Cherry Ann DL.

de Vera
 Career Guidance and
Counseling
THEORIES OF
CONTENT AND
PROCESS

©Cherry Ann
 Self-
Directed
Search

Contextual
Career
Development
THEORIES
OF CONTENT
Theory of AND Learning
Work Theory of
Adjustment PROCESS Career
Counseling

Composite Occupational
Theory Choice
Personality Theory
Theory of
Career
Choice
©Cherry Ann
 Self-
Directed
Search

Contextual
Career
Development
THEORIES
OF CONTENT
Theory of AND Learning
Work Theory of
Adjustment PROCESS Career
Counseling

Composite Occupational
Theory Choice
Personality Theory
Theory of
Career
Choice
©Cherry Ann
Learning Theory of Career Counseling

• Individuals make career decisions based on

their experiences and encounters with
people, institutions, and events in their
environment.

FOUR MAIN
FACTORS
INFLUENCED
CAREER
DECISIONS
[GELT]
L
©Cherry Ann
Learning Theory of Career Counseling

• Consequences of learning experiences

greatly influence career planning and
behavior [Self-Observation Generalizations]

• Factors that are helpful in career

management:
o commitment to ongoing learning and skill
development,
o ongoing self-assessment,
o assessment and feedback from others,
o effective networking,
o achieving work-life balance, and
o financial planning to incorporate periods
of unemployment.

©Cherry Ann
Occupational Choice Theory

• Accepted Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

[basic needs motivate us and applied it to Occupation
the concept of occupational choice

• Occupation is a powerful source of

individual satisfaction at all levels of needs.

• Social and economic status depends more

on the occupation of an individual than
upon anything else.

• Childhood experiences affect our interests

and parental behavior influences our
occupation and personality.

childhood experiences parental behavior

©Cherry Ann
Occupational Choice Theory Occupations
Classified
[Two Categories]

Three Types
of Parental
Behavior
OCCUPATIONAL
CHOICE THEORY

Six
Two Basic classifications
Operations

©Cherry Ann
Personality Theory of Career Choice
Acceptable Expressions of Desire
[Work]

• Person's choice of career is influenced by

their ego-defense mechanism, specifically
sublimation.

• Ego-defense mechanisms play a vital role in

vocational choice; Work serves as a way to
express typically unsociable desires.

• Sublimation-process of expressing an
unacceptable need in a socially acceptable
way.

• Desires are channeled into work to express

in socially acceptable ways.

Unconscious Desires
[Sublimation]

©Cherry Ann
Composite Theory

• Function of the Job is to satisfy personal

needs.
Personal Needs
• Individuals change their occupational choice
as they become aware of jobs that can meet
their needs.

• Degree of job satisfaction can be measured

by comparing emotional wants to actual
achievements.

©Cherry Ann
Theory of Work Adjustment

• Relationship between individuals and their

work environment, emphasizing the
importance of correspondence between
the two.

• Work Adjustment-process of achieving •

and maintaining this correspondence, which •
•
•

leads to job tenure and job satisfaction. • • •

•
•
• To find the best job placement, it is •
important to match the worker's traits • •
•
with the requirements of the work •
environment.

©Cherry Ann
Contextual Career Development Theory

• People choose their careers based on what

is meaningful to them.

• Individuals have their own unique paths to

career success.

• Action Contextualism understanding the

meaning behind actions (Existential).

©Cherry Ann
Constructivist Theory

• How people manage their careers

throughout their lives while staying true
to their sense of self and identity.
• Three perspectives:
• Differential
• Developmental
• Dynamic
• Past experiences influenced present
choices and helped shape future
aspirations and establish Life themes.

• Life themes-response templates that can

be either helpful or harmful.

• Vocational Personality-collective abilities,

interests, needs, and values at a particular
time.
©Cherry Ann
Constructivist Theory

• Career Adaptation-ultimate expression of

Career Construction;

• Career-Adaptive (healthy) Individual:

1. Concerned about their Vocational Future;
2. Increasing Personal control over his
vocational future;
3. Displaying curiosity in exploring the self
through life transitions and;
4. Strengthened by confidence to pursue
one’s aspiration.
• Career Style Interview -main assessment
tool; set of standardized interview questions
that reveal the person’s themes,
Five Behaviors
vocational personality, and career [Career Adaptation]
adaptability.

©Cherry Ann
Constructivist Theory

Orientation: Management:
• •

• •
•
•

Exploration:
• Disengagement:
•
• •
• •

Establishment:
• Career Adaptability Behaviors,
• Approach Career Decision-Making[how], and
Transitions
•
Reference:
Savickas, M. L., & Porfeli, E. J. (2012). Career Adapt-Abilities Scale: Construction, reliability, and
measurement equivalence across 13 countries. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80(3), 661-673.
©Cherry Ann
 Self-
Directed
Career Guidance and
Search
Counseling

Contextual
Career
Development
THEORIES
OF CONTENT
Theory of AND Learning
Work Theory of
Adjustment PROCESS Career
Counseling

Composite Occupational
Theory Choice
Personality Theory
Theory of
Career
Choice
©Cherry Ann
 Words to
Ponder

©Cherry Ann
Thank you!

Questions
Cherry Ann DL. de Vera