Career development, theory by theory

According to Lent, Brown, and Hackett's social cognitive career theory (SCCT), what are outcome expectations?

1. Intentions to pursue an activity or reach a performance level
   Intentions to pursue an activity or reach a level of performance are personal goals, the third core SCCT variable.
2. What a person anticipates will result from performing a behavior
   In SCCT, outcome expectations are what a person anticipates will follow from performing a behavior, such as 'this degree will get me a stable job.'
3. Environmental supports and barriers that shape career choices
   Supports and barriers are contextual influences in SCCT; they shape choices but are not the person's expectations about results.

A college senior is applying for entry-level jobs in her chosen field. According to Super, which exploration-stage task is she performing?

1. Implementation
   Super's implementation task, at the end of exploration, means completing training and taking steps such as applying for entry-level jobs.
2. Specification
   Specification is narrowing to a specific occupational preference; she has already done that and is now acting on it.
3. Crystallization
   Crystallization is forming a tentative, general vocational goal, an earlier task than applying for jobs in a chosen field.

Which scales on the Strong Interest Inventory correspond to Holland's six RIASEC types?

1. Occupational Scales of satisfied workers
   The Occupational Scales compare the client's likes with those of satisfied workers in specific occupations, not with the six RIASEC types.
2. Basic Interest Scales
   The Basic Interest Scales measure narrower interest areas, such as writing or mechanics, nested under the six themes.
3. General Occupational Themes
   The Strong's six General Occupational Themes correspond to Holland's RIASEC types and give the broadest picture of interests.

A 47-year-old engineer who was laid off is again researching occupations and trying out new roles. In Super's theory, this is BEST described as

1. returning to the growth stage
   The growth stage proper is the childhood formation of self-concept; a minicycle after a layoff can include new growth, but he is not going back to that stage, and the whole pattern is recycling.
2. a deficit in career maturity
   Career maturity is a construct for adolescents; for adults Super used career adaptability, and exploring after a layoff is an adaptive response.
3. recycling through a minicycle
   Super held that adults can recycle through exploration and establishment in a minicycle after a job loss, without restarting the whole life span.
4. entering the maintenance stage
   Maintenance is Super's mid-career stage of holding on to and updating a settled career; a laid-off worker researching new occupations is exploring again, not maintaining.

A young woman who most wanted to be a veterinarian settles on becoming a veterinary technician because the program is close to home and affordable. In Gottfredson's theory, this process is

1. Compromise
   Gottfredson's compromise is giving up a more preferred option for a less preferred but more accessible one, as with choosing veterinary technician over veterinarian.
2. Circumscription
   Circumscription is the earlier, developmental ruling out of whole categories of jobs as unacceptable, not trading a favorite for an accessible option.
3. Specification
   Specification, also from Super, is narrowing to a specific occupation; it does not describe settling for an accessible alternative.
4. Crystallization
   Crystallization is a task in Super's exploration stage, forming a general career goal, not a term from Gottfredson's theory.

A client says, "I'm confident I can handle the math courses an engineering degree requires." In social cognitive career theory (SCCT), this statement reflects which construct?

1. Personal goals
   Personal goals are intentions to pursue an activity or reach a level of performance; the statement expresses capability, not an intention.
2. Outcome expectations
   Outcome expectations are beliefs about what will follow if one acts, such as getting a good job; the client states confidence in his ability, not a result.
3. Task-approach skills
   Task-approach skills come from Krumboltz's social learning theory, such as goal setting and gathering information, not from SCCT.
4. Self-efficacy
   Confidence in one's ability to perform a task, such as passing math courses, is self-efficacy, the core person variable in SCCT.

A client avoids exploring careers because they assume, 'I must find the one perfect job or I will be miserable.' Which instrument would BEST identify assumptions like this?

1. Career Maturity Inventory
   The Career Maturity Inventory measures readiness and attitudes toward making career decisions, not specific irrational beliefs.
2. Self-Directed Search
   The Self-Directed Search yields a Holland code from interests and self-ratings, not a profile of career beliefs.
3. Strong Interest Inventory
   The Strong measures interests by comparing them with people in occupations; it does not detect self-defeating beliefs.
4. Career Beliefs Inventory
   Krumboltz's Career Beliefs Inventory identifies faulty beliefs, such as 'there is one perfect job', that block career decision making.

In O*NET, occupations are grouped into Job Zones according to which characteristic?

1. The occupation's Holland interest code
   O*NET does list RIASEC interest codes, but Job Zones group occupations by preparation, not by interests.
2. The projected employment growth for the occupation
   Projected growth is reported separately as the Bright Outlook designation, not used to form Job Zones.
3. The amount of preparation the occupation requires
   O*NET sorts occupations into five Job Zones by the education, experience, and training needed, from little preparation (Zone 1) to extensive (Zone 5).

According to Gottfredson, children aged about 9 to 13 begin rejecting occupations mainly on the basis of which factor?

1. Social class and prestige
   From about 9 to 13, Gottfredson's orientation to social valuation, children rule out jobs seen as too low in prestige or out of line with their social class.
2. Sex-role appropriateness
   Ruling out jobs as wrong for one's gender happens earlier, at about 6 to 8, in the orientation to sex roles.
3. Internal, unique sense of self
   Orientation to the internal, unique self begins around 14, when adolescents weigh personal interests and values.

Savickas describes career adaptability in terms of concern, control, curiosity, and which fourth dimension?

1. Congruence
   Congruence is Holland's term for person-environment fit, not a dimension of career adaptability.
2. Confidence
   Savickas's four adaptability dimensions are concern, control, curiosity, and confidence, the belief that one can solve problems and pursue aspirations.
3. Commitment
   Commitment is not one of the four Cs of career adaptability, though it sounds like it should fit the alliterative list.

A client's Holland code is RSA. Because R and S sit opposite each other on the hexagon, the code shows low levels of what?

1. Consistency
   Consistency is how close the letters of a code sit on Holland's hexagon; R and S are opposite, so the code is low in consistency.
2. Differentiation
   Differentiation is how clearly one type stands out above the others in the profile, a matter of score spread, not hexagon position.
3. Congruence
   Congruence is the fit between a person's type and the work environment; it cannot be judged from the code alone.

A client has chosen a career in dental hygiene and is now applying to training programs. According to the CIP approach, which CASVE phase is this?

1. Synthesis
   Synthesis is generating and then narrowing options; she has already chosen and is carrying out the choice.
2. Communication
   Communication is first noticing a gap between where one is and where one wants to be, which starts the cycle rather than ending it.
3. Execution
   In the CASVE cycle, execution is acting on the chosen option, such as applying to training programs after choosing dental hygiene.

A client enjoys persuading others, leading teams, and taking business risks to reach financial goals. According to Holland, which type does this MOST resemble?

1. Conventional
   The Conventional type prefers structured, orderly work with data and clear rules, and tends to avoid risk.
2. Enterprising
   Holland's Enterprising type likes persuading and leading others toward economic or organizational goals and is comfortable with risk.
3. Investigative
   The Investigative type prefers analyzing and solving intellectual problems, not leading and persuading people.

According to Super, which career stage involves decelerating work activity and planning for retirement?

1. Maintenance
   Maintenance (roughly 45 to 64) is holding on, updating, and innovating in an established career rather than winding down.
2. Disengagement
   Disengagement, Super's final stage, includes decelerating work activity, planning for retirement, and retirement living.
3. Establishment
   Establishment is stabilizing and advancing in a chosen field in early adulthood, well before retirement planning.

A 19-year-old explores several health fields through classes and volunteering, then narrows his choice to nursing and specializes in pediatrics. In Ginzberg's theory, he is in which period?

1. Fantasy period
   The fantasy period of childhood is play-based imagining of work roles with no concern for reality.
2. Establishment stage
   Establishment is a stage in Super's life-span theory, not one of Ginzberg's periods, and it follows entry into the field.
3. Tentative period
   The tentative period (about 11 to 17) weighs interests, capacities, and values, but choices are not yet tested against real experience as his are.
4. Realistic period
   Ginzberg's realistic period (about 17 to the early 20s) moves through exploration, crystallization, and specification, matching his narrowing from health fields to pediatric nursing.

A high school junior says an interest inventory 'told me to be a nurse' and wants to stop exploring other careers. What should the counselor do?

1. Replace the inventory with an aptitude test instead
   Aptitude measures add information about ability but do not fix the real problem, which is treating any single score as a career verdict.
2. Treat the results as one source of information
   An interest inventory describes how her likes resemble those of people in various fields; it is one source of information for continued exploration, not a prescription.
3. Confirm nursing as her best-fitting career
   Confirming nursing treats one result as the answer, but interest scores say nothing about ability, values, or the realities of the work.
4. Retest with another inventory for a definitive answer
   No inventory gives a definitive answer; a second test repeats the same misunderstanding about what interest scores mean.