slides from Kelly and Pam's session

1. Helping students
move forward in their
decision making
Kelly Cumming & Pam Matharu
Careers and Employability Service
www.southampton.ac.uk/careers
careers@southampton.ac.uk
UoSCareersandEmployability
UoS_Careers

3. What is career guidance?

4. ‘Guidance is a process not a product, a
means not an end: at its heart is not
meeting people’s immediate wants, but
helping them to clarify their longer term
needs’ (Watts, 1999)
Watts A.G. (1999). Reshaping Career Development for the 21st Century. CRAC/NICEC
What is career guidance?

5. The Johari Window
Uncovering the Hidden Self
Psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham (1955)

6. The Dilemma
Students rarely understand the practicalities of and
reasoning behind many career guidance
methods/approaches (e.g. questioning). They
often seek a solution-focused approach.
Career theories are EVERYWHERE!!!!
• Krumboltz: Planned Happenstance
• Holland: Trait & Factor
• Super: Developmental
• Roberts: Opportunity Structure
• Law: Community Interaction
• Savickas: Career Construction Theory
…..to name a few!
Some careers adviser training does not
equip you with the knowledge and know-
how of ‘how’ to move students forward in
their thinking……
e.g. what series of actions or steps
should the student and I take in order
to help him/her achieve a particular end?
Students may:
• not have strong self-reflection abilities
• be shy or reserved
• be resistant to advice
• appear uncooperative/unengaged
• not have completed actions from
previous support session
How to help students
explore beyond their
representing wants/needs -
when they, themselves,
may not know what they
want or need.
May not have
capacity to offer
guidance as a
‘process’.
Limited career appointment
time (e.g. 30-45 minutes).
Hidden problems – are students
ready to make a decision about
their next steps?

7. How do you help students to exercise
introspection (the ability to be self-reflective
and recognize oneself as an individual separate
from the environment and other individuals)?
Discussion

9. Solution-focused is a future-focused, goal-
directed approach […] that highlights the
importance of searching for solutions
rather than focusing on problems
Trepper, T.S., Dolan, Y., McCollum, E.E.,& Nelson, T. (2006). Steve de Shazer and the future of solution-focused
therapy. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 32(2), 133–139. 2011).
Solution-focused approach

10. STEP 1 (during careers session):
• Support student to be self reflective and identify
their:
strengths/interests/preferences/values/personality
type – what is important to them in their decision
making?
Ways to do this (using tools) include……..
Solution-focused approach

11. The RIASEC Test (Personality Style Questionnaire):
• Based on John Holland’s theory of vocational personalities and
work environments
www.hawaiipublicschools.org/DOE%20Forms/CTE/RIASEC.pdf
RIASEC Test

12. Career Drivers Assessment:
www.crowe-associates.co.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2013/11/Career-Drivers-Assessment.pdf
Career Drivers Assessment

13. STEP 2 (during careers session - if have time):
• Briefly research and shortlist sector areas of
interest (www.prospects.ac.uk is a useful
resource for this)
• Number 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. in order of preference
and to think ‘why’
Solution-focused approach

14. STEP 3 (in student’s own time):
• Encourage to research and shortlist
jobs/occupations of interest detailed within
the sector areas (again, www.prospects.ac.uk
is a useful resource for this).
• Encourage students to bring results to a
follow-up career appointment.
Solution-focused approach

15. NGO /
CHARITY WORK
PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
PUBLIC AFFAIRS /
CIVIL SERVICE
Stability &
Work/life balance
2 5 7
Helping People 9 4 8
Strengths 7 9 8
Salary 7 9 7
Interest 8 6 9
Enjoyment 9 6 8
TOTAL 42 39 47
Solution-focused approach
Tool: Conscious Reasoning Grid
• Rating out of 10
• Use other tools/resources alongside to aid thinking (such as www.prospects.ac.uk/job-
profiles)
• Ask open questions – why that rating? Why not higher or lower? This could uncover
further thinking/research/actions for the student to carry out.

16. Summary & Further Reading…….

17. Any Questions?