What Is Career Counseling?
What is Vocational Rehabilitation?
Experiences with Career Counseling Centers and
Vocational Rehabilitation
Which One Is Right for You?
What Is Career Counseling?- Cornell University's career center defines career counseling this way:
- "Counseling is a collaborative process through which individuals are helped to better understand themselves and their options. It involves learning about oneself and the factors relating to success and satisfaction in school and work."
As I described in more depth in my previous article about
career counseling, both career counselors and career coaches help individuals to make decisions, plan and keep on track with career preparation. Career centers often have a very extensive set of tools, such as tests, job postings and job hunt training, to enhance your own efforts in determining and pursuing a particular career.
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What is Vocational Rehabilitation?
The definition on the web site for the State of Wisconsin's Department of Vocational Rehabilitation describes vocational rehabilitation as "a federal/state program designed to obtain, maintain and improve employment for people with disabilities by working with VR consumers, employers and other partners." Applicable to other similar programs in the United States and beyond, this definition shows that career counseling for people with disabilities is just one of many services vocational rehabilitation programs may provide to improve employment. Depending on the particular program, VR departments may also provide training and education for employers, provide assistive technology, teach basic independent living skills and even provide some types of employment - just to name a few possibilities.
We will, therefore, narrow the question to "What do vocational rehabilitation counselors (VRC) do?"
- Oklahoma's general classification for a VRC illustrates the range of duties such a person may have, depending on the level of responsibility within a particular program. I have removed some references to purely administrative duties:
- The functions within this job family will vary by level and specific assignment but may include the following:
- Provides professional counseling and guidance servies to clients in meeting problems of personal, social and vocational adjustment.
- Interprets and analyzes applicants' physical or mental condition, social and economic situation, attitudes and aptitudes, work experiences, educational background and personality traits for medical diagnosis to determine kind and extent of disability and rehabilitation possibilities.
- Consults with psychiatrists and physicians regarding findings of examinations; administers and interprets psychological tests when indicated; determines eligibility for rehabilitation services on the basis of law and policy; and assists individuals in formulating a suitable rehabilitation plan.
- Plans and arranges for rehabilitation services; approves expenditures within specified limits for planned rehabilitation services.
- Confers with public and private employers to establish job opportunities for rehabilitation clients; aids clients in securing employment consistent with their capabilities; monitors client progress.
- Administers and/or develops work samples and situational assessments.
- Reviews and assesses medical, psychological, neuropsychological, legal, educational and social information concerning clients who have been referred for vocational evaluation; determines need for additional diagnostic information.
- Prepares individual written vocational evaluation plans; acts as consultant to Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors in making vocational decisions.
- Orients clients to the evaluation process; administers and interprets test results to determine learning capacity, work-related aptitudes, abilities and limitations, behavioral factors affecting vocational performance and rehabilitation potential of clients; makes objective observations of all behaviors essential to the world of work; and recommends specific goals and services to clients.
- Teaches basic vocational skills and leads groups that are composed of individuals with vastly diverse cultural, educational, emotional, physical and mental abilities and backgrounds; develops and administers appropriate job samples to determine learning ability, reaction to supervision, work with peers, work tolerances, physical tolerances and endurance.
Clearly the VRC shares many of the same tools, techniques and strategies of a mainstream career counselor. They assist a disabled job seeker with the career choice, guides him towards developing qualifications that may enhance his chances at obtaining work in that field and provides job search assistance.
Carol Baron of the
Idaho State Commission for the Blind says, "The VRC will probably refer you to an organization that provides testing or other services for job seekers rather than providing them in-house," but it is the VRC who evaluates the results on behalf of the client.
The main distinction between VRCs and general career counselors is the added (and, ideally, better informed) consideration taken of the client's disability and its likely impact on the person's job prospects in a specific field. Further, while a career center is generally going to provide the same services for all clients, the VRC is empowered to choose the level of expenditure on a case-by-case basis. Finally the VRC will provide one service that career centers do not offer: information about, training with and (sometimes) funding for assistive devices.
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Experiences with Career Counseling Centers and
Vocational Rehabilitation
To help us assess the relative merits of career and vocational rehabilitation services, I asked the members of the BLINDJOB online discussion group to recount their personal experiences. Here are some of the replies I received:
- "The (career) counselor finds herself in the position of needing to balance her need to place an applicant against pleasing her employer, whom she has cultivated with great care. While I met with some initial skepticism on the part of the counselors, they're usually open to learning about blindness and the adaptations I can make."
- "I have used both the (placement) office and the career center at my university; they plainly wouldn't do the things I needed help with at the employment office (in Georgia). I needed help to complete some applications and to search some databases. My personal opinion is that the (placement) offices need to be kicked in the behind to learn how to assist blind clients. I also believe this same problem exists on some college campuses."
- "(The college I went to) does have a good career counseling service; however, they lacked the experience in advocating for someone with a disability. They were very good at helping me with my resume and cover letters. I found the people who worked for that Career Services Office to be some of the most accommodating people to work with."
- "I think that career counselors are helpful as far as learning the techniques to obtain employment. However, I don't think rehab counselors are very honest - especially with the totally blind as far as trying to obtain employment is concerned."
- "I am a totally blind college career counselor working with the whole university population, disabled and non-disabled alike. I also supervise interns at my career center. I hope we're far better than rehab counselors, who don't seem to get anything done at all."
- "I used the services of a career counselor once and found that he was very good at doing the aptitudes stuff and getting things into accessible format for me. But, then when it came to actual job development, he dropped off considerably and floundered and admitted that he did not know what to do."
- "In general, I can say that I got what I wanted, and I know another person who used the center to find a job. For me, in some ways, it is better than rehab because there are more opportunities for work (listed) there, and, if someone is willing to look and keep at it, they might just find something."
- "(The local vocational rehabilitation program) still seems to me to be a resource regarding employment for their participants. The merits do also include preparation, to at least some degree, for adaptive technology training... Without this skill, people are just sunk."
Carol Baron herself is blind and had a less-than-ideal experience with VRCs in her Midwest college town. "Sometimes they get boxed into certain employers or jobs that they've found easiest to match clients with," she says. "I found my college's career center much more open to being creative and trusting my own judgment."
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Which One Is Right for You?
- Western Washington University's Nicole Gant explains how the two are most effective when working as a team:
- "Because we can't possibly train career specialists to be experts in disabilities and accommodations, we...focus training (about how to assess) their clients' abilities and asking the question, 'how can we make this work?', rather than immediately assuming 'this won't work because I've never seen it done before'." (We provide) these career counselors with contacts for disability specialists who they can use (as resource people) before passing judgment."
Before deciding whether to work with a VRC or a mainstream counselor, you may wish to ask yourself these questions:
- Do I need special consideration of my disability in determining a career path?
- Do I need to learn more about how assistive devices might be used in certain job settings?
- Am I worried that the career center may not know how to assess the impact of my disability on my career choices?
- Am I concerned that a VRC may pigeonhole me into "typical" blind jobs?
- Will I need training customized for my disability in order to find or qualify for a position in my chosen career field?
- Might I need an advocate to stand behind me when talking to potential employers?
No matter how you answer any of these questions, either choice can be valid because just your awareness of these concerns or possibilities can prepare you to ask your counselor how he or she will avoid them.
Says Baron, "That is the key in every approach to (career management) when you have a disability: Get all the information you can, be prepared to be flexible and resourceful and never accept 'no' for an answer, unless the person saying it has given you reasons that you have yourself also researched and found valid. The only difference that should exist between a career counselor and a VRC (is) the amount of specialized tools and information they have for accommodating your career decision."
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