Essay Analyzing Career Theories

Every child wants to “be something” when they grow up. A doctor, a lawyer, a veterinarian, the list continues indefinitely. Most people fixate on one particular career; even if it changes, at any given moment they have one goal. For some reason, that never happened for me. My friends and family would ask “what do you want to be when you grow up?” and I would immediately rattle off a laundry list of different things. “An inventor, a scientist, a dancer, a chef, a translator! I’m going to learn every language in existence!” was my excited reply. Apparently I was quite the ambitious child.

“I feel sorry for the person who can't get genuinely excited about his work. Not only will he never be satisfied, but he will never achieve anything worthwhile” (Walter Chrysler). Deciding on what one wants to be in life can prove to be a demanding task. There are so many, yet limited, different opportunities in the world to have an excellent career and make a decent living while doing something one loves. It is limited because there are only a few specific career paths that someone could take to make good money. It is very difficult to make a fulfilling living being a garbage man. There are many different opportunities because, within these specific careers, there are usually various paths to take. Someone who has dreams to be a

1.What is one short term goal you have on your agenda to achieve in the next couple of weeks to a month?

The words “career counseling” and “substance abuse treatment” on the surface appear as two completely isolated areas, with little interconnection. Personally, as an individual in recovery from addiction, as well as professionally, working as a drug and alcohol case manager, experience has shown me that vocation is very relevant to this population. It is one of the primary goal areas in which I work with my clients on a daily basis. Many of these individuals have completed treatment and are looking for new ways to enter the workforce and provide for themselves and their families, while also battling past career mistakes and missteps. Furthermore, education levels have

During the beginning of the second semester, Mrs. Bridges had assigned each of her classes a proposition which would include working with the environment along with giving the opportunity to learn a new skill. Requirements for the assignment included: thirty hours of work, a minimum of six photos, along with an essay describing what all occurred during the past three months.

Our Senior year is rapidly approaching and sooner or later all of us will have to make an important decision. If we will be going to college, where we will be going to college, and most importantly: what our major will be. Thankfully during our U.S. Literature class we are taking a career unit to better understand ourselves, our interests, and future careers we would like to investigate deeper.

I also liked taking the assessments. The career assessments are a great assessment to take for ourselves and also for students who are looking to enter a career. It is great that the career assessment confirmed my beliefs that working as a counselor or in the education field matches my interest. I can’t believe that the unemployment rate is so high. I’m sure this class has prepared you to help the students with their career and college decisions. The websites were very helpful and I will be using them in the future. It was great working with you in this class.

I’ve had an interesting nine weeks in Career Exploration. I learned an abundant amount of different skills, personality types, and careers. The assessments informed me more about myself and what group I am statistically. I also learned that the Holland Codes helped me understand my personality types and needs. Also, being in the class helped me realize that I haven’t met all my needs.

A brief background overview on a few career development theories will help direct this literature review and give a foundation to current theories in career development. Career development is a complex, lifelong process that is influenced by a variety of factors. Niles and Harris-Bowlsbey (2005) defined career development as “the lifelong psychological and behavioral processes as well as contextual influences shaping one’s career over the life span” (p. 12). Although there are many career development theories, this literature review will focus on just a few. Donald Super’s Life-Span, Life-Space Career Theory highlights the “complex and multifaceted nature of career development” (Niles & Hutchinson, 2009, p. 69). Super’s theory builds upon 14 assumptions and supports three key aspects of career development: life-span, life-space, and self-concept (Niles & Hutchinson, 2009). Life-span focuses on the development over one’s life through growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance, and

John Holland was a remarkable psychologist that took special interest in career choice and personality traits. Holland’s career counseling perspective started while studying at the University of Minnesota for graduate school in counseling. In graduate school, was when he discovered that people express personality in various ways (Nauta, 2010, p.12). He expressed that personality and career interests work together somehow (Nauta, 2010). The John Holland’s Typology “is the concept that one chooses a career to satisfy one’s preferred modal personal orientation” (Zunker, 2012, p. 27). He made two major points about how people are influenced for a career choice. The first point was that people search for an environment that they can utilize their skills and abilities, and reveal their values and attitudes in the most influential way. The second point was that “a person’s

For the longest time I could not decide on a major and a career to study throughout college. When I came to Georgia Southern University I discovered that they had a major that was very interesting to me. Sport Management id the ideal major for my interest and me. Since I love sports I figured that this would be the career for me. A degree in Sport Management helps to prepare for success in sport related occupations.

she moved to New York City in 1904. She met Edith Lewis the same year,

For many people, finding a career that is both fulfilling and practical is a strenuous task. Fortunately, there is a plethora of different interventions, techniques, assessments, and inventories designed to aid those individuals in making the wisest career choices possible. But are any of those routes inherently better than the others? Or are all the differing options separate but equally effective? Donald Super’s Life Span Theory and John Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choice are just two of the many theories used for career counseling. Both methods are distinct in the way they approach career issues, yet despite their differences, there are some resemblances between the two theories as well. Comparing and contrasting these two theories will make it easier to see if one theory is better than the other for career counseling or if they are both equally effective.

Gysbers (2003) proposes that the value of career theories comes from providing practitioners with a framework to examine client behaviour, help understand the possible meanings of or explanations for the behaviour and subsequently, enables them to identify and respond to clients’ goals or problems. Significantly then, such theories may help explain an individual’s vocational behaviour, such as their initial career choice or later aspects of career development. This essay attempts to identify the theoretical framework that will underpin my guidance practice in the future.

The career services professional supports the educational mission of a college by assisting students to develop, evaluate, and pursue career aspirations with the goal of securing employment. Career services professionals accomplish these goals with a range of programs, counseling and services designed to help students make the connection between the academic environment and the workplace.