Multicultural Career Counseling Method

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Table of Contents

Establishing rapport and appropriate cultural relationships
Identifying career issues
Assessing the impacts of cultural variables
Setting counseling goals
Making Culturally Appropriate Interventions
Make Decision
Implementation and Follow-Up
References

Cultural sensitivity is important in determining the models and techniques employed during counseling. Counselors need to recognize how a person’s career and social life are related. They are expected to acknowledge these relationships because it enables them to assist people in finding healthier ways of living. The counselors should not separate the client’s careers and personal concerns. This paper discusses a scenario in which the steps of multi-cultural career counseling models are applied (Zunker, 2012).

Multicultural counseling usually focuses on the client’s cultural diversity. However, the counselor’s cultural background may have an impact on the assessment process, as well. A counselor should understand the impact culture has on a person’s view of the world or relationship with other people. It is also important to appreciate the client’s ideas as this helps to overcome the negative bias associated with a counselor’s ethnocentric point of view (Byars-Winston, & Fouad, 2006).

Therefore, multicultural career counseling models need to incorporate the multiple experiences of clients from different ethnic backgrounds. The counselors should also acknowledge the importance of fully understanding the career concerns of an individual. In addition, the counselor should be able to relate to his or her experiences by understanding how the culture they live in influence and shape their career goals (Byars-Winston, & Fouad, 2006).

The steps provided by the multicultural career counseling model gives an understanding of the techniques that identify the client’s specific needs, and the materials to be used during the counseling process. These steps are to establish a rapport of the cultural relationship, identify the career issues, assess the impact of the cultural variables, develop the goals of the counseling, make the appropriate interventions, make a decision, implement, and make followup on the client (Zunker, 2012). These steps are applied in a scenario in which an immigrant, Dembe, has sought the counselors help concerning his decision to take a job in the United States of America. Dembe is an immigrant from Africa and now lives in Texas. He is afraid of being discriminated against because of his race and has, therefore, sought the counselor’s advice (Burgess, 2012).

Establishing rapport and appropriate cultural relationships

The relationship between the client and counselor is important during a career counseling process. In cases where the client and the counselor are from different ethnic backgrounds, trust plays a major role in the process. It is more likely that Dembe will open up if he trusts the counselor. Therefore, the counselor should acknowledge the racial difference and should be ready to invite Dembe to discuss his feelings about racial differences (Chope, 2008).

Identifying career issues

The client should acknowledge Dembe as a unique individual. During this step, the counselor will attempt to identify the barriers that impede Dembe’s career choice. The counselor should engage Dembe in a conversion that will highlight other reasons that contribute to his fears (Burgess, 2012).

Assessing the impacts of cultural variables

This step is time-consuming, but it is very productive. The counselor will help Dembe to understand how his religion, family, and culture have shaped his prospects for the future. In this step, the counselor needs to be patient so that Dembe takes enough time to reflect on all his problems (Zunker, 2012).

Setting counseling goals

This step is the most interactive and often results in satisfactory outcomes: it is a collaborative negotiation between the counselor and client. It is the responsibility of the counselor to encourage Dembe to be active during the entire counseling process (Zunker, 2012).

Making Culturally Appropriate Interventions

The counselor should be able to determine which member of Dembe’s family makes major decisions. The counselor should do this in a careful manner to avoid insulting any family member. Consequently, the counselor should make appropriate interventions that are acceptable in Dembe’s cultural society (Zunker, 2012).

Make Decision

In this step, the counselor should not pressure Dembe to arrive at a conclusion without taking enough time to assess all the possibilities. There are cases in which the client makes a decision just to please the counselor. Therefore, the counselor should avoid this by ensuring that the client has enough time to make an informed decision. In some cases, the counselor should be ready to invite the client to repeat the whole process without a sense of embarrassment (Zunker, 2012).

Implementation and Follow-Up

The counselor should feel free to refer Dembe to individual contacts, agencies, and information sources for further assistance. After Dembe makes his final decision, it is important that the counselor makes a follow-up on his progress. In addition, the counselor should invite Dembe to return for counseling in the future (Byars-Winston, & Fouad, 2006).

Although some authors question the efficiency of the counseling group model, it is still the most commonly used method in a multicultural approach (Byars-Winston, & Fouad, 2006). People may not open up in a group due to cultural inhibitors. Therefore, it is effective to use the multicultural career counseling method because the process is only between the client and counselor.

References

Chope, R.C. (2008). Counseling and human development. Counseling & Human Development , 40(9), 1.

Burgess, M. (2012). Developing my preferred model of genetic counselling. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 21 (2), 177-178.

Byars-Winston, A.M., & Fouad, N.A. (2006). Metacognition and multicultural competence: Expanding the culturally appropriate career counseling model. Career Development Quarterly, 54(3), 187-201.

Zunker, V. G. (2012). Career counseling: A holistic approach (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage, Brooks/Cole.

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