Instructor's Manual Spencer G. Niles and JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey Career Development Interventions Sixth Edition

Chapter 1 Introduction to Career Development Interventions
This chapter introduces students to the importance of career development interventions in
the 21st century to help individuals adapt to complex career concerns of today’s workers.
Competent career practitioners must possess the knowledge and skills required for
providing effective career assistance that encompasses and transcends those required
for general counseling. Preparing students to address career counseling needs with their
clients means helping them see the connections between mental health, wellness, and
career. Career counseling is not limited to administering and interpreting occupational
assessments but is inextricably tied to counseling through which clients can more clearly
articulate their identity and what matters to them. Career counselors and practitioners
seek to empower people to derive meaning from their life experiences and to translate
that meaning into rewarding occupational choices. Specifically, this chapter (1) describes
the current context for making career choices, (2) traces the meaning of work across time,
(3) highlights the link between work and worth, (4) provides an overview of systematic
career development intervention while defining specific career-related terms, (5)
highlights important events in the history of career development competencies and
performance indicators, and (6) discusses future trends in career development
interventions.
Expected Learning Outcomes
• 1.1: Understand how the meaning of work evolves over time.
• 1.2: Learn key career development terms.
• 1.3: Learn about key historical events in the history of career development
interventions.
• 1.4: Identify future trends in career development interventions.
• 1.5: Identify ways career development interventions will evolve to address trends in the
field.
Introduction
• The conditions of these years of the 21st century—globalization, the COVID-19
pandemic, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the unprecedented unemployment rate,
the high rate of underemployment, and racial unrest—set the context for career
choice and development.
• These factors and others provide evidence that everyone needs assistance with
career choice/development at some time in their life, as has been acknowledged by
the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) and documented by surveys of
the population.
• Unfortunately, despite the positive evidence that engagement in career exploration
and planning has positive effects on school motivation and learning, many
counselors view career counseling as “less than,” perhaps “easier than,” providing
help in other areas.