Career Problem Solving and Decision-Making Strategy Paper



Instructions for Completing the Career Problem Solving and Decision-Making Paper

MHS 5340 - Foundations of Career Development

The career problem-solving and decision-making paper provides you with an opportunity to use the CASVE cycle to solve a current career problem. Students have used this paper to make the following choices:

• Specialty areas of practice in counseling.

• Settings for counseling practice.

• Working with a M.S./Ed.S. Degree or pursuing doctoral study before practicing.

• Working as a doctoral-level academic or as a doctoral-level practitioner.

As you become more aware of your own career problems, you can be more aware of the career problems of your clients. Insight into your own career problems can help you to better use appropriate self-disclosure as an effective counseling technique. As you better understand the process for solving your own career problems, you can better help clients to understand the process for solving their own career problems.

A good paper shows evidence of insight, resourcefulness, and clarity of thought and expression. Given the interrelatedness of career development and mental health for you and your clients, this paper deserves your very best effort!

Role of the Career Advisor

Ask a Career Advisor in the Career Center’s Curricular-Career Information Service (CCIS) for help in selecting, sequencing, locating, and using the career resources for this assignment. A Career Advisor can specifically help you:

• Clarify your career problem (the gap).

• Clarify your goals in relation to the gap that you intend to narrow.

• Create an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) based on this assignment.

• Locate the career resources indicated on the ILP.

• Learn how to use the resources indicated on the ILP.

• Follow up on your use of the resources indicated on the ILP.

• Critique your résumé.

• Critique your cover letter.

• Revise your ILP as needed.

You can decide to either work with one career advisor during their scheduled hours in the Career Center library or you can work with any Career Advisor on duty from 8:30 to 4:30 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, or 8:30 to 8:00 on Tuesday. Please note that Career advisors are not available on Fridays between 1:30 and 2:30.

First year counseling students who work as Career Advisors in CCIS, also take counseling classes with students who are enrolled in this class. In order to minimize any potential dual relationship ethical problems, students in this class should first seek assistance from Career Advisors who are permanent staff members and then doctoral students who are working in the Center, followed by second-year counseling students who work as Career Advisors.

During peak periods of demand, there may be some delay in meeting with a Career Advisor. You can wait until either a Career Advisor is available or you can return at a time that is typically less crowded.

You may decide that you need additional career assistance beyond what can be provided by a Career Advisor on a drop-in basis in CCIS. Discuss the option of individual career counseling appointments with a Career Advisor or your instructor.

Preparation of the Paper

Successful papers tend to be worked on steadily each week. Much of the paper involves the expression of insight about yourself and your options. Insight is obtained through a recursive process of clarifying your self knowledge and enhancing knowledge of your options, followed by a time of reflection to integrate what you have learned and express this learning as insights. Complete the paper in the order of the outline, as the paper is designed so that the information from initial sections is used in subsequent sections.

All papers need to be double spaced, edited, and proofed prior to submission. Use the headings presented at the end of these instructions to organize your paper. All headings need to conform to APA style. The instructions for presenting the contents for sections and subsections are presented in italics. A binder clip should secure the body of the paper and the appendices. To make your paper easier to use as a reference document for future career choices, it is recommended that the paper be three-hole punched for placement in a three-ring binder. However, do not submit the paper in a three-ring binder for this class.

Organization and Content of the Paper

Title Page

Include your name, the title of this course, and the date.

Table of Contents

Include all APA style headings presented at the end of these instructions.

Communication

Describe the cues that prompted you to begin the process of career problem-solving and decision making.

External Cues

Events

Describe the events that made you aware you had a career problem needing your attention. Events could include the requirement for you to state your future employments plans as part of class introductions, hearing other students talk with certainty about their career plans, meeting other students who appear to have very different interests than you do, attending a class that seems very uninteresting, the requirement to write this paper, etc.

• As you think about these types of events, explain any insights you have gained about yourself. For example, how do you tend to cope with problems in general? How do you cope with problems that have not occurred before? How do you cope with problems that you have been expecting?

[Presentation: One or more narrative paragraphs that describe both the nature of events and your insights.]

Input from Significant Others

Describe the input you have received from significant others that signaled that you needed to solve a problem. Significant others can include partners, spouses, parents, other relatives, friends, current or former employers, current or former teachers/professors, etc. Input from significant others could include being asked what you are going to do in terms of your career plans; if you are sure that you know what you are doing, or why you are not sure of your career plans.

• As you think about this type of input from significant others, explain any insights you have gained about yourself. For example, how do you know when to consider the input from another as relevant? How do you typically react when a significant other states that you have a problem? How do relationships with significant others impact your willingness to admit that you have a problem?

[Presentation: One or more narrative paragraphs that describe both the nature of input from significant others and your insights.]

Internal Cues

Emotions

Describe any emotions that helped you realize that you had a career problem that needed solving. When you have a problem, do you tend to be curious, excited, anxious, frustrated, angry, embarrassed, or depressed? What impact do these emotions have on your problem solving?

• As you think about your emotions, explain any insights you have gained about yourself. What emotions provide you with the clearest signal that you have a problem?

[Presentation: One or more narrative paragraphs that describe both the nature of your emotions and your insights.]

Avoidance Behavior

Describe any procrastination you engaged in that helped you realize that you had a career problem. Procrastination can include completing low priority tasks first or escaping by watching television or talking with a friend. This does not include the procrastination associated with completing a disagreeable task. As you think about your avoidance behavior, explain any insights you have gained about yourself. When you procrastinate, what is your typical behavior? What is the relationship between your procrastination and your emotions?

[Presentation: One or more narrative paragraphs that describe both the nature of your avoidance behavior (if any) and your insights.]

Physiological States

Describe any physiological states that indicated to you that a problem deserved your attention. Physiological states include headaches, stomach problems, etc. As you think about the physiological symptoms you may have, explain any insights you have gained about yourself. What are your typical physiological states when you are confronted by a problem? How do your physiological states relate to your emotions?

[Presentation: One or more narrative paragraphs that describe both the nature of your physiological states and your insights.]

Gap

Effective problem solving and decision making begins with clearly stating the problem that needs to be solved.

• It is important to understand that not all problems are bad. The word “problem” is often used to communicate that something bad has happened. However, some problems are good to have, such as needing to choose between attending two very desirable colleges where you have been accepted for admission or choosing how to spend money that was presented to you as a gift. A problem can be an opportunity or a threat, depending on the circumstances.

• For this part of your paper, include a summary statement of the gap in your problem solving and decision making. A gap statement clearly indicates where you are now and where you want to be in the future (the difference between an existing and a desired state of affairs). The gap needs to involve an occupational choice. Examples could be:

o I am not confident that I have made an informed choice about seeking a doctorate and I want to be confident that I have a good chance for success and that I will like being a professor.

o I am not satisfied with my current choice to seek jobs in college counseling centers after I graduate and I want to be satisfied that I have made a good tentative choice.

[Presentation: One sentence]

Goals

Include two to three goal statements that clearly indicate an outcome, or outcomes, related to narrowing the gap identified in the prior section. Examples of goals include the following:

• Make an informed occupational choice.

• Enhance my self knowledge.

• Clarify my knowledge of occupations.

• Generate occupational options.

• Improve my decision-making skills.

• Learn how negative thoughts can influence my career choices.

• Learn how to reframe negative thoughts that make my career choice more difficult.

• Identify the skills I need to acquire in my graduate program.

• Learn how to organize a job campaign.

• Learn how to write a résumé and cover letter.

• Improve my job interview skills.

• Learn about managing my career after I graduate.

[Presentation: One sentence for each goal. Also include the goals on your ILP.]

Analysis

Self Knowledge

Summarize the self knowledge (values, interests, skills, and employment preferences) that you have obtained from the following sources. The self knowledge that you describe above should show considerable personal insight. Include the three to seven key elements of self knowledge from each source of assessment data. As best as you can, include at least one key value, interest, and skill from each assessment resource.

Important Life Experiences

Describe three to five important life experiences (your story) and what you have learned about yourself as a result (your insights). Pay particular attention to your values, interests, skills, and employment preferences.

Previous and Current Paid Work Experience

Describe both full-time and part-time work experience in terms of your story and your insights, paying attention to your values, interests, skills, and employment preferences.

Previous and Current Volunteer Experience

Describe your volunteer experience in terms of your story and your insights, paying attention to your values, interests, skills, and employment preferences. Pay particular attention to any volunteer experience that involved helping others.

Previous and Current Leisure Experience

Describe your leisure experience in terms of your story and your insights, attending to your values, interests, skills, and employment preferences. Pay particular attention to any of your leisure activities that helped you to deal with stress or helped you to meet any needs that were not being met at school or work.

Previous and Current Academic Experience

Describe your academic experience in terms of your story and your insights, paying attention to your values, interests, skills, and employment preferences. Include courses, independent study, or research projects that were particularly helpful in clarifying your values, interests, skills, and employment preferences.

Feedback from Significant Others

Describe the perceptions your significant others have about your values, interests and skills. Significant others should include two or more family members, friends, employers, mentors, etc. Include the insights you obtained form this feedback.

The Self-Directed Search

Complete the paper-and-pencil version of the Self-Directed Search and discuss your results with a Career Advisor, using both the client summary and the professional summary. Pay equal attention to the Holland code and the SDS secondary constructs.

Occupational Card Sort

With the assistance of a Career Advisor, complete an occupational card sort. Emphasize what you learn about your likes and dislikes in relation to the occupations in the card sort as opposed to which occupations you prefer. In the appendices, include the Card Sort Summary Sheet that you and your Career Advisor complete.

Assessment Features of Choices Planner

Use the Choices Planner for adults in career transition.

Interest Profiler

Identify your interests and specifically compare your results with the Self-Directed Search.

Values Sorter

Identify your values and specifically compare your results with eDiscover and SIGI Plus.

Assessment Features of eDiscover

The eDiscover system requires a password that can be obtained form a Career Advisor.

Values

Identify your values and specifically compare your results with Choices Planner and SIGI Plus.

Interests

Identify your interests and specifically compare your results with the Self-Directed Search and Choices Planner.

Abilities

Identify your abilities and specifically compare your results with prior academic performance.

Assessment Features of SIGI Plus

Values

Identify your values and specifically compare your results with Choices Planner and eDiscover.

Activities

Identify your activities (interests) and specifically compare your results with the Self-Directed Search, Choices Planner, and eDiscover.

[Presentation: Narrative paragraphs with a minimum of one paragraph for each source of self knowledge. The SDS should include a description of your summary code and an analysis of secondary constructs obtained from the SDS professional summary. Choices Planner, eDiscover, and SIGI Plus should include a summary of assessment results with related printouts provided in the appendices. Results from the card sort should be summarized in the text with the Card Sort Summary Sheet included in the appendices. Use of the SDS and an occupational card sort, as well as the assessment features for Choices Planner, eDiscover, and SIGI Plus, should be indicated on your ILP. If available, prior career assessment results may also be included in this section.]

Similarities and Differences Among Self-Knowledge Data

Discuss the similarities and differences in the self-knowledge data you have received from the various assessment resources you have used in preparing this paper.

[Presentation: Narrative paragraph]

Self-Knowledge Summary

Values

[Presentation: List]

Interests

[Presentation: List]

Current Skills

[Presentation: List]

Employment Preferences

[Presentation: List]

Occupational Knowledge

Knowledge of a Specific Occupation

Describe what you have learned in terms of knowledge of specific occupations based on the information resources included in this section.

• Given space limitations, include only occupational knowledge from one of the three occupations that you are likely to identify in Synthesis-Crystallization below. (In reality, you would use information from two or more occupations in actually solving your career problem.)

• Use Career Key in the Career Center Library to assist you in locating information resources. Information resources used to clarify occupational knowledge should be indicated on your ILP. Additional information resources that are relevant to your goals can be added to the ILP at any time. Please note that some information resources include many occupations while other information sources include fewer, more commonly existing occupations. This situation may result in your use of a “related” occupation in this assignment, which means that you have to be more tentative in your conclusions about the occupation.

• Include three to five key elements of occupational knowledge from each source of occupational information, e.g. typical job tasks or employment outlook.

One Print-Based Document

The Information Features from Choices Planner

The Information Features from eDiscover

The Information Features from SIGI PLUS

O*NET

The Internet Version of the Occupational Outlook Handbook

An Internet Web Site Dedicated to a Specific Occupation

A professional association Web site would meet this requirement.

An Information Interview

Guidelines for conducting an information interview are available in the Career Center Library and on the Career Center Web site.

[Presentation: Provide a narrative paragraph that briefly describes what you have learned from each of the above resources.]

Similarities and Differences Among Sources of Occupational Knowledge

Discuss the similarities and differences in occupational knowledge that you have learned from the various information resources you have used in preparing this paper. Reflection on what you have learned from your use of occupational information may cause you to reassess your values, interests, skills, and employment preferences. As a result you may want to revise your previous summary list of your values, interests, skills, and employment preferences.

[Presentation: Narrative paragraph]

Schema for Organizing the World of Work

Identify your schema for organizing the world of work that you use to organize your knowledge of occupations e.g., Holland Hexagon, World-of-Work Map, etc. Briefly explain your rationale for your choice.

[Presentation: Narrative paragraph]

Generic Information Processing Skills

Describe your generic information-processing skills, emphasizing your awareness of yourself as a decision maker. Focus your discussion on important decisions you have made in your life. Give an example of a decision that exemplifies your generic information-processing skills.

Past Ability to Apply a Decision-Making Model

Describe your past ability to apply the CASVE Model or another problem-solving and decision-making approach. Describe the extent to which your approach is rational, intuitive, or a combination of both. Describe your tendency to be independent, dependent, or interdependent with others in making important decisions.

[Presentation: Narrative paragraphs]

Decision-Making Style

Describe your decision-making style in terms of information gathering (spontaneous to systematic) and information processing (external to internal).

[Presentation: Narrative paragraph]

Influence of Your Holland Code

Describe the potential influence of your Holland code on how you make important decisions in your life.

[Presentation: Narrative paragraph]

Metacognitions

Self-Talk

Describe the nature of your self-talk related to career problem solving and decision making. Include a discussion of your scores from the Career Thoughts Inventory and your use of the CTI Workbook. If negative career thoughts are making decision making difficult, be especially careful as you respond to assessment items and as you think about what you have learned about various occupations. It is possible that negative thoughts can limit your self perceptions and interfere with learning about your options.

[Presentation: Narrative paragraphs]

Self Awareness

Describe your level of self-awareness as a decision maker as you make a career choice.

[Presentation: Narrative paragraph]

Monitoring and Control

Describe your capacity to monitor and control your progress through the phases of the CASVE cycle.

[Presentation: Narrative paragraph]

Synthesis

Elaboration

Identify your methods of generating occupational alternatives, e.g. your own ideas, suggestions from significant others, data from assessments, data from computer-assisted guidance systems.

[Presentation: List]

Crystallization

Identify three occupational alternatives that are used in the VALUING phase that follows.

[Presentation: List]

Valuing

Costs and Benefits

Describe the relative costs and benefits for each of the three occupations that you are considering in relation to: 1) yourself; 2) your significant others, (e.g. family members and friends); 3) your cultural group; and 4) your community or society at large. If a category is not relevant in you decision making (such as society at large), indicate that it is not applicable.

[Insert First Occupational Alternative]

Self

Costs

Benefits

Significant Other(s)

Costs

Benefits

Cultural Group

Costs

Benefits

Community or Society at Large

Costs

Benefits

[Insert Second Occupational Alternative]

Self

Costs

Benefits

Significant Other(s)

Costs

Benefits

Cultural Group

Costs

Benefits

Community or Society at Large

Costs

Benefits

[Insert Third Occupational Alternative]

Self

Costs

Benefits

Significant Other(s)

Costs

Benefits

Cultural Group

Costs

Benefits

Community or Society at Large

Costs

Benefits

[Presentation: Brief phrase for each cost and benefit for the three occupations being considered. This information may be presented in narrative or table form.]

Tentative Choices

Tentative Primary Occupational Choice

[Presentation: One-item list]

Tentative Secondary Occupational Choice

[Presentation: One-item list]

Leisure Activities

List and categorize four leisure activities as complementary, supplemental, or compensatory. Also, indicate the contribution of each leisure activity (challenge, support, structure, feedback, application, and integration) to your well-being.

[Insert First Leisure Activity]

Category of Leisure

Contribution to Well Being

[Insert Second Leisure Activity]

Category of Leisure

Contribution to Well Being

[Insert Third Leisure Activity]

Category of Leisure

Contribution to Well Being

[Insert Fourth Leisure Activity]

Category

Contribution to Well Being

[Presentation: List]

Execution

Preparation Program

Draft a preliminary program of study for your counseling specialization. Include a one-sentence rationale for how each course will relate to your tentative primary occupational choice.

[Presentation: List each course with a one sentence rationale for taking the course. Do not include your official College of Education Program of Study Form]

Reality Testing

Preliminary Practicum Choice

Identify your preliminary practicum site choice.

[Presentation: One-item list]

Identify how your practicum will provide a reality test for your self and occupational knowledge.

[Presentation: One sentence relating reality testing to self-knowledge and one sentence relating reality testing to occupational knowledge.]

Preliminary Internship Site Choice.

[Presentation: One-item list]

Identify how your internship will provide a reality test for your self and occupational knowledge.

[Presentation: One sentence relating reality testing to self-knowledge and one sentence relating reality testing to occupational knowledge.]

Potential Volunteer Opportunity

Identify at least one potential volunteer opportunity that might help you confirm your primary choice, as well as provide you with an opportunity to gain additional work experience.

[Presentation: One item list]

Employment seeking

New Skills

List the new skills that you plan to gain from your academic courses, your practicum, and your internship. (These skills should build upon, and not duplicate, the skills you previously identified in the ANALYSIS Phase.)

[Presentation: List]

Job Search Strategy

Identify how you will locate job opportunities, e.g. networking, the FSU Career Center, specific professional association placement services, specific Internet job banks, and specific job search publications.

[Presentation: List]

Draft a résumé based upon your ideal self at the conclusion of your degree. Include your résumé in the appendices. Draft a cover letter for the job related to your tentative primary occupational choice identified above. Include your cover letter in the appendices.

Communication

Describe what changes, if any, have occurred in the external and internal cues associated with your career problem (gap).

[Presentation: Narrative paragraphs]

Conclusion

Describe the outcome(s) associated with writing this paper.

[Presentation: Narrative paragraph(s)]

APPENDICES

(A) CTI Test Booklet

(B) SDS Interpretive Report: Client Version and Professional Summary

(C) Card Sort Summary Sheet

(D) Choices Planner Assessment Printouts

(E) eDiscover Assessment Printouts

(F) SIGI Plus Assessment Printouts

(G) Career Key printouts

(H) Choices Planner Information Printouts

(I) eDiscover Information Printouts

(J) SIGI Plus Information Printouts

(K) O*NET Printout

(L) Occupational Information Handbook Printout

(M) Web-Site Printout

(N) Résumé

(O) Cover Letter

(P) Individual Learning Plan (ILP)

[Presentation: Use tab dividers to separate each appendix]

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