Chapter 11 Reflections

Brown (2016) Chapter 11 Reflections

Brown’s (2016) chapter 11 primarily consisted of occupational information and how this information can be used to facilitate career development, and as a result, this chapter was slightly more difficult to get through than other chapters.  Brown (2016, p. 222-223) begins by stating that occupational information includes many different educational, occupational and psychosocial factors that can be adapted to be most relevant to specific age groups (i.e. children, adolescents, adults, retirees).  Brown (2016, p. 223) also discusses O*NET as a source of data on almost 1,000 occupations.  A variety of job information is included on the O*NET resource, including worker characteristics, worker requirements, experience requirements, occupational requirements, occupation-specific requirements, and occupation characteristics.  I found this resource to be very useful while I was completing a career genogram, especially in terms of uncovering worker requirements, and worker characteristics as a means for learning more about my distant ancestors.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook is another career information resource discussed by Brown (2016, p. 226-230).  This resource provides predictions about future of occupational clusters, job responsibilities, working conditions, average salary, and even information about how to prepare for a specific job.  Finally Brown (2016, p. 227-228) closes with other types of occupational information including simulations, games, interviews with experts, direct observations, job shadowing, career days, and career conferences.  Brown (2016, p. 230-232) also work experience programs, career fairs, children’s fairs, children’s materials, educational information, educational institutions, apprenticeships, and post-high school opportunity programs.  In terms of my own career development experiences, I was exposed to only a few of these resources.  In fact, my first career development opportunity was an internship at the end of my undergraduate education.  While the experience was certainly a worthwhile and educational experience, I feel that my career development experience is lacking in terms of career information opportunities.  In order to address this concern, I should look into career conferences that are relevant to the field of clinical psychology, interview a few experts in the field of clinical psychology and prepare for my graduate level internship in clinical psychology. 

Reference

Brown, D.  (2016).  Career information, career counseling and career development, 11th ed.  Pearson: New York.