Strengths-Based Career Counseling: Overview and Initial Evaluation

This study implemented an innovative model of individual Strengths-Based Career Counseling (SBCC), as carried out by vocational counseling psychologists, and measured its impact on unemployed job seekers. As part of a quasi-randomized pre-post intervention study, career counseling clients completed self-esteem, career exploration, strengths use, and life satisfaction scales prior to the initial counseling session (T1) and immediately following the final session (T2). A follow-up was carried out at 3 months postcounseling (T3). At baseline, the SBCC sample (N = 31) and the conventional career counseling sample (N = 30) were statistically similar on the measured variables. As hypothesized, at postcounseling, only the SBCC sample demonstrated enhanced self-esteem. Both the client samples reported enhanced daily use of strengths and unchanged career exploration and life satisfaction. However, precounseling strengths use predicted enhanced postcounseling self-esteem only among the SBCC clients. At the 3-month follow-up, the strengths-based sample assigned a higher rating to the counseling contribution and reported a higher rate of employment (80.6%) than did the comparison group (60%). Implications for career counseling with unemployed clients were discussed.