Prevalence of Career Indecision
High school can be a turbulent time for youth, as they struggle to balance
their social life, extracurricular activities, academic
achievement, and the immense pressure of determining which path to pursue
following their secondary education. It is common
in today’s society for universities to order incoming freshmen to declare
a major or field of study. Unfortunately, this
requirement places a great burden on high school students to decide, in
a short amount of time, which area best suits their
personality, values, abilities and interests. This assessment often
causes an enormous amount of stress and confusion, which may
lead to academic and emotional concerns during high school.
Career indecision is rising slightly among college-bound
high school graduates. The percentage of national “ACT-tested
students who say they are undecided about their planned vocational choice
has grown significantly over the past five years, from
9.6 percent of the total group in 1997 to 11.1 percent” in 2001(ACT, 2001).
Fewer students today are interested in declaring
a major early or staying with one major throughout their college career.
This may be due to the fact that students are spending
their college time finding a career, instead of educating themselves for
one” (Petrik, 2002). Although the above percentages are
results from tests and assessments, one needs to understand that they are
approximations of a representative sample. Career
indecision is difficult to measure because of its broad definition; therefore, there is limited research on this topic. ACT
The state of Florida had a total of 112,850 public high
school graduates in the 2001-2002 school year(NCES, 2002). An
astonishing low 56% of these students enrolled in a postsecondary education
program immediately after high school(Rojewski,
1999). Several factors, especially career indecision, could have
had a tremendous impact on the reason that nearly one in every
two high school graduates did not pursue a college degree. It is
critical to examine the various issues that arise in a high school
setting and its effects on career indecision. School counselors,
along with parents, have the responsibility of providing the
information and resources necessary for each student to make an informed
decision about their future. National
Center for
Behavioral Characteristics
In order for the counselor to better assess the degree
of career indecision, it is important to fully understand the background
and behaviors of the individual. Many problems occur to students
as a result of the middle to high school transition. In this new
context, “students must gain the acceptance of new teachers, learn and
adapt to a variety of instructional styles, and conform to
a different set of rules and expectations in each of their classrooms”
(Reyes et al, 2000). The combination of this transition and
the pressure of choosing a career path may cause a student to be depressed
and anxious. A study examining “the prevalence of
symptoms of anxiety disorders among normal children aged 5 to 19 years,
found that up to 30% of the children exhibited
subclinical levels of excessive worry” (Muris et al., 1998). Depression
also affects between 2% and 21% of school-age children
and can lead to deficient performance(Seefeldt, 1998). It
is imperative that educators be aware of the warning signs, which
include a sudden drop in school performance, excessive concern with failure,
lack of social interaction, low self-esteem,
alcohol/drug abuse, and many more(Childhood, 2002). Anxiety disorders in children Depression
Research has shown that there are common patterns among
those that are unsure of which career to pursue. These themes
can be grouped into three categories: issues dealing with self, decision
making, and need for occupational information. For
instance, one individual may have personal concerns that are affecting
his or her decision, while another may simply need
information about particular careers. “Vocationally undecided individuals
have been characterized as experiencing both state
and trait anxiety, lacking vocational identity and as holding various maladaptive
beliefs and faulty generalizations” (Symes, 1998).
Besides counseling, one way to alleviate some of these concerns and build
a stronger identity is for parents to be active in their
child’s life. Often times, children feel that their parent’s expectations
are unattainable, which then places too much pressure on
the children to succeed. “Parental involvement in their adolescents’
career exploration is related to less indecision and a stronger
ego identity among adolescents” (Watkins & Subich, 1995).
Counseling Strategies
It is interesting to ponder the reason why adolescents
are least sure of their career paths when they are closest to launching
their careers(Petrik, 2002). School guidance counselors have the
arduous task of assisting “students in making informed
education and career decisions and to provide the resources and materials
to ensure that this process unfolds in a systematic and
comprehensive manner” (Turner & Lapan, 2002). Counselors attempt
to meet the needs of every high school student, but this
is often difficult due to the diverse learning styles(May & Copeland,
1998). Unfortunately, some students cannot adjust to the
high school environment and drop out. In fact, the percentage of
15-through 24-year-olds who dropped out of grades 10-12
between October 1999 and 2000 was 4.8% (NCES, 2002).
There are various strategies that a school counselor
can implement to ensure that students receive the necessary information
needed to make a conscious career decision. Although the following
are suggested procedures, each approach relating to
vocational indecision should be tailored to the particular individual or
group. Other factors contributing to testing include the
school’s available resources and the counselor’s qualifications concerning administering questionnaires/tests.
Strategy 1-Session 1-Inventories
The first strategy to aid in one’s career indecision
includes using the Life Values Inventory and the 16PF Fifth
Edition
Questionnaire to have a better understanding of which occupations
may correlate well with the student. The process begins by
listing the 10th grade students alphabetically and then assembling these
students into groups of eight(depends on the student enrollment).
All students must be seen due to the School to Work Opportunities Act of
1994, which states that tentative job-career plans must be
made before the11th grade(Lane 2000). School to Work Opportunities Act of 1994
The first forty-minute session includes career self-exploration,
decision-making skills, and an introduction to the
“world-of-work” and available occupational resources. Every student
will have the opportunity to explore and voice important
goals, values, life objectives and interests to the group. This session
not only presents a sense of self-knowledge, but it also
“provides emotional relief, promotes increased awareness of social skills
and develops recognition that there is hope for the
future” (Symes, 1998). The counselor then lists informative career
resources(books, websites, etc) and demonstrates how to
use the Occupational Outlook Handbook. At the end of the first session,
the counselor hands each student a Life Values
Inventory, which highlights the values deemed important in a career setting
for the particular student. This inventory has
straightforward directions and is to be completed and assessed at home.
Research studies “suggest that providing students with
assignments that target specific, proximal goals more effectively motivates
and guides improvement than giving less focused
tasks” (Potter et al., 2001).* Occupational Outlook Handbook
Session 2
Session two(60 minutes) begins with a verbal assessment
of the Life Values Inventory results. Every student has the
opportunity to mention which values appeared high and/or low on his or
her list. A value with a high score means that the
student believes that a certain behavior is often guided by that value;
therefore, it is probable that the value is important to have
in a career. It is appropriate at this time to link students’ responses
in order to make them feel more comfortable in the
counseling session. Students can then discover things in common with
another student that they did not know existed. After
conversing about the student’s results, the counselor distributes the 16PF
Fifth Edition Questionnaire. This inventory describes
typical personal lifestyle patterns, such as problem-solving resources,
patterns for coping with stressful conditions, work-setting
preferences, interpersonal interaction styles, and career activity interests.
The purpose of this report is to broaden the student’s
understanding of himself or herself, which will aid in career decisions(Institute, 2000). 16PF
Session 3
After the 16PF results arrive to the school(approximately
10-14 days), the counselor then meets with each individual
separately for twenty minutes. The counselor and student discuss
the test results, including the career fields and occupational
patterns that were derived from the test scores. The student needs
to realize, though, that the results are not recommended
career choices, but rather occupations that correlated to his or her answers.
With the Life Values Inventory and 16PF results,
the counselor and student will work together to formulate attainable goals,
develop decision-making skills, and increase
self-awareness and motivation. Knowing more about themselves and
related occupations will hopefully motivate the students to
be successful in all aspects of life, especially academics.
Strategy 2-Job Shadowing
Another procedure that is beneficial in gaining a broader knowledge
of careers in high school is job shadowing. Job
shadowing is the process of matching 10th-12th graders with a professional
adult in the community. As children mature, they
tend to become interested in certain professions, but are unfamiliar with
the day-to-day responsibilities. Job shadowing gives
students the opportunity to learn on-site, the skills and education required
to be a professional. This experience is aimed to
encourage students to focus on their education and to learn which careers
interest them. Research shows that “persons who are
perceived as role models can facilitate academic and career development
through their support and guidance as well as through
the degree to which they provide inspiration and modeling” (Flouri & Buchanan, 2002).*
It is the counselor’s responsibility to coordinate which
students are going to have the opportunity to job shadow. Unless the
school enrollment is low, it is probable that every student cannot participate
due to the time involved to organize the activity. The
approach to choosing students will likely differ for each counselor, but
a common trend will be simply be selecting those who
have expressed a great deal of interest in a particular profession.
The counselor will then look over the list of job shadowing
volunteer professions(if available) or contact local companies to see if
an employer would kindly welcome a high school student
for a day. Once the students have completed their job shadowing,
a day will be scheduled for them to have a one-on-one
counseling session to discuss their experiences and future goals.
Job shadowing will hopefully assist the students in getting a
deeper insight into the professional world that they will soon encounter.
Conclusion
It is difficult for high school students to be uncertain
about which career or field to pursue. The objectives of counseling
those
with career indecision are mainly self-discovery and setting personal goals.
“Research clearly shows that those students with
clearly defined goals and a sense of direction are more likely to persist
and attain a college degree” (Lane, 2000). Students who
are hesitant about the future are often anxious, depressed and have low-self
esteem and motivation; therefore, counselors need
to pay particular attention, not only to career issues, but also to the factors that are contributing to the career indecision.
It is imperative that counselors make students aware
that career decision-making should not be based solely from results of
inventories, like the Life Styles Inventory and 16PF. Assessments
aim to give direction to someone in need or to broaden one’s
personal understanding. People simply need to take the results and
see how it fits with their own personality, values, etc. The
best predictor of one’s capabilities does not come from a test, but from
within. The counseling sessions and inventories will
hopefully combine to give a deeper sense of self-understanding and a formulation of future career goals.
