Korea Vocational Counselor Grade 1 (직업상담사 1급) key terms

A framework explaining how vocational preferences and competencies change across life stages, most associated with Super, who framed careers as the implementation of a self-concept through roles such as student, worker, and citizen over the lifespan.

The cluster of attributes, values, and aspirations a person uses to describe themselves in work-related terms; career satisfaction depends on how well an occupation allows this self-image to be expressed and confirmed in real tasks.

A diagram depicting a person moving through life stages while occupying simultaneous life roles of differing salience; counselors use it to show clients that work decisions interact with family, leisure, and community roles rather than standing alone.

The degree to which a person has mastered the developmental tasks expected at their age, such as exploring options, committing to a choice, and planning; low scores signal readiness gaps rather than lack of ability.

The cognitive and emotional process by which a person narrows alternatives and commits to an occupational path; counselors typically teach systematic steps of defining the problem, gathering information, weighing options, and acting.

Characteristic patterns people use when choosing, commonly classified as rational (deliberate information search), intuitive (reliance on felt fit), and dependent (deferring to others); mismatched styles often explain stalled or regretted career choices.

Internal or external obstacles such as low confidence, discrimination, financial limits, or family opposition that impede career progress; effective counseling distinguishes perceived barriers from actual ones before planning interventions.

The working alliance between counselor and client built on empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence; it is the base from which assessment, information giving, and action planning become effective rather than mechanical.

A Rogerian approach in which the counselor refrains from directing and instead reflects feelings and meanings so clients clarify their own vocational concerns; suited to clients whose main issue is confusion about identity or values.

Glasser's approach asking clients to evaluate whether current behavior meets their needs and to commit to a concrete plan; in vocational settings it converts vague dissatisfaction into specific, checkable steps for job search or training.

The oldest matching approach, holding that good vocational choice follows from accurate measurement of a person's traits and clear knowledge of job requirements; it underpins most interest and aptitude testing in counseling practice.

A model arranging six vocational personality types and work environments (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) on a hexagon, where adjacency signals similarity; it predicts satisfaction from person-environment congruence.

An instrument reporting a respondent's relative preference for activities, often scored against Holland themes or the Strong interest scales; results indicate fit with fields, not competence, and must be interpreted alongside ability data.

A test measuring capacity to acquire skills in a defined area, such as clerical speed, spatial reasoning, or mechanical comprehension; unlike achievement tests it predicts trainability rather than present mastery.

The consistency of scores across occasions, forms, or raters; reported as coefficients such as test-retest or internal consistency, it sets an upper bound on validity because an inconsistent measure cannot predict well.

The extent to which a test measures what it claims and supports the inferences drawn from scores; evidence types include content, criterion-related, and construct, each relevant to different vocational uses such as screening or counseling.

Reference data from a defined group used to convert raw scores into percentiles or standard scores; a norm group that differs from the examinee in age, education, or culture makes comparisons misleading.

A score expressed in units of standard deviation from the mean, such as z, T, or stanine scores; it allows comparison across tests with different raw scales and is the basis for profile interpretation.

The systematic collection of information about what workers do, the tools and conditions involved, and the knowledge, skills, and abilities required; its outputs feed job descriptions, specifications, and training design.

A document listing duties, responsibilities, reporting relationships, and working conditions of a position; it differs from the job specification, which states the qualifications a holder must possess.

Organized data on occupations, including duties, entry requirements, wages, employment outlook, and advancement paths; quality depends on currency, source reliability, and relevance to the client's decision stage.

KECO, the national classification maintained by the employment authority, grouping jobs by the nature of work performed for statistical and service purposes; it is distinct from the older dictionary-style occupational classification.

The statistics-law-based classification used for census and labor force surveys, organized mainly by the type of work and skill level; its codes differ from employment-service classifications, so crosswalks are needed.

Projections of future employment levels and growth rates by occupation, derived from macroeconomic and industry forecasts; users should note the assumptions and the distinction between growth rate and absolute job openings.

Persons aged 15 and over who are either employed or unemployed and actively seeking work; it excludes students, homemakers, and others not in the labor force, and forms the denominator for participation and unemployment rates.

People aged 15 and over who are neither employed nor unemployed, such as full-time students, homemakers, and discouraged jobseekers; their movements in and out of the labor force affect measured unemployment.

The number of unemployed persons divided by the economically active population, expressed as a percentage; it excludes discouraged workers, so it can fall when people simply stop searching for jobs.

The view that education, training, and health are investments yielding future productivity and earnings; it explains wage differences by accumulated skills and justifies public spending on training as growth policy.

An alternative to human capital theory holding that credentials mainly signal pre-existing ability to employers rather than creating productivity; it predicts that diploma value depends on the cost of obtaining it for different ability groups.

The shift toward adjustable wages, working hours, and employment contracts, often through temporary or dispatched work; it can raise hiring responsiveness while increasing job insecurity and dual labor market segmentation.

Employment that departs from the standard open-ended full-time contract, including fixed-term, part-time, dispatched, and subcontracted workers; legal protections and benefit coverage often differ from regular employees.

An employee hired for a predetermined period or until a specific task ends; under Korean law such contracts generally may not exceed two years without the worker acquiring the status of an employee without a fixed term.

A worker employed by a sending agency and assigned to work under the direction of a user company; permitted only for listed jobs or with approval, and the user company owes duties such as equal treatment and direct employment after long service.

A procedure in which a worker dismissed without just cause asks the labor relations commission to review the dismissal; remedies include reinstatement with back pay, and the employer bears the burden of proving justification.

The statutory requirement that a dismissal rest on substantive justification, such as serious misconduct or genuine managerial necessity, and follow procedural steps including advance notice and, where required, consultation.

The core statute setting minimum conditions of work, covering wages, working hours, holidays, dismissal, and severance pay; it applies to workplaces with five or more employees, with some provisions extending further.

Structured instruction aimed at equipping people with the skills needed for an occupation, ranging from pre-employment courses to retraining for the unemployed; outcomes depend on alignment with employer demand and trainee selection.