Considering career paths
By Gina Cipriano
Many people can become overwhelmed at theprospect of having to find a career path. After all, we spend much of our timeworking within our lifetime. Indecision is often a normal experience for peopleentering the professional workforce and, well, when figuring out what they wantto do for a period of time in their life. However, it is vital that a person isopen to the changing job market especially in the aftermath of the pandemic.Finding a career requires a level of flexibility and acceptance that one'scareer path may change AND a meaningful life can still be fulfilled despitethese changes. Research has shown that over 50% of people attribute unplannedevents as influencing their careers and career choices (Valickas et al., 2019).
A therapist can assist you in finding a careerthat best suits you and your individual needs. Therapists may do some of thefollowing to help you identify and clarify what you want for a future career:
Consideringand clarifying values
Values are ourcompasses in life; they guide us to what a meaningful life is. Therapists canassist a person in clarifying their core values so that they understand their reasoningbehind choosing a career.
Takingcareer assessments
Several careerassessments exist to match people to particular careers based on aspects suchas interests, skills, personality, and values. Therapists can help a clientidentify what assessment is best suited for their individual need(s),administer the assessment, and explain the results. An example of a careerassessment that can be completed at home is the O’Net Interest Profiler, whichcan be located at the following link: https://www.onetcenter.org/IP.html#web-based
Breakingdown a larger career into small manageable steps
Therapists canassist clients in developing motivation to move towards goals. Often, unhelpfulthoughts and behaviors may prevent someone from taking actionable steps toachieving their goals. Therapy can teach a person how to confront and challengethese thoughts and behaviors.
Creatinga career Genogram
Genograms areessentially maps of our families where shapes and symbols are used to representfamily members. Therapists can assist clients in creating a career genogram,which will allow them to identify career patterns within their family oforigin. From there, a therapist may help a client process whether they want tochange a career pattern that they identified or if they want to conform to thispattern.
Helpingyou take advantage of events that may happen by chance
John Krumboltzcreated the Theory of Happenstance. This theory explains that sometimes, randomlife situations can create or alter our career paths in life. HOWEVER, people must have some level ofpreparation in being able to take advantage of these opportunities, which isknown as planned happenstance. Counselors can help people in developing thefollowing characteristics: curiosity, persistence, flexibility, risk-taking(which entails taking action that may not have a completely known consequencebut in an appropriate manner), and optimism (Valickas et al., 2019). Theseskills are said to assist people in better taking advantage of happenstanceevents. Also, having higher scores in the skills listed above increasedpeople’s psychological well-being (Valickas et al., 2019).
Reference
Valickas, A., Raišienė, A. G., & Rapuano,V. (2019). Planned happenstance skills as personal resources for students’psychological wellbeing and academic adjustment. Sustainability, 11(12), 3401. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11123401
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