Mr. Tibor Bors Borbely (Hungary) URL: Soft skills’ development - special approach in young job seekers' training Project meeting Grundtvig2 (second year) Athens, April 30, 2004 Hungarian partner’s input: Career (vocational, employment, school, LLL) counselors’ skills to fulfill theirs duty… TANINFO Publishing and Educational Service Company Mr. Tibor Bors Borbely employment counselor- researcher

What are not and what are included in this topic? We are not going to talk about Skills to teach for our clients Career counseling techniques Adequate personal characteristics of a counselor (James Guy 1987) And we are going to talk on Skills be taught for career counselors

Career counseling is an interpersonal process designed to assist individuals with career development problems. Career development is that process of choosing, entering, adjusting to, and advancing in an occupation. It is a lifelong psychological process that interacts dynamically with other life roles. Career problems include, but are not limited to, career indecision and undecidedness, work performance, stress and adjustment, incongruence of the person and work environment, and inadequate or unsatisfactory integration of life roles with other life roles (eg. Parent, friend, citizen) (Brooks & Brown 1986:98)

Skills The ability to perform various tasks satisfactorily. Skills may involve physical dexterity, mental ability, or both. They can be learned either through formal instruction or through the apprenticeship system, working under the supervision of somebody who already has them. Individuals appear to differ in their ability to acquire skills. Workers with scarce skills can generally obtain better paid and more secure jobs than those without them. ( Black J.: Dictionary of Economics OX 1997)

Skilled career counselor Counseling is a skilled work, is based on –Psychological and –Career path, labour market, vocational education issues Both could be taught in colleges as well as long time apprenticeship (supervision, self- supervision, additional trainings) need.

What kind of skills a well trained career counselor need? Theory of Holland (1974) vs. trained psychologist are needed Holland: self-directed activities are enough for career seeking. Only 16% of client have deep psychological problems. We are going to use Holland’s viewpoint. Believe on that client's cognitive clarity most of the time can be set up by using Holland’s idea.

Micro skills 1.Counselor’s behavior role plays 2.Observation methodologies of the client 3.Rising questions 4.Summarizing 5.Feedback for emotions 6.Feedback for ideas 7.Focusing on the client, his/her problem, other key persons, and milieu 8.Methods of influence: giving guidelines, conclusion, interpretation, feedback, changing group of concern, proposal, suggestion 9.Confrontation (Ivey 1982, Ritoók 1992:123)

One key skill: Problemsolving Six steps to solve a problem: 1.Clear definition of the problem 2.Brainstorming about the problem 3.Pick out the best idea (ideas) 4.Set up a detailed action plan (or plans) 5.put into practice 6.Check- feedback cycle

NCDA* knowledge and skills needed for career counseling (1985) General counseling skills, including knowledge of counseling theories and skills in relationship building. Ability to use counseling skills to assistst clients with career development problems. Ability to develop awareness of personal factors such as values, interests, and aptitudes and apply this self-knowledge to career counseling. Ability to help clients recognize their stereotypes about career and help them overcome them. Ability to assist clients to improve their decision making *National Career Development Association, USNational Career Development Association

NCDA* knowledge and skills needed for career counseling (1985) II. Knowledge of –Labour market information, training and employment trends, occupational information –Basic concepts about career development –Career development and decision making theories –Resources and techniques that can be used with special groups –Systems for developing, storing, and using occupational information –Changing roles of men and women and linkages among life roles NECA

NCDA* knowledge and skills needed for career counseling (1985) III. Ability to appraise aptitudes, interests, values, and personality traits. Ability to identify appraisal resources for various populations. Ability to evaluate, administrate, and interpret appraisal devices. Ability to assist individuals to make their own appraisal of the quality of their lives and their work environment.

Counsellors coach programme Widely use in Canada and USA since 1990 The coach concentrate on the following topics: 1.Obstacles of the successful counseling 2.Might negative interventions & effects 3.Counselor’s skill (expertness) using micro skills 4.Relation building between client and counselor 5.Counseling in special situations 6.Revision of counselor aptitude in practice 7.Administrative questions (legal issues)

References Brown, Duane- Brooks, Linda (1991) Career counseling techniques Allyn and Bacon MA, US Conger, D. Stuart (1989) Computer assisted counseling (presentation) in Ritoókné Ádám Magda (ed.) Psychology of counseling Tankönyvkiadó Budapest 1992 Gladding, T. Samuel Counseling: A comprehensive profession, Hungarian trans. & ed. Ilona Fonyó & András Pajor U of ELTE Budapest 2000