before drawing conclusions about whether his pattern of pro-
crastination should receive counseling attention, we need more
specific data about the conditions that do and do not elicit his pro-
crastination. In addition, we would want more direct data on the
degree to which negative affectivity or feelings of dysphoria or anx-
iety may underlie his career choice uncertainty (the Career Factors
Inventory, Chartrand & Robbins, 1989, may be useful in this re-
gard). We would, therefore, deem it important to collect more data
on K’s procrastination and affectivity before deciding whether
these issues will require specific attention or whether our work
with K would conform to the more typical expectation of four-to-
five sessions (Brown & Krane, 2000).
Although we expect that he has sought counseling for help in
generating suitable career possibilities, our first order of business
would be to clarify K’s reasons for seeking counseling. We also need
to find out what he would ultimately like to achieve through coun-
seling (that is, his counseling goals). For example, though he
entered counseling seeking options, his goals may also include help
in deciding which option to pursue and developing plans for imple-
menting his desired choice. It is important for us to be clear about
counseling goals so that we (client and counselor) know what we
are working toward and when we are finished; we also want to min-
imize misunderstandings that could result, either in premature ter-
mination or unnecessary additional sessions.
If we are correct in our hypothesis that K is seeking career
options, we would focus on several major tasks. First, we would fol-
low up on K’s interest in skateboarding by helping him acquire
information on professional skateboarding and see whether it is
really an occupational option for him. Equally important, we would
encourage him to gather information, using a variety of print, on-
line, and interview sources, on other potential careers in the skate-
boarding industry, such as manufacturing, Web site or video game
development, teaching, or working in some capacity for skate-
boarding publications. We would also help him identify, through
the SDS’s Occupations Finder, the Dictionary of Holland Occupa-
298 CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT