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

Once numerous Web sites have been evaluated for credibility and usability, further classification is helpful. We have organized the collected Web sites into three categories: world-of-work information, assessment, and employment opportunities. When developing a list for distribution to career clients for use between sessions, we included 10 Web sites in each category to provide choice among the best available and yet prevent information overload. If clients use a computer in the counselor's office, the counselor should bookmark favorite sites on the Internet provider's home page. Because information changes so rapidly on the Internet, counselors should access each Web site on their list monthly to verify the addresses and continued credibility and usability. Web sites that offer assessment services require additional review to ensure that they are following ethically sound practices.

Caution: Construction Zone

Flashing lights and warning signs should appear when preparing to use online assessments. After reviewing the ethical guidelines for assessment use, we view many of the online assessments available as "under construction" and potentially hazardous. Section C of the NCDA Ethical Standards (NCDA, 1991) and Section 8 of the 1997 NCDA guidelines identify many potential challenges in the use of online assessment tools. There are both fee-based and free online assessments available. The fee-based assessments include tests that are frequently used by career counselors and that are available from the large testing companies. Some of these tests are the Strong Interest Inventory (Harmon, Hansen, Borgen, & Hammer, 1994), the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Myers & Myers, 1984), and the Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1994). These instruments have validity and reliability information available for counselors to ensure that results acquired through a computer delivery mode can be trusted (see NCDA, 1991, Section C.2) and are nondiscriminatory (see NCDA, 1991, Sections B. 16 and C.7). Other interest and personality style assessments that are available online--such as the Birkman (www.review.com/birkman), Career Keys (www.ncsu.edu/careerkey), and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter (www.keirsey.com)--do not have test development information such as validity, reliability, or norm group information available. In these cases, "career counselors are professionally responsible for using unvalidated information with special care" (NCDA, 1991, Section C.2). Prior to using unvalidated assessments, counselors should caution clients about the limits regarding the confidentiality of the results and the applicability of results to the individual client. After choosing to administer an unvalidated online assessment, counselors should engage clients in careful discussion about the results, stressing the exploratory nature of such unvalidated interactive instruments (NCDA, 1997).

Additional cautions focus on the conditions of the administration of the assessments. Section C.5 (NCDA, 1991) states that "unsupervised or inadequately supervised assessments, such as mail-in tests, are considered unethical. However, the use of standardized instruments that are designed to be self-administered and self-scored, such as interest inventories, is appropriate." Therefore, we question the appropriateness of having clients take online assessments outside the counselor's office, without the appropriate monitoring by and support from the counselor. In addition, the ethical guidelines stress the importance of assessment results being "placed in proper perspective with other relevant factors" (NCDA, 1991, Section C.1). This statement emphasizes the importance of the counselor interpreting the results, considering the client's history, characteristics, abilities, and interests, before discussing the results with the client. When providing career services via the Internet, the interpretation of the asses sment results poses additional challenges because of the absence of the nonverbal clues of understanding that are available in face-to-face counseling. If there is any indication that the client does not understand the results that have been communicated by e-mail or telephone, the counselor must refer the client to a qualified career counselor in the client's region (NCDA, 1997, Section II, 8).