Career Development
Career Development tests theories of vocational choice and adjustment, career assessment interpretation, and decision-making across the lifespan. Expect items that ask you to match a client's pattern to a theory or to reject a misuse of an instrument.
Core
- Holland: RIASEC types; hexagonal model with consistency (adjacent types), differentiation (clear profile), identity, and congruence (person–environment match). High congruence predicts satisfaction better than any single score.
- Super: life-span/life-space - growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance/management, decline; self-concept implementation; life roles (home, community, education, work, leisure); career adaptability (Savickas).
- Gottfredson: circumscription and compromise - orientation to size/power, sex roles, social valuation, then unique self.
- Krumboltz: social learning - instrumental and associative learning, task approach skills; happenstance.
- Trait-and-factor (Parsons): match traits to occupational requirements.
- Instruments: Strong Interest Inventory, Self-Directed Search, Kuder, O*NET (replaced the DOT), values inventories.
Worked example
A client with a clear Artistic code (A high, S and E low) is considering a sales role because of family pressure. Using Holland, the counselor notes low person–environment congruence and low differentiation in the proposed role, and explores Artistic-congruent options. Using Super, the counselor frames this as a values/role conflict in the establishment stage rather than a wrong choice to be corrected.
Traps
- Citing the DOT as current (use O*NET).
- Treating the MBTI as valid for hiring or selection.
- Confusing interest inventories with aptitude tests.
- Assuming a Holland code measures skill rather than interest/personality.