Counsellors must be aware of the responsibility when they step in between their clients
(with all their characteristics) and the current offers in education, training and labour.
In fact, what should a good professional know?
Counsellors should have a thorough knowledge of (Herr; Cramer; 1996):
- the methods, techniques and instruments for evaluating certain characteristics
and individual features of clients, such as: aptitudes, personality, interests and
values in the professional sphere, knowledge acquired in school, and work
experience; - personal learning and decision-making styles, self-image, hobbies, maturity
of the career choices, work environments, social roles, etc.; - particular conditions of various work environments: tasks, norms, schedule,
quality requirements, whether the work involves mostly physical or mental
effort; - potential characteristics of the clients: social and cultural backgrounds, living
conditions, gender status, stereotypes regarding work and social positions,
types of disabilities and the funds accessible for education / training; - use of the information and communications technology (ICT) for evaluation
with a view to career counselling; - apply evaluation procedures set by authors of evaluation instruments;
- score and interpret the evaluation results, as well as formulate conclusions so
as to be understood by clients; - choose instruments and techniques adequate to the problems and special
situation of any client with a view to perform a realistic evaluation in a
context and with a productive outcome.
It is useful to mention at this point that the process of presenting the results to tests /
inventories / questionnaires / knowledge tests, etc. given to clients must generally go
through the following steps:
- developing a counsellor-client relationship based on trust, cooperation,
interest in the latter’s problems and solving them in common; - recalling the context in which the evaluation instrument was used and the
personal state the client was in (emotionally, physically, etc.); - identifying possible disturbing factors in the evaluation and the difficulty of
the test itself (language, types of tasks, marking, etc.); - keeping in mind the purpose of the evaluation and the types of items
requiring an answer;