The National Career Development Association (NCDA) has consistently been involved in the professional training of individuals who provide career development services for youth and adults. It has provided outstanding leadership in the field of career development. NCDA's impact on the training of professionals and paraprofessionals working in the…

The authors are pleased to introduce the second pair of articles in the National Career Development Association (NCDA) Centennial Special Series celebrating the 100th anniversary of NCDA. In this issue, JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey reviews the development and use of computer-assisted career guidance systems, and Juliette N. Lester, James Woods, and…

Although the economic and social context of work appears to be changing for more and more people, the author argues that time-honored and empirically supported theories of career development continue to be relevant and useful. However, these theories and the core assumptions that underlie them (e.g., the "matching metaphor") may need to be…

The happenstance learning theory (HLT) proposes a model of career counseling that helps clients to build more satisfying personal and work lives. Although reflective listening remains an essential part of the process, HLT is an action-oriented approach to helping clients to both create and benefit from unplanned events. Success is measured not by…

Current state and national mandates focusing on academic achievement have drawn critical counseling resources away from career development. As the world of work radically changes and economic situations remain uncertain, the call for a return to school counseling roots based in career guidance has never been louder. The authors explore reoccurring…

This article describes and highlights the potential contributions that the constructs multifinality, work hope, and possible selves make for designing career counseling interventions and for better understanding possible career-related factors associated with academic engagement and achievement among urban minority youth. Multifinality may serve…

This article identifies and briefly describes the broad range of variables that may influence clients' readiness to benefit from career interventions. The article also discusses consequences of low readiness for effective use of career interventions and addresses implications for practice as well as for future research. Variables contributing to…

This study explored the practices of professional school counselors in their delivery of career counseling. School counselors were found to spend significantly less time on career development than on personal-social and academic development. In addition, new professionals placed more priority on career counseling compared with their more…

The call to generate increased student interest in math and science careers continues to receive tremendous amounts of national attention, most recently in President Barack Obama's (2011) State of the Union address when he referred to the current climate as "our generation's Sputnik moment." Responses to this call focus predominantly on teacher…

This study investigated college students' perception of the monetary value of career counseling services by using the contingent valuation method. The results of a multivariate survival analysis based on interviews with a convenience sample of 291 undergraduate students in South Korea indicate that, on average, participants' expressed willingness…

Interest inventories and career assessments continue to be used to support practitioners as they work to uncover client interests, abilities, skills, motivations, values, and other personal factors that help individuals self-define and construct their career. The skilled use of career inventories and assessments remains a minimum competency of…

Using Blustein's (2006) psychology of working and Hackman and Oldham's (1975) job characteristics theory, the authors investigated the job attribute preferences of Mexican American women with low educational attainment. They used content analysis to code and analyze the interview transcripts of 27 women. The most valued job attributes were not…

Frequent career change is the predicted experience of workers in the global economy. Self initiating career changers are a substantial subset of the total population of career changers. There is currently a dearth of theory and research to help career counselors conceptualize the career change process for the application of appropriate…

Nine single-race American Indian secondary students' career development experiences were examined through a phenomenological methodology. All 9 participants were in the transition period starting in late secondary school (age 18). Data sources included individual interviews and journal analysis. The phenomenon of American Indian secondary…

A sample of 182 young adults about to choose their college major were randomly assigned to 2 guidance methods aimed at facilitating choosing among promising career alternatives: Table-for-Choice and Circles-for-Choice. Table-for-Choice was perceived as more effective, but individuals' confidence in their choice was higher in the Circles-for-Choice…