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Friday, 28 July 2023

Career practitioner and career counsellor

What is the difference between career practice and career counselling? Career ‘counselling’ has been defined as “addressing choice and development of occupation [where practitioners] undergo specialist training equipping them with knowledge of job opportunities, employment trends and requirements for training and qualifications”. This may include “information giving [; providing] psychometric tests to assist clients in identifying vocational strengths and weaknesses [; information about] job market conditions [; and may] utilise […client] person-centred, psychodynamic and personal construct explorations” (Feltham & Dryden, 2004, p. 30). Further, it is “concerned with the relationships between the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral needs of clients and their development, fulfillment, or frustration over the life span in a variety of roles” (Biggs, 1994, p. 43), and relates to “a multifaceted set of activities designed to help [clients] (a) make or remake occupational choices, (b) find jobs, or (c) achieve satisfaction and success in the workplace” (Greenhaus & Callanan, 2006, p. 88).

So is there a difference between a career practitioner and a career counsellor? In many nations, career development work appears more associated with career 'counselling' than with career ‘practice’; professionals enter or grow within the profession with psychology-based undergraduate or graduate qualifications in South Africa, Europe and the USA (Coetzee et al., 2016; NCDA, 2022; Niles, 2014, Niles et al., 2019; Schiersmann et al., 2016). While career ‘practice’ may be used synonymously with career counselling in some – mainly Commonwealth – nations, in the USA career ‘practice’ appears to refer to the list of practices or tools used when career counselling in the corporate career space (Greenhaus & Callanan, 2006). 

However, in Aotearoa career development (often termed career practice) is the field in which career practitioners work, with the term “career practitioner” having been deliberately chosen in order to “encompass [the] broad range of professionals” who deliver “career development activities” (CDANZ, 2022). New Zealand career development professionals apparently do not see themselves as counsellors, being “particularly adamant” in avoiding “the term career counselor” (Miller & Furbish, 2015, p. 353, authors’ own emphasis).

I feel more comfortable with being called - and calling myself - a career practitioner. I have never felt like a career 'counsellor', or called myself this: I am not a counsellor. I am a practitioner. To me, counsellors are health workers who help to fix someone who has some level of brokenness, or damage. Repairing damage is not my area of expertise. 

My practice is in career development; my clients aren't coming to be repaired, but for managing their work. This is a practical, technical skill. I walk alongside my clients to find out what new skills they need to develop, or are interested in developing, in order for their careers to be more meaningful to them. I help them to train themselves. If I spot any health issues, then I refer to other experts who can assist them. I work in wellness - at work - and in development

I know it is a fine - and possibly arbitrary - distinction. But this idea of wellness, as opposed to unwellness seems to somehow matter. However, I so think this idea of practitioner versus counsellor is something which needs more thought...


Sam

References:

Biggs, D. A. (1994). Dictionary of Counseling. Greenwood Press.

CDANZ. (2022). Terminology. Career Development Association of New Zealand. https://cdanz.org.nz/ModularPage?Action=View&ModularPage_id=4

Coetzee, M., Roythorne-Jacobs, H., & Mensele, C. (2016). Chapter 5: The Profession and Practice of Career Counselling and Guidance. In Career counselling and Guidance in the Workplace: A manual for career practitioners (pp. 386-448). Juta and Company Ltd.

Feltham, G., & Dryden, W. (2004). Dictionary of Counselling (2nd ed.). Whurr.

Greenhaus, J. H., & Callanan, G. A. (2006). Encyclopedia of Career Development (Vols. 1 & 2). Sage Publications, Inc.

Hartung, P. J. (2011). Chapter 8: Career construction: Principles and practice. In K. Maree (Ed.). Shaping the story: A guide to facilitating narrative career counselling (pp. 103-119). Brill Sense.

Miller, J. H., & Furbish, D. S. (2015). Chapter 36: Counseling in New Zealand. In T. H. Hohenshil, N. E. Amundson, & S. G. Niles (Eds.), Counseling Around the World: An international handbook (pp. 349-357). American Counseling Association.

Niles, S. G. (2014). Chapter 41 Training Career Practitioners: Opportunities and Challenges. In G. Arulmani, A. J. Bakshi, F. T. L. Leong, & A. G. Watts (Eds) (2014). Handbook of Career Development: International perspectives (pp. 727-740). Springer International Publishing.

Niles, S. G., Vuorinen, R., & Siwiec, A. K. (2019). Chapter 25: Training Career Practitioners for the Current Context. In J. A. Athanasou, H. N. Perera (Eds.), International Handbook of Career Guidance (2nd ed., pp. 529-553). Springer International Publishing.

Schiersmann, C., Einarsdottir, S., Katsarov, J., Lerkkanen, J., Mulvey, R., Pukelis, K., & Weber, P. (2016). European Competence Standards for the Academic Training of Career Practitioners: NICE Handbook Volume II. Barbara Budrich Publishers. https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/41888/9783847409250.pdf?sequence=1

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