Final Blog

Brown (2012) chapter 17 on trends in the labor market and the factors that shape them was quite interesting as it looked at different trends and occupational outlook and structure change or information that needs to be addressed by career counselors in helping individuals in their career planning process.  It is true that the workplace in our country is always in a state of flux especially because of technology changes and advances and different economic conditions.  We have discussed in class that technology will continue to change and “sculpt” our society in different ways and change the job market.  I think that technology has its advantages and disadvantages.  I hope that technology does not take away the face-to-face business interaction all together, especially in an interview process because I think that this process is very important and a skill that is taught in a career counseling setting.  I know that when doing group activities my group has discussed this idea that interviews and other interaction could some day be moved into a Skype format.  Already the long-term trends such as changes in technology are allowing jobs to become scarce in some areas such as services of telemarketers, which are being enhanced by automatic dialers, wait responses, message deliverers, voice-activated computers, etc.  In my opinion I do not like telemarketers, but sometimes I get rather annoyed when I am calling a number because I have an important question and I listen to all of the menu options and I still do not know which one to pick, and all I want to do is talk to a real person that can help me.  Again there are pros and cons to the advances in technology.  However, in this chapter it also states that sometime in the future our country will revert back to the way things once were, which is an interesting statement and could be viewed in many different ways.  

It is important to address in career counseling as many of the workshops presented have addressed already along with Brown (2012) that individuals in career counseling need to understand that the occupational structure, monitor their jobs and anticipate changes that may occur, or they will be out of work quickly and to them unexpectedly.  Brown (2012) chapter 17 also discussed several issues in occupational groups and that the service providing groups that produce no products such as medial, educational, financial, and custodial services are expected to continue to grow unlike the manufacturing services in our country (Brown, p. 363, 2012).  

I would also like to discuss a few of the other factors mentioned in Brown (2012) that I thought were interesting.  I think that if an individual is in career counseling it is important to understand where the economy is currently because Brown (2012) suggests that the national debt and the global economy affects and shapes the labor force as exemplified by the housing marketing 2010 (Brown, p. 366, 2012).  The issue of illegal immigrants was also raised in the chapter and brought about a different view and cycle of workers that needs to be accounted for in the labor market that individuals in career counseling should be made aware of so that they understand their chances of obtaining a certain job.

Reference

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