The core conditions in counseling chronically undecided career decision-makers

Abstract

Authors assert the role of the core conditions from Rogers' work in increasing effectiveness of career counseling with chronically undecided career decision-makers in college/university settings. After reviewing the needs and context of the population, the authors provide case examples emphasizing the roles of empathy, unconditional positive regard, and genuineness in career counseling helping previously stuck clients become unstuck. The core conditions are seen as building psychological contact, motivating the client opening to self-reflection, self-acceptance, and selfrealization, including previously inhibited aspects of one's self discovered as key to career decisions. The authors illustrate an integrated balance of the personal (attending with the core conditions) with the informational (e.g. formal assessments, knowledge of the world of work) helping the counselor deepen her focus on the person within her decision. The authors' view of the role of the core conditions with chronically undecided college students provides a fresh look at the core conditions across career counseling and other settings in which (a) client connections are inhibited, and (b) there is a need for clients to also process information, such as from assessments, within counseling. ARTICLE HISTORY