Career

Webmaster Career

Webmasters design, implement, and maintain Internet Web sites for corporations, educational institutions, not-for-profit organizations, government agencies, or other institutions. Webmasters should have working knowledge of network configurations, interface, graphic design, software development, business, writing, marketing, and project management. Because the function of a webmaster encompasses so many different responsibilities, the position is often held by

Zoologist Career

Zoologists are biologists who study animals. They often select a particular type of animal to study, and they may study an entire animal, one part or aspect of an animal, or a whole animal society or ecosystem. There are many areas of specialization from which a zoologist can choose, such as origins, genetics, characteristics, classifications

Finance Career Cluster

Finance Career Cluster Overview Finance professionals such as bank employees, commodities brokers, and insurance claims representatives have very different day-to-day job responsibilities, but they all deal with the management and movement of money in one form or another. Although people still use banks primarily as places to safely keep and manage their money, today most automobiles, home

Toll Collector Career

History of Toll Collector Career Toll collectors receive payments from private motorists and commercial drivers for the use of highways, tunnels, bridges, or ferries. Throughout history, the upkeep and maintenance of roads around the world usually fell to the reigning powers. However, in 1663, three counties in England obtained authority to levy tolls on users

Zookeeper Career

Zookeepers provide the day-to-day care for animals in zoological parks. They prepare the diets, clean and maintain the exhibits and holding areas, and monitor the behavior of animals that range from the exotic and endangered to the more common and domesticated. Zookeepers interact with visitors and conduct formal and informal educational presentations, they sometimes assist

Writer Career

Writers express, edit, promote, and interpret ideas and facts in written form for books, magazines, trade journals, newspapers, technical studies and reports, company newsletters, radio and television broadcasts, and advertisements. Writers develop fiction and nonfiction ideas for plays, novels, poems, and other related works; report, analyze, and interpret facts, events, and personalities; review art, music, film

Narrative Career Counseling

Narrative career counseling represents a shift from the 20th-century focus on objective interventions for career decision making toward a 21st-century concern for interpretive approaches. It is sited in postmodern developments where previous grand theories overemphasize either social structures (e.g., Marxism) or individual psychology (e.g., psychoanalysis). Narrative career counseling moves away from a scientific approach that

Journal of Career Assessment

The concept for the Journal of Career Assessment (JCA) was developed in 1989 by W. Bruce Walsh of Ohio State University. On June 7, 1991, Robert Smith of Psychological Assessment Resources accepted the proposal to become the publisher of JCA. In January 1993, the first issue was published. Walsh was the first editor of the

Journal of Career Development

The first issue of the Journal of Career Development (vol. 1, no. 1) was published in the fall of 1972 under the title Journal of Career Education. The following statement of purpose appeared in the first issue: This publication will endeavor to support and summarize the thrust of current trends in career education, with a

Computer-Assisted Career Counseling

Computer-assisted career counseling is the use of computers in educational and career guidance. When faced with the prospect of having to make an important educational or career decision, many individuals look for career or educational information and professional guidance. Individuals making educational decisions might access college brochures and catalogs or might request application and financial

Constructivist Career Counseling

The theory of constructivism has roots in philosophy, science, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. The core of the theory involves the idea that reality is relative rather than absolute and that people actively create reality by the way in which they experience and interpret events. As an example, take the idea of stealing another person’s money.

Career Decision-Making Styles

Career decision making is generally regarded as a process that entails identifying alternatives, gathering information, weighing the options, selecting one choice, and implementing the chosen alternative. While this basic process seems fairly straightforward, it has been noted that individuals differ considerably in how they negotiate the decisional process. Career decision-making styles thus have been advanced

Super’s Career Development Theory

Donald E. Super’s career development theory is perhaps the most widely known life-span view of career development. Developmental theories recognize the changes that people go through as they mature, and they emphasize a life-span approach to career choice and adaptation. These theories usually partition working life into stages, and they try to specify the typical

Career Counseling in Colleges and Universities

The process of acquiring knowledge is the essence of higher education. Career decision making is a tangible expression of this process, and since almost half of all college students change majors and even more change career goals while in college, career services for higher education students are crucial to the mission of the institution. Characteristics

Career Counseling in Organizations

Career counseling in today’s work organizations reflects career development’s dynamic history in North American business and industry during the 20th century. A 21st-century prospective on this counseling specialty encompasses the practitioners, the places, and the procedures of career counseling in organizations. 20th-century Foundation Industrial Era The dawn of 20th-century North America witnessed a continued decline

Career Counseling in Schools

Career counseling in schools exists at the intersection of the career education program and the provision of personal counseling. It potentially draws from and contributes to both individual pupils’ career development and individual counseling. Career counseling has been a core activity of the school counseling movement from the time of Frank Parsons, and although its

Career Counseling Process

Career counseling process has been defined as an ongoing, face-to-face interaction between counselor and client with career- or work-related issues as the primary focus. The goal of career counseling is typically to assist individuals in developing self-understanding, articulating direction in their careers, and achieving their potential and discovering their purpose in daily activities. There are

Career Intervention Outcomes

This article provides a brief overview of the research related to career intervention outcomes or effectiveness. Traditionally, career interventions have been defined as any treatment or effort intended to enhance an individual’s career development or to enable the person to make better career-related decisions. This is a broad definition that encompasses a wide range of interventions

Career Development Quarterly

Career Development Quarterly (CDQ) is the premier English-language journal in career counseling and development and is the official journal of the National Career Development Association (NCDA). It was first published in 1911. CDQ publishes articles on career counseling, individual and organizational career development, work and leisure, career education, career coaching, and career management. Each article

Career Interventions

Career interventions are activities designed to explore and enhance a person’s career development by helping the person make, implement, and benefit from a variety of career decisions. As such, career interventions take several forms. The most common include career counseling, assessment interpretation, group counseling, group assessment interpretation, career workshops, career classes, computer-assisted career guidance systems

Life/Career Paradigm

The traditional view of career, what one does on the job at work and the sequence of work-related positions throughout a person’s work history, has given rise to a holistic paradigm called career/life that includes the time and energy put into multiple roles simultaneously played throughout one’s life. Each role has the potential of positive

Career Planning

Career planning refers to the process of making educational and career choices based on knowledge of self and of the environment. The purpose of career planning is to encourage individuals to explore and gather information about various educational and career opportunities thus enabling them to develop realistic career goals. Career planning is an ongoing activity

Career Resource Centers

A career resource center (CRC) refers to a physical facility and to the location of materials, resources, and personnel delivering career services to individuals and groups. A CRC is typically located in the career center, counseling center, human resources office, library, or training and development unit of an organization. In contrast, a career center is

Career Advancement

Career advancement has been for decades a topic of many books found in the self-help, career, and especially the business sections of bookstores. It is not a topic commonly found in career counseling or vocational psychology textbooks or journal articles. There are several assumptions and key concepts and characteristics commonly found in books about career

Career Counseling for African Americans

Early in the 21st century there continues to be economic disparities between racial ethnic groups. The latest census indicated that Asian American couples had the highest average annual earnings at about $57,500 per year, followed by Caucasian Americans at roughly $49,000, then Hispanics with $39,241, and finally African Americans at about $30,000 per year. There

Career Counseling for Asian Americans

It has been repeatedly observed that the current literature has limited information on the development and career behaviors of Asian Americans. For example, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are more likely to request information about career issues and are also more likely than other ethnic groups to use college career information centers. Since Asian Americans

Career Counseling for Gay and Lesbian

Gay and lesbian persons refers to men and women, respectively, whose primary sexual attraction is toward people of the same sex. Nonetheless, the word gay is sometimes used as a collective term to include both gay men and lesbian women. Due to negative stereotypes, societal stigma, oppression, and discrimination related to homosexuality and nonconformity to

History of Career Counseling

Career counseling, or vocational guidance as it was originally known, has a long history within the counseling professions. Career counseling was born in the United States in the latter 19th century out of societal upheaval, transition, and change. This new profession was described by historians as a progressive social reform movement aimed at eradicating poverty

Career Counseling for Immigrants

For counselors working with immigrants, it is essential to first understand how and why people immigrate to the United States, and what challenges they face once they are here. The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that as of March 2005 there were 32.5 million immigrants in the United States, accounting for about 12% of the

Career Counseling for Latinos

Latinos are a diverse group of individuals with ancestry in Spanish-speaking countries in Central and South America as well in the Caribbean. Currently Latinos are the largest ethnic minority group in the United States; government projections estimate that in 2050 almost 25% of the total U.S. population will be Latinos. Career counseling with Latinos requires

Career Counseling for Native Americans

The need for effective career counseling and related research among Native Americans is striking. Census data show that Native Americans have the highest unemployment rates of any minority group with the exception of African American males. Unemployment approaches 50%, and the number of children living below the poverty level exceeds 50% on many reservations. Likewise

Career Occupational Preference System

The Career Occupational Preference System (COPSystem) is a coordinated career guidance program consisting of three assessment instruments all keyed to eight major career clusters. The three assessment components are the COPSystem Interest Inventory (COPS), the Career Ability Placement Survey (CAPS), and the Career Orientation Placement and Evaluation Survey (COPES) and their accompanying interpretive materials. Interpretation

Multicultural Career Assessment Models

Career assessment involves an ongoing process of gathering information to assist clients to make career-related decisions. Useful information to gather in career assessment includes but is not limited to understanding a person’s personality, values, skills, interests, life roles, and career history. Assessment information is typically gathered via intake interviews, standardized tests and inventories, and non-standardized

Multicultural Career Counseling Checklist

Multicultural Career Counseling Checklist As societies, especially in the United States, have become more diverse, counselors are expected to be able to deliver competent services to a wide variety of clients. Such competency concerns call for measures that facilitate professionals collecting and managing the data needed for meaningful and successful interventions in cross-cultural career counseling.

Career Services Model

A difficult task facing career counselors concerns applying abstract career theories to concrete problems presented by clients. Over the years, counselor educators have voiced concern about their trainees’ ability to accurately assess client problems and make sound clinical decisions. In practice, novice career counselors also become perplexed by the multitude of career methods and materials

Kuder Career Assessments

Frederic Kuder published his first career interest assessment in 1939. The Kuder Preference Record was different from the other vocational assessments of the day in that it asked respondents to indicate their preferences for everyday activities rather than their occupational preferences. The 1943 version became the standard career assessment used to assist World War II

Internet Career Assessment

Internet career assessment is an emerging though complex endeavor based on multiple methods; it is under continuous development. This relatively new approach, which has emerged along with the rise of the Internet as an alternative communication tool, is still characterized by limited investigations. Thus, its use, though becoming gradually pervasive, is generally based on users’

Lockstep Career Progression

Karl Ulrich Mayer describes institutional careers as the orderly flow of persons through segmented institutions. A number of scholars have pointed to occupational careers as providing the organizational blueprint for the adult life course, which begins with a period of education, followed by years of productive work (often in a series of related jobs) and

Middle Career Stage

Early career theorists studied careers as a linear progression that generally corresponds to a person’s life span. They focused primarily on men who worked for one or two organizations, with a ladder of opportunities for promotion. In a typical career, the middle career stage is the point at which an individual attains a level of

Fast-Track Career

A fast-track career offers advancement opportunities to top-level positions based on a series of developmental experiences provided by the organization. Stated differently, high-potential individuals are given accelerated development opportunities, with the idea of their reaching senior-management levels more quickly than those who are not on such a track. There are individual (e.g., needs, personality, education)

Individual Career Management

Individual career management is the process by which a person can make reasoned, appropriate decisions about his or her work life as well as the relationship between the work and nonwork domains. This process of career management takes place over the course of a person’s lifetime and is based on the idea that individuals constantly

Early Career Stage

One of the most important milestones in an individual’s life and career is the transition from school to work. Much research has examined how individuals come to understand who they are by the work they perform and the occupations they choose. Early psychological theories examined the importance of work, especially as measured by hierarchical rank

Career Salience

The word salience comes from the Latin word salire, “to go out,” as out of a door or gate. Salient may also mean “standing out from the rest” or “prominent.” Donald Super linked the idea of salience, meaning prominent or standing out from the rest, to career development theory in the 1970s. During the next

Career Satisfaction

Career satisfaction is an important variable in research on career development and other areas of inquiry dealing with occupations, work dynamics, and individual adjustment. Although career satisfaction is seldom the primary topic of research investigations, it is often studied as an important criterion variable in relation to many different personal and organizational factors. It should

Career Strategy

A career strategy is any behavior, activity, or experience designed to help a person meet career goals. A career strategy represents a conscious choice by an individual as to the type of investment he or she is willing to make in attempting to reach career objectives. Ideally, people pursue a particular career strategy based on

Career Success

Career success can be defined as the positive material and psychological outcomes resulting from one’s work-related activities and experiences. This definition reflects both objective and subjective aspects of career success. Career success is important because it reflects an overall evaluation of the individual’s career: the ultimate outcome of career development. Theoretical explanations of career success

Career Transition

The term career transition has developed out of years of important and groundbreaking research and theoretical work on the process of vocational development. Beginning in the 1950s, Donald Super wrote extensively on the stages of vocational development, with each stage marking a specific “transition” in an individual’s career path. These stages span an entire life

Computer-Based Career Support Systems

Computer-based career support (CBCS) systems are information and communication technology (ICT) applications aimed at assisting individuals in their careers through the provision of online career support services. CBCS systems include a mix of career support services that correspond to four general functions of “social support”: informational, appraisal, instrumental, and emotional support. Informational CBCS is provided

Career Change

Career change has been alternatively defined as any major change in work role requirements or work context or as a process that may result in a change of job, profession, or one’s orientation to work while continuing in the same job. Here, career change refers to a subset of work role transitions that include a

Career Education

Career education refers to both a historical education reform movement and an evolving concept that reflects a process of bringing occupational relevance to academic curriculum and informing adolescents about themselves and the world of work. As a reform movement in the 1970s, U.S. Commissioner of Education, Sidney P. Marland Jr., initiated and sustained an effort

Career Goal

Goal setting is often a significant component of performance improvement programs in the corporate world, because employees who are committed to specific, challenging goals perform more effectively on the job. Researchers have identified a number of factors that explain why goal setting can improve job performance. Working toward a specific, challenging goal motivates an individual

Career Indecision

Career indecision, the state of being undecided regarding occupational interest or career path, has been defined in a variety of ways, making it somewhat difficult for investigators in this area to reach consensus on its nature and causes. Researchers have described individuals as undecided if they have not chosen or declared a college major, if

Career Interruptions

Career interruptions are breaks, pauses, or disruptions in one’s current career. A career interruption occurs when an individual’s typical and usual work is interrupted or changed by some internal (e.g., change in one’s desired career path or life’s goals) or external (e.g., job loss or disability) event. Alterations or changes in a person’s career activities

Career Investments

Career progress of various groups is one of the central concerns in organizations, occupations, and work. People choose careers for different reasons. Chief among them are occupational prestige, rewards, and prospects for advancement. People are constantly making conscious decisions on career progress in light of their own interests and circumstances. At the same time, multiple

Career Maturity

Initially called “vocational maturity,” the construct now known as career maturity (CM) was proposed by Donald Super more than 50 years ago. In the context of developmental theories current at the time, Super saw careers as unfolding in a series of developmental stages, with each stage characterized by certain tasks. The developmental task of relating

Career Mobility

Career mobility represents individuals’ patterns of transitions between organizations and within organizations in the course of their work lives. It is a very broad term that essentially incorporates all possible movements in one’s career. As organizational layoffs and restructuring are becoming common, it is not surprising that employees, who realize that lifelong job security may

Career Plateau

Since Thomas Ference, James Stoner, and Kirby Warren’s seminal work first defined the career plateau, researchers have continued to investigate this antithetical phenomenon. This is due to the fact that many employees consider promotions and upward hierarchical movement as synonymous indicators of success at work. The career plateau phenomenon involves situations within which an employee

Career as a Calling

The new era of organizational life has ushered in critical changes in how people conceive of their careers and how organizations think about the work trajectories of their employees. Trends toward shorter rela­tionships between individuals and the organizations in which they work have forced revised ways of thinking about the structure of careers. While the

Career Decision Scale (CDS)

Samuel H. Osipow, with a colleague and several graduate students, developed the Career Decision Scale (CDS) at The Ohio State University (OSU) in the mid-1970s. First published by Marathon Press of Columbus, Ohio, the scale and its manual have been available from Psychological Assessment Resources of Odessa, Florida, since 1986. Although the instrument derives from

Career Development Inventory (CDI)

Interest inventories are commonly used to assist high school and college students with vocational choices. However, the results of such instruments offer little value if the individual lacks the requisite attitudes and competencies required to make sound vocational decisions. The Career Development Inventory (CDI), created by Albert Thompson, Richard Lindeman, Donald Super, Jean Pierre Jordaan

Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI)

The Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) is a theory-based assessment and intervention resource intended to improve thinking in career problem solving and decision making. The CTI measures dysfunctional career thoughts that may inhibit the ability to effectively engage in the career decision-making process. The 48-item inventory is a self-administered and objectively scored measure that can be

Kuder Career Search

Kuder Career Search (KCS) represents the third generation of interest inventories known as the Kuder Preference Records. First was the Kuder Preference Record—Vocational, which gave scores on 10 vocational interest scales. Next was the Occupational, which reported occupations that were similar to the inventory takers’ interests. The KCS consists of two kinds of scales. One

Career Transitions Inventory

The Career Transitions Inventory (CTI) is a 40-item Likert format measure designed to assess an individual’s internal process variables that may serve as strengths or barriers when making a career transition. For purposes of this instrument, the term career transition was defined as a situation in which any of the following kinds of career changes

Career Maturity Inventory

The Career Maturity Inventory (CMI) is a 50-item standardized measure designed to assess the process of how adolescents and adults approach career development tasks. John Crites developed this measure in the 1960s as the Vocational Development Inventory to assess the readiness attitudes of students in making appropriate vocational plans. It became the CMI in 1973

Career Mastery Inventory

The Career Mastery Inventory (CMAS) evolved from the Career Adjustment and Development Inventory (CADI), a measure that was developed by John Crites as a means of assessing important facets related to career adjustment and development in early adulthood. Accordingly, six developmental tasks associated with the establishment stage of career development were identified. The establishment stage

Career Factors Inventory

Career indecision has been an important area of concern in vocational psychology for the last 50 years. An extensive body of research has examined the nature of career indecision, the factors (sometimes labeled barriers) that contribute to career indecision, the consequences of career indecision, and the effectiveness of interventions for career indecision. Most of this

Career Beliefs Inventory

The Career Beliefs Inventory (CBI) is a tool designed to help people identify career beliefs that may be preventing them from taking action to achieve their career goals. Many people hold beliefs that block their career progress. Maybe they believe that there is only one path to a successful career and that they have already

Career Barriers Inventory

Career barriers have been hypothesized to affect the career development process by inhibiting career aspirations and restricting the range of perceived career opportunities. The Career Barriers Inventory (CBI) is a psychometrically sound, multidimensional, self-report instrument that was developed to assess for career-related barriers. The CBI assesses for a broad array of barriers that college students

Adult Career Concerns Inventory

The career concerns presented to counselors by adults vary widely. Some clients are making new career choices, others are coping with adjustment problems, and still others are planning retirement. To identify the career issues that most concern an individual, Donald Super, Albert Thompson, and Richard Lindeman constructed the Adult Career Concerns inventory (ACCI). The ACCI

Career Style Interview

The career style interview (CSI) consists of six questions and is the primary means of assessment for those interested in applying the theory of career construction as developed by Mark L. Savickas. This theory helps individuals to find meaning in the nonlinear careers of today and is an expansion and clarification of Donald Super’s life-span

Career Planning Survey

The Career Planning Survey is a paper-based career assessment system designed to help students in Grades 8 through 10 identify and explore personally relevant occupations and high school courses. The assessment elements consist of an interest inventory, an inventory of ability self-estimates, and two optional academic ability tests. In addition, students can complete checklists assessing

Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire

Dealing with career indecision has long been a focus of theory and research, and helping clients to overcome their difficulties in making decisions is among the core roles of career counseling. The Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ) is based on the taxonomy of career decision-making difficulties proposed by Gati, Krausz, and Osipow and was developed

Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale

The Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale (CDSE) was developed by Karen Taylor and Nancy Betz in order to apply Albert Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy expectations to the domain of career decision making. Career decision self-efficacy was originally defined by Taylor and Betz as the individual’s belief that he or she can successfully complete tasks necessary in

Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory

The Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory (CASI) is a 130-item, paper and pencil, self-report assessment by John L. Holland and Gary D. Gottfredson. The CASI is intended to give the employed or unemployed adult client and career counselor information regarding the client’s likelihood of job stability or change, potential career obstacles, or areas for further

Protean Career

The protean career is a name given to describe a career that is driven by the individual and not by the organization. The concept of the protean career dates to 1976, when in the book Careers in Organizations, Douglas T. Hall noted an emerging type of career form that was less dependent upon the organization

Organizational Career Management

This comprehensive view of organizational career management systems discusses the portfolio of career planning and management practices available to organizations and explores ways by which organizations can use career systems to meet their needs. It focuses on organizational career management: what it is, why it is needed, and what it does. Special attention is given

Career Motivation

Career motivation is the desire to exert effort to enhance career goals. It is a multidimensional construct that combines elements of needs, interests, and personality characteristics that reflect the stimulus, direction, and persistence of career-related behaviors. Career motivation is organized into three domains. Career insight is the stimulus or energizing component. This is people’s ability

Motivation and Career Development

This article considers the relationship between the internal motivation of people and their career development. The discussion centers on what has been theorized and researched connecting the internal drivers of behavior and decision making to career outcomes and career satisfaction. Generally, motivation can be defined as a force or energy that exists within a person and

National Career Development Association (NCDA)

The National Career Development Association (NCDA) is the home for approximately 3,800 practitioners, scholars, and students devoted to promoting the career development of all people over the life span. As the third largest division of the American Counseling Association, NCDA provides service to the public and professionals involved with or interested in career development. NCDA

Late Career Stage

As individuals age, the possibilities for age and career stage to be asynchronous are numerous. Many workers over age 50 are about to graduate from school to start new careers, and many individuals in their late 40s are retiring after 30 years of service. Following common usage in the area, the general boundaries of this

History of Career Theory

This article outlines the main schools within the broad area of career theory, which here have been defined as (a) a sociological perspective focusing on the structural influences over one’s working life and the interplay between individuals and institutions, (b) an “individual differences” or vocational perspective concentrating on fitting round pegs into round career holes

Aspirations in Career Decisions

The American Heritage Dictionary defines aspiration as a strong desire for high achievement, or an object of this desire. According to this definition, an aspiration is either the desire to achieve an end state or the end state itself (goal). Theoretical interpretations of aspirations encompass both elements of the above definition. Researchers have defined the

Career Counseling Competencies

Career counseling competencies consist of the knowledge, skills, and personal attributes that career counselors need to deliver quality services to clients. Even in so-called developed countries, large portions of the population are not well served by existing approaches to delivering career development services. Articulating career development competencies that are cross-indexed to client services is a

Career Exploration

An individual engages in career exploration as a way of gathering information about self and the environment, with a goal of fostering progress and career development. Although proactive career exploration is common when individuals undergo a career transition and when they are faced with the need to make an imminent career decision, exploration may also

Boundaryless Career

The boundaryless career concept widens our perspective toward a range of possible career forms both within and across organizations, but it is not primarily determined and driven by the career system of a single organization. The formulation of the boundaryless-career concept responds to the observation that stable employment and careers within organizations account for the

Career Anchors

The concept of career anchors evolved from research on adult development. Most of career theory focuses on selection of an occupation or on a classification of types of careers embedded in the occupational structure. Career anchor theory deals with the choices adults make when they are well into their careers and classifies adult careers in

Career Appraisal

The increasing specialization of today’s more diverse and technologically advanced labor market challenges employees and job seekers alike to continually evaluate their career choices and engage in career appraisal. The development of a comprehensive career plan is essential in understanding one’s interests, attributes, abilities, and values necessary to fit into this ever-changing vocational environment. Moreover

Career Centers

The comprehensive college and university career center is a uniquely American phenomenon that has evolved over the past 100 or more years in response to changing educational, economic, political, and social conditions. This entry identifies several historic events in the evolution of the career center, outlines the core functional elements, enumerates the behavioral objectives, and

Career Coaching

Career coaching has become a popular form of career development services since the mid-1980s. The International Coach Federation has estimated that there are currently more than 10,000 career coaches in the United States. The general goal of career coaching is to assist clients’ personal and professional development so that they can (a) better identify or

Career Construction Theory

Career construction theory provides a way of thinking about how individuals choose and use work. The theory presents a model for comprehending vocational behavior across the life cycle as well as methods and materials that career counselors use to help clients make vocational choices and maintain successful and satisfying work lives. It seeks to be

Internet Career Field

Internet Careers Background Perhaps you’re a casual user of the Internet, occasionally surfing the Web and exchanging email. Perhaps you’ve published your own Web page and spend several hours a day online reading the latest news, checking stock quotes, buying groceries, doing research for a paper, or playing computer games. Regardless of your experience with

Publishing Career Field

Publishing Careers Background The origins of publishing remain unknown. Historians have proposed various theories on the subject, but the best guess is that publishing came into existence when people developed written language, perhaps in Sumer in approximately 4000 BC. After it became possible to record information in writing, somebody had to decide which information was

Wood Career Field

Wood Careers Background You can’t get away from it. It’s in your home. It’s in your school. It’s in your books and your paper and even your cereal boxes. Because wood is used for so many different purposes, you probably come in contact with it, in one form or another, several times every day. Wood

Accounting Career Field

Accounting Career Background Even before the introduction of the first coins in about 600 BC, farmers kept track of their livestock and other valuable possessions in order to have an accurate financial record. Having 16 sheep, for example, meant the ability to trade up to 16 sheep for something else of equal value. The farmer

Sales Career Field

Sales Careers Background Sales is a complex and diverse field. It involves the selling of all types of physical goods, such as automobile parts, pharmaceuticals, clothing, health care products, books, and food, as well as services, such as automobile repair or rug cleaning. The selling of physical goods usually requires both a wholesaler and a

Business Career Field

Business Careers Background The practice of conducting business is as old as civilization itself. As long as people have been exchanging goods and services for payment of some sort, business transactions have been a part of life. Business was, in fact, one of the factors that led to America’s independence, when the early settlers, who

Telecommunications Career Field

Telecommunications Careers Background The telecommunications industry, which consists of the telephone, computer, and cable TV industries, has its roots in the telephone industry. The telephone industry is the nerve system of the United States, consisting of millions of telephones and a vast network of switching and transmission systems. To provide the kind of service required

Television Career Field

Television Careers Background Modern television developed from experiments with electricity and vacuum tubes in the mid-1800s, but it was not until 1939, when President Franklin Roosevelt used television to open the New York World’s Fair, that the public realized the power of television as a means of communication. Several television stations went on the air

Textiles Career Field

Textiles Careers Background The word textile originally referred only to fabrics made by weaving yarn on a loom. Today, the textile industry includes knitted goods, braids, and other fabrics that are made from fibers, yarns, and other materials. Textiles may be made from natural products, such as cotton, linen, wool, and mohair, or from synthetic

Theater Career Field

Theater Careers Background Theatrical performance is among the oldest of human art forms. It probably began with storytelling to recount recent and historical events in small communities. Ancient peoples often performed elaborate rituals to ask spirits or gods for success in hunting or in battle. Sometimes community leaders or religious officials wore masks and colorful

Toys and Games Career Field

Toys and Games Careers Background Toys and games have been around for centuries. In 1600 BC, children used swings on the island of Crete. Dice have been found in 2,000-year-old Egyptian tombs. American Indian, Chinese, and African dice and other playing pieces have also been found in archaeological digs. Dice are the oldest known game

Transportation Career Field

The transportation industry includes air, rail, road, and water travel, and its core business is transporting passengers and moving freight. Each branch of the transportation industry employs workers in a variety of positions, from managers who coordinate shipping schedules to freight handlers to customer service representatives to conductors and even safety inspectors. Many workers are

Trucking Career Field

Trucking Careers Background The trucking industry is an integral part of the nation’s economy. Along with ships, airplanes, and railroads, trucks move freight quickly and efficiently, from city to city. Almost everything Americans eat, wear, or use at home or in business has completed some part of its journey from the manufacturer to the merchant

Visual Arts Career Field

Visual Arts Careers Background Black Iris Georgia O’Keefe’s painting Black Iris, Michelangelo’s sculpture David, and Robert Mapplethorpe’s photograph Fish, all express the diversity of the visual arts. Today, visual arts include not only the traditional fields of painting, drawing, and sculpture but also illustration, photography, filmmaking, needlework, even computer animation, as well as many others.

Recreation Career Field

Recreation Careers Background Ancient people, after daily chores such as gathering food and mending clothing, devised ways to amuse and relax themselves. Often, the conclusion of a good harvest was celebrated with dancing, music, and other merriment. However, because most food, clothing, and other necessities were grown or handmade, little time was left for recreation.

Rubber Career Field

Rubber Careers Background Natural rubber is a pliable, stretchy material made from the milky juice of various tropical plants. Synthetic rubber, synthesized from petroleum and other minerals, was developed as a substitute for natural rubber. The material is called rubber because it appeared that one of the most practical uses of the gum would be

Shipping Career Field

Shipping Careers Background The waters of the world have carried civilization around the globe. Today they continue to carry goods worldwide, and the shipping industry is where this activity is centered. Unless you live near ocean ports or busy riverways, you might not realize the extent of this business, also called the maritime industry. All

Sports Career Field

Sports Careers Background The first organized athletic events took place in Greece in 776 BC, with the advent of the ancient Olympic Games. The Olympics featured running races, throwing contests, and other competitive events, with the greatest athletes from the Greek empire competing. The Olympics, even then, were colorful events and people from nearby countries

Pharmaceutical Career Field

Pharmaceutical Careers Background Through trial and error, prehistoric humans discovered that certain plants were effective in treating injuries and fevers. Once a plant was recognized as having medicinal qualities, the information was passed from generation to generation. Gradually, one person in a tribe or social group acquired considerable knowledge of these treatments and was appointed

Photography Career Field

Photography Careers Background In the photographic process, images are produced by exposing light-sensitive chemicals called silver halides to light. The more light these chemicals are exposed to, the darker they become. After the silver halides are developed and fixed, a negative image is produced. The negative image, which is usually made on film, is then

Plastics Career Field

Plastics Careers Background Since the first synthetic plastics were produced in 1909, plastics have become a part of everyday life. Plastics can be manufactured to be hard enough to use as dies for shaping metal or soft enough to weave nylon stockings. Surgeons can use plastic screws to join broken bones; architects use plastics that

Printing Career Field

Printing Careers Background Printing is a dynamic and highly technical industry that enters into nearly every facet of our lives. Practically every product you buy, use, or look at involves some sort of printing: a sign in a store window, your favorite magazine, a soda can or cereal box, the instructions to the latest computer

Pulp and Paper Career Field

Pulp and Paper Careers Background How much paper do you think you use? According to one estimate, the average American consumes more than 700 pounds per year. Although this may sound like a lot, it’s really not so surprising, given the vast number of paper products produced every year used for everything from mopping up

Radio Career Field

Radio Careers Background Broadcast technology developed in the 20th century enabled people to reach large audiences around the world instantly, changing forever the way we communicate. The power and mystery of the radio broadcast in the United States has been marked by events like Orson Welles’s 1938 live radio broadcast of “The War of the

Railroad Career Field

Railroad Careers Background Despite its decline as a method of passenger transportation, the railroad remains the most efficient method of land transportation because it requires the least amount of fuel and human labor and is the least damaging to the environment. Found in almost every country in the world, railroads have transported millions of passengers

Real Estate Career Field

Real Estate Careers Background The real estate business helps fulfill one of our most basic needs: shelter. For many people, this shelter is a house. But real estate is more than just shelter and houses. It includes apartments, condominiums, cooperatives, farms, retail stores, office buildings, shopping centers, warehouses, industrial plants, medical centers, and many other

Metallurgy Career Field

Metallurgy Careers Background The first crude metal objects, knives for hunting and tools for farming, evolved during the Stone Age. Forged metal (heated, then hammered into shape) was used to make simple blades and hoes. Historical records indicate that metal casting (melting, and then pouring into a shaped mold) was being done around 4000 BC.

Military Career Field

Military Careers Background Five separate military services make up the United States Armed Forces: the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. These branches organize, train, and equip the nation’s land, sea, and air services to support the national and international policies of the government. Together, they are responsible for the safety and

Mining Career Field

Mining Careers Background The mining industry locates valuable minerals in the earth and water and removes them in the most economical and efficient way. Mined materials include energy minerals, such as coal, petroleum, and uranium; nonmetallic minerals, such as limestone, salt, sandstone, and diamonds; and metallic minerals, such as iron ore, gold, and silver. Mining

Music Career Field

Music Careers Background Throughout human history, there have been numerous theories about how music originated. The great naturalist Charles Darwin thought that music was related to sex. In his view, music evolved from the mating cries of birds and animals. Others have proposed that early humans developed singing as a way of imitating the sounds

Packaging Career Field

Packaging Careers Background Packaging is the planning, creating, manufacturing, wrapping, boxing, or bottling of goods for consumer, industrial, and military markets. The packaging industry services nearly all of the industries and manufacturing establishments in the United States. Packaging is one of the largest employers; increasing sophistication of technology has created a strong demand for packaging

Petroleum Career Field

Petroleum Careers Background In the United States about 65 percent of the petroleum consumed is used for transportation, including truck, bus, automobile, airplane, and ship fuel. Industrial uses account for about 25 percent. Household and commercial use accounts for about 7 percent, largely for heating. About 3 percent is used in the production of electrical

Hospitality Career Field

Hospitality Careers Background The hospitality industry provides accommodations, meals, and personal services for both the traveling public and permanent residents. The range of employment opportunities in this industry is vast. All positions, from bellhops to executive managers, share the same goal of serving the public. Hotels have been in existence for as long as people

Insurance Career Field

Insurance Careers Background The insurance industry provides protection for its customers against financial loss from various hazards. This protection is offered in the form of insurance policies. The industry is a massive, highly complex one that has grown out of an ancient and very simple principle: The more people who share a financial risk, the

Law Career Field

Law Careers Background You probably know someone who drives as if there were no speed limits or stop signs. They just zoom down the road, oblivious of others. What if there really were no traffic laws like stopping at stop signs or driving slower on a curvy road? We would live in a much more

Post Office Career Field

Post Office Careers Background The postal service touches the lives of virtually everyone in the nation. Letter and package carriers visit the homes and offices of millions of Americans, clerks and postmasters wait on customers at their local post offices, and thousands of postal employees work behind the scenes to process and deliver 212 billion

Literary Arts Career Field

Literary Arts Careers Background From the earliest times, people have wanted to communicate with other people, and one of the best means of communication is language. Before the invention of writing, people could only transmit information orally. After writing was invented, which may have occurred in Sumer in approximately 4000 BC, writers could communicate with

Manufacturing Career Field

Manufacturing Careers Background From ancient Greek clay pots to Roman bronze weapons and building materials, humans have demonstrated the need to produce goods. By the Renaissance, Europeans were manufacturing gunpowder, clothing, and other goods for trade with people in faraway lands and across the oceans. They built factories where goods were produced by hand with

Fashion Career Field,Fashion Careers Background

Fashion Careers Background Clothing has been worn by people of all cultures since prehistoric times; its basic function was to protect the body from the elements. Clothing styles have been influenced by well-known people, religion, tradition, art, science, and more recently, the media. Archaeologists have found no clothing from early periods before the Stone Age.

Fire Fighting Career Field

Fire Fighting Careers Background Fire kills more Americans than all natural disasters combined. The United States had an average of 3,932 deaths a year from 1996 to 2005, according to the National Fire Data Center of the U.S. Fire Administration. Civilian injuries averaged 20,919 a year during this time span. (Note: These statistics do not

Film Career Field

Film Careers Background In the Woody Allen film Annie Hall, Allen tells Diane Keaton, “A relationship is like a shark . . . if it doesn’t keep swimming, it dies.” This could also serve as a good metaphor for the film industry. For over 100 years, the film industry has avoided many deaths by moving

Food Processing Career Field

Food Processing Careers Background As a fundamental human need, food always has played a central part in our lives. Our ancestors lived or died according to their ability to grow food, to hunt for food, or to fight for food. People have always sought out new food sources, and throughout history people have identified the

Government Career Field

Government Careers Background George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and our nation’s other founders had an amazing amount of foresight in the structuring of the United States government. Politicians’ attitudes, beliefs, and sensibilities have changed, but through it all, the structure of the U.S. government has endured. This endurance is no small feat when you

Grocery Career Field

Grocery Store Careers Background Family celebrations and traditions across the world have one thing in common—food. From a simple breakfast to a home-style Sunday dinner, food is a key ingredient in everyday life as well as the special days of the year. Grandma’s pumpkin pie, Aunt Edith’s banana salad, and Uncle Hubert’s holiday ham are

Health Care Career Field

Health Care Careers Background The origins of medicine began with prehistoric people who believed that diseases were derived from supernatural powers. To destroy the evil spirits, they performed trephining, which involved cutting a hole in the victim’s skull to release the spirit. Skulls have been found in which the trephine hole has healed, demonstrating that

Home Furnishing Career Field

Home Furnishing Careers Background The home furnishings industry consists of three general areas: interior design, furniture, and silverware and other craftware items. While most of today’s furnishings are designed to be practical and comfortable, many also achieve a unique level of style and beauty. In general, home furnishings can be seen from four different perspectives:

Cosmetology Career Field

Cosmetology Careers Background From a new summer hairdo to a milk and honey facial, from a leg waxing to an eyebrow plucking, cosmetologists provide a wide range of beauty and health services. Back when a shave and a haircut were two bits, men spent their lunch hours relaxing in hydraulic barber chairs for hot, aromatic

Dance Career Field,Dance Careers Background

Dance Careers Background Dance is one of the oldest of the arts. Anthropologists believe the first formal dances were probably symbolic dances performed by early tribal societies as part of ritual ceremonies held to ask spirits or gods for success in hunting or in battle. Some anthropologists think that dancing and music originally came from

Defense Career Field

Defense Careers Background From simple rocks to sophisticated satellite surveillance systems, people have always sought ways to defend themselves and to protect their territory and to promote their interests. The development of weapons, tools, vehicles, and strategies, both defensive and offensive, plays a crucial role in the safety and welfare, as well as the economic

Dental Care Career Field

Dental Careers Background Although modern dentistry dates back only to the 1700s, archeologists have provided evidence of dental treatment from thousands of years ago. The ancient Egyptians treated toothache and swollen gums in the 16th century BC. The Greek physician Aesculapius was the first recorded supporter of tooth extraction around 1250 BC, and Hippocrates wrote

Education Career Field

Education Careers Background American colonists first began establishing elementary schools for their children in the early 17th century. These schools were private, and only the wealthiest families could afford to enroll students in them. The main purpose of these early schools was to teach the students religion due to its major role in colonial life.

Electronics Career Field

Electronics Careers Background The electronics industry is composed of organizations involved in the manufacture, design and development, assembly, and servicing of electronic equipment and components. Together, these organizations offer a wide variety of products that frequently have only one thing in common: They depend upon electronic technology to operate. Electronics is one of the fastest

Energy Career Field

Energy Careers Background For most of human history, fire was the main source of energy. Wood, charcoal, then coal provided fuel for fire. Over the years, however, people have acquired a more sophisticated knowledge of fuels and energy. This has resulted in the development of atomic energy, as well as new methods of accessing, storing

Engineering Career Field

Engineering Careers Background A lot of brainpower goes into engineering—a lot of knowledge, creativity, thoughtfulness, and pure hard work. Humankind has been “engineering,” so to speak, since we realized we had opposable thumbs that we could use to handle tools. And from that point on we began our ceaseless quest to make, to build, to

Entrepreneurship Career Field

Entrepreneur Careers Background Have you ever baby-sat neighborhood kids? Mowed a lawn or two in the summer? Run a lemonade stand? Then you already know something about being an entrepreneur. You’ve set your own hours, named your prices, and earned money. The entrepreneurial spirit has long been strong in kids and teens; this is evident

Airline Career Field

Airline Careers Background The first recorded flight of a human being took place in 1783 when French inventors Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier inflated a large balloon with hot air, reaching an altitude of 6,000 feet. Advancements in aeronautics, the science of flight, soon led to the development of successful glider designs. Two brothers, Orville Wright

Automotive Career Field

Automotive Careers Background The automotive industry plays a vital and powerful role in world economies, in terms of the value of its product, the jobs it creates, the income it generates, and the taxes it pays. The industry as a whole employs people at all levels of the occupational spectrum, from highly skilled engineers and

Biology Career Field

Biology Careers Background Life has many different levels of organization from the atom to complex organisms, to whole populations and ecosystems. The biological sciences look at life on one or more of these levels—at anything that is or has been alive. The field of biology also looks at the effects of surroundings on living things.

Book Publishing Career Field

Book Publishing Careers Background The earliest known books were the clay tablets of Mesopotamia and the papyrus rolls of Egypt. Examples of both date from about 3000 BC. According to archeological findings, the Chinese developed books about 1300 BC. Early Chinese books were made of wood or bamboo strips and bound together with cords. With

Broadcasting Career Field

Broadcasting Careers Background For centuries people have sought to improve methods of communicating over long distances. In 1895 an Italian engineer, Guglieimo Marconi, demonstrated how to send communication signals without the use of wires; instantaneous worldwide communication soon became a reality. In the early 1900s, transmitting and receiving devices were relatively simple, and hundreds of

Chemistry Career Field

Chemistry Careers Background Modern chemistry can trace its birth to the large-scale production of alkalis and alkaline salts of potassium and sodium in the late 1700s. These compounds were used to make soap, glass, and textile bleaches, and they were therefore in tremendous demand. The crude, inefficient procedures by which they were made could not

Construction Career Field

Construction Careers Background Construction is an industry field that includes the erection, maintenance, and repair of buildings and other immobile structures, and the building of roads and service facilities that become integral parts of structures and are essential to their use. Construction includes structural additions and alterations but excludes the building of mobile structures such

Surveyor Career

Surveyors mark exact measurements and locations of elevations, points, lines, and contours on or near Earth’s surface. They measure distances between points to determine property boundaries and to provide data for mapmaking, construction projects, and other engineering purposes. There are approximately 131,000 surveyors, cartographers, photogrammetrists, and surveying technicians employed in the United States. Of those

Aerospace Career Field

Aerospace Careers Background Despite a slowdown in recent years, aerospace is a career field that continues to attract many people because of its cutting-edge technology and wide range of career opportunities. Aerospace technology has made our world a smaller place. The ability to move humans in flying machines has changed our culture, from the way

Agriculture Career Field

Agriculture Careers Background Rudimentary farming developed approximately 10,000 years ago. Archeological records reveal that people first planted seeds about 9000 BC. However, it would be another thousand years before farming produced crops as a primary source of food. As the skills of farmers increased, food production improved. Animal husbandry, fishing, and planting skills became more

Soil Scientist Career

Soil scientists study the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of soils to determine the most productive and effective planting strategies. Their research aids in producing larger, healthier crops and more environmentally sound farming procedures. There are about 30,000 agricultural and food scientists, a group that includes soil scientists, working in the United States. Hundreds of

Statistician Career

Statisticians use mathematical theories to collect and interpret information. This information is used to help various agencies, industries, and researchers determine the best ways to produce results in their work. There are approximately 19,000 statisticians in the United States, employed in a wide variety of work fields, including government, industry, and scientific research. History of

Secretary Career

Secretaries, also called administrative assistants, perform a wide range of jobs that vary greatly from business to business. However, most secretaries key in documents, manage records and information, answer telephones, handle correspondence, schedule appointments, make travel arrangements, and sort mail. The amount of time secretaries spend on these duties depends on the size and type

Reporter Career

Reporters are the foot soldiers for newspapers, magazines, and television and radio broadcast companies. They gather and analyze information about current events and write stories for publication or for broadcasting. News analysts, reporters, and correspondents hold about 64,000 jobs in the United States. History of Reporter Career Newspapers are the primary disseminators of news in

Psychologist Career

Psychologists teach, counsel, conduct research, or administer programs to understand people and help people understand themselves. Psychologists examine individual and group behavior through testing, experimenting, and studying personal histories. Psychologists normally hold doctorates in psychology. Unlike psychiatrists, they are not medical doctors and cannot prescribe medication. Approximately 179,000 psychologists are employed in the United States.

Receptionist Career

Receptionists—so named because they receive visitors in places of business—have the important job of giving a business’s clients and visitors a positive first impression. Also called information clerks, these front-line workers are the first communication sources who greet clients and visitors to an office, answer their questions, and direct them to the people they wish

Pathologist Career

Pathologists are physicians who analyze tissue specimens to identify abnormalities and diagnose diseases. Approximately 13,700 pathologists are employed in the United States. Pathologist Career History During the late Middle Ages, the earliest known autopsies were performed to determine cause of death in humans. As these autopsies were documented, much information about human anatomy was gathered

Pet Sitter Career

When pet owners are on vacation or working long hours, they hire pet sitters to come to their homes and visit their animals. During short, daily visits, pet sitters feed the animals, play with them, clean up after them, give them medications when needed, and let them in and out of the house for exercise.

Pharmacologist Career

Pharmacologists play an important role in medicine and in science by studying the effects of drugs, chemicals, and other substances on humans, animals, and plants. These highly educated scientists conduct research on liv­ing tissues and organs to determine how drugs and other chemicals act at the cellular level. Their results help to discover how drugs

Oceanographer Career

Oceanographers obtain information about the ocean through observations, surveys, and experiments. They study the biological, physical, and chemical composi­tion of the ocean and the geological structure of the sea­bed. They also analyze phenomena involving the water itself, the atmosphere above it, the land beneath it, and the coastal borders. They study acoustical properties of water

Oncologist Career

Oncologists are physicians who study, diagnose, and treat the tumors caused by cancer. When an individual is diagnosed with cancer, an oncologist takes charge of the patient’s overall care and treatment through all phases of the disease. There are three primary areas within clinical oncology: medical oncology, surgical oncology, and radiation oncology. Oncologist Career History

Orthodontist Career

Orth means “straight” and odont means “tooth.” Ortho­dontists are dental specialists who diagnose problems with teeth, jaws, and lower facial development and treat malpositioned and misaligned teeth and jaws. Accord­ing to the U.S. Department of Labor, more than 10,000 orthodontists work in the United States. Orthodontist Career History Archeologists have found evidence that metal bands

Military Career

The U.S. Armed Forces are composed of five separate military services: the army, navy, air force, marines, and coast guard. These branches organize, train, and equip the nation’s lands, sea, and air services to support the national and international policies of the government. Together, military workers from these branches are responsible for the safety and

Neurologist Career

Neurologists are physician specialists who diagnose and treat patients with diseases and disorders affecting such areas as the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, muscles, and autonomic nervous system. Neurologist Career History The development of modern neurology began in the 18th and 19th centuries. Studies were performed on animals in order to understand how the human

Actuary Career

Actuaries use statistical formulas and techniques to calculate the probability of events such as death, disability, sickness, unemployment, retirement, and property loss. Actuaries develop formulas to predict how much money an insurance company will pay in claims, which determines the overall cost of insuring a group, business, or individual. Increase in risk raises potential cost

Meteorologist Career

Meteorologists, or atmospheric scientists, study weather conditions and forecast weather changes. By analyzing weather maps covering large geographic areas and related charts, like upper-air maps and soundings, they can pre­dict the movement of fronts, precipitation, and pressure areas. They forecast such data as temperature, winds, precipitation, cloud cover, and flying conditions. To pre­dict future weather

Molder Career

Molders form sand molds for use in the production of metal castings. This production method, known as sand casting, requires knowledge of the properties of metals and sand mixtures, pattern shapes, and pouring procedures. Imple­menting a two-part box called a flask, molders pack spe­cially prepared sand mix around a pattern of the object that is

Model Career

Models display a wide variety of products and services in print, such as magazines and newspapers; televi­sion; and live marketing. Industrial models are used in all advertising media to sell every kind of product or service imaginable. Fashion models display clothing and fashion accessories in fashion shows, apparel cata­logs, and retail stores. A small segment

Millwright Career

Millwrights install, assemble, and maintain heavy industrial machinery and other equipment. If necessary, they construct foundations for certain large assemblies. They may also dis­mantle, operate, or repair these machines. Approximately 59,000 millwrights are employed in the United States. Millwright Career History The history of the millwright dates back to the indus­trial revolution. While milling machines

Microbiologist Career

Microbiologists are scientists who study living things that cannot be seen with the naked eye, such as bacteria, fungi, protozoans, and viruses, as well as human and animal cells. They examine the effects these microorganisms and infectious agents have on people, animals, plants, and the environment. They are interested in learning about micro­organisms that cause

Musician Career

Musicians perform, compose, conduct, arrange, and teach music. Performing musicians may work alone or as part of a group, or ensemble. They may play before live audiences in clubs or auditoriums, or they may perform on television or radio, in motion pictures, or in a record­ing studio. Musicians usually play either classical, popu­lar (including rock

News Anchor Career

News anchors analyze and broadcast news for radio and television stations. They help select, write, and present the news and may specialize in a particular area. Inter­viewing guests, making public service announcements, and conducting panel discussions may also be part of the news anchor’s work. Approximately 69,000 people are employed as announcers (including news anchors)

Naturopath Career

Naturopaths—also called naturopathic physicians, natu­ropathic doctors, and N.D.’s—are licensed health profes­sionals who practice an approach to health care called naturopathic medicine. Naturopathic medicine (also called naturopathy) is a distinct system of health care that uses a variety of natural approaches to health and healing, including clinical nutrition, counseling, herbal medicine, homeopathy, and physical therapy. Naturopaths

Naturalist Career

The primary role of naturalists is to educate the public about the environment and maintain the natural envi­ronment on land specifically dedicated to wilderness populations. Their primary responsibilities are preserv­ing, restoring, maintaining, and protecting a natural habitat. Among the related responsibilities in these jobs are teaching, public speaking, writing, giving scientific and ecological demonstrations, and

Nail Technician Career

Nail technicians clean, shape, and polish fingernails and toenails. They groom cuticles and apply cream to hands and arms (feet and calves in the case of pedicures). They apply a variety of artificial nails and provide ongoing maintenance. Many nail technicians are skilled in “nail art” and decorate clients’ nails with stencils, glitter, and ornaments.

Nanny Career

Nannies, also known as au pairs, are caregivers who care for children in the parents’ homes. The children usu­ally range in age from infant to 10 or 12 years old. The nanny’s responsibilities may include supervising the nursery, organizing play activities, taking the children to appointments or classes, and keeping the children’s quarters clean and

Myotherapist Career

Myotherapy is a method of relieving muscle pain and spasms and improving overall circulation through applied pressure to trigger points. Pressure is applied using fingers, knuckles, and elbows. Those who practice myotherapy are called myotherapists. Myotherapist Career History Bonnie Prudden, a fitness and exercise enthusiast, first developed myotherapy in 1976. During the 1970s, Prudden worked

Nurse-Midwife Career

Nurse-midwives are registered nurses with advanced training who assist in family planning, pregnancy, and childbirth. They also provide routine health care for women. Nurse-midwives work in hospitals, with physi­cians in private practice, in freestanding birth centers or well-woman care centers, in women’s clinics, and even in the homes of clients. Nurse-Midwife Career History Women have

Ophthalmologist Career

Ophthalmologists are physicians who specialize in the care of eyes and in the prevention and treatment of eye disease and injury. They test patients’ vision and pre­scribe glasses or contact lenses. Most ophthalmologists also perform eye surgery, treating problems such as cata­racts (which cloud vision) and other visual impairments. Because problems with vision may signal

Park Ranger Career

Park rangers enforce laws and regulations in national, state, and county parks. They help care for and maintain parks as well as inform, guide, and ensure the safety of park visitors. Park Ranger Career History Congress began The National Park System in the United States in 1872 when Yellowstone National Park was cre­ated. The National

Paralegal Career

Paralegals, also known as legal assistants, assist in trial preparations, investigate facts, prepare documents such as affidavits and pleadings, and, in general, do work cus­tomarily performed by lawyers. Approximately 224,000 paralegals and legal assistants work in law firms, busi­nesses, and government agencies all over the United States; the majority work with lawyers and legislators. Paralegal

Paleontologist Career

Paleontologists study the fossils of ancient life-forms, including human life, found in sedimentary rocks on or within the Earth’s crust. Paleontological analyses range from the description of large, easily visible features to biochemical analysis of incompletely fossilized tissue. The observations are used to infer relationships between past and present groups of organisms (taxonomy), to investigate

Osteopath Career

Doctors of osteopathic medicine (D.O.’s), more com­monly referred to as osteopaths, practice a medical dis­cipline that uses refined and sophisticated manipulative therapy based on the late 19th century teachings of American Dr. Andrew Taylor Still. It embraces the idea of “whole person” medicine and looks upon the system of muscles, bones, and joints—particularly the spine—

Optometrist Career

An optometrist is a health care professional who provides primary eye care services, including comprehensive eye health and vision examinations, diagnosis and treat­ment of eye diseases and vision disorders, prescribing of glasses, contact lenses, vision therapy, and medications, performing minor surgical procedures, and counsel­ing patients regarding their vision needs. While exam­ining a patient’s eyes, optometrists

Personal Chef Career

Personal chefs prepare menus for individuals and their families, purchase the ingredients for the meals, then cook, package, and store the meals in the clients’ own kitchens. Approximately 9,200 personal chefs work across the United States and Canada. They cook for busy families, seniors, people with disabilities, and others who do not have the time

Periodontist Career

Periodontists are dentists who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting the gums and bone that sup­port the teeth. They perform thorough clinical examinations, measuring the depth of gum pockets and checking for gingival bleeding, and may do tests to find out which types of bacteria are involved. Periodontal surgery may be needed

Perfusionist Career

Although perfusionists, formerly known as cardiovascular perfusionists, are not well known to the general public, they play a crucial role in the field of cardiovascular surgery. They operate what is known as the “heart-lung machine.” The perfusionist is responsible for all aspects of the heart-lung machine whenever it becomes necessary to interrupt or replace the

Pedorthist Career

Pedorthists design, manufacture, fit, and modify shoes and other devices aimed at lessening pain or correcting foot problems. Pedorthists design and fit special thera­peutic footwear for a patient as prescribed by a physician. This process involves making clay impressions of the patient’s feet, modifying the mold to make special foot­wear, choosing the correct materials, and

Pediatrician Career

Pediatricians are physicians who provide health care to infants, children, and adolescents. Typically, a pediatrician meets a new patient soon after birth and takes care of that patient through his or her teenage years. There are nearly 27,000 pediatricians employed in the United States. Pediatrician Career History Children became the focus of separate medical care

Physician Career

Physicians diagnose, prescribe medicines for, and other­wise treat diseases and disorders of the human body. A physician may also perform surgery and often specializes in one aspect of medical care and treatment. Physicians hold either a doctor of medicine (M.D.) or osteopathic medicine (D.O.) degree. Approximately 567,000 M.D.’s and D.O.’s are employed in the United

Photojournalist Career

Photojournalists shoot photographs that capture news events. Their job is to tell a story with pictures. They may cover a war in central Africa, the Olympics, a national election, or a small-town Fourth of July parade. In addi­tion to shooting pictures, they also write captions or other supporting text to provide further detail about each

Photographer Career

Photographers take and sometimes develop and print pic­tures of people, places, objects, and events, using a variety of cameras and photographic equipment. They work in the publishing, advertising, public relations, science, and business industries, as well as provide personal photo­graphic services. They may also work as fine artists. There are approximately 129,000 photographers employed in

Pharmacist Career

Pharmacists are health professionals responsible for the dispensation of prescription and nonprescription medi­cations. They act as consultants to health practitioners and the general public concerning possible adverse drug reactions and interactions, and may also give advice relating to home medical supplies and durable health care equipment. The role of the pharmacist has evolved into that

Pet Shop Worker Career

Pet shop workers, from entry-level clerks to store manag­ers, are involved in the daily upkeep of a pet store; they sell pets and pet supplies including food, medicine, toys, carriers, and educational books and videos. They work with customers, answering questions and offering animal care advice. They keep the store, aquariums, and animal cages clean

Podiatrist Career

Podiatrists, or doctors of podiatric medicine, are special-treating disorders and diseases of the foot and lower leg. The most common problems that they treat are bunions, calluses, corns, warts, ingrown toenails, heel spurs, arch problems, and ankle and foot injuries. Podiatrists also treat deformities and infections. A podiatrist may prescribe treat­ment by medical, surgical, and

Plasterer Career

Plasterers apply coats of plaster to interior walls, ceilings, and partitions of buildings to produce fire-resistant and relatively soundproof surfaces. They also work on exte­rior building surfaces and do ornamental forming and casting work. Their work is similar to that of drywall workers, who use drywall rather than plaster to build interior walls and ceilings.

Pilot Career

Pilots perform many different kinds of flying jobs. In general, pilots operate an aircraft for the transportation of passengers, freight, mail, or for other commercial purposes. There are approximately 106,000 civilian air­craft pilots and flight engineers employed in the United States. Pilot Career History The age of modern aviation is generally considered to have begun

Physicist Career

Physics is a science dealing with the interaction of matter and energy. Physicists study the behavior and structure of matter, the ways that energy is generated and transferred, and the relationships between matter and energy. They perform experiments and analyze the products or results of those experiments. They may teach, oversee scientific projects, or act

Pop/Rock Musician Career

Pop/rock musicians perform in nightclubs, concert halls, on college campuses, and at live events such as festivals and fairs. They also record their music for distribution on CDs, audiocassettes, and the Internet. A pop/rock musi­cian usually performs as a member of a band comprised of instrumentalists and vocalists. The band may perform original music or

Psychiatrist Career

Psychiatrists are physicians who attend to patients’ mental, emotional, and behavioral symptoms. They try to help people function better in their daily lives. Physiatrists generally specialize by treatment methods, based on their chosen fields. They may explore a patient’s beliefs and history. They may prescribe medicine, including tranquilizers, antipsychotics, and antidepressants. If they specialize in

Rabbi Career

Rabbis are the spiritual leaders of Jewish religious congregations. They interpret Jewish law and tradition and conduct religious services on the Sabbath (a daylong period of rest and worship from Friday evening to Saturday evening) and holy days. Rabbis perform wedding ceremonies and funeral services, counsel members of the congregation, visit the sick, and often

Reflexologist Career

Reflexologists base their work on the theory that reflexes, specific points on the hands and feet, correspond to specific points on other parts of the body. They apply pressure to the feet or hands of their clients in order to affect the areas of the body that correspond to the areas that they are manipulating.

Roustabout Career

Roustabouts do the routine physical labor and maintenance around oil wells, pipelines, and natural gas facilities. Sample tasks include clearing trees and brush, mixing concrete, manually loading and unloading pipe and other materials onto or from trucks or boats, and assembling pumps, boilers, valves, and steam engines and performing minor repairs on such equipment. Roustabouts

Roofer Career

Roofers install and repair roofs of buildings using a variety of materials and methods, including built-up roofing, single-ply roofing systems, asphalt shingles, tile, and slate. They may also waterproof and damp-proof walls, swimming pools, and other building surfaces. Roughly 162,000 roofers are employed in the United States. History of Roofer Career Roofs cover buildings and

Risk Manager Career

Risk managers help businesses control risks and losses while maintaining the highest production levels possible. They work in industrial, service, nonprofit, and public sector organizations. By protecting a company against loss, the risk manager helps it to improve operating efficiency and meet strategic goals. History of Risk Manager Career Entrepreneurs have always taken steps to

Screenwriter Career

Screenwriters write scripts for entertainment, education, training, sales, television, and films. Screenwriters may choose themes themselves, or they may write on a theme assigned by a producer or director, sometimes adapting plays or novels into screenplays. Screenwriting is an art, a craft, and a business. It is a career that requires imagination and creativity, the

Spa Attendant Career

Spa attendants work in hotels, resorts, and salons. They are specially trained in facial, body, and water treatments. They assist massage therapists and estheticians, and prepare and clean the treatment rooms and tables. They provide spa customers with refreshments, towels, washcloths, and robes. According to the International SPA Association, there are 280,700 people employed by

Songwriter Career

Songwriters write the words and music for songs, including songs for recordings, advertising jingles, and theatrical performances. We hear the work of songwriters every day, and yet most songwriters remain anonymous, even if a song’s performer is famous. Many songwriters perform their own songs. Songwriter Career History Songwriting played an important part in the growth

Sociologist Career

Sociologists study the behavior and interaction of people in groups. They research the characteristics of families, communities, the workplace, religious and business organizations, and many other segments of society. By studying a group, sociologists can gain insight about individuals; they can develop ideas about the roles of gender, race, age, and other social traits in

Singer Career

Professional singers perform opera, gospel, blues, rock, jazz, folk, classical, country, and other musical genres before an audience or in recordings. Singers are musicians who use their voices as their instruments. They may perform as part of a band, choir, or other musical ensembles, or solo, whether with or without musical accompaniment. Singers, musicians, and

Sportswriter Career

Sportswriters cover the news in sports for newspapers and magazines. They research original ideas or follow up on breaking stories, contacting coaches, athletes, and team owners and managers for comments or more information. Sometimes a sportswriter is fortunate enough to get his or her own column, in which the sportswriter editorializes on current news or

Surgeon Career

Surgeons are physicians who make diagnoses and provide preoperative, operative, and postoperative care in surgery affecting almost any part of the body. These doctors also work with trauma victims and the critically ill. Approximately 52,930 surgeons are employed in the United States. History of Surgeon Career Surgery is perhaps the oldest of all medical specialties.

Stevedore Career

Stevedores, commonly known as longshore workers or dockworkers, handle cargo at ports, often using materials- handling machinery and gear. They load and unload ships at docks and transfer cargo to and from storage areas or other transports, such as trucks and barges. Members of the water transportation industry, stevedores are employed at ports all over

Stenographer Career

Stenographers take dictation using either shorthand notation or a stenotype machine, then later transcribe their notes into business documents. They may record people’s remarks at meetings or other proceedings and later give a summary report or a word-for-word transcript of what was said. General stenographers may also perform other office tasks such as typing, filing

Telemarketer Career

Telemarketers make and receive phone calls on behalf of a company in order to sell its goods, market its services, gather information, receive orders and complaints, and/or handle other miscellaneous business. According to the Direct Marketing Association, the activities most frequently performed by telemarketers are inputting mail orders and verifying names and addresses. A reader

Teacher Aide Career

Teacher aides, also called teacher assistants, perform a wide variety of duties to help teachers run a classroom. Teacher aides prepare instructional materials, help students with classroom work, and supervise students in the library, on the playground, and at lunch. They perform administrative duties such as photocopying, keeping attendance records, and grading papers. There are

Taxidermist Career

Taxidermists preserve and prepare animal skins and parts to create lifelike animal replicas. Taxidermists prepare the underpadding and mounting to which the skin will be attached, model the structure to resemble the animal’s body, and then attach appropriate coverings, such as skin, fur, or feathers. They may add details, such as eyes or teeth, to

Taxi Driver Career

Taxi drivers, also known as cab drivers, operate automobiles and other motor vehicles to take passengers from one place to another for a fee. This fee is usually based on distance traveled or time as recorded on a taximeter. There are currently about 144,280 taxi drivers and chauffeurs in the United States. History of Taxi

Tax Preparer Career

Tax preparers prepare income tax returns for individuals and small businesses for a fee, for either quarterly or yearly filings. They help to establish and maintain business records to expedite tax preparations and may advise clients on how to save money on their tax payments. There are approximately 86,000 tax preparers employed in the United

Urologist Career

Urologists are physicians who specialize in the treatment of medical and surgical disorders of the adrenal gland and of the genitourinary system. They deal with the diseases of both the male and female urinary tract and of the male reproductive organs. History of Urologist Career Medieval “healers” who specialized in the surgical removal of bladder

Tire Technician Career

Tire technicians, employed by tire manufacturers, test tires to determine their strength, durability (how long they will last), and any defects in their construction. Approximately 19,800 tire builders are employed in the United States. History of Tire Technician Career Before tires came into use, wheels were banded by metal. Copper bands were used on chariot

Toxicologist Career

Toxicologists design and conduct studies to determine the potential toxicity of substances to humans, plants, and animals. They provide information on the hazards of these substances to the federal government, private businesses, and the public. Toxicologists may suggest alternatives to using products that contain dangerous amounts of toxins, often by testifying at official hearings. There

Tour Guide Career

Tour guides plan and oversee travel arrangements and accommodations for groups of tourists. They assist travelers with questions or problems, and they may provide travelers with itineraries of their proposed travel route and plans. Tour guides research their destinations thoroughly so that they can handle any unforeseen situation that may occur. There are approximately 32,000

Veterinarian Career

The veterinarian, or doctor of veterinary medicine, diagnoses and controls animal diseases, treats sick and injured animals medically and surgically, prevents transmission of animal diseases, and advises owners on proper care of pets and livestock. Veterinarians are dedicated to the protection of the health and welfare of all animals and to society as a whole.

Manufacturing Career Cluster

The manufacturing cluster contains jobs that involve turning raw materials into final products that are sold to buyers. Manufacturing work refers not only to the people who make the products, but the many people in management, engineering, design, and other areas. Manufacturing workers come up with product ideas, test products to make sure they are

Career Decision-Making Difficulties

Dealing with career indecision has long been a focus of theory and research, and helping clients to overcome their difficulties in making decisions is among the core roles of career counseling. The Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ) is based on the taxonomy of career decision-making difficulties proposed by Gati, Krausz, and Osipow and was developed

Career Advancement

Career advancement has been for decades a topic of many books found in the self-help, career, and especially the business sections of bookstores. It is not a topic commonly found in career counseling or vocational psychology textbooks or journal articles. There are several assumptions and key concepts and characteristics commonly found in books about career

Career Construction Theory

The global economy of the 21st century with its digitalization and worker migration poses new questions about career, especially the question of how individuals can negotiate a lifetime of job changes without losing their sense of self and social identity. Career construction theory responds to the needs of today’s mobile workers who may feel fragmented

Career Counseling in Colleges/Universities

The process of acquiring knowledge is the essence of higher education. Career decision making is a tangible expression of this process, and since almost half of all college students change majors and even more change career goals while in college, career services for higher education students are crucial to the mission of the institution. Characteristics

Adult Career Concerns Inventory

The career concerns presented to counselors by adults vary widely. Some clients are making new career choices, others are coping with adjustment problems, and still others are planning retirement. To identify the career issues that most concern an individual, Donald Super, Albert Thompson, and Richard Lindeman constructed the Adult Career Concerns inventory (ACCI). The ACCI

Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory

The Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory (CASI) is a 130-item, paper and pencil, self-report assessment by John L. Holland and Gary D. Gottfredson. The CASI is intended to give the employed or unemployed adult client and career counselor information regarding the client’s likelihood of job stability or change, potential career obstacles, or areas for further

Career Barriers Inventory

Career barriers have been hypothesized to affect the career development process by inhibiting career aspirations and restricting the range of perceived career opportunities. The Career Barriers Inventory (CBI) is a psychometrically sound, multidimensional, self-report instrument that was developed to assess for career-related barriers. The CBI assesses for a broad array of barriers that college students

Career Beliefs Inventory

The Career Beliefs Inventory (CBI) is a tool designed to help people identify career beliefs that may be preventing them from taking action to achieve their career goals. Many people hold beliefs that block their career progress. Maybe they believe that there is only one path to a successful career and that they have already

Career Decision Scale

The Career Decision Scale (CDS) grew out of S. H. Osipow, C. Carney, J. Winer, B. Yanico, and M. Koschier’s counseling experience with undergraduate students who sought help in dealing with their inability to decide on an educational or career goal. Specifically, it was thought that identifying a limited number of problems connected with that

Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale

The Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale (CDSE) was developed by Karen Taylor and Nancy Betz in order to apply Albert Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy expectations to the domain of career decision making. Career decision self-efficacy was originally defined by Taylor and Betz as the individual’s belief that he or she can successfully complete tasks necessary in

Career Development Inventory

The Career Development Inventory (CDI) is a 120-item standardized measure of career development attitudes and knowledge first published in 1979. This measure operationally defines career maturity based on Donald Super’s theory of career development. In general, the CDI assesses level of readiness for making realistic educational and career-related decisions. There are two forms of the

Career Mastery Inventory

The Career Mastery Inventory (CMAS) evolved from the Career Adjustment and Development Inventory (CADI), a measure that was developed by John Crites as a means of assessing important facets related to career adjustment and development in early adulthood. Accordingly, six developmental tasks associated with the establishment stage of career development were identified. The establishment stage

Career Maturity Inventory

The Career Maturity Inventory (CMI) is a 50-item standardized measure designed to assess the process of how adolescents and adults approach career development tasks. John Crites developed this measure in the 1960s as the Vocational Development Inventory to assess the readiness attitudes of students in making appropriate vocational plans. It became the CMI in 1973

Career Occupational Preference System

The Career Occupational Preference System (COPSystem) is a coordinated career guidance program consisting of three assessment instruments all keyed to eight major career clusters. The three assessment components are the COPSystem Interest Inventory (COPS), the Career Ability Placement Survey (CAPS), and the Career Orientation Placement and Evaluation Survey (COPES) and their accompanying interpretive materials. Interpretation

Career Planning Survey

The Career Planning Survey is a paper-based career assessment system designed to help students in Grades 8 through 10 identify and explore personally relevant occupations and high school courses. The assessment elements consist of an interest inventory, an inventory of ability self-estimates, and two optional academic ability tests. In addition, students can complete checklists assessing

Career Services Model

A difficult task facing career counselors concerns applying abstract career theories to concrete problems presented by clients. Over the years, counselor educators have voiced concern about their trainees’ ability to accurately assess client problems and make sound clinical decisions. In practice, novice career counselors also become perplexed by the multitude of career methods and materials

Career Style Interview

The career style interview (CSI) consists of six questions and is the primary means of assessment for those interested in applying the theory of career construction as developed by Mark L. Savickas. This theory helps individuals to find meaning in the nonlinear careers of today and is an expansion and clarification of Donald Super’s life-span

Career Thoughts Inventory

The Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) is a theory-based assessment and intervention resource intended to improve thinking in career problem solving and decision making. The CTI measures dysfunctional career thoughts that may inhibit the ability to effectively engage in career decision making. The 48-item inventory is self-administered and objectively scored. The assessment is designed to be

Career Transitions Inventory

The Career Transitions Inventory (CTI) is a 40-item Likert format measure designed to assess an individual’s internal process variables that may serve as strengths or barriers when making a career transition. For purposes of this instrument, the term career transition was defined as a situation in which any of the following kinds of career changes

Kuder Career Search

Kuder Career Search (KCS) represents the third generation of interest inventories known as the Kuder Preference Records. First was the Kuder Preference Record—Vocational, which gave scores on 10 vocational interest scales. Next was the Occupational, which reported occupations that were similar to the inventory takers’ interests. The KCS consists of two kinds of scales. One

Multicultural Career Assessment Models

Career assessment involves an ongoing process of gathering information to assist clients to make career-related decisions. Useful information to gather in career assessment includes but is not limited to understanding a person’s personality, values, skills, interests, life roles, and career history. Assessment information is typically gathered via intake interviews, standardized tests and inventories, and non-standardized

Multicultural Career Counseling Checklist

As societies, especially in the United States, have become more diverse, counselors are expected to be able to deliver competent services to a wide variety of clients. Such competency concerns call for measures that facilitate professionals collecting and managing the data needed for meaningful and successful interventions in cross-cultural career counseling. The Multicultural Career Counseling

Career Assistance Programs

In order to prepare athletes for and support them during  transitions,  career  assistance  programs (CAPs)  have  been  developed  by  elite  sport  organizations  like  a  national  sport  governing  body, universities,  and  private  organizations.  These CAPs generally consist of an integrated and comprehensive  combination  of  workshops,  seminars, educational  modules,  individual  counseling,  and referral   networks  providing   individualized   or

Career Transitions

Career  transitions  are  turning  phases  in  athletes’ career  development.  Therefore,  they  should  be first  defined  in  terms  of  their  place  in  the  career context.  The  broadest  career  term  in  psychology is  a  life  career  that  encompasses  an  individual’s life-long development and achievements in various activities and spheres of life that unfold in a particular historical

Career Certifications

Professional certification serves to identify individuals  who  have  obtained  or  maintained  qualifications to perform a specific work responsibility or task. Furthermore, certification indirectly serves to safeguard  the  public  interest  by  assuring  that  the public  can  identify  qualified  professionals.  In  the United  States,  the  Association  for  Applied  Sport Psychology (AASP) certifies master’s and doctoral trained  professionals 

Career Development

Most people participate in some form of paid labor during their lifetime. Typically, they engage in a series of jobs. As these jobs become increasingly related to one another, a career unfolds. This process occurs throughout the life span. Several theories have been proposed to describe the process of career development. Three of the most

Journal of Career Assessment

The concept for the Journal of Career Assessment (JCA) was developed in 1989 by W. Bruce Walsh of Ohio State University. On June 7, 1991, Robert Smith of Psychological Assessment Resources accepted the proposal to become the publisher of JCA. In January 1993, the first issue was published. Walsh was the first editor of the

Journal of Career Development

The first issue of the Journal of Career Development (vol. 1, no. 1) was published in the fall of 1972 under the title Journal of Career Education. The following statement of purpose appeared in the first issue: This publication will endeavor to support and summarize the thrust of current trends in career education, with a

National Career Development Association

The National Career Development Association (NCDA) is the oldest nonprofit counseling professional organization in the United States. Its mission is “to promote the career development of all people over the life span.” It currently has about 4,000 members that include career counselors, consultants, counselor educators, students, and career service providers such as career development facilitators

Career Development Quarterly

Career Development Quarterly (CDQ) is the premier English-language journal in career counseling and development and is the official journal of the National Career Development Association (NCDA). It was first published in 1911. CDQ publishes articles on career counseling, individual and organizational career development, work and leisure, career education, career coaching, and career management. Each article

Career Assessment

Career assessment plays a pivotal role in the field of school psychology, serving as a cornerstone for guiding students’ educational and vocational choices. This article delves into the multifaceted domain of career assessment in school psychology, exploring its theoretical underpinnings, assessment methods, and practical applications. Beginning with a historical overview, it examines the evolution of

What is Career Development?

Career development is, for most people, a lifelong process of getting ready to choose, choosing, and, usually, continuing to make choices from among available occupations in our society. Each individual undertaking this process is influenced by educational, economic, sociological, cultural, geographical, physical, psychological (e.g., interests, skills), and chance factors. Work may be defined as a

Career Transition

The term transition has been employed in various academic fields to explain a process of changes in a  certain  phenomenon,  such  as  economic,  political,  biological,  and  psychological  changes.  The concept  of  transition  in  psychology  is  closely related  to  individuals’  period  of  change  and  lifespan  development  based  on  one’s  aging  (e.g., retirement),  development  (e.g.,  entering  to 

Life/Career

The traditional view of career, what one does on the job at work and the sequence of work-related positions throughout a person’s work history, has given rise to a holistic paradigm called career/life that includes the time and energy put into multiple roles simultaneously played throughout one’s life. Each role has the potential of positive

Narrative Career Counseling

Narrative career counseling represents a shift from the 20th-century focus on objective interventions for career decision making toward a 21st-century concern for interpretive approaches. It is sited in postmodern developments where previous grand theories overemphasize either social structures (e.g., Marxism) or individual psychology (e.g., psychoanalysis). Narrative career counseling moves away from a scientific approach that

Personal and Career Counseling

Personal counseling and career counseling share a significant history. Vocational or career counseling started with the work of Frank Parsons and his staff at the Vocation Bureau of Boston in 1908. Parsons would die shortly after the bureau began operations, but not before the term counseling emerged to describe the services provided to clients of

Roe’s Career Theory

Anne Roe (1904—1991) was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. Upon graduating from the University of Denver, she attended Columbia University, following the recommendation of Thomas Garth. At Columbia, Roe worked in the office of Edward Lee Thorndike, graduating with her Ph.D. in experimental psychology under the supervision of Robert S. Woodworth. The publication of

Spirituality and Career Development

Career counseling is a dynamic process of helping clients explore how aspects of their identity may relate to their career decision making or ability to cope with work difficulties. Although researchers have examined how a wide range of personal and relational variables relate to career development, few studies have explored how spirituality, which can be

Career Counseling in Organizations

Career counseling in today’s work organizations reflects career development’s dynamic history in North American business and industry during the 20th century. A 21st-century prospective on this counseling specialty encompasses the practitioners, the places, and the procedures of career counseling in organizations. 20th-century Foundation Industrial Era The dawn of 20th-century North America witnessed a continued decline

Career Counseling in Schools

Career counseling in schools exists at the intersection of the career education program and the provision of personal counseling. It potentially draws from and contributes to both individual pupils’ career development and individual counseling. Career counseling has been a core activity of the school counseling movement from the time of Frank Parsons, and although its

Career Counseling Process

Career counseling process has been defined as an ongoing, face-to-face interaction between counselor and client with career- or work-related issues as the primary focus. The goal of career counseling is typically to assist individuals in developing self-understanding, articulating direction in their careers, and achieving their potential and discovering their purpose in daily activities. There are

Career Counseling for African Americans

Early in the 21st century there continues to be economic disparities between racial ethnic groups. The latest census indicated that Asian American couples had the highest average annual earnings at about $57,500 per year, followed by Caucasian Americans at roughly $49,000, then Hispanics with $39,241, and finally African Americans at about $30,000 per year. There

Career Counseling for Asian Americans

It has been repeatedly observed that the current literature has limited information on the development and career behaviors of Asian Americans. For example, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are more likely to request information about career issues and are also more likely than other ethnic groups to use college career information centers. Since Asian Americans

Career Counseling for Gay and Lesbian

Gay and lesbian persons refers to men and women, respectively, whose primary sexual attraction is toward people of the same sex. Nonetheless, the word gay is sometimes used as a collective term to include both gay men and lesbian women. Due to negative stereotypes, societal stigma, oppression, and discrimination related to homosexuality and nonconformity to

Career Counseling for Immigrants

For counselors working with immigrants, it is essential to first understand how and why people immigrate to the United States, and what challenges they face once they are here. The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that as of March 2005 there were 32.5 million immigrants in the United States, accounting for about 12% of the

Career Counseling for Latinos

Latinos are a diverse group of individuals with ancestry in Spanish-speaking countries in Central and South America as well in the Caribbean. Currently Latinos are the largest ethnic minority group in the United States; government projections estimate that in 2050 almost 25% of the total U.S. population will be Latinos. Career counseling with Latinos requires

Career Counseling for Native Americans

The need for effective career counseling and related research among Native Americans is striking. Census data show that Native Americans have the highest unemployment rates of any minority group with the exception of African American males. Unemployment approaches 50%, and the number of children living below the poverty level exceeds 50% on many reservations. Likewise

Career Education

The use of the term career education varies across both time and context. In its broadest sense the term refers to educational activities in formal and tertiary education contexts, which aim to foster and enhance learners’ knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values related to occupations and the concept of career development over the life span. In

Career Exploration

Career exploration has been a focus of vocational development research since the inception of the field. The concept was originally invoked to explain the process by which a person examines opportunities and constraints in the labor market in order to choose a job or career. The conceptual definition has been significantly expanded to become an

Career Indecision

Career indecision is the inability to specify an educational or occupational choice and can include focal problems, such as lack of information, or a combination of problems, such as choice anxiety and trait indecision. Career indecision is experienced by high school and college populations not only in the United States, but also in countries such

Career Interventions

Career interventions are activities designed to explore and enhance a person’s career development by helping the person make, implement, and benefit from a variety of career decisions. As such, career interventions take several forms. The most common include career counseling, assessment interpretation, group counseling, group assessment interpretation, career workshops, career classes, computer-assisted career guidance systems

Career Maturity

Career maturity is defined as the degree to which individuals are prepared to make good educational or vocational decisions. It is usually seen as dependent on their knowledge of themselves and of the world of work, their ability to make decisions, and a positive attitude toward making career decisions. It is developmental in nature, following

Career Planning

Career planning refers to the process of making educational and career choices based on knowledge of self and of the environment. The purpose of career planning is to encourage individuals to explore and gather information about various educational and career opportunities thus enabling them to develop realistic career goals. Career planning is an ongoing activity

Career Resource Centers

A career resource center (CRC) refers to a physical facility and to the location of materials, resources, and personnel delivering career services to individuals and groups. A CRC is typically located in the career center, counseling center, human resources office, library, or training and development unit of an organization. In contrast, a career center is

Computer-Assisted Career Counseling

Computer-assisted career counseling is the use of computers in educational and career guidance. When faced with the prospect of having to make an important educational or career decision, many individuals look for career or educational information and professional guidance. Individuals making educational decisions might access college brochures and catalogs or might request application and financial

Constructivist Career Counseling

The theory of constructivism has roots in philosophy, science, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. The core of the theory involves the idea that reality is relative rather than absolute and that people actively create reality by the way in which they experience and interpret events. As an example, take the idea of stealing another person’s money.

History of Career Counseling

Career counseling, or vocational guidance as it was originally known, has a long history within the counseling professions. Career counseling was born in the United States in the latter 19th century out of societal upheaval, transition, and change. This new profession was described by historians as a progressive social reform movement aimed at eradicating poverty

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