One of the new dimensions of vocational and career counseling is the recognition of the continuity in careers. Despite periods of unemployment and despite a radical change of occupations, the person having these experiences of change is still the same person. Although a career involves the life pursuits of a person, there are several differing conceptions of what characterizes a career. Models that are frequently used are the rocket model, the rolling mill model, the stability model, the rainbow model, and the life-stage model. The concepts of developmental tasks and of the life stages into which they can generally be grouped, as exemplified by the life-stage model, led to the development of the concept of "career maturity." Career maturity has been defined as readiness to cope with the developmental tasks appropriate to one's life stage. The model of adult maturity or adaptability has evolved from recent work. A new model of career assessment is clearly needed, one that is more comprehensive and more developmental than the classical matching model. One such model--the developmental assessment model--resembles the classical model, but has differences, including ascertaining the relative importance of the work role and other major roles in the life scheme of the client. This new model may lead to a new "quiet revolution" in counseling. (KC)