MODULE: II

PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT CAREER DEVELOPMENT

❖Career development is the series of activities in an on-going/lifelong process of developing one’s

career which includes defining new goals regularly and acquiring skills to achieve them.
❖Career development usually refers to managing one’s career in an intra-organizational or interorganizational
scenario.
❖ It involves training on new skills, moving to higher job responsibilities, making a career change
within the same organization, moving to a different organization or starting one’s own business.
❖Career development is directly linked to the goals and objectives set by an individual. It starts with
self-actualization and self-assessment of one’s interests and capabilities.

STEPS OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT

1. Self Assessment
The first step in career development is the self assessment which means that the individual has to assess oneself on
the kind of career and growth one wants and what kind of skills and interests are there.
2. Career Awareness
This stage is when an individual explores various career paths which align with the self assessment done in the first
step. Career awareness can be how a person can explore various domains and types of jobs/work available
3. Goal Setting
This is the most important step in career development because this is where one defines clear short term and long-
term goals to meet the career one aspires. Both short term and long-term goals need to be defined to begin with.
Short team goals would be more actionable but long-term goals can be changed or tweaked as per the growth.
4. Skill Training
Once the career and goals are set, one needs to acquire the right skills to achieve the growth. Skill training can be
done through self training or joining a structured training program online or offline.
5. Performing
With all the right knowledge and skills, the important part is to perform the tasks and jobs in the career successfully
to grow in the career path. The 5 steps are part of an ongoing process. Many times in a career, the person would
need to revisit the cycle to get the right career growth.
WHAT IS CAREER COUNSELLING?
According to the National Career Development Association (NCDA), Career counselling provides the opportunity for
a
deeper level of involvement with the client, based on the establishment of a professional counselling relationship
and the potential for assisting clients with career and personal development concerns beyond those included in
career planning.
COUNSELLING THEORIES
1.Trait-Factor Approach:
❖Trait Factor Approach is one of the earliest models of career counselling, grounded in the idea that matching an
individual's traits with occupational factors can lead to successful career choices.
❖Developed in the early 20th century, this approach is based on the work of Frank Parsons, often referred to as the
father of vocational guidance.
❖ The approach operates under the premise that individuals possess unique traits and that there are specific job
requirements or factors that match these traits.
Key Concepts of the Trait Factor Approach
➢ INDIVIDUAL TRAITS:
Aptitudes: Natural abilities or talents in specific areas such as mathematics, writing, or mechanical tasks.
Interests: Preferences for certain activities or subjects.
Values: Beliefs and principles that guide behaviour and decision-making.
Personality Characteristics: Stable patterns of behaviour, emotions, and thoughts that influence how individuals
interact with their environment.
➢ OCCUPATIONAL TRAITS:
Some factors that are needed to perform well.
These include job requirements, responsibilities, working conditions, and opportunities for advancement.
Each occupation has specific factors that align with different traits.
➢MATCHING PROCESS:
The central tenet of the Trait Factor Approach is that successful career choices result from accurately matching
individual traits with the factors required by a specific job.
Self-Assessment: Identifying personal traits, strengths, and weaknesses.
Occupational Analysis: Understanding the requirements and characteristics of different occupations.
Matching and Decision-Making: Aligning the individual's profile with potential careers and making informed choices.

STEPS IN THE TRAIT FACTOR APPROACH

•Self-Understanding:
Individuals undergo assessments to evaluate their skills, interests, and personality.
Common tools include aptitude tests, interest inventories, and personality assessments.
•Occupational Exploration:
Information about various careers is gathered, focusing on the skills required, typical tasks, and the work
environment.
•Decision-Making:
Based on the matching of traits and occupational factors, individuals make career decisions that best fit their
profiles.
•Adjustment and Counselling:
Continuous support and counselling are provided to help individuals adapt to their chosen careers and make any
necessary adjustments.

ADVANTAGES
•Structured Framework: Provides a clear and systematic method for career
decision-making.
•Personalization: Helps individuals understand their unique traits and how these can be aligned with various careers.
•Emphasis on Objective Data: Utilizes psychometric assessments to provide concrete data on traits and aptitudes.
CRITICISMS OF TRAIT FACTOR THEORY
•Static View: Critics argue that the approach views careers and traits as static, whereas both can change over time.
•Oversimplification: The model may oversimplify the complex nature of career development and ignore other
influencing factors like socio-economic status or cultural background.
•Lack of Focus on Development: It does not adequately address how individuals can develop new skills or adapt to
changing job markets.

THEORIES OF DECISION MAKING

❖Career development involves a series of decisions individuals make throughout their lives regarding education,
employment, and career progression.
❖ Decision-making theories provide frameworks to understand how people approach these critical choices,
balancing personal aspirations with external influences.

THEORY OF CIRCUMSCRIPTION AND COMPROMISE

• The Theory of Circumscription and Compromise was developed by Linda Gottfredson in the field of career
psychology.
• It is a framework that explains how individuals develop their career preferences and make occupational choices
based on the interplay of various psychological and sociological factors.
• The theory consists of two main processes: circumscription and compromise.
• Circumscription is the process by which individuals progressively eliminate career options
that they perceive as unacceptable.
• This process unfolds in stages, influenced by cognitive development and self-concept.
• Self-concept is the cumulative understanding a person has about themselves, influenced by personal experiences,
social interactions, and societal expectations. It includes:
Interests: Activities and subjects that captivate a person.
Abilities: Perceived strengths and weaknesses.
Values: Core beliefs and principles guiding decision-making.
Personality Traits: Characteristics that define one's unique approach to life and work.

CIRCUMSCRIPTION
❖Circumscription is the process by which individuals progressively eliminate career options that they perceive as
unacceptable.
❖This process unfolds in stages, influenced by cognitive development and self-concept.
❖Gottfredson identified four stages of circumscription.
a. Orientation to Size and Power (Ages 3-5):
During this stage, children are moving away from magical ways of thinking.
As such, they are starting to categorize people into broad categories or big or little and weak or powerful.
Gottfredson believed this is also when they first start to become aware that adults have jobs, and that they will one
day be an adult and need to have a job themselves.

b. Orientation to Sex Roles (Ages 6-8):

This stage takes place from approximately age six to age eight.
At this point, the child is thinking in more concrete terms.
They’re recognizing more occupations and making simple distinctions.
Their awareness of occupations they engage with is especially increasing, such as teachers.
They begin to recognize more occupations but mainly those that are highly visible – e.g.: those that require a
uniform for instance, or those they have frequent contact with, such as teachers and their parents’ occupations Also
at the second stage, their thinking is more rigid and dichotomous than other stages. Gottfredson believed that at this
point, children are beginning to separate occupations into categories for men and women. At the same time, they
are beginning to be subtly pointed toward jobs that match their gender, and subtly steered away from those that
don’t.

C. Orientation to Social Valuation (Ages: 9-13)

As the child ages, they are recognizing more occupations and their awareness of social hierarchies and class are
expanding.
The child is also recognizing more of the factors that signify social class, such as a person’s clothing, speech, and
behaviour.
At the same time, their mental categories for occupations are expanding.
Not only are they putting jobs into categories for men and women, they are also factoring in the level of prestige for
careers as well.
Likewise, the child is gaining more awareness that the job they choose will be perceived by others in one way or
another.
As a result, by the end of this stage, they will have eliminated many jobs for themselves.
Although not necessarily on a conscious level, they will have cut out jobs they feel are too socially low ranking, those
that do not fit their sex role, and occupations that they feel are too difficult to attain.

C. Orientation to the Internal, Unique Self (Ages 14+)

During this stage, the youngster is beginning to sort through careers more consciously.
They are also better understanding their abilities, interests, and values, and putting these together with potential
occupations.
In the fourth stage, the child is starting to understand and recognize other factors related to jobs.
The theory states that girls will often start to become more aware of (and concerned about) factors such as work/life
balance and how they may or may not be able to care for their family as a result of a job.
For boys, they are weighing how a job may help them support their family.

COMPROMISE
The last phase is compromise.
Compromise occurs when individuals adjust their career aspirations due to external factors such as accessibility, job
market conditions, or other constraints.
At this point, the person is more actively determining what jobs might be interesting, based on accessibility.
They compromise their ideal choice with what is practical.
Gottfredson notes three components that often factor into this phase.

COMPROMISE- LEVELS
First, people tend to make decisions only when they have to.
Meaning, this phase is something people will typically only do when they need to find work.
Individuals eliminate options that are too difficult to attain or require more education or skills than they believe they
can achieve.
She notes that people will often only pursue more information related to the jobs they find the most interesting.
Furthermore, their information tends to be limited as they often only use family and friends as their sources.
Second, people who are well connected tend to be the ones who get information on a wider variety of jobs.
Additionally, people who are more active consumers will get more information compared to those who are more
passive.
Those who are more active also tend to be put into more situations where they can
find more jobs and gain needed experience.

Third, when people can’t find a job that matches their sex-type, prestige level, or interests, they tend to prioritize
jobs that match their gender. When someone is faced with occupations that are all equally acceptable for sex type
fit, they will most often prioritize the level of prestige over the field. If both the sex type and the level of prestige are
somewhat acceptable, then they will then try to find an occupation that is a good fit for their interests.
Key Components of the Theory:
Self-concept: The evolving sense of self plays a crucial role in shaping careerpreferences and choices.
Gender and social influences: The theory emphasizes the significant impact of societal norms and gender roles on
career decision-making.
Cognitive development: Career choices are influenced by the individual's stage of cognitive development, which
affects their understanding of the world of work.
Implications in Career Counselling:
➢Awareness of Stages: Career counsellors can help clients understand the stages of circumscription and encourage
exploration of a broader range of career options.
➢Challenging Stereotypes: By addressing gender and social biases, counsellors can help clients overcome restrictive
societal influences.
➢Realistic Goal Setting: Counsellors can guide clients in making informed compromises that align with both their
aspirations and the realities of the job market.