The Effect of Early Career Counseling on Career Satisfaction, Research Paper Example

Career Counseling as it is, is designed to assist an individual on the basis of various tests and surveys, in finding the suitable career path as well as figuring out the types of jobs this individual will most likely succeed in. Effective career counseling may help an individual to start preparing him- or herself for taking up a career while still being a student of some educational institution. Moreover, effective career counseling makes an individual aware of the numerous career choices and helps an individual to better understand his- or her own suitability in various fields. As a result, an individual is knowledgeable of the existing alternatives and has all the necessary information to make the right choice for oneself. The aim of this study, however, is to determine what kind of career counseling programs are available to students, and whether career counseling results in the increase of students’ job satisfaction.

Before making any judgments or identifying any thesis on the topic of the effect of early career counseling on career satisfaction, it is important to study the field of students’ career counseling itself. Not only will this bring up the main concepts of the above subject, but also will enable to identify the guidelines that allow giving answers to such questions as the appropriate career counseling timing and an effect on the level of the gained job satisfaction. The effort behind the above statement is to consider such variables as motivation, career decision making, effectiveness and need for career counseling programs as effective tools in the process of distinguishing the level of career satisfaction in regards to early career counseling.

Researchers Scheel and Gonzalez (2007) acknowledge that within the school counseling profession there is a growing expectation that counselors affect a positive influence on the academic performance of their students.  Counselors are tasked in doing so via personal, social and career counseling.  As a result of this awareness, Scheel and Gonzalez attempted to determine the specific attributes of school counseling that might be responsible for students improving academically. Specifically, the researchers attempted to develop a model of academic motivation they felt would be effective when applied to school counseling procedures. According to Scheel and Gonzalez, “a) degree of self-efficacy regarding schoolwork, b) purposefulness and intentionality, and c) support and encouragement through school counseling for autonomous learning” are three key elements, which are used in self-determination and social learning theories. Researchers concluded that the results of the study supported self-efficacy as a focus to increase both academic motivation and students’ level of involvement in school counseling (2007).  Most crucial to students initiating seeking help from the school counselors was the perception that there were fewer roadblocks to their future goals. This result alone, only serves to further validate the need for counselors to focus on a given student’s self concept.

As a conclusion from the study described above, it can be projected that if school counseling aids in students’ academic improvement, so can early student’s career counseling aid in getting acquainted with individual characters, personality preferences and motivational factors. There is a high potentiality that such early awareness may help to omit certain hardships and result in increased job satisfaction. A sample of 174 males and 172 females, all of which were 11^th graders, was taken in order to identify the strongest motivator for high school students in career counseling and find the relationship between career counseling and future career satisfaction. ASES, MVS, FAMS, and SCIS scales were developed to evaluate efficacy expectancy beliefs, vocational identity, motivating academic factors, and the vies on the future use of career counseling among students respectively. Results have shown that the most crucial motivator for participation in career counseling tests among students was awareness of the fact that this procedure might remove some possible threats of future career success. Secondly, the more students were interested in studying and learning professional courses, the more they suggested that curriculum should be individualized to satisfy the needs of particular students, not the class in general (Scheel 2007).

When going back to the acknowledgement that school counseling has the means of influencing students’ academic performance, another study becomes useful. It brings up different variables, which students find the most motivating in reaching academic excellence. Van Etten, Pressley, McInerney & Liem, (2008) employed an inductive/qualitative approach to understand those variables, which may affect academic motivation for college seniors. A sample of 91 college seniors was used to evaluate the effect of different variables on rising interest in academic performance. Essentially the technique is process of questions generated (open ended) and responses reviewed until there are no longer any informational gaps. The results of this study showed seniors did indicate that earning good grades and the goal of graduation was of their primary concern during their senior year.  Additional variables that affected their motivation were grouped into two categories: internal and external factors.  Internal factors included students’ personal characteristics such as social class. In fact, the lower is social class of the person; the lower he/she is interested in the development of academic excellence. The external category included social factors such as course related characteristics, which included class size, smaller class size promoting motivation and larger decreasing motivation.  Other social factors indicated affecting motivation were instructors, family members, peers and the general college environment.  The most interesting result of the study was that seniors indicated neither overly neither easy nor overly difficult tasks were motivating but rather that moderately difficult tasks were most engaging. Therefore, too complicated course material or simply difficult subjects decrease the level of interest among students on the short run. Considering the results maintained by Van Etten, Pressley, McInerney, and Liem, writer supposes that such career counseling techniques are useful not only for school counselors, but also to career counselors working with students. Moreover, those motivation factors must be considered in order to encourage students in mutual participation in the search for future goals and objectives (Van Etten, Pressley, McInerney & Liem, 2008).

When answering the questions about career counseling programs for students, their availability and utilization, one should acknowledge that in efforts to better understand how to conduct career counseling programs in grades schools, many studies have been developed. The Social Cognitive Career Development Theory (SCCT) was used by researchers Tang, Pan and Newmeyer (2008) for their study which examined the career development processes of high school students.  The researchers wanted to learn of any gender differences in the factors related to the SCCT model for the high school population and further to confirm if the model was appropriate to explain the career development process for this population. The participants in the study were 141 high school students from a Midwest, suburban public school. Each student was provided a demographic questionnaire which addressed age, gender, ethnicity, grade and their parents’ vocations and education. Students were also asked questions about school experience with a focus on career guidance and finally, the students were asked questions about activities with family that related to careers and their exploration. Structural Equation Modeling (SMS) was used to review the data in order to determine whether SCCT was the appropriate model for explaining students’ career aspirations. The questions about career exploration were “factor analyzed” and the scores were summed and used to represent the “learning experience” variable. Researchers concluded that interrelationships amongst the SCCT model factors were different for the genders. What was learned in this study was that boys differed from girls in that they were more interested in choosing careers related to data or things whereas girls were interested in work involving people and ideas.  Additionally, girls were more interested in internal outcome expectations (helping others). As far as the writer can judge, results such as the above are, demonstrate the need to take into account gender differences in the context of career counseling program design. Secondly, the results of this test were similar to the research conducted by Scheel and Gonzalez. In fact, this questionnaire has also shown that the higher is the score of the students, the higher is their interest.

Another study conducted by researchers Blanton and Larrabee (1999) examined the impact of counselors’ conducting planned experiential career learning activities on high school students. A qualitative study was conducted in three geographic regions of the US and the data was collected by focus-group interviews, individual interviews and document reviews from a purposive sample of respondents.  The techniques employed to evaluate the data included purposive sampling, individual/group interview techniques, peer debriefing, constant data comparison, content analysis and member checks. As a result, students, exposed to planned experiential career learning activities, were able to recognize that their current school activities related to their careers and that their courses offered options for future work.  These students also felt that high school marked the beginning of their careers while also preparing them for future educational interests. On the other hand, students, who did not participate in above activities, were of the opposite opinion. . They felt that jobs were hard to find, and that decisions regarding careers need to be postponed until the right career presents itself. Results demonstrated that the employment agency clients of the ICDM trained counselors were assisted through thorough personal planning with an emphasis on experiential activities which aided client reflection in processing the new information.  In fact, in all three regions, experiential learning was emphasized. Consequently, the researchers concluded that counselors who implemented their programs with an emphasis on clients personally processing their experience most likely would succeed in aiding clients in decision making and developing their confidence in moving towards positive career outcomes.

Germeijs and Verschueren (2007) studied the outcomes of Belgian high school student’s career decisions and subsequent steps taken to implement their choice during their first year in higher education.  The following decisional career tasks were taken as the guidelines to conduct the study: orientation to choice, self-exploration, and broad exploration of the environment, in-depth exploration of the environment, decisional status, and commitment. Germijs and Verschueren suggested that if students were given and subsequently coped with the above decisional career tasks, it would positively affect the students’ actualization of their choice in higher education, their commitment to their study during the first trimester in higher education and the students’ academic adjustment during the first trimester in higher education. Seven hundred forty eight students from twenty five different high schools participated in the study. The data was used to determine the effect of decisional tasks on choice actualization and to determine if choice actualization in turn predicts achievement. The results were significant for students who had a higher decisional status and degree of commitment with regard to actualizing their choice. Students who considered only one study had a higher score for commitment in higher education than the students who had more than once choice of study at the end of Grade 12. The results were significant indicating that students demonstrated a higher ability to cope with the demands of higher education when higher levels of decisional status and commitment were reflected.

The researchers concluded that the career decision making process has an important influence on the implementation of choice. One can also point out that, according to Germijs and Verschueren study, there is a significant effect on commitment to one’s career choice when students participate in detailed information gathering of an abbreviated list of career alternatives.

In order for career counseling to be effective and beneficial, one should consider skills needed to make career decisions. Researchers Krauss & Hughey (1999) conducted a study to examine the effects of coursework designed specifically to educate high school students so that they might improve those skills. Specifically the goal of the researchers was to determine if the coursework was effective in improving the students’ career decision making self-efficacy and if subsequent improvements could be maintained after the students’ were finished with their coursework for a period of four weeks. The researchers also wanted to determine if the students’ indecision scores would be lowered as a result of the coursework and if the lower scores were also maintained for the four weeks following the completion of the course work.  Lastly, the researchers were interested in examining if any gender related differences revealed themselves in order to determine if gender need be considered within the context of curriculum development in the future. While no significant results were reported to support that the coursework greatly increased the students career-decision making self-efficacy, improvements were demonstrated suggesting that perhaps more frequent and earlier interventions might be helpful for students.  The significant gender differences demonstrated in the study underscore the need to consider gender when developing course curriculum, just like Tang, Pan and Newmeyer point out gender consideration in designing career counseling programs.

As some scientist still argue the effectiveness of career counseling test, a lot of tests are held both to support and to oppose this idea. For instance, Janet Greenwood has conducted a research to evaluate the efficacy of career counseling in 2008. Scientist has constructed Career Decision Making Model (CDMM), which is based on four distinct principles, such as interests, personality, aptitude and values (Greenwood 2008). Greenwood used a survey of thirty two questions to determine whether her clients were satisfied with the career they have chosen. A sample of 78 participants was chosen among larger population of the clients of the psychologist. Those people who were familiar with career counseling tests were identified as “hits”, those who did not participate in these tests were identified as “misses”. Using the results of t test for independent means, scientist has found the significance in what participants thought about their career. In fact, results indicated that 66 or 84.6% of the participants indicated that the program met their needs and for the twelve whose needs were not met, only two were in the hits group. Moreover, 94.9 % of the respondents answered they would certainly recommend career-counseling tests to their friends and relatives.

Trying to find out how exactly school counselors may help high school students maintain their post high school educational plans, researchers Gibbons, Borders, Wiles, Stephan & Davis conducted a survey of ninth graders in 2006. A sample of 222 participants in 117 school districts of North Carolina, 67 % of which were female, was used in order to answer a list of 101 career addressing questions. Their parents also participated in this research and answered seven questions about possible variances that might restrict further education and future career growth of their children. Chi squares and one-way ANOVAs were used to determine the difference in ethnicity, gender and parent education group.

The results have shown that most of the students were planning to continue their education in college. Most of them have already discussed their future education plans with parents and have not participated in any career counseling tests. In fact, students considered school counselors to be of the least help in their future career determination. Financial constraints and poor academic performance were reported to be the greatest issues that would interfere with the students’ abilities to continue their education. One of the most interesting results was that students have not yet finished with their future career plans and thought that their future possible career plans may change depending on some unpredictable circumstances. Moreover, their parents have also demonstrated a lack of knowledge about students’ career plans. This indicates a need for school counselors to take a more proactive approach with the students and their parents to get both on board with planning. Secondly, several reasons were offered by the researchers that this may be the case including lack of skill in career counseling specifically or just that students think that the career/college planning they’ve gained comes from their own edification forgetting their interactions with their counselors (Gibbons, Borders, Wiles, Stephan & Davis 2006). Despite of the fact that this study does not give clear explanation of both the effectiveness of students’ career counseling and the way school counselors influence students, the importance of further tests is essential for several reasons. On the one hand, students do not understand clearly what career options they may face in future. On the other, ineffective career counseling does not offer good preparation of the students to some career restrictions in future.

The study conducted by researchers Amatea and Clark in 2005 examines the role of school counselors identify the ways school counselors may increase their performance by means of better assisting students in their career determination and professional development. By using a constant comparative method and a theoretical scheme, researchers have examined qualitative interviews. A sample of 26 public school administrators, fourteen of which were females, was evaluated. The research conducted that only 12% of the administrators indicated that they expected the counselor to effect change throughout the entire school. Nonetheless, school administrators were concerned about counselors’ performance and supported the fact that both students and their parents should be interviewed in order to make the right decision in choosing future profession. It was also assumed by 9 out of 26 administrators that school counselor should have special knowledge in the field of psychology and sociology to teach students effectively. Secondly, one third of the respondents recommend school counselors to work directly with either groups (classes) or students on the individual basis. Rather than the counselor being viewed as having any specific expertise, these participants were most concerned with their counselors’ willingness to pitch in wherever there is a need.

This research gives reader clear understanding of this issue. In fact, the results of Amatea and Clark show the importance of career counseling at schools. Moreover, administrators suppose that only high-qualified and specially trained counselors can work effectively enough to be of good help to undergraduates. It also supports the idea expressed by Gibbons, Borders, Wiles, Stephan & Davis as these scientists believed that school counselors do not offer students enough tests and information to direct them in their correct career choice.

Most of the studies about career counseling among students examined either its effectiveness or accuracy of these tests or simply evaluated the goal of career counseling at schools. Therefore, Charles C. Healey has developed another research that examined the number of people who have changed their jobs or were satisfied with their career after career counseling programs at schools or universities. A sample of 181 people was chosen among the population of adults who have graduated from West Coast University between April 1991 and December 1992. Respondents were contacted via phone and asked several questions regarding their career satisfaction. The goal of the questions was to determine “what percentage of the clients were satisfied and following through on their counseling; if satisfaction depended on completion of the program, number of counseling sessions, gender, age or client level; the kinds of help the clients remembered receiving and kinds of follow through they reported; if overall satisfaction and completion related to kinds of help remembered and their follow through actions; and finally , what the clients felt did not help and what were their recommendations for improvement.” (Healey, 2001) According to the results obtained from this questionnaire, 78 % of the respondents out of 94 %, who have completed career counseling programs, were satisfied with their jobs. The results have also shown that effective career counseling programs provide their participants with a spect of valuable and accurate data in a variety of psychological and sociological topics. For instance, the participants whom had responses to what was helpful indicated that 43% felt listened to; 36% felt that they had clarification of prospects; 54% mentioned that the tests provided insight; 25% obtained new options; 9% received decision making help and 10% felt encouraged by the counselor (Healey, 2001). Though the results obtained in this test vary a lot, they answer the question of effectiveness of career counseling programs by means of analyzing data from absolutely different perspective.

Profound changes in the world of work combined with demographic shifts toward a diversified college population and employees calls for changes in the way career counseling is offered on various college campuses. The idea is to propose the usage of a narrative group counseling method to assist university and college students from different cultural backgrounds. With the help of this approach, students are going to cultivate their personal life or career stories, integrating their cultural ideals, family issues, community considerations, and life positions. Colleges and universities have reported noticeable intensification in the diversity of undergraduates. Remarkably, the cultural mix of students indicates the diversity of American society, in which a consistent majority becomes less prevailing that it used to be. Taking these changes into consideration, conventional methods of career counseling might require being modified to meet the particular needs of nontraditional undergraduates. Since career counseling not only smoothes the progress of the selection of an academic major and possible career but, in addition, assists in clarifying students’ values and lifestyle issues, involving the impact of the family of origin, cultural principles frequently strongly influence the decisions made. Undeniably, worldviews, identity growth, family, and configuration of opportunities are essential aspects o f career counseling. Therefore, career counselors ought to have a perfect comprehension of both their own culture and the culture of their clients, incorporating latest information and data and suitable techniques that have been advised for individual populations.

With the need of integrating multicultural and career proficiencies, innovative models of service approaches need to be described and estimated. The usage of a narrative group counseling method aids students develop life and career stories, integrating their cultural values and considerations. “As professions become more diverse, decision-making assessments based on norm groups are less relevant, particularly because “objective” norm-referenced tests have often failed to adequately represent those outside of the norm” (Clark, 2004).

A number of psychosocial tasks face adolescent and adult college students. A few of the key problems they come across include the following: the alteration of their social distinctiveness; the formulation of a series of attitudes, ethics, and beliefs; renegotiation of relationship with parents; introduction of established interpersonal bonds; and adaptation to college. “Although students from diverse backgrounds share many similar developmental issues, the process of ethnic identity development is often unique and can strongly influence their psychosocial development. Families of ethnic minority students may exert strong influences to follow particular predetermined career paths, traditions, and rules” (Clark, 2004). The students might possibly feel discouraged when setting up for careers different from that of the family desires, or they can experience conflicts about departing from the geographic location where they were born and matured. Moreover, women may consider that they have a small number of options or that their preferences might generate disagreement within their family of origin if acquiring a career is not the customary choice for females. “To the degree they are attuned to the client’s culture, career counselors can facilitate the client’s self-awareness and insight, motivation to learn and change, and strategies for coping with setbacks and distress” (Clark, 2004).

The novelty of this intervention is in the mixture of conventional techniques with up to date information and speculations across the areas of career enhancement, group counseling, narrative model, and multiculturalism. The intervention denotes the opportunity for career counselors at other establishments to generate comparable programs adjusted to nontraditional needs of students. “As career counselors become increasingly aware of the necessity to address cultural issues when working with nontraditional students, they too will adapt traditional practices in ways that better facilitate students’ career and life planning decisions” (Clark, 2004).

In fact, college counseling centers and facilities may come under close supervision and control regarding the fact of their contribution to student retention. College counselors are allowed to use data in order to show positive influence of counseling on retention, but they also should educate administrators that student retention should be widely considered when evaluating the effectiveness of services provided. However, the major function of college counseling centers continues to be the provision of direct interventions to students whose personal problems do not let them function in the academic environment. College counseling services provide extensive support for the educational mission of colleges and universities, thus providing consultations for students, faculty and staff. They also teach in academic programs, supervise counselor trainees and conduct various student development researches.

The major challenge of counseling centers is to show that their services enhance student retention. “Almost half of the students entering 2-year colleges and more than one fourth of the students entering 4-year colleges leave at the end of their 1st year, and more than 40% of all college entrants leave college without earning a degree.”(Sharkin, 2004) Counseling centers did not pay enough attention to this issue; however, this data could be relied on by college administrators in order to evaluate the effectiveness of counseling services. Two studies have been conducted in order to demonstrate the effect of counseling on student retention. “It was found that more than 86% continued their enrollment for at least another semester, and only three of the students who received counseling voluntarily chose to leave the school.”(Sharkin, 2004) In fact, counseling for students who are academically at-risk has shown positive contribution to student retention. In the evaluation of summer program for students who had been excluded for academic reasons and then reapplied, students were observed and assessed for academic persistence over the course of four consequent semesters. As a result, significantly higher persistence rates were observed after the third semester. By the end of the fourth semester, 64% of these students were still enrolled compared with only 49% of the students who had not participated in the program.(Sharkin, 2004) Psychological counseling is the one intended on dealing with psychological and emotional concerns. A study was conducted, comparing retention rates for students who went through the counseling program with other students and it was concluded that “75% of the students who received counseling returned to school, compared with 68% of students in the general population.”(Sharkin, 2004) In another study, which is even more related to psychological counseling, a relationship between counseling and retention was examined again in terms of the amount of counseling received. “Of the students who received 1 to 7 sessions, 79% were still enrolled or had graduated 2 years later, compared with 65% of the students who did not receive counseling.”(Sharkin, 2004) However, students who received more than 6 sessions did not show any significant improvement comparing to ones that received 1 to 7 sessions. As a result, the studies generally show that counseling has favorable effect on school retention, thus counseling directed towards retention-related, academic, or psychological concerns tend to positively influence student retention.

Life counseling and career counseling can hardly be separated, thus doing great disservice to gifted students to provide neither. Career counseling proved to help students reflect about self and choices, reorganize their belief, and develop their personalities to answer the “Who am I?” questions. Transition and change should be accentuated in career counseling for students who are gifted and talented. College and high school programs for gifted students mostly concentrate on addressing the individual’s academic needs. However, academic success is only one of the variables in overall career development. It appears that students who work with career counselors, take their courses, and discuss future life plans and intentions with significant adults, are definitely more likely to determine clear career directions. “A survey report by the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, reports that only 13% of the respondents’ high schools offer affective/counseling components in addition to academic opportunities for gifted and talented students.”(Greene, 2003) However, even though the primary counseling needs of gifted and talented were identified, counseling centers often were not readily available to provide services in order to address these particular needs.

Among primary counseling concerns for gifted and talented students one can identify multipotentiality, unhealthy perfectionism and high expectations of others, early cognitive maturity and vocational identity. “In a 1997 study of 1,000 gifted adolescents, it was found that only 5% truly displayed multipotentiality when above-level assessments of abilities and preferences were used.”(Greene, 2003) Therefore, some educators and educational system give their students a chance to choose the area of specialization before they have even actually went through post-secondary institution offerings as their majors of fields of study. However, there is an idea that the actual problem for gifted students may not be multipotentiality, but simply the lack of decision making skills and guidance. Thus, instead of concentrating on their extensive abilities, such students should be encouraged to explore other aspects of their lives, like values, life-goals, and leisure activities. On the other hand, unhealthy perfectionists tend to believe that they must be ‘perfect’, and have difficulty forgiving themselves or others for mistakes, thus being in definite need for control and direction, which can be provided by counseling centers. Moreover, perfectionism and high expectations of others may cause problems not only when choosing the career path, but in the actual work world as well. Such students experience the pressure to make the perfect career choice, in order for them to please teachers, parents, and peers, thus it can cause anxiety and fear of failure, which will result in indecision. Consequently, the stereotype of having to excel to become the leader of tomorrow puts a great burden on the shoulders of young gifted teens. Career counseling service helps such students by letting them recognize that even though college choice and attendance partially determine the access to the best and high-paid jobs, a bachelor’s degree is only one step on the way to success. Career maturity includes the extent of involvement in career exploration tasks, ability to decide regarding careers, and the confidence of career choice. Gifted students tend to demonstrate earlier career maturity by being more convinced of their choices sooner than the rest of students, therefore they need early career counseling to fully utilize their abilities and potential. “The long-term training for most professional careers also requires a certain amount of financial and emotional dependence, while the gifted population often needs to assert more independence at an earlier age.”(Greene, 2003) Thus, career counseling centers help students to consider the long-range planning, persistence, and self-sacrifice needed to achieve the set goal in their life and career in particular.

A sufficient service to meet students’ needs can be Psychoeducational outreach programming provided by college counselors. This activity is considered to be the most important for college counseling centers. “In fact, providing outreach interventions is an accreditation standard for college and university counseling centers set by the International Association of Counseling Services.”(Marks & McLaughlin, 2005) In fact, the outreach can occur in many cases, like presenting to a specific group, such as residence hall group and academic class, or simply attending campus wellness fairs or student services expos. Moreover, counseling centers tend to develop programs in order to address determined student needs through adjusting workshops or exposing self-help information on their websites, thus fulfilling the preventive and educative roles that they obtain on campus. Consequently, the mission statement of most college counseling centers would be encouraging positive health behaviors and preventing common problems through outreach presentations. Furthermore, a chance to discuss and comprehend developmental issues relevant to college students is often considered to be a critical element of college or university’s mission. Consequently, services provided by college counselors have become an essential part of student’s comprehensive education and future career development. There certain challenges counseling centers may face while providing outreach programs. Due to increasing demand for individual counseling it may be hard to put time toward organizing and implementing sufficient outreach presentations. Another problem can be the unpredictable amount of students attending the scheduled program, for it can be minimal. Some practical studies have been conducted regarding the factors that would increase student attendance at outreach presentations provided by counseling center. “Regarding students’ likelihood of using the various counseling services/programs, 58% of students reported that they were likely or very likely to attend a presentation on a topic of interest. In contrast, 30% of students indicated that they were likely or very likely to make use of individual counseling for personal issues…”(Marks & McLaughlin, 2005) However, there were certain factors that determined students’ likelihood to attend the counseling center presentation. The major factors were “having the presentation be a topic of interest (91%), receiving extra credit in class for attending a presentation (83%), time of the presentation (76%), location of the presentation (71%).”(Marks & McLaughlin, 2005)

Undergraduate professional colleges and universities need to first magnetize and then preserve high quality students. Preservation is an old dispute that institutions persistently address. Counseling is capable of playing an imperative role in this process. However, due to intense case loads, college student counselors require well-organized ways to recognize students at-risk and ways to collaborate with professional schools and academic subdivisions, in order for them to assist with preservation issues. Two variables significant to preservation efforts are educational and social unification. “Students are academically and socially integrated when they have positive regard for their academic performance and they value the social relationships they have established at the institution” (Coll, 2008). Collaborative relationships are significant for two major reasons: such interactions are able to assist undergraduate professional institutions with achieving their goal of attracting and keeping hold of the most able and highly dedicated undergraduates to their programs; cooperation between counseling services and professional schools offers opportunities for such services to be deeply implanted in the educational culture of the establishment, thus increasing counseling’s imperative input to institutional objectives.

“The initiator-catalyst (I/C) approach to college counseling combines academic and counseling influences by emphasizing the counseling staff’s role in energizing other campus groups (e.g., academic programs) to become involved in the operation and leadership related to student success. For example, counseling staff may act as initiators and catalysts for system changes within undergraduate professional colleges at universities (e.g., architecture, business, education) leading to higher levels of student academic and social integration” (Coll, 2008). It is important for counseling staff to be encouraged to: set off efforts to transform and modify norms for greater student accomplishment and development; contribute to evaluation related to college objectives, 3) protect a role in staff development behaviors; authorize the growth of outreach to faculty and other public to the fullest potential.

References

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Blanton, B., & Larrabee, M. (1999, September). High school and employment agency client views on career counseling. Journal of Employment Counseling, 36(3), 119-130.

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