Broadening Career Horizons for Students in At-Risk Environments

Researchers and practitioners embarked on a collaborative venture to develop, implement, and evaluate a career intervention program for 7th grade students who were at-risk for vocational underachievement. Students participating in the Career Horizons Program demonstrated enhanced confidence in performing tasks related to investigating, selecting, and implementing a career choice. They also considered a greater number of careers and selected those that were congruent with their interests. No change was found in confidence regarding degree of self-knowledge. Suggestions are provided for improving on the development and evaluation of career exploration programs to enhance career self-efficacy and broaden the career horizons of students in at-risk environments.     

Perceived Career Barriers and Career Decidedness of First-Generation College Students

We examined the effects of perceived career barriers on career decidedness among first-generation college (FGC) students (n = 149) and non-FGC students (n = 182) at a 4-year university (mean age = 19.3 years). Participants responded online to measures of perceived career barriers and career decidedness. Results indicated that FGC students scored higher on lack of support and lack of time and financial resources than non-FGC students. For both groups, higher levels of perceived lack of skills were related to lower levels of career decidedness, whereas greater levels of family-related responsibilities predicted higher levels of career decidedness. FGC student status moderated the association between perceived lack of time/financial resources and career decidedness. Further research is needed to investigate the differential effects of various domains of career barriers. Career counselors are advised to consider FGC students' perceived career barriers in guiding students' career exploration and decision-making.     

Career Development Profiles and Interventions for Underrepresented College Students

The study interpreted scores from career development and role salience measures for 4 groups of underrepresented, at-risk college students to suggest potentially useful career interventions for each group. Each group's scores required a distinctive interpretation, and the 4 interpretations suggested some common and some distinctive interventions. Because the recommendations obtained from the career measures coincided with recommended interventions for underrepresented, at-risk students in the literature, the results support further study of the utility of career maturity measures with such populations.     

Sexual Orientation as a Factor in Career Development

As I reviewed the available case information on Allan, the concept of career development shaped my impressions of the client. “Career development is, for most people, a lifelong process of getting ready to choose, choosing, and typically, continuing to make choices from among the many occupations available in our society. Each person undertaking this process is influenced by a great number of factors, including family, personal values and aptitudes, and societal context” (Brown, Brooks, & Associates, 1990, p. xvii). As this statement suggests, career development is a holistic approach to counseling individuals. Each “factor” represents a piece of the puzzle that guides the individual through the process. Life-style issues (i.e., family, leisure, sexual orientation, personal values, societal context), as well as interests, work values, and skills are tightly interwoven within an individual's major or career choice.     

Suggestions for Training Students in Using the Internet for Career Counseling

The Internet is increasingly important for career counseling; however, there are few suggestions for training graduate counseling students how to use this technology. This project sought to address that lack by having graduate counseling students use a structured interview with undergraduate volunteer clients to assess which needs could be met using the Internet. Graduate students then identified relevant Web sites and explored these in a meeting with the volunteer clients. Results of class surveys indicated that participants encountered few obstacles using the Internet and perceived this intervention to be useful. Implications for training graduate students in using the Internet for career counseling are discussed.