Career planning case study with solution

Create A Career Counseling Client Case Study

Throughout this course, you have been introduced to tools to assist clients and students with identifying options for meaningful and desirable work. These tools include theories, assessments, and job-seeking strategies to facilitate self-exploration, increase career knowledge, and enhance career decision-making. In this final project, you will synthesize what you have learned by developing a career plan to support a client or student’s career development. To complete the project, you will first develop a case study illustrating a fictional client or student with career development needs. You will then apply the Hill and O’Brien (1999) Helping Skills Model to address the needs of this fictional client or student. The Helping Skill Model is outlined in the case study, Darren: The Case of the Unemployed Runaway, located in the Week 10 Learning Resources.

To Prepare:
Consider the learning resources presented throughout the course. If necessary, for your action plan, review the resume and interviewing resources presented in the Week 11 resources as well. Additional career resources can be found on the Walden University Career Services website (https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/careerservices/home).
Access the Hill and O’Brien (1999) Helping Skills Model located in the Week 10 Learning Resources.
Access the Career Plan template located in the Week 10 Learning Resources.

In 5–6 pages, use the Hill and O'Brien (1999) Helping Skills Model to describe the strategies/interventions that you would use to support a client’s/student’s life work plan. The Helping Skills Model is outlined in the case study, Darren( https://class.content.laureate.net/9c592372bb596bc46dc9b2d83671d4ec.pdf): The Case of the Unemployed Runaway. It is located in the Week 10 Learning Resources.

First, develop a case study to use for this Application Assignment. Do not use “Darren” from the resources. In your case study, you should:
Briefly describe your client’s/student’s presenting problem or career concern, and
Relevant sociocultural factors that influence the case.
Next, following the Hill and O’Brien (1999) model,
describe the activities that you would engage in at Stage One of your career plan (Exploration, pp. 231–232).
What techniques would you use to develop rapport, express empathy, and encourage your client/student to "tell his or her story?”
How would you broach the role of sociocultural factors in your client’s/student’s career story?
For the second stage, Insight (p. 232), identify the areas that you would focus on to gain a deeper meaning and understanding of your client’s/student’s situation.
How would you identify his or her interests, abilities, and strengths?
What career assessments and/or computer-assisted programs might be of use?
What changes in the world-of-work might be relevant?
For the Action stage (p. 232), identify
The plans you would develop
How you would evaluate them, and
What follow up activity you would do with your client.
Be sure to include your advocacy statement from your Week 7 Reflection Paper (this will be messaged to you privately), and how you might advocate with or on behalf of your client or student.

Include anything else that you would like to add to further develop the plan.

Career Plan

Student Name Here

Walden University

Career Plan

Provide a brief introduction to your paper here. The title serves as your introductory heading, so there is no need for a heading titled “Introduction.” Here you will briefly discuss the purpose of the paper. Start first by writing a sentence or two on the topic in general; that is, the career planning in your desired population or setting. Then, follow up with a statement of the specific purpose or argument of this particular assignment (i.e., to illustrate a career plan designed to assist clients or students with identifying options for meaningful and desirable work). Remember, you need a minimum of three sentences to make a paragraph. At the end of your introduction, include a sentence outlining which topics will be discussed and in which order.

Case Study

In this section of your final project, you will develop a case study from which you will base your career plan. Do not use “Darren” from the resources. In your case study, you should briefly describe your client’s/student’s presenting problem or career concern, as well as relevant sociocultural factors that influence the case. Be sure to include all relevant information such as the client’s demographic variables (consider use of the ADDRESSING model of identity), the client’s specific career difficulties (e.g., problems maintaining adequate work/life balance, discrimination in the workplace, layoff/termination, relocation, dislike of job duties, etc.), and his or her goals for counseling. For example, in a clinical mental health setting, you might describe a 40-year-old African American woman who is seeking to explore new career options due to interpersonal difficulties at her current place of employment. In a school counseling setting, you might describe work with a 17-year-old high school senior whose parents emigrated from Mexico and is having difficulty deciding between college and the military. This section of your paper should be at least two paragraphs.

Career Plan

Stage 1: Exploration

In this section of your final project, begin the explanation of your career plan for the case you developed above, following the Hill and O’Brien (1999) Helping Skills Model located in this week’s learning resources. For this stage, you should describe the activities you would engage in to facilitate career exploration with your client (Exploration, pp. 231–232). Be sure to provide a rationale for the activities you identify, using specific career theories as a framework. For example, if using a Holland-type career assessment, be sure to explain Holland’s ideas on the connection between personality characteristics and job titles, and how the assessment would promote career exploration in this case. Additionally, be sure to also consider other questions such as: “What techniques would you use to develop rapport, express empathy, and encourage your client/student to tell his or her story?” and “How would you broach the role of sociocultural factors in your client’s/student’s career story?”

Stage 2: Insight

For the second stage, Insight (p. 232), identify the areas would you focus on to gain deeper meaning and understanding of your client’s/student’s situation. How would you identify his or her interests, abilities, and strengths? What career assessments and/or computer-assisted programs might be of use? What changes in the world-of-work might be relevant? In this section, be sure to consider any theories that might explain limitations to your client’s career aspirations. For example, using Gottfredson’s theory of circumscription and compromise, you might explain if your client eliminated certain career options based on his or her social class or gender. If you are using social cognitive career theory you might consider if your client’s career decision-making has been influenced by low self-efficacy beliefs.

Stage 3: Action

For the final section of your career plan, the Action stage (p. 232), identify what plans you would develop, how you would evaluate them, and what follow-up activity you would do with your client. The plans identified in this section should be based on the insights you discussed at Stage 2. For example, if you identified low self-efficacy beliefs and foreclosed occupational options as a barrier to career decision-making for your client, describe how might facilitate discussion of additional options through activities such as card sorts, job shadows, or additional career assessments. As another example, if you identified poor job search skills as a barrier, you might provide psychoeducation of job search skills, and use role-play as a way to evaluate increased knowledge in this area. When developing your action items, be sure to include your advocacy statement from your Week 5 reflection paper and how you might advocate with or on behalf of your client or student.

Conclusion

Your conclusion section should recap the major points you have made in your paper. However, perhaps more importantly, you should interpret what you have written and what the bigger picture is. Remember, your paper should be five to eight pages, not counting your title page and reference page. Be sure to include at least three references throughout your paper.

Always include references on a separate page. APA is very specific about punctuation and how elements of the reference are presented. Every citation should have a reference and vice versa. Use the APA manual to verify your format. Below you will find many examples for you to follow. A formal paper for Walden will require you to use all relevant resources provided in the classroom, and also expect one or more scholarly resources from peer reviewed journals from the Walden Library.

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References

(Please note that the following references are intended as examples only.)

Anderson, E. (2007). The best career activities ever. The Journal of Ultimate Career Counseling, 19, 4319-4392. Retrieved from http://www.ultimatecareer.org

John, G., & Locke, D. (1973). Career development at any age. Thousand Oaks, CA: Fairy Tale Publishing.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2007). How to cite a video: The city is always Baltimore [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Name of program [Video webcast]. Retrieved from http://www.courseurl.com

Smith, G., & Johnson, N. (2008). Career counseling: Why we need it and can’t live without it. Career Counseling for Everyone, 25(7), 14-31. doi:10.8220/CTCE.52.1.23-91