Constructivist Approach

The constructivist approach to career counseling employs active listening and puts the counselors in a role to act as a mirror to the client. This particular approach's goal is to help clients in reflecting on their lives, their experiences, and how those things effect their career choices.

One of the basic concepts of the constructivist approach is "meaning-making", which refers to the client's ability to promote self-awareness of the processes underlying meaningful career decisions. This approach helps the client create a narrative for their life, pinpointing important events in their life that helped to shape their current world view, and in turn, their opinions on career choices.

While this approach can often be seen as vague, it is efficient is empowering the client through increased self-awareness, particularly in work life issues.

Linda Gottfredson

Linda Gottfredson (1947-     ) is currently a professor of educational psychology at the University of Delaware and is co-director of the Delaware-Johns Project for the Study of Intelligence and Society.

Gottfredson's career development theory focuses on the concept that we "inherited" our career, using the notions of self-concept, circumscription and compromise. Self-concept consists of how our attitudes, beliefs, skills, and interests are strongly influenced by out shared experiences, while we also remain in control of our own development. Gottfredson names the stages of circumscription as follows:
1) Orientation to size and power (ages 3 to 5)
2) Orientation to sex roles (ages 6-8)
3) Orientation to social valuation (ages 9-11)
4) Orientation to internal, unique self (ages 14+)

Gottfredson suggests that during this time an individual eliminates certain occupations based on gender roles, etc. During compromise, an individual relinquishes their preferred occupations for less compatible or more accessible ones. Gottfredson suggests that an individual:

1) Works with their core traits
2) Sample a broad range of experiences
3) Surround yourself with people, activities, and settings that bring out the best in them
4) Acknowledge that each person and situation is unique
5) Keep an open mind about their options

Schlossberg, Tiedeman, Liptak

Nancy K. Schlossberg is a professor emerita at the University of Maryland, College Park, as well as creator of TransitionWorks, a consulting firm. Schlossberg began developing the Transition Theory in 1981. The main ideas of the theory are as follows:

•  Development of a systematic framework that would facilitate an understanding of adults in transition and direct them to the help they needed to cope with the stress they encounter
• The transition theory describes three different types of transitions- anticipated, unanticipated, and non-anticipated events.
• For an individual undergoing a transition, the impact, or degree to which the transition alters one’s daily life is also important.
• Four major factors, known as the “4 S’s,” that influence the ability of an individual to cope during a transition: situation, self, support, and strategies. 

Anna Miller-Tiedeman developed the Lifecareer Theory in 1988 which describes the inner experienc of decision-making. The main tenets of Tiedeman's theory are: 

•  Career choice is seen as development of the ego-identity over the life-spam. The ego-identity develops through the mechanism of the differentiation and reintegration
• A decision making process can be devised into two phases: anticipation and implementation.
• The anticipation phase consist of 4 steps: exploration, crystallization (awareness is focused on particular and individual patterns of choice), choice and clarification.
• The implementation stage consist of 3 steps: induction (entry into job), reformation (becoming proficient in the job) and reintegration (meaningful methods of experience).

John Liptak is currently working as the associate director of career services at Radford University. His current research focus is emotional intelligence training for students transitioning from college to the workplace, and the quantitative and qualitative assessment of emotional intelligence. Liptak has written numerous publications on emotional intelligence.

Anne Roe

Anne Roe (1904-1991) developed the theory of personality development and career choice, which was her most significant scientific contribution. Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Roe graduated from the University of Denver before attending Columbia University where she graduated with her Ph.D. in experimental psychology. Roe's theory can be divided into two main categories: theoretical aspects of personality and classification of occupations. In her conceptualization of personality, Roe drew inspiration from Maslow's hierarchy of needs by incorporating the psychological needs that develop out of parent-child relationships.

Roe believed that those parent-child relationships would influence what career choice would be made based on biological, sociological and psychological differences in individuals. Her eight career classifications are as follows: 1) service, 2) business, 3) organization, 4) technology, 5) outdoor, 6) science, 7) general culture, and 8) arts & entertainment. Six levels were assigned to each classification, with the higher level being occupations with the most responsibility and ability.

Roe's theory portrayed three different parental attitudes: concentration on the child, avoidance of the child, and acceptance of the child. Concentration on the child offers two types, both overprotective and over-demanding. Avoidance of the child includes rejection or neglect. Of course, acceptance of the child involves a nurturing of independence instead of dependence and creating a relatively tension-free environment. Roe then made predictions on what occupations would be chosen relating to the type of parent attitude an individual experienced.

Lent, Brown, & Hackett

Robert W. Lent, Steven D. Brown, and Gail Hackett created the Social Cognitive Career Theory in 1994 that emphasized the three building blocks of career development as being self efficacy, outcome expectations, and personal goals. Lent, Brown, and Hackett believed that individuals could eliminate possible occupations by not having developed self efficacy beliefs or outcome expectations and that the more difficult it might be to break into a particular career, the less likely individuals are to pursue that field.

The key constructs found in the Social Cognitive Career Theory are as follows:

Interest Development Model: individuals are drawn to activities that they feel they are good at or competent in.
Attitudes and Values: tied to feelings of self efficacy
Gender, Race, & Ethnicity: these things shape our environment and our worldviews,which can in turn influence self-efficacy and outcome expectations
Choice Model: establish a goal, take action towards that goal, attain a level of performance that dictates future career behavior
Performance Model: concerned with quality and the persistence of future career behavior

The counseling strategies used in conjunction with this theory are to identify foreclosed occupational options, analyze barrier perceptions, and to modify self efficacy beliefs.

John D. Krumboltz

John D. Krumboltz (1928- ) is an establish career theorist whose theories on planned happenstance and the importance of indecision have made him an integral addition to the career counseling field. After receiving his bachelors from Coe College, his masters from Columbia University and his PhD. from the University of Minnesota, Dr. Krumboltz began working as a professor at Stanford Univeristy in 1961 where he continued his research.

Krumboltz's original theory was known as the Social Learning Theory of Career Decision Making (SLTCDM) but was then developed into the Learning Theory of Career Counselling (LTCC) in 1990. Krumboltz emphasizes the importance of indecision and how it can be used interchangeably with openmindedness. Krumboltz believes in teaching clients decision-making skills as well as building confidence and assertiveness to deal with the many changes that can come from their career path. The planned happenstance theory specifically works to help individuals turn chance encounters or occurrences into career opportunities; almost in a form of "making one's own destiny".

Dr. Krumboltz still teaches at Stanford University, spreading his ideas in career counseling to thousands of promising students each year.

John L. Holland

John L. Holland was born October 21, 1919, in Omaha, Nebraska, and was one of four children. He is best known for the career development model, Holland Occupational Themes. Holland is also the creator of the vocational tool the Self-Directed Search, which allows individuals to rate their skills, abilities and interests in order to receive a Holland code that can guide them to careers they would be interested in and excel at.

 Holland's theory boasts that individuals more than likely will fit into one of six main personality types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, conventional. Those with realistic personality types enjoy working outdoors or with their hands, assembling machines or tools. Investigative personality types enjoy discovery and research and often take pleasure in problem-solving. Artistic personality types are drawn to designs and patterns and enjoy expressing themselves through various art forms. Social personality types enjoy working with people, teaching or counseling others. Enterprising personality types also enjoy people, but are more drawn to leading or encouraging others and often times have a business sense. Conventional personality types like working indoors with organizational tasks, dealing with numbers or other data.

Holland honed his career development theories during his career, working at Western Reserve University, the Veteran's Administration Psychiatric Hospital, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, the American College Testing Program and John Hopkins University. He passed away on November 27, 2008, in Baltimore, Maryland, at 89 years old. His Self-Directed Search and other career development theories are still used today by career counselors and those in related fields.

Donald Super

Donald E. Super (1910-1994) was a leader in career development, focusing on the constantly changing self-concept and its relation to one's personal career development. Super developed his theory over many years, beginning in the early 1930s and spanning nearly to his death. According to Super's theory, self-concept is something that changes and grows over time and his approach to career development mirrors that.

Super's life and career development stages are as follows: Growth (birth-14), Exploration (15-24), Establishment, (25-44), Maintenance (45-64) and Decline (65+). Super argued that developmental tasks would vary depending on the stage you were in, but that the main theme would be that one's self-concept would be ever-evolving. He claimed that one would choose their vocational path based on their self-concept and how their beliefs, goals, etc. fit into that particular field.

Super developed the Life Rainbow in which he placed his five development stages on an arc and asked people to color each life role (parent, worker, citizen, leisurite, student, child) as they saw appropriate in each of those stages. This provides a visual representation of self-concept, allowing us to actually see the span in which we take on certain roles and their importance during difference stages of our development.

Super's work has greatly impacted the world of career development and has contributed helpful tools, such as the Life Rainbow, to the career counseling profession. For more information about Super, his work and his theory you can visit:

http://evolutioncounseling.com/donald-super-career-counseling-theory/

For an easy-to-read pdf of Super's Life Rainbow and deeper explanation of his developmental stages, you can visit:

http://www.careers.govt.nz/fileadmin/docs/career_theory_model_super.pdf



- A. Murray