Adolescent Career Development

Factors to Consider: The ability to think abstractly develops differently and at different rates for adolescents. The process of job entry and job selection can help young people become more realistic in their thinking.

Supers Growth Stage

Age 11 Kids begin to develop: Sense of their capacities

View of their own ability

Development of Interests
Choices begin to be based on interests, not fantasy. Kids begin to be judge their own competencies. Begin to speak about what they like!

Development of Capacities
From 11 to 14 years of age students: Begin to accurately assess their own abilities. Begin to see the importance of education! Begin to have a more realistic view of themselves. Begin making choices based on interests and what they have heard from parents.

Development of Values
At the ages of 15 to 16 students: Are beginning to take their goals and values into consideration when making a career choice. Becoming aware of the importance of making choices in a complex world! Making a difference in the world gains consideration.

Transition to Crystallization
Reality conditions start to play an important role in career choice. They begin to see that they CAN determine their own future and their actions taken matter! They begin to look at salary, education requirements, and job conditions.

Supers Career Maturity

Career Planning How much a student feels they know about: Working conditions Education requirements Job outlook Advancement *Use of the Career Development Inventory can be a great asset

Activities in Planning
Talking with adults Taking a course Extracurricular activities Part time job

Career Exploration
Are students willing to explore resources like: Parents Counselor Teachers Books/Pamplets T.V./Movies Students are often reluctant and counselors can encourage career exploration!

Decision Making
The ability to use knowledge and thought to make career plans. This can be a great opportunity for counselors to ask students about their plans

World- of- Work Information

Super believes it is important for students to have some knowledge about the world of work before career counseling can be effective. Correcting students inaccurate perceptions may be part of the counselors job in helping students with pre-decision making. Knowledge of the work can include duties of the job, tools required, physical requirements, and interests of the people who work those jobs.

Realism
Counselors need knowledge of the abilities required in an occupation in order to determine whether the students choice is realistic or not. The counselor must be an accurate judge of the students aptitudes and of those required by the job. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpuAeIEXoAc

Identity and Context

Diffusion: Having few clear ideas about what one wants and little concern about the future. Moratorium: The time when one is exploring options while wanting a direction but not having one. Foreclosure: Making a choice, often based on family tradition, without exploring other options. Achievement: Knowing what one wants and making plans to attain an occupational goal.

Factors of Vocational Identity

Family Views and Experiences Lack of positive career role models Parent pressure Active and systematic seeking of information Participation in school and leisure activities Being Flexible helps individuals adapt to an ever changing world both socially and economically!!

Role of Occupational Information

Psychtalk: statements used to describe aptitudes, interests, and other characteristics of ones self. Occtalk: statements about occupations. The notion that discussion about occupations implies beliefs about self, and that beliefs about self can have implications for occupations, can be useful for counselors.

Role of Assessment Instruments

Supers belief in using inventories and tests to measure interests, abilities, and values stem from his life-span theory. Examples: Career Development Inventory Strong Interest Inventory Values Scale Salience Inventory

Gender Issues
Stereotyping occupations according to gender continues to be an issue for adolescents. Male adolescents prefer the dominant gender ratio and female adolescents are put off by occupations if they feel that other women are not going to be in them. (Heilman, 1979) Male teenagers between 15 and 19 believed they had more control over their career decision making than did women of comparable ages. (Luzzo, 1998)

Culture Issues
African American females scored higher on career maturity than males. (Brown, 1997) Asian American students scored lower on career maturity and had a stronger preference for a dependent style of decision making than did white students. (Leong, 1991) Culture has a greater influence on career choice than does gender. (Mcwhirter, Hacket, and Bandalos, 1998)

Counselor Issues
The counselors life situation is in contrast to that of the adolescent Adolescents may feel the need to separate themselves from the adult point of view. Goals can be very different from counselor to client Empathy is crucial!!