CASE STUDY ANALYSIS 1

Case Study Analysis

Siti Nurfathini binti Muhammad Azrie (MP2212101T)

Faculty of Psychology and Education (FPP)

PK6333: Theory and Process of Career Counselling

MPC Section 9, Semester 1 2023/2024

Dr Tuan Norbalkish binti Tuan Abdullah

October 29, 2023

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Case Study Analysis

A case study regarding a real issue of one career counselling was obtained from the

International Journal of Adolescence and Youth which discusses on the case of a 14 years old girl

named Angie (pseudonym) who was in Grade 9 during the time of the study that is going for career

counselling to identify and decide on her subject choices in Grade 10 and her future career options.

She was referred by her parents as she was still at lost to decide on her future career. She stated that

she is an artistic person and is really passionate with arts. However, she was informed by many

other people that looking for a job in the art field is very challenging, thus, it is crucial to find a

field that will provide with a good job.

From the counselling session, she explains that her greatest strengths are dedication,

intelligent, artistic, conscientious, hardworking, obedient, kind, and always do her best in

everything that she does. From her teachers and close friends perspectives, she is described as a

person who is a little shy, well educated, displaying very rare artistic sensitivity, good at drawing,

and respectful. She also described her greatest values are service to others, artistic activities,

honesty, and loyalty.

Besides that, enquiry regarding her role models was obtained. She stated that her role

models are Emma Watson, Taylor Swift, and The two people who started the organisation 4ocean.

She explained that there are a few reasons regarding why these people became role models for her.

She looks up to Emma Watson as she has famous designs that made the world an eco-friendlier

place, as well as her strong desire to learn and to promote education. Besides that, she sees Taylor

Swift as a famous, hardworking, dedicated artist, and always trying to do the right thing. The two

people who started 4ocean was viewed by her as someone that are trying to show others that the sea

is very polluted and they helped to clean the sea as well as creating jobs for others.
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Angie stated that she has a “wall of art” at her home which is filled with her drawings and

favourite quotes which reflects her personality.

In the counselling session, the counsellor uses the Career Construction Theory, which

comprises of three theoretical approaches: trait-factor theory, Super’s career development theory,

and psychodynamic theory.

Application of Career Counselling Theories

One career counselling theory that would be suitable to be used in this case is Holland’s

Theory. Holland stated that career choice and career adjustment are an expression of one’s

personality (Sharf, 2014). He describes that people will search for environments that allow them to

exercise their skills and abilities when making career choices and its development process. People

will achieve satisfaction and stability when the working environment types highly match with their

personality. He specified on how an individual and their environment interact with each other by the

development of six types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional.

An individual and an environment commonly described by the most important, the second in

importance, and the third in importance of the six categories, which makes up the three-letter-codes

of the individual types. He developed the Holland’s Hexagon Model which comprises of the six

types. He introduced 5 key concepts to the model, which are consistency, differentiation, identity,

congruence, and calculus. This concepts are important for conceptualising and using Holland’s type

in counselling.

Based on the case study, Holland’s theory can be applied to identify the client’s three

strongest personality types, in order to provide her with a few options of career that she might find

it best fit her, thus, will help her in deciding on which subjects that she would need to take in Grade

10 in order for her to move towards her chosen career for the future. For instance, other than being
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passionate in arts, it was seen that she is also interested in serving the community, which may be

seen in those who interested in social. In depth exploration and interviewing will be crucial before

proceeding with the use of inventories. Afterwards, administering the Self-Directed Search (SDS) to

her would be helpful to identify her three-letter-codes of personality. Therefore, she would be able

to be aware of her overall personality and the possible options of career that she would be interested

in.

In the case where her personality types is still vague after the administration of SDS, further

exploration can be done and the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) will further help the client to

be able to see her true personality. It is important to clarify with the client regarding her thoughts

and feelings regarding the result of the inventories that she had taken in order to obtain in depth

understanding of the counsellor towards the client.

The counsellor will then works with the client to identify what career options that will be

aligned with her personality and provides her with the information of her chosen career. This

includes what skills and qualifications that would be needed in the career chosen. Thus, the client

will be able to identify what subjects that she would like to take in Grade 10 for her to be able to

pursue into the chosen career.

Strengths and Limitations of the Career Theory

The use of Holland’s theory will be beneficial to the client as it helps the client to be more

aware of their personality and as the client is not yet exposed to the working world, it is easier to

identify the three-letter-codes as they very genuine with their interest.

However, some limitations might be found when applying this theory. Firstly, it may not be

suitable and accurate for people from the other parts of the world, such as the Asia countries, as
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there will be difference in career perception among the different population and culture and some of

the career may not be available in these part of the world. Secondly, when applying the SDS and

VPI, there might be some outdated occupational choices and most of the newly emerging

occupation is not included in the inventories. Thus, a lack of exploration in the client’s case will

occurred. Next, the issue of the client’s and counsellor’s personality incongruence may arise as the

counsellor’s personality types might be an opposite of the client’s personality. For instance, most of

counsellors are of the Social personality type. When the client is of the opposite personality of

them, such as those who are primarily Realistic, they might be incongruent with the client.

References

Maree, J. G. (2021). Counselling for career construction for an artistic child with career

undecidedness: implications for early child development. International Journal of Adolescence

and Youth, 26(1), 432–448. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2021.1976236

Sharf, R. S. (2013). Applying career development theory to counselling (6th ed.). Cengage

Learning.