Career Assessment With African-American Clients

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of issues related to using career assessment with African-American clients. We first discuss the philosophy and practice of career assessment, and present an expanded view of assessment. In the second section, we outline general issues in career counseling with African-American clients, including topics to explore in career counseling and the role of the counselor's and client's racial identity attitudes. The third section consists of specific issues in using career assessment with African-American clients, such as how race and racial identity attitudes might influence the process of assessment, and psychometric and theoretical issues in using career assessment instruments. The final section offers some directions for future research and practice regarding career assessment. Assessment traditionally has been a major component of career counseling. Effective use of career assessment requires the counselor to make a series of decisions (such as choosing a general strategy and specific instruments or techniques) and to apply specialized knowledge and skill in counseling (such as interpreting test results, integrating assessment into counseling, and facilitating a client's use of assessment). When the client is African-American, the counselor must be aware of the cultural context that race and ethnicity adds to each of the counselor's decisions and interventions regarding career assessment. In addition, race and ethnicity shape the client's view of him-or herself, the world of work, and the career choice process.The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of issues related to using career assessment with African-American clients, and includes four components. First, we discuss the philosophy and practice of career assessment, with a discussion of an expanded view of assessment. Next, we outline general issues in career counseling with African-American clients, including topics to explore in career counseling and the role of the counselor's and client's racial identity attitudes. The third section consists of specific issues in using career assessment with African-American clients, such as how race and racial identity attitudes might influence the process of assessment, Send correspondence and reprint requests to