Topic 7: Assessment in Career Counseling {by 7/17}

Based on the text reading and lecture recording due this week consider the following two discussion points: (1) Explain why it is important to assess interests, abilities/skills, and values altogether when engaged in career counseling (i.e., why is one domain not enough?). (2) Discuss the importance of relational influence in career assessment.

Your original post should be posted by 7/17. Post your two replies no later than 7/19. *Please remember to click the “reply” button when posting a reply. This makes it easier for the reader to follow the blog postings.

17 Comments (+add yours?)

Kiera Mills
Jul 14, 2025 @ 11:53:51

1) Assessing interests allows the client to express what they want to do. Getting information about what someone naturally likes to do and what they think they might enjoy helps choose a direction for their career. Assessing their abilities allows the clinician to decide what it is realistically possible for the client to succeed at. If the client has interest in a career but not the necessary skills, then their options are limited and may need to look at alternatives. Assessing values allows the client to find workplaces that align with what they are looking for in a company. Having a job with shared values, in addition to interest and applicable skills, increases retention and makes employees happier with their work.

2) The influence of interpersonal relationships, such as family and culture, affects what types of careers a person might pursue. Cultural norms about what a person is expected to achieve in their life impacts the career they will choose. This can be influenced by a person’s gender and ethnicity and how that is viewed in their country. The expectations of family also influence a person’s career, as they may be pushed towards a certain profession by their parents or be expected to follow a family tradition.

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- Alexis Culver
  Jul 14, 2025 @ 21:11:44
  
  Hi Kiera,
  
  I agree with your point in number two about how cultural norms can impact the career that they will choose. Especially based on what you are supposed to achieve based on what your family believes.
  
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- Sydney Corfey
  Jul 15, 2025 @ 15:12:47
  
  Hi Kiera,
  
  I agree that career choice can be influenced by cultural norms which include gender and ethnicity. The individual’s gender and/or ethnicity can be an influence by itself with career choice. Expectations of family is something I think has significant influence. Family expectations can greatly impact an individual and their career is chosen based on those expectations. It’s important to keep that in mind when individuals are exploring different career opportunities.
  
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- Madelyn Messier
  Jul 20, 2025 @ 17:27:41
  
  Hi Kiera,
  
  You’ve made some excellent points about the importance of assessing interests, abilities, and values in career planning. I like how you outlined the practical balance between what someone enjoys, what they can realistically succeed at, and what aligns with their deeper values. It’s so true that having all three in sync not only helps people find the right career path but also increases satisfaction and longevity in their jobs.
  
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Sydney Corfey
Jul 14, 2025 @ 19:54:43
1. It’s important to assess interests, skills/abilities, and values because it helps the client have more exploration in their occupation. It would help connect the client to specific occupations and promote career exploration for the right fit for them. Knowing the clients interests can help guide them into different career options in a similar category. Assessing their abilities and skills can also direct the client in the right direction for specific career options and help them discover what careers best align with the skills they currently have. Assessing their values helps the client discover what they are looking for in a company and work environment. Work values are more highly correlated than interest with work satisfaction. The clients values add more happiness and passion to the job.
2. Relational influence can affect the type of career a person will explore and possibly pursue. Cultural values and influences can affect a persons decision to choose a specific career, avoid a specific career. Relationships with friends, partners, and family can also influence someone’s career choice. My sister is a therapist in private practice, and I admit that she had influence on my career choice. Family can also push others to go into a specific career and work a certain job. The individual may feel pressured to do so, or rebel against them and choose a career completely opposite. Relational influence plays a significant role in career assessment and choice.
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- Alexis Culver
  Jul 14, 2025 @ 21:09:17
  
  Hi Sydney,
  
  I agree with your answer to question two that family can directly impact what you do with your career. My aunt is a nurse as well as my mother and grandmother and my cousin is now going into nursing. Although she does not like blood or open wounds.
  
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- Kiera Mills
  Jul 17, 2025 @ 11:01:11
  
  Hi Syd,
  
  I liked how you explained that personal interests can be used to find careers in a similar category. It was also very interesting that you mentioned cultural influences could push someone away from certain careers. I hadn’t considered that because I was sed to seeing people be pushed into certain careers by family influence, not away.
  
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- Kiera Mills
  Jul 17, 2025 @ 11:01:16
  
  Hi Syd,
  
  I liked how you explained that personal interests can be used to find careers in a similar category. It was also very interesting that you mentioned cultural influences could push someone away from certain careers. I hadn’t considered that because I was sed to seeing people be pushed into certain careers by family influence, not away.
  
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- Madelyn Messier
  Jul 20, 2025 @ 17:30:12
  
  Hi Sydney,
  
  I really liked how you explained the importance of assessing interests, skills, and values. You made a great point about how values tend to have a stronger connection to long-term job satisfaction than interests alone. It’s easy to focus just on what seems fun or interesting, but understanding what someone truly values in a work environment can make all the difference in finding a fulfilling career.
  
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Alexis Culver
Jul 14, 2025 @ 21:06:15
1. In career counseling, it is crucial to look at values, interests, and abilities/skills all at once. While interests can be helpful in identifying a client’s passions and interests, they are not enough to determine whether the client possesses the necessary skills. While abilities and skills aid in defining viable career choices, values ensure that a chosen career aligns with the client’s core values. Interests that clash with core values can lead to discontent. Counselors can assist clients in identifying careers that are appealing, realistic, and a good fit for their ideal workplace in order to promote better career exploration and long-term fulfillment.
2. Relational influence is crucial in career assessment since interpersonal relationships, including those with family, friends, and cultural communities, have a significant impact on career decisions. Cultural norms, familial expectations, and informal relationships can all have an impact on or limit career choices. Family expectations may persuade people to pursue a particular career, even though casual relationships can subtly change interests. These influences can broaden, restrict, or shape a client’s career options in complex ways, so it’s important to take them into account in career assessments to understand their opportunities, pressures, and motivations.
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- Sydney Corfey
  Jul 15, 2025 @ 15:09:40
  
  Hi Alexis,
  
  I agree with your answer to question two. Even the smallest causal relationships can influence someone’s career choice. Cultural norms can also influence a career choice and restrict the individual’s options regarding which career they wish to pursue. I also agree it’s important to consider pressures and motivations. Those can have a great impact on career choice.
  
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- Nick Cedeno
  Jul 16, 2025 @ 13:36:12
  
  Hi Alexis,
  
  I like how you discussed the relational influence. I was thinking in terms of broadening the client’s interests, skills, and values but I noticed that you had mentioned the restriction of some of these factors as well. It is entirely possible that some interests, skills and values were formed as a result of being restricted in another direction, instead of being inspired towards a particular path.
  
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- Kiera Mills
  Jul 17, 2025 @ 10:56:59
  
  Hi Alexis,
  
  I thought you did a good job explaining how familial expectations play a role in career counseling. I liked how you said that these can be subtle influences from the people around them, where people can feel the need to meet expectations of others without even realizing it. You also explained how skills and values affect the longterm fulfillment someone finds in their career very well.
  
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- Kiera Mills
  Jul 17, 2025 @ 10:57:01
  
  Hi Alexis,
  
  I thought you did a good job explaining how familial expectations play a role in career counseling. I liked how you said that these can be subtle influences from the people around them, where people can feel the need to meet expectations of others without even realizing it. You also explained how skills and values affect the longterm fulfillment someone finds in their career very well.
  
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Madelyn Messier
Jul 15, 2025 @ 17:43:25

(1) It is crucial to assess interests, abilities or skills, and values together in career counseling because each area gives a different and important view of a person’s career fit. Interests show what activities and topics naturally motivate and excite someone, but by themselves they do not show if a person has the ability to succeed in those areas. Abilities and skills show what someone can do well, but choosing a career based only on skills can lead to unhappiness if the work does not match what a person enjoys. Values show what people find meaningful or rewarding in a job, such as having work-life balance, earning a good income, or helping others. Ignoring values can lead to long-term frustration even if the job matches interests and skills. When these three areas are assessed together, they give a full and balanced picture of a person’s career potential and help people make choices that are more satisfying and lasting.

(2) Relational influence plays a big role in career assessment because the people in someone’s life like family, friends, teachers, and community members can have a strong effect on career choices. These relationships can encourage or discourage certain career paths, shape how people see their own abilities, and affect how much importance they give to certain work values. Positive relationships can offer support, advice, and useful connections, while negative influences can cause people to feel pressure to choose careers that do not match their true interests or strengths. Talking about these relationships in career counseling helps people understand outside pressures and expectations so they can make career decisions that are true to themselves.

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- Nick Cedeno
  Jul 16, 2025 @ 13:31:24
  
  Hi Maddy,
  
  I thought that your mention of relying on only one factor could lead to unhappiness was important. Even if one of the factors is not considered and the other two are, it still leaves a big gap in the client’s satisfaction. For the relational influence, I liked that you had mentioned other people in the client’s life besides the parents. When I was explaining it, I had mainly parents, family members, and friends in mind. I liked that you had mentioned other people in the community including their teachers (or other role models) because these people can be influential in the shaping of interests, skills and values as well.
  
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Nick Cedeno
Jul 16, 2025 @ 13:20:26
1. It is important to assess for interests alongside abilities and values because it allows for a more complete insight into the client. The understanding of the individual is more thorough. Understanding the client’s interests give us perspective on what the person enjoys doing and what intrinsically motivates them. Gaining insight on the client’s skill set and abilities allows the provider to better predict what the client will do well with in the future. The client’s values will tell the provider what the individual believes in and may give you some idea as to how they will proceed with the process. If we don’t have the complete picture of these factors, it is possible that the provider’s guidance can be misleading. If there is only one aspect considered, then it is possible to pursue something that is less than ideal for the individual. They may feel unsatisfied with their career choice and need to pivot because the self-awareness wasn’t as present as it should have been in the decision-making process.
2. The relational influence in career assessment is important to consider because it can shape an individual’s values, interests, and skill set. These factors in turn impact what type of career an individual pursues. A person’s culture could influence their career choice. For example, if there is a tradition of the creativity in the household where somebody grew up and their parents were artists, they may have a completely different set of values, skills and interests than somebody who was raised in a household of lawyers who have generations of family involved in law. Other factors like ethnicity and economic status may lend themselves to individual’s cultural identity.
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Dr. Adam M Volungis