Advancing career counselling research and practice using a novel quantitative+qualitative approach to elicit clients’ advice from within

Abstract

This article reports on the results of providing career counselling to a purposefully selected first-year university student experiencing career indecision. An integrative approach based on qualitative and quantitative techniques was used to engage the student (the research participant) in conversations, reflections and meta-reflections on how to find meaning and purpose in his current studies and also in his future career-life. An intrinsic, single-case study involving a purposefully selected participant and the use of two newly developed instruments was undertaken to demonstrate the practical implementation of the novel approach. The intervention helped the participant identify his career-life themes and later choose a field of study that would enable him to fit work into his life, design and live a successful life and make meaningful social contributions. Future research should investigate the longitudinal value of the approach and its use in group contexts. Keywords: career counselling, a quantitative+qualitative approach, eliciting advice from within, Career Interest Profile, Maree Career Matrix, subjective and objective methods THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Numerous factors contribute to the growing insecurity and feelings of uncertainty among workers in the 21 st century. Career choice decisions are becoming more complex because of the increasing difficulty in predicting the evolution of the occupational world. Bańka and Hauziń (2015, 34) maintain that "[m]aking life changing decisions in a chaotic reality is increasingly difficult and there is always a risk of failure, be it simply the assessment of pursued goals and sought-after values or in the goals themselves. Therefore, it is no surprise that nowadays people link the most important life issues with career decision." According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (2016) in the United States of America, Americans on average change work 12 times in their career-lives. Reasons for the rapid movement between jobs include the inability to maintain a work-life balance and the