Week 10

            When reading chapter 11 I was taken back to the Career Development course.  I find Holland’s theory interesting and relevant.  It seems that for every category I am able to identify someone who strongly fits.  I remember when taking Career Development I gave my husband the Self-Directed Search to complete, predicting ahead of time that his code would be RIA, just from knowing his skills, personality, and interests.  After taking the test, I realized that my hypothesis was correct.  Either the test is extremely valid or I very accurately know my husband, or both!

            I find it good to know that a Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) exists.  I have had a little experience with the O*Net, the online version of the DOT.  It is helpful that it is coded to show how much education and training are needed for each of the 12,000+ occupations. This could be a very helpful tool even now for me with transition planning for my students’ IEPs.  I can see how this will be an imperative tool for high school counselors.  Reading through the section on career assessment, I was surprised to see that nothing was mentioned about the program that my school uses, Career Cruising.  I wonder what the validity and reliability data are on this assessment.

            The work value inventory is something that I have no experience with.  It seems like a great idea, but is there a corresponding list of careers that most closely match a person’s top three or four work values?  And if there is, it seems as though one would need to proceed with caution, as a job in one particular workplace may have very different working conditions than the same job in a different workplace, most notably in the areas of co-workers, income, security, supervision, and workplace.

            I did not realize that there was validity and reliability data for interviews.  I did have a very structured interview once. I remember that there were many questions and some of them seemed rather arbitrary.  For example, I remember them asking me something to the extent of, “What is an idea that you’ve had recently?”  I have heard many times before that interviewers decide whether they like the interviewee early on in the interview, and that nonverbal cues are weighed more heavily than verbal.  In other words, it isn’t always what you say; it’s how you present yourself.  It is slightly troubling that negatives tend to be weighed more heavily than the positives, but I suppose that is how employers need to more efficiently narrow their choices.

            Overall I can see how this chapter will be a valuable resource if I become a secondary counselor or do anything related with career counseling.

Drummond, R. J. & Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for counselors and helping

professionals. (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:Pearson.

week 10

            When it comes to career choice it would seem that people could use as much as help as they can get.  It is one of the primary questions that I have heard from teenagers and young adults over the years.  They often struggle with which path to take for a decision that seems life shaping for many years to come.  The decision can be overwhelming at times, particularly in light of the multitude of options that may be available.   Many teens that I have known have expressed amusement at the career testing that has often been done by their local guidance counselors.  I’m sure the counselors had great intentions and are certainly to be lauded for at least entering into the career discernment process in some way.  And to be fair they are typically limited by time constraints to do much more than a test that can be administered to a large group of people.   Still, the overwhelming feedback from teens I have known is that the career test they received in high school was more of a joke than any help at all.  So how do we assist these young people with a search that they are likely on before we as counselors even begin to assert our presence in the 10^th or 11^th grade year of high school? 

            I can only speak from the anecdotal evidence of my own children’s reports and of the many youth I have worked with over the years.  They have seemed to benefit the most from four things:  a one-on-one interview with a parent or other adult, interactions with those in a particular career, job experiences, and internship opportunities.  It would be wonderful to give parents/youth leaders tools that they can employ one on one with youth and young adults as they discern their interests, abilities, and values.  Although one school counselor could never accomplish this for hundreds of students, perhaps they could encourage and equip others to provide this opportunity.  I have also been very appreciative of the teachers who have brought in employees in a particular field in order to talk to students about what it is like to do the work they do.  My son is in 9^th grade, and his engineering teacher brought in several engineers in several different specialties to talk to the students.  My son’s mind was broadened and intrigued by the various possibilities, and how they meshed with his interests and work style.  Internships are also a wonderful opportunity to try out various job situations.  And students learn as much from the ones they do not enjoy as they do from the ones that are a good fit.  Although some of these things from which students have benefitted may not be “tests” per se, they can be very helpful pieces of career assessment for students as they determine what careers may be a good match for them.  There is one other thing that I have always found to be helpful to remember:  no student should ever feel that choosing a career is a once and done decision.  Particularly today, many people change jobs and careers over their working years.  Hopefully that helps to take off some of the pressure, and helps to reframe career choice as a fun, interesting, and exciting opportunity.

Drummond, R.J. & Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for counselors and helping professionals ( 7^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Blog #10

            Ever since I started the School Counseling program here at Millersville I have taken a genuine interest in all aspects of career counseling.  The more I grow within this program as a counselor, the more I am realizing my true calling may be working in a high school. 

            I think the main reason why I am so interested in the career aspect of school counseling is because of a personal negative experience that impacted me as a teen.  The last month of my junior year of high school I got called to the guidance counselor for the first time in my high school career.  It was literally the first time that I ever met my guidance counselor.  So I sit down with him to talk about my future plans and what they include.  I talk to him about possibly attending college and pretty much told him I have no clue what I would like to do in the future.  So instead of him exploring my interests and possible majors/career paths, he simply looked at my grades, which were horrible, and told me that maybe I shouldn’t focus on attending college.  He said something like, "because of your lack of interest in school and your irresponsible behavior patterns, maybe a trade job would be more appropriate for you."  So he talked about me becoming a construction worker, auto mechanic, etc…

            When I was 16 years old I pretty much had no interest in anything, other than sports and all other unimportant things.  Thinking about my future was simply an after thought.  However, in that moment when I was talking to the guidance counselor, I started to really think about what I was going to do when I left high school.  When I heard what the counselor was telling me throughout the session I started to get scared.  I took what he told me to heart and assumed that I should not attend college because I was not cut out for it.  As a result of the session, I completely put school on the back burner.  I figured this guidance counselor (who knew nothing about me), knew what was best for me.  From my perspective, it sounded like he was telling me school was not important to me because I wasn’t going to continue with it anyway.

            Looking back on the situation, I now realize how much I could have greatly benefitted in taking part in some sort of interest/career assessment.  Yes, my grades were horrible, and yes, I was completely irresponsible at the time, but wasn’t I the type of child that could have used something like that?  At the very least it could have sparked my interest in some way and pointed me in some general direction.  It could have provided me with an idea of what I was interested in, and maybe even made me think about goals I would like to achieve.  All I needed was for someone to give me some tools to push me in the right direction and to get me thinking.  The last thing I needed was for someone to simply give up on me and not even give me a chance.

Drummond, R.J. & Jones, K. (2010). Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals ( 7^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.

Blog 10: Career Assessment

There were many tidbits of information that I found helpful to my current work in this week’s reading from Drummond and Jones (2010).  The first thing that caught my attention was Drummond and Jones’ assertion that some psychological theory holds that “learning cannot take place without a feeling of interest” (p. 220).  I see this taking place every day at work.  My students are not often interested in the subjects that they are studying.  If they do happen to find one subject more interesting than another, it becomes quickly obvious because they exert all of their energies toward the class that interests them the most.  They often surge ahead in that class and fall behind in all the rest.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase, “Miss, when am I ever going to use this?  This is so boring/hard!  I’m not going to do it!”  Of course I tell them things like, “You never know what skills or knowledge you are going to need someday.  We all have subjects that we like less than others and we all have subjects that we have to work harder in than others.  We all have to do things that we don’t like in order to survive and keep a job, so get used to it!  Even if you don’t use this specific information you are learning now, at least you are learning how to learn!”  Unfortunately, my speeches usually seem to fall on deaf ears.  I often wonder what more we can do in order to interest our students in the subjects that the State requires them to learn.  I also wonder if getting students thinking about and interested in a specific career path earlier in their education would help them to stay motivated once they get to high school.

A couple of career assessment tools mentioned by Drummond and Jones (2010) stuck out to me as I considered the population of students that I currently work with.  The first was the Self-Directed Search.  I was familiar with this assessment since taking Career Development last year, however, I was unaware of the fact that the SDS has a special form for use with individuals with limited reading skills as they explore vocational options.  While not all of my students require special assistance with reading, I have noticed that a significant amount of my students struggle with reading and writing.  This can be a severe limitation for them depending on the career path that they decide to follow.  I, for one, would be very interested to see if some of those students would be able to identify a vocational path that both interested them and fit their skills and abilities after using this form or the Career Assessment Inventory – Vocational Version.  As Drummond and Jones (2010) note: “job success is usually correlated more with abilities than interest” (p. 226).  This is something I plan to keep in mind as I help students with career planning both now and in the future.

Reference

Drummond, R.J. & Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for counselors and helping professionals ( 7^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Blog 10: Career

I find career and employment assessments to be vital for all ages.  It aids an individual in the exploration process in finding a career that would match their interest.  Drummond and Jones (2010), state that it is the foundation of career planning.  I believe that when pursuing a job or career it is important to be aware of your interests as well as knowledgeable of what types of careers are out there that may fulfill your calling in life.  Even though the interest assessments are more prominent in high school, they can be given at anytime.  Other situations that these inventories could be useful are when someone is unhappy with their career path or they are going through midlife crisis.

Due to many of us pursuing high school counseling, these inventories educates students  of their options after high school and allows them to discover what their interests are by having them respond to various questions.  It is extensive in the sense that it explores all careers in order to determine the best fit for them.  There was an important component that was mentioned when Drummond and Jones (2010), discussed the Self-directed search online element.  It not only gave the individual a list of possible careers but it included brief descriptions of the career and the education required.  There are various career options that may fit within your interest but a factor that people need to keep in mind is their ability. Career surveys can be an excellent tool; however, some people fail to realize that even though it catches their interest they are not mentally or physically capable of maintaining this job.  The Campbell Interest and Skill Survey caught my eye for this very reason.  This survey not only measures the interest but also self-estimates of skills.  This allows the individual to make smart decisions when pursuing a career.  All jobs require a particular set of skills and abilities.  The skills that an individual acquires can come from educational, word, or personal life experiences. 

Another area of this survey that I liked was the breakdown of the four patterns.  Therefore, if a person takes the assessment the results can be analyzed in order to find the perfect fit.  There are many inventories that are available but all districts use their own.  For example, in the school district of Lancaster they have the strong interest inventory but they tend to use career cruising with the 11^th graders at the high school.  The career cruising allows the students to look at skills, abilities, and their learning styles.  They are also able to research jobs where the tasks, earnings, general information about the workplace, education, training, attributes, and abilities are broken down.  As a school counselor it is important for us to guide students and educate them on careers.  Even though the inventories are geared towards high school students there is many teachable moments throughout elementary and middle school that a counselor could instruct them on careers in general.  In conclusion, I believe that it is never too early to begin informing the youth of today in terms of career. 

Drummond, R. J. and Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for counselors and helping professionals. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Week 10 Blog

Week 10 Blog  Chapter 11

One of my first thoughts when reading Chapter 11 “Career and Employment Assessment” in our Drummond text was amazement about the number and variety of assessment tools out there dealing with this subject area. My second thought was, “Why did I not take more of these tests when I was so desperately trying to figure out what to do career wise??” This was quickly followed up by, “Why did no one help me much in this area??” The last question I think happened because of several factors. I went to a small high school in Ohio where I was an honor student. Because I was a “good kid” I was one of those who didn’t receive much attention from the guidance counselor Mrs. Phillips. My impression of her back then was not that favorable and my opinion hasn’t changed much. I honestly don’t know what she did all day. It was assumed I would go on to college so I guess that was enough for her. The truth was I needed guidance. I had it in my head that since I loved animals and biology I would pursue a career in veterinary science or marine biology. Did I (and everyone else) forget how I struggled through math and chemistry classes? Didn’t I realize that I gravitated towards the humanities? I went to college and my calculus and physics classes were almost the end of me. I was still getting A’s in Biology and loved my laboratory classes so I thought there was still a chance. I was also really enjoying my Art History classes I had taken for fun. Slowly it dawned on me that maybe science wasn’t the path for me. By this time I was a sophomore or junior and a Fine Arts major with an Art History concentration was the way for me to graduate on time. No one counseled me on what I was going to do with this degree. I think I was in denial. Drummond and Jones write, “…teenagers often have to make important educational and career decisions that they are not developmentally ready to make. Many adolescents are unable to integrate their interests, skills, and abilities in focusing on a particular career goal, which is the main objective of career assessment.” (2010) Bingo! Now I had my college degree but still no idea of what I wanted to do career wise. So I moved to Europe for a year. That put off the decision for another 12 months.

After returning from Europe and living with my parents for 10 months, I found myself working for a pittance at a local printing company. I applied to graduate school. I went for a year and then lost interest. I wasn’t passionate about a Master’s of Peace Studies degree. I enjoyed most of my classes but something was missing. When I finally accepted the position of Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries at a large United Methodist Church, I was nervous but excited. I had found my niche for the next 13 years. At one point, near the end of my time there, I went to the University of Delaware’s career center. I had recently taken a School Counseling course there which I had enjoyed. I was feeling like it was time for a change career wise.  I took some career assessment tests on the computer (I don’t recall which ones) and my interests came up in education/humanities. I wasn’t surprised really but it was nice to have confirmation of my interests and skills. Fast forward 12 more years and I find myself in graduate school again studying school counseling. This time I am passionate about my studies and very excited about my future career.

As a future elementary school counselor, many of these assessments will not be applicable to my students. I do look forward to introducing my students to various careers and skills needed for certain jobs. I see myself as “planting the seed” of career awareness and education. I also hope that students in the upper grades will be given the opportunity to take a variety of career assessment tests so they can start to figure out a career path. It is a tough road and I think we need to offer our students all the assistance possible so they can make educated decisions.

 

 

Drummond, R. J. and Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for counselors and helping

            professionals. (7^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Personality Assessments

Reading Chapter 12 this week was a good help into better understanding the assessment that I am going to be presenting on for class.  I chose a personality inventory because I find personalities to be extremely fascinating.  Part of what drew me into psychology and the school counseling field is gaining a better understanding of a person, what drives them to behave certain ways.  Everyone is so unique and your personality can influence everything you do in life and how you react to it.

The testing instrument that I have chosen to present on is the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, Second Edition.  I am really glad I got the opportunity to look into this instrument because I believe that self-concept is a very crucial part to understanding a person and helping them to  better themselves.  The idea of self-concept is a person's perception of who they are, how they function and their abilities.  As a school counselor this can tell us a lot about an individual and how we could better help them.  It will be more difficult to work with someone who has a negative self-concept so that would be an important place to start.  What I really like about tests such as the Piers-Harris 2 is that you can learn so much about yourself by taking it.  Drummond and Jones (2010) pointed out that personality inventories are used to identify structures and features of someone's personality but also bring them greater self-knowledge and self-understanding.

The other part of this chapter that I found to be very interesting was the projective instruments and techniques.  I have always thought that these were powerful and helpful ways to understand someone and their environment.  In particular the projective drawings can provide a great deal of information about a person just by asking them to draw a picture and have them explain it.  Although the interpretation is not consistent it still provides additional information to complete the puzzle.  I look forward to learning more about these assessments in class tonight!

Drummond, R. J. and Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for counselors and helping professionals. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.