Abstract
The Protean and Boundaryless career paradigms are calling for new ways to provide career counseling to clients. Career counselors need methods for facilitating client’s career transition across all stages of career development. This facilitation requires career counselors to be armed with methods for promoting client’s autonomy, responding to client resistance, and addressing client’s self-efficacy. In this article, career counseling is introduced with a Motivational Interviewing (MI) approach. First, an overview of career transition is presented. Then an application of MI as a component of the career counseling process is reviewed along with seven distinct counseling processes: (a) establishing the therapeutic relationship, (b) client assessment, (c) developing discrepancies, (d) rolling with resistance, (e) addressing client self-efficacy, (f) establishing empathy, and (g) transition/termination. Additionally, the article discusses the theoretical tenets, empirical support, and applications of MI for career counselors.
To be adaptable in the 21st century world of work, individuals must develop attitudes of unbounded future orientation (Arthur, 1994). This attitudinal change is necessary given careers are no longer directed by the organization. Instead, individuals are now responsible for managing their careers and must continually evolve to remain employable (Grzeda, 1999; Hall, 1996; Savickas, 2011). Results from a qualitative study by Borgen, Butterfield, and Amundson (2010) support the belief that lifelong change and adjustment is a reality for individuals. These authors explain that due to the contextual nature of work and career, people are faced continually with the need to adjust and change in all areas of life and that these situations are interrelated. Thus, assisting career clients in developing positive attitudes toward career transitions and making continual adjustments to ever-changing work environments are essential goals.
Amundson, Borgen, Iaquinta, Butterfield, and Koert (2010) studied career change phenomena from the career decider’s perspective. The research team interviewed people who self-identified as doing well with change. Specifically, they investigated the types of work changes people experienced, the phenomenological experience of the participants, and the effects of those experiences on the participants. The results included changes across all life roles (work, personal relationships, attitudes, and behaviors toward change), and various effects of the change (psychological and emotional, work, family, physical). Borgen et al. (2010) concluded that change is an integral dimension in daily life and that these changes occur in all aspects of work life. Additionally, they found that humans have the ability to hold competing attitudes (positive and negative) toward change both before and after an event. Borgen et al. explained that individualized stress coping may be the difference between those that can mobilize action toward change even when possessing opposing views about the change. Pope et al. (2004) suggested addressing the “coming out” process as a topic of discussion for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons in career counseling. Because of discrimination practices, they do not support counselors encouraging the client to come out specifically, but state that it should be a topic introduced in career counseling. Pope et al. discuss the peril of coming out and the ambivalence that the client may experience in trying to be authentic in the work environment. Skovholt (1990) specifically used the term ambivalence in discussing men’s career development. He indicated that men often feel pulled between prioritizing work and attending to other life roles. According to these results, ambivalence (i.e., holding two contrary positions) is an inevitable part of career transition, and Motivational Interviewing (MI) works directly to help clients resolve ambivalence and promote growth.
One important aspect of working with clients during career change and transition is understanding motivation toward change (Blustein, 2006). Blustein cited the work of Deci and Ryan (1985) as a key source in developing his thesis concerning a rich context approach to career counseling. In his approach, he discussed the need for career counselors to consider environmental and psychological factors when working with clients facing continual career transition. He used self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000) to explain that social systems can thwart an individual’s inherent motivation to explore and face transitions in career development. SDT proposes that individual motivation is composed of three processes (competence, relatedness, and autonomy; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Deci and Ryan explained that, as individuals feel confident they are more apt to internalize socially defined goals (e.g., positive attitudes toward continual career development). As people consider (career) transitions, they look to important others (relatedness) for encouragement and a sense of value in the goals. This theory highlights the need for career counselors to be armed with tools for promoting the client’s autonomy and addressing the client’s self-efficacy in order to aid clients in identifying goals for career growth.
The idea that autonomy is necessary for individuals to internalize goals and values regarding transition is supported clearly in research literature (Savickas, 2005; Stringer, Kerpelman, & Skorikov, 2011). If individuals’ sense of autonomy is limited, they may not seek transition. Stringer et al. found a positive relationship between confidence and career planning. They noted that confidence had linear growth as participants engaged in career planning. The results show, also, an inverse correlation with career confidence and career indecision indicating that as individuals experience successes in career planning they become more committed to those career plans. Savickas, Briddick, and Watkins (2002), called for career interventions that promote client autonomy and that help the client understand personal life themes with which the individual struggles. Savickas et al. suggested that an interpersonal approach that respects internal independence might promote a self-authoring career identity development for individuals. Because MI includes self-efficacy and autonomy as specific tenets for counselor consideration and focus in counseling sessions, career counselors could use these principles to foster clients’ career development and transition.
MI is an interpersonal, evidence-based approach that focuses on increasing clients’ motivation for change by resolving ambivalence. As previously mentioned, ambivalence refers to the subsistence of conflicting coexisting beliefs about the same subject matter (Miller & Mount, 2001). Although MI was designed originally for use with clients struggling with alcohol-related problems, this approach has shown promising results with a wide variety of client populations and presenting problems (Bennett, Roberts, Vaughan, Gibbins, & Rouse, 2007; Burke, Arkowitz, & Menchola, 2003; Gates, McCambridge, Smith, & Foxcroft, 2006; Hokanson, Anderson, Hennrikus, Lando, & Kendall, 2006; Howard, 1999; Pollak et al., 2007; Slagle & Gray, 2007). Additionally, Miller and Rose (2009) proposed MI is not limited to particular client populations and can be successful with any population struggling with ambivalence toward change.
Clients that present with difficulties adjusting to change due to competing values, goals, and belief systems may be helped by the application of MI. Although we believe the use of MI is an untapped resource for career counselors, we caution that assessment of the client’s personal goals and ability to make autonomous (noncounselor related) decisions is a precondition of using MI. As MI emphasizes that counselors honor clients’ rights to make their own decisions, the model we propose should not be mistaken for a method of tricking career clients into making changes that they do not want to make (Miller & Rollnick, 2009). In addition, MI works to elicit clients’ own internal arguments for career change, but it cannot create motivation for change.
The purpose of this article is to present an applied model of MI in career counseling. This article will emphasize the use of MI. Specifically, the uses of MI in career counseling to promote client autonomy, resolve ambivalence, increase client’s motivation, facilitate career exploration, and develop career adaptability are addressed in the following paragraphs.
Application of Motivational Interviewing to Career Counseling
The application of MI in career counseling, including counselor and client processes and counselor interventions, are presented in this section. This model of MI outlines career counseling into seven distinct processes: (a) establishing the therapeutic relationship, (b) client assessment, (c) developing discrepancies, (d) rolling with resistance, (e) addressing client self-efficacy, (f) establishing empathy, and (g) transition/termination.
Process I: Establishing the Therapeutic Relationship
An estimated 30% of client outcomes are determined by the quality of the therapeutic relationship (Lambert & Cattani-Thompson, 1996), and we believe a sound therapeutic relationship is a pertinent first stage in using MI for career counseling. This view is in concert with most models of career counseling (Bedi, 2004; Spokane, 1991; Zunker, 2012). A set of beliefs deemed “the spirit of MI” dictate the nature of this proposed relationship (Miller & Rollnick, 2002).
The three principles that comprise the spirit of MI include collaboration rather than confrontation, evoking rather than educating, and promoting client autonomy rather than assuming the role of an authority (Miller & Moyers, 2006; Moyers et al., 2007). Because counselor’s adherence to these beliefs (or lack thereof) directly impacts counselors’ behavior, Miller and Rollnick (2002) emphasize the preservation of these beliefs is far more important than any specific technique used in MI. These three principles (i.e., collaboration, evocation, and autonomy/support) will be elucidated further in the following paragraphs. Although we maintain these three principles are processes rather than techniques, practical methods for applying these processes are illustrated below.
Collaboration
The first principle, collaboration, serves to engage clients in a cooperative rapport with the aim of achieving coestablished goals (Moyers et al., 2007). To attain a collaborative association, career counselors must relinquish the role of the expert, share relational power with the client, and actively include the client in joint problem solving. The MI technique, elicit-provide-elicit, will be used to illustrate the principle of collaboration. Through this method, career counselors would first elicit knowledge the client possesses concerning (for example) the desire for self-expression in career. Super (1990) and Super, Savickas, and Super (1996) indicated that careers are an element of self-expression. Thus, eliciting client narrative about self-expression with the MI approach would fit with career self-exploration techniques in career counseling.
During the second phase of the elicit-provide-elicit technique, the counselor would (upon asking the client for their permission) provide additional information regarding various avenues for self-expression in the world of work. In supporting career adaptability, these should be unrestrained by traditional conceptualizations (Arthur, 1994). For example, a client may discuss computer gaming as a form of self-expression: “I can be powerful and destroy bad guys in the game.” The career counselor may give information about other powerful heroes that fight for good over evil in specific jobs, either fictional or real (e.g., Spiderman, political satirist, police officers, social activists, social service workers). Using counselor creativity, this client’s theme could be applied to all the Holland (Holland, 1992) codes to include any interests the client may express.
Finally, the counselor would check-in with the client to elicit a response to the question, “Of the self-expression possibilities you and I discussed, what paths would you deem most desirable and helpful in expressing yourself?” With this method, the counselor and client are able to elicit possibilities in career counseling and co-construct pathways for exploring and defining goals. By broadening possibilities, we hope to pique interest and exploration.
Evocation
The second principle in the spirit of MI, evocation, requires the career counselor to evoke client change talk (Moyers et al., 2007). Counselors who adhere to this principle should assume a position of curiosity pertaining to the client’s motivation for engaging in career counseling, ideas about how the client envisions a career unfolding, and the client’s readiness to become involved in career planning. Specifically, a career counselor may evoke client change talk by posing questions such as, “What steps have you considered in building your career?” or “In what ways would developing a career plan benefit you?” or “If you were to become satisfied with your present job, what would you be doing differently?”
By obtaining the answers to these questions, career counselors are able to begin discerning clients’ motivation for change, and clients begin talking about career planning and making career changes. In addition to asking evocative questions, career counselors using MI can evoke change talk by asking for specific examples of how the career change might occur, getting the client to elaborate on their goals toward career development or change, or explore the benefits and challenges regarding career development or change (Miller & Rollnick, 2002).
Autonomy/support
The remaining principle, autonomy/support, requires counselors to facilitate client independence and control (Moyers et al., 2007). Career counselors who promote client autonomy adopt the belief that career planning is the client’s decision and thereby, within their control. Counselors work also to maintain self-awareness to ensure the client’s (rather than the counselor’s) goals are being pursued within career counseling. For example, if a career counselor perceived that a client was in a toxic work environment, and the client reported, “I would really like to explore my options for career development within my current place of employment,” the counselor, rather than insisting the client change work environments, would promote the client’s autonomy by working with the client on career development within their current place of employment. This may include motivation to change personal thinking, emotional reactions, and behaviors to transition the self into growing even in a negative environment. This may include developing boundaryless (Arthur, 1994) attitudes to realize possibilities outside the organization.
Further, promotion of autonomy involves acknowledging that clients are responsible for their own behavioral changes and helps clients realize that many contextual forces can be negotiated using their internal strengths. For example, if a female client were to make the decision to stay in a position described as difficult due to her sex, the MI career counselor would acknowledge this decision while promoting the client’s strengths. Specifically, a counselor could respond, “In spite of the discrimination and humiliation, you would like to stick it out. Perseverance and advocating for women is important to you, and from earlier conversations we’ve had, seems to be a strength for yours.” Later within sessions, the counselor could help the client apply this strength toward achieving additional career goals (e.g., obtaining a promotion, acquiring additional job skills).
Blustein (2006) recognized the client’s autonomy as a major focus in career counseling. He used the work of Deci and Ryan (1985) to build a career counseling theory that focused on “self-determination” (p. 125). In addition, Kirschner, Hoffman, and Hill (1994) presented emotional support as one of the nine most effective intentions in career counseling. Thus, promoting client autonomy and providing support are essential components of career counseling.
To support a client’s autonomy, the career counselor using MI must first assess a client’s motivation toward career exploration, planning, and change. This is accomplished through the use of readiness rulers to assess how ready, willing, and able an individual is to engage in career planning (Miller & Rollnick, 2002). This method for assessing client’s motivation toward change (using readiness rulers) is discussed in the second process of the model, assessment. We remind readers that assessment is an ongoing process in career counseling, and continual assessment is a key element in applying MI in this setting.
Process II: Client Assessment
Using readiness rulers requires career counselors and clients to collaborate in assessing motivation; “On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the least ready and 10 being the most ready, how ready are you to engage in planning?” Given that individuals may possess varying degrees of motivation with regard to their feelings of readiness to engage in career planning activities, their willingness to establish and take steps toward career exploration, and their thoughts concerning their ability to carry out these exploration activities, the scaling question mentioned above would be repeated for each of these variables (i.e., readiness, willingness, and ability). Discussing these related variables separately may help identify specific areas in the change process for the client and counselor to address. In addition, traditional career assessment of interests, values, and skills are important in this process. Knowing these other factors may help clients understand more about themselves and help guide exploration.
By assessing a client’s individualized readiness to engage in career planning and exploration, the career counselor is more intentional in working with clients. The objective of this intentionality is not on promoting interest in specific jobs or interest arenas, but rather, on facilitating and generating career curiosity and exploration in the client.
The individual nature of career counseling requires attending to cultural issues as well. Ward and Bingham (2001) stressed the importance of viewing African-American clients from a contextual view when engaging in career assessment. They stated that African-American clients often receive competing messages regarding the Protestant work ethic that could create ambivalence toward career decisions. Assessing for external and internal barriers is an important focus when working with diverse clients. Ward and Bingham specifically promote cultural competence and suggest the use of personal stories in career counseling. This view fits well with MI and the focus on the individual’s experience with contextual forces.
One caveat specific to career counseling is the giving of career information (Blustein & Spengler, 1995). Specifically, career counselors engage in teaching about career exploration strategies, career assessment tools, and job search techniques that mental health counseling would not include typically. Thus, providing the client with techniques to explore careers and assignments to broaden the client’s understanding of self and careers would be additive to this process and matches well with clients who are assessed at higher levels of readiness, willingness, and ability to change on the readiness to change rulers. Resistance to exploration may indicate goals that are not fully explored and understood or that the client is not following internally directed choices. Recycling to the assessment process would be an important step when clients do not complete exploration assignments and commitments.
Another method for conceptualizing the client’s decision-making motivation (Pros and Cons) for career exploration, planning, and change involves using Prochaska and DiClemente’s Transtheoretical Model (TTM; 1986). For more information regarding the TTM, refer to Prochaska and DiClemente (1986) and Prochaska, DiClemente, and Norcross (1992).
Upon establishing a sound therapeutic relationship and assessing the client’s motivation toward career exploration, planning, and change, the career counselor would then use four main therapeutic processes in helping to develop career curiosity and exploratory behaviors. Miller and Rollnick (2002) emphasized these processes as: (a) developing discrepancies, (b) rolling with resistance, (c) addressing the client’s self-efficacy, and (d) empathy (e.g., reflective listening and accurate empathy). Although discussed sequentially for the purpose of explanation, these processes are used dynamically to respond to specific client statements concerning change. For example, when a career counselor hears resistance from the client, then the counselor should roll with that resistance to aid in establishing readiness (by decreasing resistance and increasing collaboration). These four main processes of MI, as they apply to career counseling, are delineated below.
Process III: Developing Discrepancies
Pittman (2000) argued that career dilemmas are an important area of focus for career counseling in assisting clients to construct future career narratives. He collected and analyzed 30 transcripts of career talk in career counseling sessions. The purpose was to explore how undecided career clients constructed their career opportunities. Pittman found that 93% of these clients presented at least one of the following dilemmas during these interviews (i.e., Certainty vs. Uncertainty; Interest vs. Practical; Focus vs. Options). Summarizing his research results, Pittman was disappointed to find that much of the career counseling process attempts to use logical processes to lessen, discredit, or ignore the discrepancies between competing dilemmatic ideas expressed by the client.
Pittman (2000) suggested that, rather than ignoring clients’ discrepancies; career counselors should focus on these discrepancies and promulgate these inner conversations. He posited that these dilemmas are natural elements of the change process. Helping the client to focus on these internal dialogues assists clients in resolving the discrepancies by allowing the client to respect both sides of the dilemma. Although Pittman’s research offers some insight into the nature of these dilemmas, he offered little in the way of techniques or specific ways of helping clients to discuss dilemmas. MI offers career counselors a resource for exploring these issues in the career counseling process.
Discrepancies, according to Miller, Zweben, DiClemente, and Rychtarik (1992), occur when individuals perceive a difference “between where they are and where they want to be,” (p. 8). One of the initial tasks of a career counselor using MI is to target discrepancies between the client’s current and desired behavior through the use of active listening skills (Miller & Rollnick, 2002; Rogers, 1992). When clients have a career goal that they are not yet “living” (e.g., there is a difference between the client’s current career situation and their desired career), career counselors may seek to elicit new career narratives that are important to the client by developing prominent discrepancies.
Once a career counselor determines a client’s behavior is leading her or him away from, rather than toward, her or his expressed career goals, they work to develop these behavioral discrepancies. This is done by gradually raising the client’s awareness of these differences through the use of active listening skills (Rogers, 1992).
One technique for raising clients’ awareness of the discrepancy entails actively exploring the pros and cons of the dilemmas in order to determine differences between what the individual is doing and what she or he would like to be doing. For example, if a client expresses an interest in becoming a primary school teacher, yet shows little sign of exploring this area as a possible career, this indicates that the client may be experiencing a dilemmatic career construction (Pittman, 2000). The career counselor would help the client explore the pros and cons of becoming and being a primary school educator. Whereas some of the benefits may include career fulfillment, long-term monetary gains, or job security, some of the cons may include immediate time or financial demands (Behrman, 2006). Through both the clarification of these inner conflicts and the exploration of behavioral choices, individuals are expected to resolve their ambivalence and make a commitment regarding their behavior (in this case whether to explore this career or continue the internal dialogue of opposing arguments; Miller & Rollnick, 2002).
We maintain exploring both sides of the career discrepancy and refraining from pushing the client into a solution that negates one side of the dilemma is important. In accord with this, Pittman (2000) determined that if a resolution ignores one side of the career dilemma, then the dilemmatic patterns of inner talk in the career counseling session would be perpetuated and taken forward as life constructs. An example may be, “I must make a decision one way or the other: modern painting is my passion, but my practical side says I have to earn enough money to support myself. I will have to give up on my dreams and be practical; I must always be practical!” Thus, by guiding the client to give up on one side or be hierarchal in a career decision, the discrepancy remains and fosters more discrepant internal dialogues in the future.
Process IV: Rolling With Resistance
Rather than confronting resistance, the career counselor using MI rolls with resistance. Counselors explore the client’s views in greater detail using the forward momentum expressed by resistance. By refraining from disagreeing with clients, client resistance decreases given clients are not reinforced (by discarding counselor’s suggestions) for being resistant (Markland, Ryan, Tobin, & Rollnick, 2005). Instead, clients are encouraged to delineate their own solutions to their career dilemmas through the exploration of ambivalence (Miller & Rollnick, 2009). This lays the foundation for a collaborative partnership, rather than a hierarchy. Consequently, by promoting client’s autonomy (e.g., highlighting the choice to change belongs to the client) through a collaborative approach, counselors eradicate the hierarchical relationship, thereby, giving the client nothing to struggle against (Miller & Rollnick, 2002).
The main objective of this technique entails rightly placing the responsibility of determining reasons for change with the client by eliciting change talk (Markland et al., 2005). Change talk in career counseling is defined as overt declarations on the part of the client regarding intentions to engage in career exploration, planning, or to make a career change (Miller & Rollnick, 1991). Before eliciting client change talk, counselors must first learn to distinguish the strength of commitment within the change talk. Miller and Rollnick (2002) use the acronym D.A.R.N. C.A.T. in training counselors to recognize and understand change talk. This acronym stands for desire, ability, reasons, need, commitment, activation, and taking steps. For more information regarding recognition of change talk, please refer to Miller and Rollnick (2002).
In applying this process (i.e., placing the responsibility of determining the reasons for change on the client), to a client who was mandated by parents or the courts to career counseling and did not want to be there, MI would endorse rolling with this type of client opposition. If a client were to declare, “I don’t know why my Employee Assistance Program (EAP) referred me here. I am slacking off a bit at work, but I don’t need counseling,” rather than opposing the remark, a career counselor using MI might reflect, “If it were your decision, you would not come to career counseling.” This serves to validate that the responsibility for change is the clients, thereby promoting the client’s autonomy and the MI principle of rolling with resistance.
Another possibility would be to use a technique deemed an amplified reflection (Miller & Rollnick, 2002). An amplified reflection, which should only be used by counselors trained in the use of MI, is a purposeful exaggeration of the client’s statement. This intervention serves paradoxically to elicit less resistant statements from the client. For example, if a client were to say, “I am not sure I can really benefit from taking this promotion. I wanted it, but now that I have it, I am not sure I will really get anything out of it.” A counselor might amplify the statement by saying, “There is no way you can gain anything from taking this promotion.” Delivering amplified reflections with curiosity, free from sarcasm or contempt is important. This amplification serves as a reflection to let the client experience her or his ambivalence and can open additional discussion. This is also a way of continually assessing the client’s goals.
Process V: Addressing Client Self-Efficacy
Addressing client self-efficacy requires career counselors to invest in the idea that their client is capable of making positive changes. Herr (1989) proclaimed career counselors must help instill hope in clients and address self-efficacy. Three methods for supporting client self-efficacy include the instillation of hope, the use of affirmations, and searching for client strengths (Miller & Rollnick, 2002). These counselor activities may be considered elements of persuasion, which is one of the four sources of developing self-efficacy according to Bandura (1986).
Instilling hope within the client can be accomplished by conveying there are countless methods and paths to career change available. If an initial change plan is unsuccessful, an alternative change plan can be engendered and employed. A client may comment, “I really failed at trying to put together a new career. I put a lot of effort into retraining, and now there are no jobs for me.” A counselor response may be, “You invested a lot of energy and resources into retraining and you completed that; now you are wondering how you can enlist more resources to find a position.” In this way, career counselors can ease clients’ feelings of failure (if they are unsuccessful in meeting their goals for desired career change) and restore clients’ self-efficacy. The second of these, the use of affirmations, requires career counselors to affirm, rather than praise, the client. For example, if a client were to say, “I got that promotion I wanted!” The counselor, rather than responding with praise such as, “Good job!” would affirm, “You are really proud of yourself for obtaining that promotion that you worked hard to get.” The last of these three methods for addressing self-efficacy involves searching for positive assets, strengths, and resources that the client already has used to make successful career changes. Career counselors can elicit client strengths by posing questions such as, “How were you able to adjust to all the demands of your last job?” or “What strengths are you able to offer prospective employers?” Thus, career counselors using MI augment client self-efficacy by evoking client’s strengths.
Process VI: Establishing Empathy
Researchers (Bedi, 2004; Blustein & Spengler, 1995; Horvath & Bedi, 2002) have stressed the importance of establishing empathy within career counseling. In fact, empathy was deemed a key ingredient in career counseling by Blustein and Spengler (1995). Furthermore, Bedi (2004) stated career issues are emotionally embedded in all aspects of the clients experiences and to explore career issues, clients must develop trust, experience empathy, and feel respect and caring tied to all their life roles (Horvath & Bedi, 2002).
The primary method counselors convey empathy is through the execution of client-centered (Rogers, 1979) skills such as accurate reflection (Miller & Rollnick, 2009). Career counselors using MI should use reflective statements that target the client’s thoughts, feelings, and values surrounding the person’s career transitions or dilemmas. The use of these skills allows counselors to understand readily and clarify what career changes the client is willing to make, how to assist the client in resolving transitional ambivalence, and in assessing positive assets that can contribute to developing an occupational change plan specific to the client. In addition, empathy aids in establishing a safe atmosphere where clients can process their thoughts and feelings. Therefore, clients are more likely to respond positively to the therapeutic process when career counselors demonstrate accurate empathy (Miller & Rollnick, 2002).
Process VII: Professional Transition/Termination
In preparing a client for termination of counseling, it is important that career counselors using MI reassess the client’s stage of change (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1986). Clients should be in the latter stages of the change model (action or maintenance) before transitioning out of career counseling. A career counselor using MI could identify a client in the action or maintenance stages by keeping track of how long the individual has implemented a career change (the term career change is used here to encompass a broad range of change behaviors associated with career counseling such as termination, new employment, acquiring new job skills, and other aspects of career transition and development). Specifically, a client that has made and maintained a career change for 3–6 months would be in the action stage; 6 months or more would be the maintenance stage. Therefore, accurate assessment of clients’ stage of change, and action on the part of the counselor to prepare clients for termination, will increase the likelihood that the client will make a successful transition from career counseling.
Listening for changes to the client’s narrative is important. Once clients have developed a new chapter in their career story, their counseling dialogue should change. According to Super et al. (1996) and Savickas (2005), career narratives are embedded in the career development stages outlined by Super (1990). Thus, the story of the client who has completed a transition should correspond to the specific stage of career development. For example, the maintenance stage may reveal this story, “Now that I have decided to stay with this company and maintain my present duties, I can really see potential for me contributing to my partner’s business. Having more free time will give me the opportunity to learn more about his expertise. That will be good for our relationship.” Although, not focused on personal career growth, this response indicates that the partner relationship is highly valued and that the client is deciding to support the partner by learning more about his career. This client is staying in a familiar position (choosing not to attempt career change) to restructure time with his partner.
Upon determining a client is in the latter stages of change (TTM, 1986) and hearing stories of dilemma resolution, thus ready for termination, the counselor must complete a series of tasks in order to prepare the client for this transition. These tasks customarily include examining the client’s progress, concluding the counseling relationship, and discussing the client’s future plans (Lamb, 1985). In addition, we recommend that career counselors review the American Counseling Association code of ethics (2005) section A.11.a.-d. and the American Psychological Association code of ethics (2002) standard 10.10 regarding termination and referral.
Discussion
Multicultural Considerations
Because individual’s culture influences every process involved in the use of MI in career counseling (as noted above), it is necessary to stress the importance that career counselors incorporate multicultural competencies and guidelines into their practice. These guidelines, first delineated by Sue et al. (1982), require the career counselor to be aware of their own cultural values and beliefs, their client’s cultural values and worldview, and to select culturally appropriate intervention strategies (Sue, Arrendondo, & McDavis 1992). Engaging the client in open and honest cultural dialogue throughout the career counseling process can aid in facilitating counselor’s awareness of the client’s worldview, as well as foster an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect for cultural differences (Flores & Heppner, 2002). Culturally competent career counselors should consider, “How does this individual’s culture impact her or his career experiences (i.e., the interview process, promotions, contextual roles, transition, and terminating employment)?” Thus, although we consider MI to be appropriate for many career counseling clients struggling with ambivalence toward career exploration, planning, transition, or change, it is paramount that career counselors using MI consider client’s culture throughout the process.
Practical Challenges
One specific challenge in using MI in career counseling is that MI takes focused training to learn to rely upon and use the approach. Applying this approach without a firm understanding of the theory can produce ineffectual results that may strengthen the client’s precontemplative (TTM, 1986) resolve. Training career counselors in the use of MI and in recognizing that the context, referred to by Blustein (2006), can have negative mental health effects is important to career counseling. Helping clients face contextual issues that may cause or exacerbate mental health issues is important in the application of MI to career counseling. This respects the focus on integrating mental health and career issues proposed by several career counseling researchers (Betz & Corning, 1993; Blustein & Spengler, 1995; Krumboltz, 1993; Zunker, 2008). However, not all career practitioners share this integrative opinion and may resist this view. In addition, building this integration into the skills and standards of career counseling will take considerable effort and time. Many counselor education programs do not integrate mental health and career issues across the curriculum, and changing this would require multiorganizational collaboration and support.
Another potential challenge would involve incorporating this approach into school and college career counseling curriculum. Currently, school counselors receive training in career exploration and assessment. This is limited often to testing, assessment, and developmental models of career counseling. This preparation leaves school counselors with few tools when working with students that are not demonstrating interest or self-determination in a career area. Often, career counselors that use primarily trait and factor career theories employ testing and assessment as the major model for career intervention (Pope, 2003). Here again, these processes do not address clients who lack motivation or have intervening mental health issues. These processes also do not represent the emerging nature of work (Arthur, 1994; Blustein, 2006; Hall, 1996; Savickas, 2011). There are good models of intervention that work with career and mental health issues (e.g., Cognitive Information Processing Model of Career Counseling) but even these do not address clients lacking motivation. Thus, incorporating models that integrate mental health and career counseling into school and career counseling curriculum will call for reconsideration of counselor training and accreditation programming.
Potential Strengths and Limitations
The integration of MI into career counseling gives career counselors a wider range of options for working with clients who lack motivation for career exploration, planning, or change. This method compliments the idea that clients need to develop continual career transition attitudes in order to explore and construct a career (Savickas, 2005). Additionally, this model reflects the focus of postmodern approaches to career counseling. Integrating MI into career counseling supports Blustein’s (2006) call for career counseling interventions that support client autonomy and Savickas et al. (2002)’s suggestions for interventions that assist clients in developing career adaptability from their personal perspective.
Although MI has been suggested for use as a career counseling intervention (Lierman, 2011; McClain, 2010), no formal research has been conducted to support its use in career counseling. Thus, conducting career outcome studies that include MI as an approach will help to support or nullify the suggestions made in this article. Additionally, because MI uses much of Rogerian theory, the approach may not be appropriate for cultures or individuals that rely more on wanting concrete answers to issues in career counseling.
Conclusion
Career counseling is currently undergoing a paradigm shift (Savickas, 2005, 2011). This new paradigm requires employees to recreate themselves constantly in order to compete in the ever-changing world of work (Arthur, 1994; Hall, 1996; Savickas, 2011). Helping clients build career adaptability (Savickas, 2011) and stay future-focused through the facilitation of career exploration and client autonomy will be a strong focal point for career counselors.
Through the use of MI in career counseling, clients are encouraged to explore dilemmas and possibilities in a safe environment that nurtures autonomy, thereby gaining momentum for the career task of continual evolution (i.e., career adaptability). Based on empirical support from behavioral change research, MI holds promise as an intervention that will help clients develop and maintain career attitudes of continual transition.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.