Title | Themes | Brief description |
Brown, S. D., & Ryan Krane, N. E. (2000). Four (or five) sessions and a cloud of dust: Old assumptions and new observations about career counseling. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Handbook of counseling psychology (3rd ed., pp. 740–766). New York: Wiley. (Link) | Developing evidence informed interventions | The chapter contains various literature reviews on different aspects of career guidance, but includes five ingredients deemed necessary for successful group career work. Since the paper, knowledge has evolved, and so the paper also provides a milestone in the development of careers practice knowledge. |
Higgins, R., & Westergaard, J. (2001). role of group work in career education and guidance programmes. Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling Vol 2 No 1, 14-17. (Link) | Reflecting on the role of group work within a wider programme | Development of group work theory in career guidance is decades old, with a career service annual report in 1997/8 citing it as a an area for further research and development. In this 2001 paper, the authors reflect on the role of group work and the ways that it ought to be integrated into a wider career education programme. This paper also provides a milestone in theory and practice that can be compared with both today. |
Whiston, S. C., Brecheisen, B. K., & Stephens, J. (2003). Does treatment modality affect career counseling effectiveness?. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62(3), 390-410. (Link)
| Evaluation of choices of modalities
| This paper reported results from a meta-analysis that compared the evidence for impacts when different modalities were used in the provision of careers support. Results also indicated that workshops or structured groups tended to produce better outcomes than non-structured career counseling groups.
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Koivisto, P. (2010), Preparing for working life: Effects of group counseling on adolescents career development and mental health. People and Work Research Reports No 92. Finish Institute of Occupational Health (Link) | Creating short programmes to enhance career preparedness and reduce mental health risks of transitions. | This report for the Finnish Institute of Health describes two experiments which both involved 1-week long group programmes with adolescents aimed at helping them to become ready for career transitions from school. The first group was concerned with work transitions and the second was readied to make educational choices. Positive results were found in both, and in the second, indicators of mental health risks were redued. |
Cregeen-Cook, S. (2011). Beyond words: An exploration of the use of ‘visual tools’ within career guidance practice. Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling, 27(1), 47-53. (Link)
| Using visual tools to aid learning | With a perceived need to increase the engagement levels of young people with career guidance, this paper explores the use of “visual tools”. The basis of such tools is outlined, including the means to provide vehicles through which clients are better able to express their feelings than through dialogue. In this paper, feedback is reported on their application from career guidance practitioners, which is analysed along with drawings carried out by young disadvantaged and SEND people during the study. Participants responded well to the exercise, particularly the use of a so-called “crossroads” tool which allowed students to show their version of the dilemmas they faced. |
Hawthorn, R. (2012). Does it help? Quality criteria for career guidance in group settings (No. 231). AMS info. (Link) | Setting quality standards in group guidance | This paper is a transcript from a talk given by careers expert/academic Ruth Hawthorn about the role and implementation of quality in group sessions. Unique challenges are outlined for implementing quality in group settings. The specific considerations are considered for different settings e.g. education and third sector. Hawthorn makes the case for more resources to support standards, and also for the commitment of practitioners to adhere to standards as they might in personal guidance settings. |
Barclay, Susan R., and Kevin B. Stoltz. "The life design group: A case study vignette in group career construction counseling." Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice 53.1 (2016): 78-89. (Link) | Using a life design approach in group work | Using career construction theory, the authors provide a framework for the Life Design Group and illustrate its use through a case vignette. |
Jordan, S., Gessnitzer, S., & Kauffeld, S. (2016). Effects of a group coaching for the vocational orientation of secondary school pupils. Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice, 9(2), 143-157. (Link)(Paid) | Running a career coaching programme to enhance motivation and capabilities (amongst secondary school students) | The study researched effects of a coaching career programme carried out in groups with German secondary school pupils. The n=46 participants taking part in the group intervention voluntarily and 56 pupils of a control group answered questionnaires regarding career-related variables at the beginning and the end of the 10-week coaching process. Results indicated that the group who experienced the intervention had significantly higher scores for career planning, career decision-making self-efficacy and career decision status compared to the control group. |
Cardoso, P., Janeiro, I. N., & Duarte, M. E. (2018). Life design counselling group intervention with Portuguese adolescents: A process and outcome study. Journal of Career Development, 45(2), 183-196. (Link) | Designing a group intervention to increase career skills during education. | This article examines the process and outcome of a Life Design Counseling group intervention with students in grades 9 and 12 in Portugal. The intervention is described and applied to promoting Career Certainty, Career Decision-Making, Self Efficacy, and Career Adaptability with a sample of 236 students. generating positive results for a range of variables but not Career Adaptability. Focus groups held after the intervention provided feedback from participants. |
Meldrum, S. (2021) Group Career Coaching – A Critical Pedagogical Approach, The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 46:2, 214-225, (Link) | Applying group work as a mean to tackle social inequalities | Collective group-based models have been identified as addressing the need for career approaches to tackle social justices. To these ends, this paper describes collective career coaching, underpinned by a critical pedagogical theoretical base, along with the ability to contribute toward steering the focus of career guidance practice toward the advancement of social justice. |
Dubbelt, L., Demerouti, E., & Rispens, S. (2019). The value of job crafting for work engagement, task performance, and career satisfaction: longitudinal and quasi-experimental evidence. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 28(3), 300-314. (Link) | Creating a workshop to train participants in “job crafting” to increase satisfaction and career management skills | The authors identify the practice of “job crafting” for study, as a means by which employees increase their fit to a particular role by “seeking resources, seeking challenges, and decreasing demands”. In this longitudinal study from a Holland higher education establishment, a job crafting intervention was tested with n=60 participants and their outcomes compared with a control group (n=59). The intervention was a training intervention aimed at teaching job crafting skills, which were then embedded using Kolb’s learning cycle. The intervention was successful, as participants in the intervention group increased seeking resources and decreasing demands behaviors.
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Hechtlinger, S., & Gati, I. (2019). Reducing dysfunctional career decision-making beliefs: Gender differences in the effectiveness of a group intervention. Journal of counseling psychology. (Link) (Paid) | Accounting for facilitator identity. | The present research focused on evaluating the effectiveness of a group intervention aimed at facilitating the transition to civilian life of n=1,194 young adults before discharge from military service. The results showed gender differences in the strength of dysfunctional career decision-making beliefs, as well as in the workshop’s effectiveness in reducing them. It was found that the workshop varied when the group facilitator had a different gender to the participant. |
Maree, J. G. (2019). Group career construction counseling: A mixed‐methods intervention study with high school students. The Career Development Quarterly, 67(1), 47-61.(Link)(Paid) | Implementing and measuring a group construction counselling session in an educational setting. | This study was one of several conducted by South African academic J.G. Maree into career counselling for groups. In this one, the research investigated the value of group career construction counselling in a high school with (n = 57) students. The paper describes the intervention, but also the range of tests and evaluations completed by students to measure different facets of pre- and post-intervention attitudes and capabilities: a) the Career Adapt‐Abilities Scale–South Africa (CAAS‐SA), b) the Career Interest Profile and c) the Maree Career Matrix. Results showed that the students’ career adaptability scores had improved meaningfully and no gender‐based differences had been introduced. However, differences were detected between both the boys’ and the girls’ pre‐ and posttest Control and Confidence subscale scores. |
Maree, J. G., Gerryts, E. W., Fletcher, L., & Olivier, J. (2019). Using career counselling with group life design principles to improve the employability of disadvantaged young adults. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 29(2), 110-120. (Link) | Implementing a life design approach with disadvantaged young adults to increase employability sklls | This article explores the effects of group life design counselling on unemployed young adults’ career adaptability skills. A sample of n=62, average age of 25, participants were involved in a skills programme. A pretest/posttest comparison group-design, embedded in an intervention framework, was used to gather data with the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) used to assess results. The results showed improvements for key areas related to unemployability. |
Fatchurahman, M., Setiawan, M.A., Syarif, D.F., & Efasanty, M. (2020). Focused Solution Group Counseling as a Solution to Improve Career Choice Decision-making Abilities. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8, 6635-6640. (Link) | Using the Solution Focussed Brief Counselling approach” to support career decision making | The Solution Focussed Brief Counselling approach is a pragmatic approach of setting goals and then helping clients work out what needs to be done to achieve them. This research examined the impact of employing such a Solution Focussed Brief Counselling approach to group career counselling within an experiment in a senior Indonesian high school. A control group received career counselling without the solution focussed approach. This paper does not explain much about the practice itself, but explains the set of tests needed to validate the value of such an intervention. |
Womack, V. Y., Thakore, B. K., Wood, C. V., Jewett, D. C., Jones, R. F., Ingram, S. L., ... & McGee, R. (2020). The ASPET mentoring network: enhancing diversity and inclusion through career coaching groups within a scientific society. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 19(3), ar29. (Link) | Conducting group career coaching for expert-diverse groups | This report builds on past studies that show how career coaching can help to increase the diversity of the STEM workforce and provide increased awareness of options for STEM-trained graduates beyond ‘research scientist’. In this study, a 12 month online group programme is described that offers career support to young scientists. Methods are described where the researchers draw from different social science theories in building the programme, including using social capital ideas as part of accounting for the potential additional barriers or diverse groups within the design. Surveys are used to demonstrate the range of benefits, which including measuring trust and cohesion within the group, as well as post-intervention scores covering ‘awareness of career options’, and feeling equipped to act. Scores were generally very positive. |
Meldrum, S. (2021) Group Career Coaching – A Critical Pedagogical Approach, The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 46:2, 214-225, (Link) | Designing group sessions that address inequalities | The authors note that collective group-based models have been identified as an intervention that can help with addressing inequalities but have received relatively little attention in the literature. A “collective career coaching approach” is proposed with a pedagogical theoretical base, as a contribution towards social justice ends. |
Santilli, Sara et al. (2021) “In the same boat? An online group career counseling with a group of young adults in the time of COVID-19.” International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance 22, 623 - 641. (Link) | Using a group intervention online to motivate unemployed people towards action. | This paper describes using an online, group career counselling session with unemployed young people during the pandemic. As such, it addresses using group interventions in a situation where there are potentially complex challenges with both the participants and the external environment. Using a life design approach for an inclusive and sustainable future, the intervention was able to deliver improved scores on various dimensions: career adaptability, resilience, future orientation, and the propensity to identify inclusive and sustainable actions for the future. |
Trottier, M. (2021), Participation in career development communities of practice: Perspectives from low socio-economic background students. EWOP in Practice (Link) | Considering psychological and emotional barriers to engagement and participation in group programmes amongst disadvantaged groups. | Despite experiencing challenges in transitioning into graduate employment, students with lower socio-economic mobility engage less with their careers services. This study investigates the efficacy of using a four-week online community of practice intervention aiming to build careers support engagement of students from low socio-economic backgrounds through peer learning. Through a series of 24 semi-structured interviews, Reasons for disengagement were identified, including feeling a lack of knowledge and experience. This research expands the careers counselling literature to not only consider career consulting practices, but also student engagement |
Jemini Gashi, L., Bërxulli, D., Konjufca, J., & Cakolli, L. (2023). Effectiveness of career guidance workshops on the career self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and career goals of adolescents: an intervention study. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 28(1), 2281421. (Link) | Creating a varied workshop event for career and self-exploration | This study reviewed a workshop intervention with n=47 students in Albania, aged 16-18. Based on a five step model including self-awareness, career exploration, school and career paths, real encounters, and decision-making, the career guidance workshop combined lectures, discussions, individual activities, and pair and group work. Students were found to have increased self-efficacy and goal-clarity after the event. |
