No abstract

We know v e y little about how careers officers conduct careers guidance interviews. Research was carried out to discover how careers officers view interviewing, the factors that lead them to v a y their interview style, and how they modib their approach with experience. There was little evidence that officers va y their style by using radically opposed models in different circumstances. Instead, variations in approach are best regarded as different combinations of ideas and techniques. Careers officers adapted their interview styles largely in response to the perceived needs of clients. Initial training course attended appeared to have a limited but enduring effect on interview style, but there was also evidence that with experience careers officers develop more confidence, coherence and flexibility, Careers officers judged their interviews to be most effective when they were able to establish a rapport with the client, to spend time drawing up a contract, to challenge clients in a sensitive way, and to structure the interview appropriately.

Some of the findings of a stdy investigazing careers officers' use of theoretical models in the careers guidance interview are discussed. Data were collectid through vikits to institutions offering Diploma in Careers Guidance courses, a large-scale questionnaire survey of careers officers, and semi-structured interviews and group discussions. There was evidence that in initial training, the0 y is used to support, rather than &tennine, the ahelupment of skills. Results also suggested that practising careers officers are familiar with a fairly wide range of theories, although in their interviewing they tend to apply broad principles of theory, rather than specific elements. Careers officers who trained some time ago were less familiar with theories than were those who trained more recently, and there was no support for the hypothesis that long servire l e d to a greater recognition of the rehance of theories generally. Familiarity with guidance and counselling theories appears to be more influential than knowledge of career theories on the way careers ofFcen think about intoviewing. Overall, the findings cast doubt on the view that careers guidance is an applied science.