ources, information and motivation to help them secure a new position that is a "good fit".
It is important to note here that, to some extent, the goals as well as the strategies used in career counseling are going to also differ depending upon the particular career counseling theory which is utilized. In this regard, a counseling theory may be defined as a conceptual model of career development that identifies, describes, and inter-relates important factors affecting one's life-long involvement with work (Miller, 1995). Indeed, according to Sharf (1997), to some extent, the career counseling goals and strategies will depend upon the counselor's theoretical or conceptual paradigm of career counseling. Sharf reports that the most frequently used are theoretical models emphasizing trait and type, or life-span considerations, followed by special focus theories, and models that present integrated perspectives of two or more theories.
Reasons Why People Need Career Counseling
There are many diverse reasons why people decide to participate in career counseling. Some of the most frequently cited reasons include: (1) conflicts regarding satisfying career roles and needs and family/spousal roles and needs (Spiker-Miller & Kees, 1995); (2) poor levels of vocational/career identify and career indecision (Schmidt & Callan, 1992); (3) a need for testing of career aptitudes and/or abilities and feedback regarding testing results (Illovsky, 1997); (4) a need to clarify career expectations and objectives (Mann, Miller & Baum, 1995)
(5) dissatisfaction with the progress of the current career or some other aspect of one's current job/work situation (Krumboltz, 1996); (6) maladaptive personality traits that make it difficult for the client to seek out and/or hold job positions (Kjos, 1995); and (7) transition from an unproductive life-style such as addiction (Rak & O'Dell, 1994).
Changes Produced by Career Counseling
What chan...