Chapter 13 and 18

            After reading Chapter 13 this week I feel like it really applies to where most of us were not too long ago. I really liked the activity of the decision tree which was displayed on page 302 (Brown, 2012). I feel like this activity could be really useful for the freshman student who is coming into college undeclared and needs a little bit of guidance of where they may want to go with their life. It is a good activity to show the spread of choices and how one choice then leads to another batch of options that they will have to make a decision on. I can just remember how confusing coming into college was for me, and I think that this could have been something that was really useful for me when I was trying to decide on a major of study. 

            I also think that group counseling could be really good for this age group. It gives people of the same age and of the same interests together to discuss career choices. This allows them all to join in an experience of exploration together which can help to brainstorm new ideas that they may have never thought of before. But also, everyone brings in their own life experiences which could help trigger ideas in other group members as well. I also was intrigued by the peer counseling programs. I think that these could be really useful especially in the state system schools.  With the budget crisis going on I think implementing peer counseling programs could be beneficial for both the student body and the school in general. I just think it would be a really good experience for advanced undergraduate counseling students and for graduate students as well. This could be an amazing opportunity to give both groups real life experience. 

            As I was reading Chapter 18 about trends happening with the job hunt it really got me thinking about where the future of the job hiring process is going. In my own personal life I have had more and more phone interviews versus face to face interviews, and in some ways this is a good thing but it can also be a problem as well. I feel like with all the technology we are starting to lose the human interaction experience. I think we need to be careful that we don’t replace all human contact with technology. I think that technology can be a good thing but it also can be a danger. I know for me personally I hate over the phone interviews because I would much rather talk to a person in person and get a read about them. I mean don’t get me wrong I am a fan of technology but I think we just need to be careful as we move forward. 

Brown, D.  (2012).  Career information, career counseling, and career development (10th ed.).  New York: Pearson Education, Inc.