No one has been writing best-selling career-advice books longer than Richard Bolles, author of the "What Color Is Your Parachute" series. (1975 was the only skipped year since the series was launched in 1970.)
Sheila is a claims processor at a major automotive company. Due to recent declines in the economy, she has recently been given notice that her position will terminate in two weeks. A despondent Sheila makes an appointment with the career consultant employed to assist with terminated workers. Upon hearing Sheila's story it might not surprise you to hear that the counselor plans to consult various websites during her work with Sheila. As professional career counselors, we are practiced at using career-based websites to assist clients with finding resources for taking interest inventories, engaging in job searches, finding occupational information, and creating resumes. However, Sheila's counselor is not looking at these types of websites. There are other beneficial websites that may not be as apparent or as frequently used. There are many websites that have information on career development theories that may be useful to counselors who are working to resolve the dilemmas of their clients. Below are several websites on the theories of cognitive, sociological, trait-factor, and on diversity issues that Sheila's counselor, and many of you, may find useful.
Career counseling courses have been perceived as plain and theory-based learning by many counseling students. The opportunities for learning should not be limited to lecture and textbooks. Readers who are interested in developing a creative curriculum for your career counseling course may find this article inspiring.
Many creative children are taught from a very young age that there is no real place for them to shine. From a young age, these children are trying to learn skills to which their talents are not applicable. As a result, these adolescents are frequently unable to create a satisfying future career. Career counselors are in a position to effect significant change in the lives of creative adolescents but often lack the understanding of this population that would make their interventions more effective.
If you're one of the many people struggling to find a job, you're not alone. Discover the factors that could be impacting your job search and learn how to optimize your approach for better results.