The centric model of career counseling was developed for use in employment counseling and takes into account psychological, social, and economic factors. Four developmental phases are used to describe movement within the centric model. The initial phase, readiness, establishes the working alliance between the counselor and the client. Clients must…

Creating Self-Portraits is an individual and/or group career development tool designed to assess without testing. Researchers have found that testing can be counter-productive; once clients were labelled, they frequently stopped self-examination. A tool was needed that would help people understand themselves in a way that would encourage further…

The technological advances that have occurred in recent decades have resulted in substantial changes in the nature and structure of occupations and industries. Career development is now being recognized as a lifelong process. Individualized career plans (ICPs) or personal plans of action are becoming important instruments for counselors and others…

A value conflict arises when one value can only be realized at the expense of another value. This digest describes the scope of career value conflict, its developmental significance, and some conflict resolution strategies. Several studies have shown that some career values are particularly prone to conflict, such as salary, freedom in the job,…

Because of the economic and cultural changes that are currently taking place in society and the workplace, many adults who had their career and personal lives planned to retirement are finding those plans no longer viable and are recognizing the need to readjust their career expectations. Many adults who had always viewed life as a linear,…

The context in which career decisions are made is dynamic--occupations are changing rapidly and society is becoming increasingly complex. This digest describes a model that uses five processes which are critical to effective career planning: initiation, exploration, decision making, preparation, and implementation. The first process, initiation,…

Changes in the composition of the work force and changing work values require new life span and career development models that account for individual, gender, and cultural differences in experience. Age/stage models form one school of thought in developmental theory. A major criticism of prevailing theories is that they are based on male…

Adults experience cyclical periods of stability and transition throughout life. The conflict between role cycles may spur career change. Personality differences between voluntary changers and nonchangers have been identified in research. Career changes may be triggered by factors ranging from the anticipated (marriage, empty nest) to the…

The need for lifelong career development in Canada is becoming increasingly evident as more people switch jobs. To meet this need, it has been suggested that counseling services for adults should be organized in a three-tiered structure. Such a structure would ensure that individuals have access to a counselor in accordance with their level of…

A constructivist framework can often appear vague and abstract to the novice counselor. The abstract and nebulous realm of meaning-making, which is central to constructivist approaches, can be frustrating for a linear, task-oriented counselor. This digest explains the approaches used in constructivist counseling. The need to use constructivist…

Employment counseling is a set of interventions designed to help clients identify and resolve issues in employment-related decisions. This digest examines Canada's measurement model which was designed to enhance understanding of counseling's function. The model uses four employability dimensions: (1) career/occupation decision making; (2) skills…