Career Counselor (Contemporary Christian Counseling)

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Summary: Table of Contents
Review: Chap 1: The World of Work (the meaning of work; the purpose of work; a job provides survival; work as security; work as a source of appreciation; work as self-achievement; work as self-actualization; the role of vocational counseling) Chap 2: God's Will, Calling, and the Career Journey (pitfalls in seeking God's will: dependency, confusion and paralysis, intuition, careful planning; the call to ministry, Christian biographies as a tool, answering God's call) Chap 3: The Power of Family in Career Development (family rules; family roles, family triangles; the genogram: a tool for understanding careers and family; mapping the family structure and relationships; interpreting the impact of family themes on career development; implementing plans against family traditions; family impact on individual career development styles) Chap 4: Applying Biblical Insights to Career Counseling (applying biblical stories to the career journey: Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses) Chap 5: Teenagers and Career Exploration (developmental tasks of adolescence: forming ways of thinking--from concrete to abstract; forming ways of caring -- from rules to respect; forming a faith -- from acceptance to questions; forming a path for the future -- from fantasy to reality; hazards in teenage career development: negative identity, identity diffusion, identity foreclosure, moratorium on identity; counseling strategies: pinpointing level of maturity, being prepared for egocentric attitudes, affirming their need to be separate, recognizing the limited time perspective, helping to create a coat of arms, facilitating realistic appraisal of abilities, facilitating reflection and evaluation of personal values, encouraging practical experience, providing support for immediate decisions, helping parents support their adolescents' dreams) Chap 6: Young Adults and Career Decision Making (developmental tasks of young adults: clarifying purpose, achieving competence, managing emotions, becoming autonomous, establishing identity, freeing interpersonal relationships, developing integrity; hazards in young adult career development: premature stabilization, dichotomous thinking, external locus of control; counseling strategies: pinpoint career decidedness, construct a family genogram, conduct personality, interest, and skills assessment, facilitate career information counseling groups, decrease anxiety, foster a compelling personal vision, help clients

initiate mentoring relationships and internship experiences, help clients develop job-seeking skills) Chap 7: Midcareer Change (developmental tasks of adults in transition: achieving intimacy through establishment and self-extension, achieving generativity, achieving integrity; types of midcareer transition, motivation for midcareer transition; hazards: ambivalence toward change, job obsolescence, unfulfillment; counseling strategies: know the stages of transition, capitalize on readiness for change, examine life-role conflicts, evaluate the current career circumstances, prescribe a client autobiography, guard against age bias) Chap 8: Postretirement Adjustment (developmental tasks of older adults -- retirement adjustment: stages, styles, emotional tasks; hazards: loss of meaningful social network, loss of life direction or purpose, negative or ageist self perceptions; counseling strategies: assist in planning, clarify affective reactions to retirement, assist in finding part-time or volunteer employment, make referrals to community agencies, encourage information interviews with retired acquaintances, minimize use of tests and assessments, conduct a structured life-review) Chap 9: Surviving a Career Crisis (Anatomy of a career crisis, types of career crises, types of unemployment, impact of unemployment; hazards in career crisis adjustment: career burnout, psychological and physiological costs of job loss; counseling strategies: prescribe a journal, provide support dealing with loss, create a network of professional support, help maintain preunemployment activity and daily structure, help the client overcome learned helplessness, establish links with community resources, sustain commitment until the client is reemployed) Chap 10: Women and Career Development (developmental tasks for women, traditional stage models of adult vocational development, gender differences in life orientation, vocational patterns of women, women's vocational patterns versus the traditional stage model; hazards: dual roles, the identity tension line, the glass ceiling; counseling strategies for women: support clients in managing dual roles -- homemaker and worker, design strategies for combating harassment, work to uncover role models, help women develop and value independence, guard against gender bias, help working women deal with stress) Chap 11: Special Population and Career Development (vocational counseling with minorities, specific

problems and needs of American minorities; counseling interventions for minorities, vocational counseling for individuals with disabilities, specific problems and needs of individuals with disability; counseling interventions for individuals with disabilities) Chap 12: Assessing Personality, Interests, Aptitudes, and Abilities (assessing personality: California Psychological Inventory, Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, Myers-Briggs, assessing interests: Kuder Occupational Interest Survey, Strong Interest Inventory, Self-Directed Search; assessing aptitudes and abilities: Differential Aptitude Tests, General Aptitude Test Battery, Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery; giving feedback to the client) Chap 13: Equipping for the Job Search (job search strategies: getting organized, researching companies, learning to network, searching the hidden job market, being persistent; resume writing; the cover letter; interviewing skills) Chap 14: Developing a Career Resource Center (what it is, how to start one, occupational information, armed service information, information about colleges and universities, information on technical and professional schools, financial aid information, local job and internship information, job-search information, resume preparation resources, information on job interviews, career planning information, Christian career planning) Chap 15: Keys to a Successful Career (job burnout, avoiding burnout, the quiet joy of work, the work we love, the need for others, others' need of us) Appendix A -- Career Maturity Profile Appendix B -- Social Network Questionnaire Appendix C -- Strong Interest Inventory Summary Evaluation Form Appendix D -- Sample Resumes Appendix E -- Sample Cover Letter Appendix F -- Career Management Organizations

Rating:
Summary: A helpful self & environment discovery.
Review: Personally i found that this book is helpful to me. Actually I went straight into 2 chapters the section on counselling adults and decision making, i think. The topic on "Discovering the Career within you" is very well written. It let's me rethink how I decide upon a suitable career through having good knowledge of the environment and yourself. The author gives very practical and down-to-earth guides. It helps us clear some misconceptions of calling from God to a particular vocation. I also liked the part on decision making and the "4 foundation principles for discerning guidance" . Overall, it is a good well written guide to career seekers.