Career Advising requires understanding how transitions affect our clients
Sometimes when we find one of our clients or students stumbling along in their own career development and/or having difficulty following through on action plans you have developed with them, it may be related to a transition they are going through.
Nancy Schlossberg developed her Transition Theory for career counselors and can be quite helpful in understanding how people move through a transition. In her book, Going To Plan B, she explains the impact of a ‘non-event’ (something we WANT to happen but does not) and how a non-event can be as powerful as an “event.”
Understanding the impact of a transition and how it affects our roles, relationships, routines, and assumptions is valuable information for career counselors/advisors.
Schlossberg’s 4 S’s are great ways to think about the various components of a transition.
Situation: Was this event planned for or a surprise?
Self: What are the person’s inner strength
Supports: Do they have a support system available to them?
Strategies: What kind of coping strategies do they possess?
Once you determine the client’s strength/weaknesses in the 4 S’s, you can assist a person in developing a plan.
Want to learn more about this? Here is an article you might like to read. http://dus.psu.edu/mentor/old/articles/090708ab.htm
How do you think transitions have impacted some of your clients?
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If you are interested in this topic, I also offer a four-week online seminar focusing on this topic. This seminar will focus on practical applications of using transition theory to assist our clients. The work of Dr. Nancy Schlossberg and her Career Transition Theory will be used as well as Dr. William Bridges’ work on Transitions.
To register and learn more, check out Transition Theory in Career Advising.
Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a monthly newsletter for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.
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