The Career-O-Gram: A Postmodern Career Intervention - Effective Techniques

Career Development Quarterly, June, 2001 by Jill M. Thorngren, Stephen S. Feit

Together, counselor and client explore themes and patterns of influence across the career history. In particular, aspects of "social creation" in the "reality" of career development (Berger & Luckman, 1966) can be emphasized. Clients and counselors both can attain a greater understanding of social influences on what may initially appear to be a fixed, or given, reality in clients' lives. For example, a woman client may believe that it was simply destiny that she fulfill a traditional female job and that few other options are available. After exploring her career development history, she may gain awareness of the social climate, familial influences, and economic factors that intertwined to point her down that particular path. She may discover by whom or what she is most influenced and actively decide whether she wants to follow those influences or explore alternate paths.

Clients can be empowered to understand the reciprocal influence between themselves and the environment. This exploration alone provides valuable insight and awareness to the client. Clients who begin to see the many active influences in their career lives can begin to make more informed choices as they decide which influences are helpful and which ones need to be examined or modified. Another example is the adolescent client who examines his or her history of decision making and finds that choices have been made primarily in opposition to the wishes of parents. In this case, the client may want to rethink the propensity to be influenced solely from a reactive stance and develop a more proactive decision-making style. This can be crucial in making decisions about future job opportunities.

Awareness can lead to increased empowerment and to recognition of expanded options as clients actually begin to "make themselves visible" (Peavy, 1997). If the counselor and client determine that further exploration of particular influences or career decision making is necessary, the counselor can draw on his or her particular expertise in using additional theoretical models and inventories. For example, a counselor may note from the client's Career-O-Gram that the client is primarily influenced by parents and other significant others. Using parental influence theories such as Roe's (1956), the counselor could complete a more in-depth exploration of these influences. A counselor using Super's (1953) approach could examine the life stage in which the client currently perceives him- or herself and the roles taken on in each developmental stage. The Career-O-Gram helps provide a more comprehensive picture as the client becomes aware of the influences that affected the decision to assume a specific role.

The Career-O-Gram is a simple, flexible assessment tool that invites exploration of the multifaceted nature of career development. This qualitative instrument responds to postmodern career developmentalists who encourage increased understanding of the contextual and multiple realities that envelop career development (Patton & McMahon, 1999; Peavy, 1997; Richardson, 1993; Savickas, 1993; Young et al., 1996). The Career-O-Gram does not attempt to supplant, but rather to supplement, established inventories and assessments in the field of career counseling.