Enhancing decision making skills is an intervention that requires affective and cognitive
exploration by the client with assistance from the counselor.

The counselor should be aware of how the client makes decisions and get stuck making
decisions before facilitating career decision making processes with the client.
Clients may fear the decision making process (zeteophobia).
Clients may need help (a) exploring their interests, values, and abilities, (b) identifying
potential career directions, and/or (c) implementing their career ideas and goals.

Career Counseling Skill 3: Understanding how social roles and life experiences have
influenced the clients career development
This segment focuses on understanding how social roles and life experiences
influence clients career development; doing so is essential as counselors determines the
appropriate treatment plan and counseling strategies to use with clients.
Content: Erika processes her perceptions of socialization messages she received
about women, people of colors, and families. She also talks about her family members
occupational experiences and how she has been influenced by others. In the segment, it
appears that she has not made some of the connections between her personal and
professional roles and experiences. Following is the list of discussion questions,
comments, and/or theories that appear on the screen after the Career Counseling Skill 3
dyad.
1. What career theories and models come to mind as you listen to the counselors
work with the client?
2. What are some potential next directions that a counselor might consider when
working with a client similar to Erika? What is the rational for the directions you
are considering?
3. How have personal, contextual, and cultural factors influenced Erika?

Comments & Questions:

Supers hallmark is that career development is a process of making several decisions,
which culminates in vocational choices that represent an implementation of ones selfconcept.
Considering what you know about the clients life transitions from birth to death, roles,
social determinates, and personal determinates, where would you locate the client on
Supers dimensions of the Life Career Rainbow?
Using Supers lexicon, explore how the following terms related to what the client has
shared thus far?
Life course the meaning sociologists inscribe on career when they define it as a
sequence of occupations in the life of an individual.
Social roles the duties and rewards a culture assigns and ascribes to its members
based on variables such as sex and race.
Life space denotes the collection of social roles enacted by an individual, as well
as the cultural theatres in which these roles are played.
Self-concept a collection of perceptions that are integrated and coherent.

Career Counseling Skill 4: Using career visualization activities

Using career visualization activities to illuminate the clients priorities, values,
interests, and goals is often an awareness building activity for the client and provides
critical insight into the client self-concept. In this extensive segment, the counselor
provided an example of how a counselor might transition from facilitating a guided
discovery or career visualization activity into career counseling work that might help
Erika further clarify her career identity.
Content: This segment includes Dr. Warren introducing Erika to the concept of
participating in a career visualization activity and then facilitating a guided discovery
with Erika. Viewers will also observe the counselor rephrasing themes she heard the
client share, processing the guided discovery content, and linking guided discovery
activities with the clients background information. The counselor also moves into
discussing the clients professional goals as they relates to the guided discovery
experience. Following is the list of discussion questions, comments, and/or theories that
appear on the screen after the Career Counseling Skill 4 dyad.
1. How might the shoulds that the client has internalized relate to her race?
2. How might the shoulds that the client has internalized relate to her gender?
3. After her guided discover experience, the client presents the challenge of trying to
blend work and family. Reflecting on your understanding of career counseling
and development, how might you help the client work through her concerns about
balancing work and family?

Comments:
This segment provides examples of facilitating guided discovery/career visualization
processes and transitioning from the guided discovery process into career counseling
work aimed to help the client further clarify her career goals.
Leong & Hartungs (1997) suggest that the counselor may implement career assessments
and other interventions once the clients career problems and background have been
evaluated. Thus, the final segment of this training video will focus on processing Erikas
Self-Directed Search results.

Career Counseling Skill 5: Processing career assessment results

Processing career assessment results begins with a thorough understanding of the clients
background; personal, professional, and psychological development; counseling goals;
and career needs. Career assessments are an important tool used to help guide the client
through the career exploration process. Thus, the counselor must carefully process the
assessment results with the client.
Content: This segment includes strategies for integrating multicultural and career
counseling theories and assessments in session. Viewers will observe Anika using
information that she gathered in prior sessions with Erika to assist the client in
understanding her SDS results. Following is the list of discussion questions, comments,
and/or theories that appear on the screen after the Career Counseling Skill 5 dyad.
Comments:
The SDS was assigned as an assessment instrument to help stimulate the clients
exploration of potential occupations and environments.
The SDS is useful as clients are struggling to narrow or expand their understanding of
potential careers.
The SDS was determined based on the clients presenting concerns and level of selfawareness and career development (understanding of her interests, values, goals,
priorities, and abilities).
After a client has completed career assessments and has narrowed her or his career
interests, values, abilities, and goals, I often recommend some of the following activities:
(a) Reviewing job descriptions and job postings via the internet, newspaper, and
other forms of media,

(b) Exploring potential jobs in occupational finders,

(c) Shadowing people in professions of interests,
(d) Scheduling and attending information interviews with companies or people in
occupations of interest (researching companies, interviewers, and fields of interest
must occur before the client schedules interviews), and
(e) Discussing occupations of interest with mentors, family members, friends, and
other people significant in the clients life.


Career Counseling Skills For Guided Discovery and Career Assessment

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Career Counseling Skills For Guided Discovery and Career Assessment

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Counseling Skills for Guided

Discovery and Career Assessment

Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.

Distributed by Microtraining Associates:

COUNSELING SKILLS FOR GUIDED DISCOVERY AND CAREER ASSESSMENT

Copyright 2005 Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.

Exploring the clients unique personal and professional background is an essential

Copyright 2005 Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.

Copyright 2005 Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.

Career Counseling Skill 2: Understanding past decision making experiences

Understanding decision making experiences is a critical aspect of career

Copyright 2005 Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.

Copyright 2005 Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.

Copyright 2005 Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.

Comments & Questions:

Copyright 2005 Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.

Career Counseling Skill 4: Using career visualization activities

Copyright 2005 Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.

Copyright 2005 Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.

Career Counseling Skill 5: Processing career assessment results

Copyright 2005 Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.

(b) Exploring potential jobs in occupational finders,

Copyright 2005 Anika K. Warren, Ph.D.

You might also like