Peak Careers

Professional Development for Career Practitioners

Nancy Schlossberg

INTERVIEW: Do you work with people who get 
“stuck” in career transitions?

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Do you struggle with how to help people who get “stuck” in career transitions?

Do you work with clients who seemed to be blocked in their career development?

career transition
Dr. Nancy Schlossberg and I at NCDA Conference 2017

Listen to this interview with Dr. Nancy Schlossberg who developed the career transitions theory and has written a number of books on this topic. Two of her most recent ones that I have read are: Retire Smart: Retire Happy and her newest one titled Too Young to be Old. (Read my review here)

In this interview, I asked Nancy what motivated her to develop this theory as well as a few other questions. It was a delightful interview of about 20 minutes with an even more delightful 40 minutes before and after that I enjoyed.

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“stuck” in career transitions?

Is a life transition getting in the way of career decisions?

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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.

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Transitions

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Did you ever have a student not follow through with the plan you worked on with them?  I know I have many times.

Transition day to night.

Ever wonder why?  Transition Theory may offer some insight and help guide you to the “next steps” with this person.

Many EVENTS in people’s lives are obvious, (freshmen year for a first-generation college student or a senior year), but the IMPACT of that event on the person is the TRANSITION.  How people deal with transition or do not deal with it, can be blocking them from making good decisions.

Schlossberg’s Transition Theory breaks down the transition into four parts BEFORE you make an action plan.  (too often we go to “solution” first).

1.     One question you want to know is “are they overwhelmed by the situation?”  A first-generation college student coming from a family that has never had a high school graduate before, let alone a college student, can be facing many feelings and decision conflicts.  If I discover they really are overwhelmed with some life transitions, it might guide me on what to do next or what I can expect.

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