Career Development Theory – Applying Career Development Theory to Counseling

Our world is constantly changing. What may be the usual or routine behavior one year may change the next. Knowing this, counselors and teachers often reexamine the need to of applying career development theory to counseling and fit it into modern times.

Individuals go through the process of career development to learn more about themselves and their career paths knowing a combination of the two leads them to know more about their identity in the cosmopolitan world.

Those who take continual education, join internships and apprenticeships, attend seminars and courses and continue research tend to succeed in their careers better than those who stop, or slow down the learning process after they begin a career. Businesses know and rely on this to stay ahead of other companies.

One early career development theory focused on stages concerning the adolescent phase, the preteen through teen phase, and young adulthood.

The adolescent phase is the phase where the world is opening up to the child. “What do I want to be when I grow up” is thought of, but isn’t important. For instance, one adolescent may pretend to be a dancer, while at the same time she wants to be a doctor, a scientist, a veterinarian, and an artist. She is too young yet to know if she will want to follow these career choices later in life.

In the preteen to teen phase of this career development theory, the individual starts to be inclined towards what she likes to do. What areas she excels at and finds useful. The female child in the earlier example has only a passing interest in dancing and art. Her activities and knowledge begins to lean towards science and health while preferring to study the ins and outs of domestic animals.

This is when she considers research and classes she will need to continue in these fields. Through the career development theory we see she is starting to think more about what she wants to be when she grows up.

The final step in this career development theory is the individual’s preferences, likes and dislikes that lead her to the career she eventually chooses. In this example, the female decides she would rather work more with animals than people and chooses to become a veterinarian. She now needs to go beyond high school, take required courses, and train with professionals in order to take on her career goal.

Teachers and experts can apply the career development theory to counseling when dealing with the growth and development of a child. They can advise and monitor how a child behaves and the potential of what they were to become when they get older.