Using Career Theories to Help Clients Holland’s Theory

1. Using Career Theories to Help ClientsHolland’s Theory Ria E. Baker, Ph.D., LPC-S

2. Theory of John L. Holland • Some attention to heredity, environment, influence on career choices • Emphasis on the factors that impact choices at a given point in time • Counselor is focused on the “now” • Some interest in past work history

3. Holland’s theory • The personalities of individuals can be described as a combination of six types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. • Environments can be described as a combination of the same six types. • Persons of a given type are attracted by environments of the same or a similar type. • Placing oneself in an environment of the same type, or one very similar to one’s own, contributes significantly to the potential for an individual’s satisfaction, persistence, and contribution in that environment.

4. The six types (Holland, 1997) • Realistic (R) • Investigative (I) • Artistic (A) • Social (S) • Enterprising (E) • Conventional (C)

5. Individual’s type assessed • Administration of Holland’s Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1994) or Vocational Preference Inventory (Holland, 1985) • Administration of instruments by other authors who use the Holland typology (p. 13) • Informal assessment • Analysis of past jobs held for which client has interests and skills.

6. The Holland code of a specific occupation • The Self-Directed Search • The Vocational Preference Inventory • Position Classification Inventory • http://online.onetcenter.org

7. The shape of an individual’s profile • Profiles of the client’s interest and self-perceived skills on the six types have differing levels of differentiation. • Differentiation: the numerical difference between the lowest and the highest scores for the six types. • See page 13 - 15

8. Counseling goals • Determine client’s present code and its characteristics • Using the Educational Opportunities Finder, find programs of study that match or are highly similar to the client’s code • Using Occupational Finder, the Dictionary of Holland Occupational Titles, or the O*Net database, find occupations or jobs that match or are highly similar to the client’s code • Using the Leisure Activities Finder, find the leisure activities that match or are highly similar to the client’s code. • Assist the client to gain information about the identified options. • See example on page 18 -19

9. Assignment • Explore the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG) website and write a half a page description of what information you gained from it. http://www.iaevg.org/iaevg/nav.cfm?lang=2&menu=1&submenu=1 • Explore the O*Net site. Provide a half a page description of what the site has to offer. • Choose an article from the list (see syllabus) and prepare a one-page summary of the article. Prepare to present it to the class.

10. Theory of Donald E. Super Focused on: • Length and breadth of career development • Sequential life stages and developmental tasks relevant to career development • Life-Career Rainbow – includes activities in all interacting life roles as part of his definition of career • Self-concept influences career choices

11. Super’s theory • Career is influenced and mediated by one’s self-concept • Continues to develop throughout the entire life span • Selection of an occupation is an implementation of one’s self-concept, which includes an understanding of their interests, abilities, and values. • Five distinct life stages: growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance (increasing portion of the population shifting to different employers or occupations) • Making effective career choices requires specific knowledge and completing appropriate tasks • Definition of career: a combination of all of the activities that take place in life roles being played by an individual at a given point in time. • Depicted in Super’s Career Rainbow • Conditions of the environment are also strong influences.

12. Counseling goals • Identifying the level of career maturity and attempting to reduce deficits found in possession of needed attitudes, skills, knowledge, and accomplishment of career development tasks • Analysis of self-concept and strengthening it through assessment and counseling, if appropriate • Understanding that a career is a combination of interacting life roles and assistance with selecting those roles and defining their dimensions in order to achieve balance in life. • Identifying interests, abilities, and values and distributing them across life roles.

13. Assignment Go to Vocopher, http://www.vocopher.com/register.cfm , use the registration access code: amsa.  Each student/client must complete the registration process. • After you register with Vocopher, find a “client” (class mate, friend or family member) and complete two of the following assessments; use one to assess yourself and one with this individual: • Adult Career Concerns Inventory • Career Development Inventory (High School Form) • Career Development Inventory (College Form) • Career Mastery Inventory • Career Maturity Inventory • Turn in a description of the experience and results of assessments by next class ( 2-3 pages).