This paper presents a detailed design for a two-day career counseling workshop targeting Hispanic high school students in a school district. It begins with a practical PowerPoint outline of the workshop agenda, including specific times, activities, and facilitators. The second part provides the theoretical and research-based justification for the workshop, examining why career planning is critically important for Hispanic students. Key topics include the unique barriers Hispanic students face in educational attainment and career development, the importance of culturally competent counseling that respects family values and cultural identity, and evidence that career counseling workshops can effectively broaden student interests and enhance self-efficacy. The paper concludes with strategies for advertising the workshop to maximize attendance.
Location: Aaronson Auditorium, 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., January 5 and 6, 2015
Refreshments: Bottled water, soft drinks, and doughnuts will be available throughout both days.
The workshop is designed to help students achieve the following objectives:
9:00–9:30 a.m. Welcome and orientation by Mr. Jackson, vice principal
9:30–10:15 a.m. Overview and importance of career counseling and its goals by Ms. Leslie, career counselor
10:15–10:30 a.m. Break
10:30–11:30 a.m. Self-assessment: Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and developing an inventory of interests, values, and skills, part one, by Mrs. West, career counselor
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Lunch (school cafeteria)
12:30–1:30 p.m. Self-assessment: Developing an inventory of interests, values, and skills, part two, by Mrs. West, career counselor
1:30–2:15 p.m. Career exploration: Learning about job opportunities and employment resources such as the National Career Development Association and the National Career Development Guidelines by Ms. Leslie, career counselor
2:15–2:30 p.m. Break
2:30–3:00 p.m. Questions and answers with Mrs. West and Ms. Leslie, career counselors
9:00–10:30 a.m. Making decisions: Counselors help students narrow down options and create a career plan
10:30–10:45 a.m. Break
10:45–11:30 a.m. Setting goals: Counselors help students learn how to set target dates for completion of career goals, including education and training requirements, and how to evaluate progress toward meeting those goals and make adjustments as needed
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Lunch (school cafeteria)
12:30–1:30 p.m. Review of current hot career fields for Hispanics by Mr. Phillips, school district human resources director
1:30–2:30 p.m. Summary: Importance of career planning during high school, by Mrs. West, career counselor
The need for timely and informative career counseling for Hispanic high school students has never been greater. Hispanics are the youngest, largest, and fastest-growing minority group in the United States today. Current estimates indicate that this group will become an increasingly important segment of the American workforce in the foreseeable future. However, as researchers Zalaquett and Baez note, "Their career paths seem to be non-linear or non-traditional and they may not be aware of or use career counseling services. Their progress and contributions to our society can be enhanced by providing career counseling" (2012, p. 58).
Unfortunately, much of the research concerning career counseling and Hispanics has been based on stereotypical perceptions and anecdotal accounts rather than hard evidence. Kolodinsky and Schroder emphasize that "Career development at the adolescent stage may have long been constrained by biases in the dominant culture via, for example, perceptions of the meaning and implications of gender, ethnicity, and economic station" (2009, p. 163). In addition, there are constraints specific to career counseling for Hispanic students, including the definition of the helper's role, the degree to which the student identifies with Hispanic culture, the other roles the student plays, and an understanding of the importance of family in Hispanic culture.
Despite their growing representation in the American workforce, Hispanics lag behind all other minority groups in educational achievement. Nearly 50 percent of Hispanic high school students drop out, a rate twice as high as that for African American students and three times higher than for white high school students. These statistics negatively affect Hispanic occupational choices and contribute to a lack of Hispanic role models in professions such as engineering, physics, computer technology, and higher education—all of which require advanced education.
It is therefore vitally important for career counselors to develop the cross-cultural competencies needed to provide Hispanic students with career counseling that is culturally sensitive. Watkins and Campbell (2000) report that "Value differences have import for the way in which people make life decisions. In counseling and assessment, it is important to avoid automatic assumptions about what is 'best' without incorporating into that consideration the culturally-specific values held by the individual" (p. 507). Some especially salient value differences for Hispanic students involve the importance of family, living harmoniously with nature, living in the present, placing emphasis on being rather than doing, and subordinating individual goals to group goals.
Commitment to family is among the most important values in many Hispanic cultures. This commitment includes loyalty to the family, a strong family support system, the understanding that adolescent behavior reflects on family honor, hierarchical order among siblings, and a duty to care for disabled, infirm, or aged family members. This value places many Hispanic students at odds with mainstream American culture, which emphasizes individualism. These cross-cultural differences can even adversely affect academic performance among Hispanic high school students. The emphasis on cooperation in attaining goals can result in Hispanic adolescents' discomfort with conventional classroom competition.
In addition, a majority of Hispanic high school students are inclined to follow their parents' occupational choices without considering other potential career possibilities. In many cases, career counseling services have simply not been available for Hispanic students, or if available, have lacked the cross-cultural awareness needed to counsel this population appropriately. As Lee (2012) emphasizes, "If counselors are to have an impact on the career development of increasingly diverse client groups, then their practice must be grounded in cultural competency" (p. 4). Developing cross-cultural competency represents an essential element in the personal and professional growth of career counselors, involving the acquisition of knowledge and skills required to provide effective career counseling to Hispanic students.
Hispanic students face several significant barriers to career development and planning. One major barrier is the limited availability of professional role models within the Hispanic community. As Dunn and Griggs (1999) note, "Hispanics receive less education, employment, income, health care, and other social services than other minorities. The majority are employed in semiskilled or unskilled occupations that provide a limited range of career role models for adolescents" (p. 49).
The lack of role modeling has a profound impact on career aspirations. Kolodinsky and Schroder (2009) observe that "Teens may have decided, with minimal awareness, to pursue certain career paths. A lack of role modeling during the elementary years might be one of the silent but powerful influences by which curiosity in certain career options is not developed" (p. 163). Early exposure to diverse career possibilities is essential; as Kolodinsky and Schroder further note, "Development during the formative years is fundamental to the continuity or discontinuity of specific career pathways. For a disproportionate number of minority adolescents, career paths in professional fields may never be discussed" (2009, p. 164).
These barriers are further exacerbated by extraordinarily high dropout rates. An inordinately high percentage (21 percent) of Hispanics drop out of high school compared to 8 percent of white students and 12 percent of African American students. These statistics create a cycle in which fewer Hispanic role models are available, further limiting the career horizons of subsequent generations of Hispanic students.
There are multiple reasons for conducting a career counseling workshop for Hispanic high school students. Research has identified several desirable outcomes achievable through such workshops. Kolodinsky and Schroder (2009) cite the following:
The National Career Development Guidelines indicate that timely career counseling services can provide valuable outcomes for students, including:
These outcomes align with guidance from Nelson and Jackson (2007), who report that a fundamental goal of career counseling is to promote professional career identity among students. To facilitate this process, counselors provide programs that allow students to find new ways of viewing the world, their professions, themselves, and others. In some cases, young people may be simply unaware of the vast array of career opportunities available to them. In other cases, the viability of certain professional paths may not have occurred to them because of a paucity of role models or limited prevalence of those occupational fields within their communities.
However, Kolodinsky and Schroder (2009) note that there remains a dearth of timely and relevant research concerning the most effective approaches to presenting career counseling workshops, particularly for Hispanic students. They emphasize that "Career counselors seeking to positively impact the occupational self-efficacy of youth, especially minority adolescents, stand to benefit from more clarity about the effectiveness of the career workshop as an impactful intervention" (p. 163). Despite these gaps in the existing research, studies have documented the importance of the career counseling process for these young learners and the potential of workshops to expand their awareness of professional opportunities.
In order to achieve maximum attendance at the career counseling workshop, all Hispanic students in the school district will receive a personal invitation and permission slip for parental consent. Posters announcing the workshop and its agenda will be displayed prominently on school buses, in cafeterias, and in common areas of all school district high schools. The school district's website will feature a dedicated page with additional information about the event and career counseling resources. Additionally, social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter will be used to promote the two-day career counseling workshop.
"Marketing and recruitment strategies for maximum attendance"
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