This study examined experienced military members (N = 136, average age 51 years) transitioning to a 2nd occupation, specifically K-12 teaching, and revealed correlations between the length of their transition to both perceived support and income. Perceived support from family and friends had a small, positive correlation with transition time (r =…

Ex-offenders, persons with criminal and limited job histories, are being released into communities every year. Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) focuses on several cognitive-person variables and on the interaction effect with the environment. Conceptually, the author views the integration of SCCT and the self-determination theory as a…

The results from a survey of 238 human resources executives from organizations that offer outplacement counseling (OPC) internally and 168 that offer it externally suggest that internal OPC delivery is inferior to external OPC delivery. The author found that most internal OPC organizations did not offer the 13 traditional OPC services, even when…

Clients present for career counseling with an array of career concerns. A single career theory may prove necessary, but insufficient, in addressing these concerns. Career construction theory (CCT; Savickas, 2005) assists individuals with career decision making by integrating 3 different viewpoints of vocational behavior. This article explains how…

The current article provides an overview to the cultural accommodation model (CAM) of counseling (Leong & Lee, 2006) that may help guide employment counselors' work. The integrative multidimensional model of cross-cultural counseling (Leong, 1996), a precursor to the CAM, is also reviewed.

This article presents a brief description of integrative life planning (ILP), the career theory/concept created in the 1990s by the author. It describes what she calls "the heart of ILP," the 6 critical life tasks and their applications.

Unplanned events occur every day and have a deep impact on individuals' lives. The happenstance learning theory (Krumboltz, 2009; Krumboltz & Levin, 2010), briefly summarized in this article, provides guidance for employment counselors assisting clients to clarify goals and brainstorm actions to capitalize on chance events.

Business, management, and financial occupations are found in organizations in which individuals direct activities and perform tasks related to business and finance. The career cluster includes 144 occupational titles across 57% of the 23 major Standard Occupational Classification groups, with almost half of the occupations considered "bright…

The Systems Theory Framework (STF; McMahon & Patton, 1995; Patton & McMahon, 2006) of career development was proposed as a metatheoretical framework that accommodates the contribution of all theories and offers an integrative and coherent framework of career influences. In this article, the author provides an overview of the STF, outlines its…

This article addresses current psychosocial issues facing women in career transition and the implications of those issues for career counselors. Specifically, psychosocial developmental trajectories, the roles of family and relationships, the importance of underlying physical and mental health issues, and sociocultural and contextual stressors are…

Vocational evaluation (VE) is a comprehensive assessment process that can be used to inform assessment of people with barriers to employment other than the physical or mental disabilities for which it is typically used. This article defines components of VE as established by an international health and human services accreditation organization.…

Providing effective career counseling to culturally diverse individuals is not the same as helping those from majority cultures. The Career Counseling With Underserved Populations model aids career counselors in supporting underserved populations as they strive to address their important career counseling issues.

This article illustrates some of the foundational principles of active engagement/metaphors through the work of the author from the University of British Columbia, Canada. The author's intention is to highlight some of the important concepts underlying active engagement and the use of metaphors in employment counseling. In his work, the author…

This article presents the basic tenets of Holland's (1997) theory of vocational personalities and work environments and discusses its use by employment counselors in service occupations. The authors describe Holland's 6 personality types and research on the theory, as well as formal and informal assessment and counseling strategies within the…

In this article, the authors present a model of career engagement that helps bridge the gap between career counselors' focus on supporting individuals to find meaningful work and employers' desire for an engaged, productive, and committed workforce. They briefly review highlights of the employee engagement literature, introduce the Career…