Career counseling and the information highway: heeding the road signs - Personal Perspectives

Career Development Quarterly, June, 2002 by Theresa M. O'Halloran, Alicia V. Fahr, Jenny R. Keller

Curve Ahead

The introduction of the Internet as an adjunct to the traditional counseling tools adds another curve to the career counseling process. Web sites used in career counseling need to be selected in a planful fashion. Although career counselors have long used various informational and assessment tools, using the Internet effectively in counseling does require some training and practice (see NCDA, 1991, Section A.7).

One of the most important steps in developing a method for using the Internet in career counseling is identification of credible, useful, quality Web sites to use with clients. The NCDA Ethnical Standards (NCDA, 1991) state that when using computer-based information systems, "career counselors must ensure that the systems provide current, accurate, and locally relevant information" (Section, B.16). To select the most useful Web sites for a counseling practice, we recommend three methods.

1. As you use the Internet in your own exploration, develop a log of Web sites deemed useful in your counseling practice.

2. Refer to sources that recommend Web sites for career counseling (e.g., Bolles, 1998; Harris-Bowlsbey et al., 1998).

3. Refer to several of the Web sites that serve as clearinghouses (e.g., www.ajb.org, www.jobhuntersbible.com, www.careers.org). These Web sites connect the Internet user to multiple related links for exploration.

Selected Web sites should be evaluated on two levels: credibility and usability. When evaluating the credibility of information available on individual Web sites, the first step is to locate the author and sponsor of the site. This information is sometimes hard to find and is hidden at the very end of the home page (initial page of the Web site). The credibility of the author can be assessed using these questions: What qualifications and credentials do the authors have for publishing information related to career counseling in an interactive format (NCDA, 1997)? Do the authors have a motivation other than providing information that might affect the veracity or straightforwardness of the Web site (e.g., financial gain)? Do the authors provide contact information? Do the authors carefully cite sources used in compiling the information provided? When evaluating the credibility of Web sites, it is important to keep in mind Casey's (2000) caution that "We must neither confuse form with substance nor let form subtract from substance" (p. 27).

To assess the usability of Web sites, we examined the design components of readability, the ease of movement between Web pages, and the frequency of updates. Layout of the Web page is a key issue in readability. Most Web pages now use multiple tables within a page, which can either ease use by providing key links on the home page or clutter the home page and result in an overwhelming load of information with flashing banners of advertisements. Movement between Web pages should flow in a logical pattern and be easily accomplished with back and forward buttons on each page. It is also helpful to have links on each page that return the reader to the home page. The final usability issues are the information 's currency and relevance. Most Web sites post a note at the end of the home page identifying a date the pages were last updated. If this date is more than 1 month old and the information is time sensitive (job openings, networking contacts, etc.) or not specific to their region, counselors should look for another site.