CASVE PAPER: Description and Outline

PSY 714-The Psychology of Vocational Development

Purpose: To describe your own career decision-making process using the CASVE Cycle from the Cognitive-Information Processing Approach.

The objectives of this project include:

  • Developing greater awareness of your clients’ issues with career decision-making that will lead to better use of the skills empathy, clarification, questioning, and self-disclosure in career counseling
  • Develop skills using theory to guide practice
  • Increase ability to facilitate the career decision-making capabilities of your clients
  • Helping you to become more aware of your career-related issues
  • Attaining skills that will aid in your own future career decision-making

A good paper shows evidence of insight, resourcefulness, and clarity of thought and expression. Given the interrelatedness of career development and mental health for you and your clients, this paper deserves your very best effort.

The product of this assignment will be at least a 6 page, 12-point font, 1” margins, double-spaced, narrative paper organized according to the following outline (use of lists or tables may be necessary for certain sections). Use current APA style in producing your paper, except when the style presented in this outline conflicts. Staple or binder clip your paper in the upper left corner; no binder/folder is needed for your paper.

This paper is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, April 15, 2010. See your syllabus for information on late assignments. Use the following outline to organize your paper. Match the heading and subheadings of your paper directly to the outline below.

Title Page

  • Include your name, title of this course, and the date

Communication (15 pts)

  • Prompts-Describe the internal and external cues that led you to go into graduate school for counseling/psychology or to choose the direction you have chosen in graduate school. Also describe those internal and external cues that were opposed to the decisions you have made or our making.
  • Gap-Where are you now and where do you want to be?
  • Goal(s)-Include one or more goal statement(s) that clearly indicates an outcome or outcomes related to narrowing the identified gap.

Analysis (15 pts)

  • Self Knowledge-Summarize the self knowledge you have gain from a variety of sources such as:
  • SDS, Strong, NEO, MBTI, Significant others, classroom experiences, practicum experience, work experience, etc.
  • List what you consider to be your Values, Interests, and Skills
  • Occupational Knowledge
  • Provide a summary of information you have researched about two or three occupations you are considering. (Should be the occupations you rank most highly in Valuing.) This section will likely require some referencing of sources.
  • Counseling Psychologist or counselor, at this stage in your career development, is too broad of an occupational title to research. You are all likely to know you want to be these things but are probably trying to figure out what type of psychologist or counselor you want to be (e.g., academic, child-focused psychologist, alcohol and drug counselor, hospital vs. counseling center setting). These are the types of things you should be exploring. I understand the statistics may be on the broad occupational title, but other resources you use should help you differentiate among these (e.g., a relevantinformation interview is a required resource in this section). If you are a master’s student considering getting a doctoral degree, you can research that as one of ‘occupations’ you are considering.

Synthesis (15pts)

  • Elaboration: Identify methods for generating occupational alternatives and list at least 5. Three must require the degree you are seeking and at least 2 can not require your current degree sought but must be 2 possible pursuits with the education and experience you already possess.
  • Crystallization: Identify no more than 3 occupational alternatives that are used in the in valuing phase that follows

Valuing (15pts)

  • Describe the relative costs and benefits of each of your occupational alternatives identified in Crystallization. These costs and benefits should be in relation to yourself, your significant others, your cultural group, and your community and/or society.(Table may be helpful here.)
  • Prioritize your occupational alternatives and state your tentative primary choice.
  • List at least 3 leisure activities that you do or in which you would like to engage. State how these leisure activities will fill a specific space in your life and contribute to your mental health.

Execution (15pts)

  • Draft a resume that has the objective of your top alternative (refer to in this section and attach as an appendix). Make this resume accurate for you in the current time. In this section, speak to what the process of creating the resume was like for you and outlines activities in which you need to engage to make you qualified to apply for this alternative.
  • Find at least two job listings for a job similar to your top alternative. Summarize these job listings in this section of your paper. Include information such as job title, location, type of setting, required qualifications, desired qualifications, salary, etc. If salary is not included go to O*NET to find salary information to report in this section.
  • Include a list of steps you would need to take and goals that need to be accomplished in order to appropriately execute your top alternative.(Table may be helpful here.)

Communication (15pts)

  • Describe how the process of completing this assignment affected you as a counselor, person in training for a profession, and future job-seeker. Has it widened, better defined, and/or helped to close your “gap?”
  • Speak to the metacognitions you experienced while writing this paper or those metacognitions you have dealt with while in your graduate study.

Title page and general directions followed-(10pts)

Total of 100 possible points for this assignment; 25% of your grade