We are concerned with recognizing some of those commonalities shared by groups of individuals that may influence career counseling in somewhat similar ways. Although the ways in which individuals can be grouped to consider such impact are almost limitless, we will consider five broad groups with which counselors frequently have contact. These five groups include young women, individuals who for various reasons enter the world of work at a later time than most others, those who face transition or change during their occupational lives, those whose personal attributes include characteristics that can be described as special problems, and those who have different cultural backgrounds.
Young Women
Until quite recently general social attitudes toward the role of women seriously restricted the opportunities of women to participate in the world of work. While those attitudes have not yet been completely reversed, there is definite evidence that change is under way. Clearly, the young women graduating from high school today have wider occupational options than did their mothers.
For the most part, early career theorists developed hypotheses within the framework of prevalent social attitudes. Super (1957) did give attention to career development patterns of women and, within the common social standards of the late 1950s, identified seven different patterns; only one provided for lifetime commitment to "career" and the other six placed primary emphasis on the role of wife, mother, and homemaker. Ginzberg (1966) showed awareness of the changes occurring in the 1960s by describing three ways or roles women used to relate to work: these include the traditional homemaker role, the transitional role that encompasses some participation in work outside the home, and the innovative role that allots equal time to outside work and to homemaking.
According to reports of the Census Bureau and the Department of Labor show that women working outside the home have long been concentrated in a small number of occupations. About half of the women employed for pay work in service occupations or as machine operatives, nearly one-third work as clerical or sales workers, and about one-seventh are professional or technical workers. Even within these areas there is a concentration into specific occupations; for example, in the area of professional and technical occupations, where the overall percentages of men and women are nearly equal, the men are widely scattered across the spectrum while most of the women are in teaching and nursing. The injustice of such discrimination was made illegal by the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Educational Amendments of 1972. The first law prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and other factors in employment and in pay received for work. The second act guarantees equal access to educational opportunity. The passage of such legislation is clear recognition of changing social attitudes and provides the basis for wider opportunity in the future. It does not, however, immediately wipe out the imbalances that have developed over the years such as concentration in restricted areas and lower income
Attitudes of both young men and women toward involvement in the world of work are heavily influenced by the attitudes expressed within the family. Probably these family viewpoints are even more influential for young women because child-rearing practices have usually put more stress on obedience, dependency, and respect for girls and more stress on independence and self-reliance for boys. Family attitudes generally have long assumed that Dick would work when he grew up, and if any issue arose it usually focused on what Dick would do. On the other hand, many families expected Jane to marry as soon as she grew up and devote her attentions to husband, children, and home, with "work" as an alternative or supplement only if a husband weren't available or if he died, or if he proved unable to support his wife and family adequately. To the extent that families assert the view that "a woman's place is in the home," daughters will be caught in a bind as they consider how they want to relate to the world of work.
Change in Viewpoint
Many factors have caused the traditional family-oriented viewpoint to change. Technological developments have reduced the time required to handle the usual homemaking chores and also created many jobs outside the home. Family planning has reduced average family size and permitted scheduling of births. The development of nursery schools and child-care centers has provided out-of-home care for preschool children and extended-day programs have furnished care for school-age youngsters. Inflation and other economic pressures have increased the need for additional income in order to maintain or improve family lifestyle. Perhaps more important than all of the other reasons is the increasing recognition that work plays a crucial role in the lives of both men and women in providing a sense of self-worth, satisfaction, and personal identification. One can anticipate that before the end of this century the general mores will accept without question the equal participation of men and women in work.
During the intervening decade or two, many young women will face conflicts in identifying and developing personal attitudes and values toward their individual relationship to work and family. One major task for counselors may be to assist in the resolution of that conflict.
Mead (1982), in a recent study of types of stress encountered by two-worker couples, identified three working roles assumed by the women she studied. The first group, labeled traditional, included those women who followed the family-oriented pattern and devoted the major share of their time and energy to home and family. The second group, labeled dual earner, included those women who spent a large portion of their time at work, either full-time or part-time, and worked for a variety of reasons including economic, social, self-fulfillment or other, but felt no commitment to career advancement. The third group, labeled dual career, devoted either full-time or part-time to their positions, expressed a commitment to work as a significant part of their lives, and expected and sought opportunities for career advancement in responsibility, pay, and satisfaction.
Although this study focused on women with partners, the three categories may be useful in counseling young women who are without partners. That is, some young women, probably a decreasing group, will view their future plans in terms of the traditional model of home-and-family orientation in which work outside the home plays no significant part. Another group of young women (earners) will expect to make work a significant part of their lives but will view work participation as a means of acquiring income, a socially enjoyable and desirable experience, a self-satisfying activity, or some similar purpose. Within this framework, change of position to another employer or different activities is easy if the change maintains or enhances the individual's rationale for working. Finally, there is a third group of young women (careerists) who express a commitment to work because of their desire to progress in a selected field and to accrue the opportunities for advancement, increased pay and responsibility, recognition, and self-actualization that come with that dedication to work.
A further advantage of this system is that both family and work are components in each of the three categories. This possibility of viewing family and work with variable, independent degrees of emphasis on each may help young women to plan more effectively and to overcome the frequent obstacle of trying to decide between family and work. In other words, involvement and commitment to one does not necessarily exclude the other. In the study mentioned above, Mead found that women in earner and career roles encountered more stress in the area of time-management, while traditional women reported more stress in economic matters.
The attitude toward women's roles held by significant others, including parents, other family members, peer groups, close friends, role models, and later spouses as well, has great influence in shaping the attitude espoused by the young woman. When these groups hold similar views, it is unlikely that she will develop a contradictory position. Much more frequently, however, is the likelihood that differing views will be held by various significant individuals, and indecisiveness may develop because the young woman is reluctant to appear to reject or snub someone whom she holds in high regard. The counselor's task may become one of helping the individual identify the attitudes and values that she holds personally most important. She may also need help in developing the self-confidence and assertiveness necessary to choose a position and to maintain it.
Boy's Influence on Girls
Another closely related topic that bears upon the young woman's relationship to work is the attitude and viewpoint of future significant others. Miller (1978) has shown that as early as mid-high-school the attitudes of boyfriends and boys in the peer group have considerable influence on the actions and expressed attitudes of girls. When one considers that the attitudes of young men have also been heavily influenced by viewpoints held by their families and other significant individuals and that, for the most part, those attitudes have provided greater advantage to the male role, one can anticipate a tendency for boys and young men to expect their future spouse to assume a role similar to the one they saw their mother portray. Other studies have confirmed that college males generally agree that their future spouse should have the opportunity to work if she wants to do so, but most of them expect her to assume all the homemaking activities of the traditional woman. Most fail to recognize, or prefer to disregard, the likelihood that a spouse's involvement in both work and home life necessitates the male's similar involvement and sharing in both.
The counselor may have further responsibilities when the client is a young woman. One of these responsibilities is to help her to see and understand the three broad relationships that exist between women and work-- traditionalist, earner, and careerist. In helping her to evaluate these roles for her life, consideration must be given not only to attitudes but also to personal life values. If she considers independence, achievement, intellectual stimulation, security, and similar factors of greater importance, she is tilting toward the earner-careerist end of the continuum. If she gives highest status to affiliation, nurturance, and affection she is moving in the traditionalist-earner direction. If she wants to balance these two sets of values, she is less likely to satisfy herself at either end of the continuum. The counselor also should help her to consider the place of work and family and how she hopes to relate these two areas in her future years.
In the career-counseling process with young women clients, special care must be given to the use of interest inventories. The very process of widening opportunities so that women participate in many fields where they previously were scarce or nonexistent, calls into question the validity of occupational interest scores based on gender groupings. The previously developed norms may no longer permit useful comparisons, and test items may also include sex bias. Interest inventory experts are still uncertain as to whether separate gender norms or composite norms are more useful. The counselor's responsibility requires that he or she be certain that the client is not using inaccurate or inappropriate information as a basis for decisions and restricting career options on the basis of gender.
Delayed Entrants
The customary pattern followed by most workers in our society is to enter employment directly from whatever preparatory educational program they choose to follow. That normal progression may be interrupted or delayed by a number of factors. Probably the largest group that has digressed from this typical pattern is viewed as having followed a regular developmental scheme. This group consists of women who interrupted their preparatory programs to marry, or who married at the point where that program was completed or shortly later before acquiring significant work experience, and who then assumed the traditional role of homemaker. At least two other sizable groups, primarily males, are also representative of delayed entrants. These two groups include military personnel who have served varying lengths of time (typically three to six years) in the armed forces before acquiring significant civilian work experience. The other group is often described as prior offenders and includes those individuals who were incarcerated before acquiring significant work experience. Many other causes produce delay in pursuing a career pattern. However, we will consider only these three.
Displaced Homemakers
Previously, the term displaced homemaker was applied to the middle-aged or older woman whose children are either grown or nearly not and who suddenly, because of widowhood or divorce, finds that she is no longer able to continue in her traditional role of homemaker. The escalating divorce rate in the United States suggests that the term should be extended to include younger women who sometimes have dependent children and who are unable to continue their homemaker role. It also seems appropriate to include a third group consisting of traditional homemakers who decide that they wish to assume earner or careerist roles. Although the three subsets face slightly different problems, they have much in common, especially if they have neither specific vocational preparation nor significant work experience. Some members of this group of displaced homemakers face situations similar to those encountered by midcareer changers.
Because of the drastic, sudden, and often traumatic changes that have recently occurred in their lives, many displaced homemakers are "change" clients. They will need help in many areas before they can effectively concentrate on career decisions. Sometimes the individual may feel that total immersion in a job or training program will help to resolve the myriad problems they face. Unfortunately, those problems must be faced, and at least partially resolved, before any realistic career planning can occur because the client's ability to deal with those issues and to clear them out of the way largely determines her opportunity to make and implement useful career plans.
Obviously, one major problem consists of modifying and restructuring self-concept so that the individual can accept responsibility for decisions that may previously have been made jointly or by the absent partner. This may involve not only building self-confidence, but in many situations necessitates acquiring information and knowledge upon which decisions can be made. Typical examples that might fall in this category include those items often assumed by the male partner such as property maintenance, automobile purchase and care, legal and financial matters, and other responsibilities. None of these is gender-oriented; however, lack of familiarity with the subject produces uncertainty and doubt. The counselor may be able to suggest workshops, exercises, or group participation that will assist in building the needed self-confidence and assertiveness.
Displaced homemakers are sometimes confronted with serious financial problems that can be either short-term or long-term or both. Although the counselor may not feel competent to deal with difficult matters of financial planning, he or she has responsibility to assist the client in finding sources where that kind of help is available. Included in this general topic are such items as need or appropriateness of disposing of property or acquiring it, relocation of residence, and other financial dealings.
A further common problem is the need to identify and cultivate support systems to replace those lost in the displacement process. Again, the counselor may best help by serving a referral role and helping the client consider and explore ways in which support systems can be developed. This includes helping her evaluate ways of meeting new friends through mutual interest activities, hobbies, organizations, or other groups.
Many topics considered about counseling the young woman apply equally well to counseling her older sister or mother. One fundamental problem to be faced is whether the woman is considering immediate employment only, or if she is also considering entry into an educational or training program prior to actual employment. If the latter is a possibility, additional attention must be given to such costs as time, effort, money, and whether the anticipated payback justifies those expenditures. Decisions about earner versus careerist roles in this situation are heavily related to attributes such as age, access to resources, motivation, and opportunity. If the client is thinking primarily of getting a job, the counselor must help identify the presence and level of reliable skills (many relevant skills are possessed by individuals who report they have "just been a housewife") and develop adequate job-search skills. If the client has little or no previous recent contact with paid work, she may need to acquire occupational information so that she has a realistic picture of existing opportunities and competition.
The third group of women included under this general heading, those present homemakers who decide voluntarily to replace their traditionalist role with that of earner or careerist, do not confront all of the problems encountered by the truly displaced individual. First of all, the decision is a voluntary one, although she will often feel that either economic factors or the desire for self-fulfillment compels her toward paid work. Second, the problems of readjusting lifestyle are often easier because she has not confronted the bereavement or loss that accompanies death or divorce; however, the change she is considering will probably require more revision in lifestyle than she anticipates. Although her support systems of partner, family, and neighbors remain intact, the new role she is contemplating will cause readjustment in each of these relationships. Because she anticipates a different role, she faces many of the same problems as the widowed or divorced woman in terms of self-concept, assertiveness, development of independence, occupational information, and job-search skills.
Former military personnel
Individuals who return to civilian life after a period of military service can be divided into three distinct groups: those who have fulfilled twenty to thirty years of service and are now retiring; those who have incurred a disability that prevents continuing in military service; and those who are leaving after a brief period, often three to six years, of either volunteer or obligated service.
In addition to the customary reasons of patriotism and long-range career plans, many young people volunteer for military service for quite different purposes. Probably the majority of voluntary enlistees are recent high school graduates or pre-graduation dropouts. Some, recognizing that they have no clear-cut educational or occupational plan, decide to enlist in order to give themselves time to decide what they want to do. Some, unable to obtain acceptable civilian employment because of either economic factors or the lack of salable skills, enlist as an alternative course of action. Others may volunteer to escape an array of problems-difficult family situations, unsatisfactory living conditions, a desire for affiliation and belonging, sometimes even to resolve encounters with the court system. Still others may have very clearly formed long-range civilian goals in mind and enlist to acquire specialized training that they expect to use in a civilian position, or to accrue educational benefits that will permit later completion of civilian college programs.
Many military occupations have equivalent civilian counterparts, and individuals who have acquired these skills in military service can transfer with little difficulty from one to the other just as other workers move from one employer to another. There are, however, a great many military occupations for which transferability of learned job-skills is impossible.
Service personnel who elect not to sign up again, or who are not eligible to do so, and who have had military assignments where no transferable skill was acquired are most likely to need counselor assistance. Like the displaced homemaker, many in this group will view themselves as disadvantaged because they are competing against younger individuals for entry-level jobs. Similarly, they may also have only vague ideas about work values and occupational goals and often fail to see that, while they lack transferable specific skills, they may have generalized skills that are highly valued by employers. Further, as a result of having lived in a tightly structured and directed environment, some will need help in assuming responsibility for decision-making.
Whenever the counselor identifies the existence of problems involving self-concept, values, interpersonal relations, attitudes toward work and society, or similar personal attitudes or viewpoints, he or she must help the client focus on these factors first as a change client before proceeding to career choice. Added complications are sometimes encountered in the former service personnel because they often feel that they are in a hurry to catch up with their age cohorts who have been in civilian jobs while they were in service, or because some fail to realize the extent of differences between life in military and civilian settings. Further, many of those who enlisted because of vocational uncertainty, or for various personal problem reasons, find those difficulties are still unresolved.
Those individuals who have completed periods of obligated service have usually incurred the obligation by accepting financial support from military sources for some portion of advanced educational training--for example, scholarship support for Advanced ROTC at the undergraduate level or a stipend or scholarship for completion of a professional school graduate program. Few of these people will need career counseling because the acquired preparation is ordinarily highly transferable. Those who have participated in such programs usually did so because they anticipated military careers or originally planned to transfer to civilian activity after satisfying the obligated period of service. Occasionally, a client who has followed this path may decide that the original choice of field was inappropriate or is no longer desirable, and may wish to move to some other kind of work.
Many governmental agencies maintain special programs of assistance for former military personnel. Clients are sometimes unaware of the help that is available to them through various community resources. Among the best known of these programs are State Service Officers, State Employment Service Agencies, state and federal Civil Service and Personnel agencies, and Veterans Administration.
Prior Offenders
Delayed entrance to the world of work is sometimes the result of incarceration for acts of criminality or delinquency. Although there are some similarities between reentry problems encountered by these individuals and the problems faced by the former military personnel, there are also very significant differences.
State and federal penal institutions vary widely in fundamental philosophy relative to their purposes of rehabilitation versus custodial care. Probably the range of variation is even greater when one examines the services actually provided in these two areas. Many prison officials confirm that even in those institutions that emphasize rehabilitation programs, the primary attention is still placed on security and custody. One must conclude that very few inmates acquire significant occupational training during their imprisonment. Critics of the existing penal system often contend that the only skills learned in prison are criminal.
Most prior offenders will need extensive personal counseling before effective career counseling can be initiated. In many cases, the factors that originally led the person into difficulty may still exist. These have often been compounded by the experiences of confinement, producing an explosive mixture of hostility, anger, and frustration.
The former inmate is faced with new challenges and difficulties on release. Few communities provide any type of reentry assistance such as half-way houses or other organized social services. Prospective employers or educational institutions often react negatively to the individual on learning about the prior record. Probation and parole officers are usually overloaded and can often provide only cursory assistance. The resources available to assist in this difficult transition are generally very few, frequently of limited quality, and rarely able to overcome the opposing pressures.
In many ways, prior offenders can be described as the most disadvantaged of the disadvantaged. C. D. Miller and Oetting (1977) classified the barriers to employment faced by disadvantaged individuals into four categories, including poor job qualifications, social and interpersonal conflicts, legal and financial problems, and emotional problems. Each of these clusters is likely to be significant in counseling the prior offender. Zunker (1981) has suggested that counselors who work with disadvantaged clients should help clients set short-term goals, identify appropriate role models, and establish increased feelings of self-directedness. These activities appear to be particularly suitable to this group.
Midlife Career Change
A recent phenomenon has been seen in increasing numbers of men making significant changes in their career plans during the midlife period. Most of the theorists whose positions view career choice as occurring relatively early in life and then remaining quite firmly fixed for the remainder of the individual's working life. More recently, Super and Kidd (1979) recognized the increased number of midlife changers by stating that role changes occurring in middle age and old age present many developmental tasks that require the individual to be ready to cope with change.
Murphy and Burck (1976) have suggested that the frequency of midlife career change will likely increase in the future. They suggest that most men reach a point between ages thirty-five and forty-five where reflection on personal and career development in recent years and consideration of what they want to accomplish in future years, causes them to choose between rededication to previously set plans or a decision to consider other options. They propose that Super's life stages be modified by inserting a "renewal" stage between the "establishment" and "maintenance" stages as recognition that change in midlife is increasingly frequent.
Thomas (1977) discusses the idea of reconfirmation versus change and proposes a two-by-two classification scheme that shows an interaction between career change and life structure change. Those men who alter both are viewed as changers and those who maintain both aspects are seen as persisters. Men who change career but retain the same life structure are labeled as pseudo-changers, and those men who reverse this pattern by keeping the same career pattern but changing life structure are labeled crypto changers.
