Jacobus G. Maree - Handbook of Innovative Career Counselling

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

That there is a need for knowledge production and publications on career counselling is evident in the vast gaps worldwide. This is especially so in the application of this field of practice in less advantaged communities, marginalised groups and poorer countries generally. However, the necessity for a compilation of works that take an innovative approach to career counselling goes much further and extends the boundaries and vision for the field. This need emanates from the challenges facing most nations in the contexts of employment, schooling, vocational guidance, career guidance and education, career pathing and development, career counselling, life designing and the multitude of other career-related assessment and intervention needs.

Disciplines that are both theory-driven and applied sciences, especially in the human services sector, are duty bound to go beyond the ordinary in the quest for new knowledge and approaches that can meet the developing and emerging needs in society. It is no longer adequate to continue pushing techniques of old simply because of romanticised notions of their origins or developers, particularly when the methods start to be less suitable to current, Work 4.0-related demands or service users, and fail to produce the desired results. There are many examples of this in psychology-related work, and career counselling is one of those areas where the pursuit of newer, innovative ways of working is essential.

In addressing this crucial need, Prof. Maree has been particularly perceptive to the challenges in the field and those encountered by career counselling professionals. It is, therefore, not surprising to note the assemblage of leading researchers and academics in the field that he has put together to address this subject. A glance at the list of contributors and their academic affiliations reveals that a whos who in the field of career counselling has been gathered. The Handbook of Innovative Career Counselling is an impressive outcome of this painstaking endeavour.

In conceptualising this work and the component chapters that were needed, Prof. Maree has used his extensive experience in the field of career counselling to identify the needs at grassroots level against the current state of the science. It is, therefore, gratifying to see the chapters that were commissioned as well as the academics recruited to pen the desired works.

The book covers the broad areas that readers interested in innovative career counselling will want to access, opening with a series of chapters that provide a grounding and contextual look at the field. In particular, life design issues, contextual and interactional influences, developing and facilitating goals, career adaptability, mental health and well-being, as well as innovating with the arts in the workplace feature in the early part of the book. Considering the unemployment rates and job markets in many countries, especially the middle- and low-income countries, career adaptability is a skill that many are going to need, and the training of workers in this respect can be crucial in enabling people to put food on the table. Part II covers important life transitions that need to be managed and discusses innovative approaches to helping people cope with the various careerlife stage shifts and transitions that are part of the developmental process. Innovative approaches to career counselling across the lifespan are included in Part III of the book and extend some of the transition work, while examining some specific advances in the field. Career counselling with children and youth are covered, as well as intervention approaches to helping specific adult groups like women and middle-aged and older people with career-related issues. Specific challenges in the education system relating to career development and advancement are explored in the next part addressing social justice issues. With the focus of Part V on career counselling in special populations, some current humanitarian concerns and needs are brought to the fore. Career-related difficulties in refugees, people with injuries and disabilities, those from socioeconomically challenged backgrounds, and individuals without the benefit of specific work-related skills are addressed. The next two parts discuss assessment and interventions in career counselling while advancing more innovative approaches to attain these goals and targeting previously underserved groups. The use of poetry, group-based interventions and working in rural contexts are some of the many aspects covered. A look at the use of a technological approach to career counselling rounds off the book.

Career counselling is vital for many reasons, the most obvious of which are the dilemmas and uncertainties facing young people in contemplating the future. Additionally, the extent to which young people are able to effectively match their abilities and strengths to their career ideals may be limited, given their developmental level and insufficient life experience. Moreover, being realistic and applying sound and reasoned judgment are not necessarily characteristic of the adolescent years when career choices come to the fore. We are also in an era of career fluidity where the job one originally trained to do is not necessarily the trajectory one follows for life, as was the scenario for previous generations. Early-, mid- and even late-career changes are no longer uncommon and individuals will need avant-garde skills and support to help them negotiate multiple transitions. The degree to which individuals will be able to adapt to new career opportunities is going to be critical for individual success and prosperity, as well as for national and global economic and social development. Career counselling using innovative approaches that are strategically directed at current and future job markets will be needed; more so in Global South countries with poorer economies where formal employment is scarce, and much creativity, adaptability, agility, resilience, and even self-employment, may be required.