Jonas Masdonati

Effectiveness of career counseling and the impact of the working alliance.

This study analyzes the role of the working alliance on the life satisfaction and career decision difficulties of clients participating in career counseling in Switzerland. The study also compares these career counseling clients to a group of students who did not seek counseling, to explore the overall effectiveness of a face-to-face career counseling intervention, using a pre—post design. Results indicated that the working alliance was positively associated with clients’ satisfaction with the intervention and with the final level of their life satisfaction. Working alliance was also negatively associated with the final levels of career decision difficulties. Moreover, clients’ career decision difficulties significantly decreased and their life satisfaction increased throughout the intervention. These findings suggest that working alliance represents an important variable to better understand career interventions’ underlying mechanisms. Moreover, face-to-face career counseling is effective considering career-specific as well as broader, life-related indicators.

Working Alliance as a Moderator and a Mediator of Career Counseling Effectiveness

This study analyzed the role of working alliance in individual career counseling. The level of career decision difficulties and satisfaction with life of 188 clients was assessed at the beginning and at the end of career counseling. Clients’ perceived working alliance was assessed after the third session, and their satisfaction with the intervention (SWI) was assessed at the end of the intervention. Results showed that working alliance (1) moderated the decrease of lack of career information, (2) predicted SWI, and (3) played a mediator role in the decrease of inconsistent career information. The study confirmed the importance of relational factors in career counseling, particularly of the client–counselor agreement about intervention goals and tasks.

Influence of clients’ personality and individual characteristics on the effectiveness of a career counselling intervention:

Clients’ personality traits and individual characteristics, such as age, gender, reason for seeking counselling, and further compounding problems in their personal or academic lives, may pose risk factors that render career decision making difficult and may also impact the overall effectiveness of a career counselling intervention. Neuroticism and conscientiousness as well as clients’ age and gender directly affected clients’ satisfaction with life and certain aspects of their career indecision scores before participating in our short-term career counselling intervention. Career counsellors can use personality and career-specific and career-non-specific instruments to tailor career counselling interventions to meet clients’ individual needs.

Determining Career Resilience

The concept of resilience is receiving increasing interest in the field of career development. However, there is no consensus on the definition of career resilience, which considerably limits the scope of research on this topic. In this chapter, we start by considering the concept of resilience in the light of the living system framework (LSF; Ford in Humans as self-constructing living systems: A developmental perspective on behavior and personality. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1987). This first step allows us to propose an operational definition of career resilience as effective vocational functioning under disabling circumstances. A convenient way to study career resilience is suggested accordingly. Ethical challenges related with attempts to promote career resilience through counseling interventions are emphasized, as well as suggestions to foster career resilience perceived self-efficacy.

Les apprenti-e-s face aux contraintes en formation professionnelle en alternance : entre souffrance et plaisir

Resume Cette contribution aborde la formation professionnelle suisse a partir des resultats d’une etude portant sur les arrets prematures dans le systeme dual (en alternance). La psychodynamique du travail est utilisee comme cadre theorique et methode d’analyse, ce qui permet de mettre l’accent sur les contraintes specifiques d’un systeme etroitement lie au monde du travail. Les differentes formes de souffrance evoquees par les apprenti-e-s, ainsi que les strategies mises en oeuvre pour y faire face, sont mises en evidence. Les analyses portent egalement sur le plaisir que ces jeunes peuvent eprouver dans leur experience en formation professionnelle. Entre plaisir et souffrance, ces elements permettent de reflechir aux atouts et aux inconvenients de ce systeme de formation

The Reasons Behind a Career Change Through Vocational Education and Training

We report the results of qualitative research on adults who enrolled in a vocational and education training (VET) program with the intention of changing their careers. The participants were 30 adults aged between 25 and 45 years. A modified version of the consensual qualitative research method was applied to transcriptions of semi-structured interviews with the participants. There appeared to be two main reasons underlying the decision to enrol in a VET program with the aim of initiating a career change. Based on the reasons given, two groups (career changers and proactive changers) and five distinct categories were recognized. The career changers included individuals who wished to change careers due to dissatisfaction with their current situation. In this group, the decisions were motivated by either health problems or personal dissatisfaction. The proactive changers included individuals who wished to reorient their career because of a desire to undertake new projects. In this group, there were three categories of reasons: a wish to attain better working conditions, a search for personal growth and a desire to have an occupation that fitted the person’s vocation. Thus, the participants reoriented their careers according to various motivations, pointing to the existence of a heterogeneous population and the complexity of the phenomenon. The results highlight the importance of understanding the subjective reasons behind career changes and the need to adjust career interventions accordingly.