Career Counseling in Japan: Today and in the Future

The number of young people who postpone their career decision is increasing in Japan, as is the high unemployment rate. In companies, on the other hand, the traditional seniority system and lifetime employment, which once provided job security for corporate employees, began to collapse. Employees' work ethics and corporate attitudes toward workers have also changed. Under such circumstances, career counseling is the focus of public attention. In this article written in 1999, the author examines some problems in Japan's career counseling, compared with career counseling in the U.S., and discusses which course Japan's career counseling should take to cope with dramatic social changes.     

Career Counseling From the Counselee Perspective: Analysis of Feedback Questionnaires

The effectiveness of career counseling as perceived by counselees was measured using evaluation questionnaires. The results showed that 75% of the respondents rated the career counseling they received as satisfactory. A systematic difference was found between satisfaction with counseling as a result of the enhancement of the counselees' personal understanding and satisfaction as a result of the assistance they perceived in decision making. Respondents were more positive concerning their gains in self-understanding than about the help they felt they were given in arriving at a career decision. On the average, counselees rated discussions with the counselor as more important in counseling than were objective tests, interest inventories or vocational information. Respondents who reported that counseling helped them in both their personal and career problems were more satisfied than those who reported being helped solely in either their personal problems or their career decisions. The theoretical and practical implications of these results for career counseling are discussed.     

Integrating Existentialism and Super's Life‐Span,Life‐Space Approach

As workers face a changing and ever‐complex employment landscape, traditional career theories and approaches may not be sufficient in meeting career challenges. Calls for integrated career theories have emerged as more people seek meaning and purpose in their lives and careers. This article proposes a career counseling option that integrates existentialism and Super's (1990) life‐span, life‐space approach to establish a foundation for a broader approach to career development that views clients holistically by exploring life and career meaning and purpose from a developmental perspective. A case example and interventions are provided to demonstrate practical application and a contextual framework, along with implications for counselors.     

The Evolution of Career Guidance and Counseling in the People's Republic of China

Although China has a long history of vocational guidance, it is functionally at a beginning stage in career development and counseling because of the historical vagaries of its political leadership. Vocational guidance and career counseling services, as a professional field, are now rapidly being developed to meet the growing need of Chinese society. M. Pope's (1995, 2000) social transitions stage model is applied to the development of career counseling in China. In particular, this article addresses historic and current trends in the economy and labor market in China and their profound impact on the development of career counseling.     

Multicultural Career Counseling: A National Survey of Competencies and Practices

Career counselors' multicultural competence has not been widely investigated. In this study, a national sample of 230 career counselors completed an online survey that included measures of career counseling self‐efficacy and multicultural counseling competence. Beyond these self‐report instruments, counselors responded to open‐ended items that requested specific examples of their actual multicultural counseling practices. Results indicated that counselors rated themselves as multi‐culturally competent, but those ratings were more closely linked to general career counseling self‐efficacy than to external evaluations of their self‐reported multicultural counseling practices. Findings also reinforced the importance of training and experience in developing multicultural competence.     

Multicultural Career Counseling: Theoretical Applications of the Systems Theory Framework

Increasing recognition of cultural influences on career development requires expanded theoretical and practical perspectives. Theories of career development need to explicate views of culture and provide direction for career counseling with clients who are culturally diverse. The Systems Theory Framework (STF) is a theoretical foundation that accounts for systems of influence on people's career development, including individual, social, and environmental/societal contexts. The discussion provides a rationale for systemic approaches in multicultural career counseling and introduces the central theoretical tenets of the STF. Through applications of the STF, career counselors are challenged to expand their roles and levels of intervention in multicultural career counseling.     

Future of Work in the Digital World: Preparing for Instability and Opportunity

Despite conflicting forecasts about the pace and extent of technological changes that lie ahead, it is difficult to dispute the impact that advances in automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence have already had on work in the United States and globally. Hirschi ( 2018 ) provided an excellent discussion of these developments and what they may mean for career clients, practitioners, and researchers. The author aims to complement Hirschi's contribution by (a) amplifying the nature of the challenges faced by workers, both currently and in the foreseeable future, and (b) considering steps that may be taken by career development experts, both individually and collectively, to meet these challenges. These steps include advocacy for displaced workers, participation in dialogues to transform educational institutions, and efforts to extend the range of counseling interventions to prepare clients for a career future that may be far less stable for increasing numbers of workers.     

The Next Decade in Career Counseling: Cocoon Maintenance or Metamorphosis?

The authors, using a cocoon maintenance or metamorphosis metaphor, articulate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and future vision for career counseling. Major strengths in career counseling include the growth and development of career theory, research, and practice. Weaknesses are identified in terms of career counseling practices that maintain localized career standards. Opportunities exist for the profession to assist clients in redefining their careers on the basis of ownership and life stories. The continued devaluation of career counseling in counselor education programs is seen as a threat. The authors conclude with their vision for the future for the discipline and profession of career counseling.     

Integrating Sexual Orientation in Career Counseling: Acting to End a Form of the Personal-Career Dichotomy

Ignoring sexual orientation in career counseling practice is presented as a specific case of failing to integrate an aspect of the personal dimension into career counseling. Three case examples illustrate specific actions that career counselors must take to integrate this important aspect of the personal dimension into career counseling. The actions suggested involve three general areas: (a) signaling lesbian and gay affirmation in career counseling practice, (b) enhancing the development of a positive gay or lesbian identity in the context of career development work, and (c) recognizing and integrating the reality of anti-gay stigma in career counseling.     

From Colonialism to Ultranationalism: History and Development of Career Counseling in Malaysia

This article documents the development of career counseling in Malaysia from 1957—when the British colonizers departed—to 2000. Although counseling, psychology, and psychiatry had their roots in mental health and medical environments, career counseling had its origins in the system of schooling and has now spread widely to business and industry. This article presents information on the historic and economic context of the development of career counseling, an exploration of the educational system from which career counseling was born, the cultural elements that have formed career counseling in the Malaysian context, and the application of M. Pope's (1995, 2000) stage development model to the development of career counseling in the Malaysian context.     

Internationalizing Career Counseling: Emptying Our Cups and Learning From Each Other

The symposium International Perspectives on Career Development included a plenary session that addressed career counseling in a world of limited resources. Panelists representing diverse areas of the world shared their perspectives on career counseling in their countries and the specific problems they faced. They identified common concerns and prospects for the future of cross‐national career counseling in 3 domains: (a) counselor training and human resources, (b) career service delivery practices, and (c) resources and sources of support. Harnessing the energy and capital of the global career counseling community will better equip career development professionals to deal with existing limitations and realize the common goal of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the National Career Development Association to internationalize career counseling.     

Creative Use of the Career Construction Interview

Designed as part of an individual career construction and life design counseling intervention, the Career Construction Interview (CCI) and My Career Story (MCS) workbook aid career counselors and other career service providers in helping clients construct, deconstruct, and reauthor their career stories. Recently, some career counselors have developed ways of using the CCI and the MCS in group settings. In this article, the author offers 3 additional ways to use the CCI and, thereby, add creativity to the career counseling process. These 3 ways include use of written exercises, career collages, and career portfolios. The article concludes with a call for career practitioners to continue to think creatively in using the CCI with clients.     

Evaluating DISCOVER's Effectiveness in Enhancing College Students' Social Cognitive Career Development

College students (20 women, 14 men) seeking career counseling services at a university career center participated in this exploratory investigation. A 2 (DISCOVER treatment) × 2 (counseling treatment) research design was used to evaluate the individual and combined effects of DISCOVER (ACT, 1998) and counseling on participants' career decision‐making self‐efficacy and career decision‐making attributional style. Findings revealed a significant effect of the use of DISCOVER on participants' career decision‐making self‐efficacy and their sense of control over the career decision‐making process. Results are discussed regarding the implications for career counseling and ideas for further research in this domain.     

Career Counseling With Clients Who Have a Severe Mental Illness

Individuals who are diagnosed with a serious mental illness encounter a variety of barriers that can impede their career development. In this article, the career barriers of clients who have a severe mental illness are reviewed, and a developmental approach to career counseling with this population is described. A case example is provided to illustrate the complex process of developmental career counseling with people who are seriously impaired by a psychiatric illness.     

Dilemmatic Constructions of Career in the Career Counseling Interview

Thirty career counseling interviews were recorded and inductively analyzed using a discourse analytic method. Findings indicate that clients in this setting present various dilemmatic themes of career in their talk. Three types of dilemmas were pervasive: uncertainty versus certainty, interests versus practical, and focus versus options. The findings suggest that career theorists and practitioners might find it useful to address the dilemmatic processes evident in “career talk.”     

Career Counseling Practicum: Transformations in Conceptualizing Career Issues

The authors describe how their participation in a doctoral-level career counseling practicum has influenced their perceptions of the relationship between career and personal counseling, attitudes toward career services, and career interventions skills.     

Identification and Integration of Career Theory: Students’ Perspectives on the Process

In many counseling programs, while students are learning about career theory, they may be tasked in a separate course with identifying a theoretical approach to counseling. This may result in a dichotomous situation in which students lack an understanding of the relationship between career theory and counseling theory. Career counselors have long recognized the artificial distinction between career counseling and general counseling. However, counselor education programs generally lag, and there is a dearth of literature regarding the process of identifying and integrating career theory and counseling theory. This phenomenological study examined 6 students’ perceptions of the process of career theory identification and integration. Analysis of in‐depth interviews yielded 5 major themes: theory identification and integration, perceptions of career counseling, resources, personal dimensions, and application across the life span. Findings of this study have the potential to inform counselor education pedagogy regarding career theory identification and its application to the counseling context.     

Career Counselors Confront a Critical Crossroad: A Vision of the Future

The current challenges confronting career counselors require increased discourse regarding career counseling models. Some authors have initiated this discourse, but more participants are needed. The need also exists to communicate more aggressively the special expertise that career counselors bring to their work. As career counselors construct contemporary intervention models, they will need to engage in action research to demonstrate accountability and to document that their services are effective. Career counselors can embrace these activities by building on past practices to construct a vision for the future.     

Annual Review: Practice and Research in Career Counseling and Development, 1988

This review of the 1988 literature on career development and counseling addresses career development theories and their application, career intervention, career exploration motives and constraints, and problems in career decision making. Emphasis was given to conceptual contributions that offered new perspectives on career choice and development, research reports that stated specific implications for practice, and articles that described counseling methods or other career services.