Journally Speaking

Career Counselling for the Academically Gifted Student by John B. Stewart, in the Canadian Journal of Counselling, Vol 33:1, 1999, p 3-12

If you work in a school setting, you are undoubtedly aware that career counselling high academic achievers poses some unique challenges. This article addresses 7 career development/occupational decision-making difficulties frequently experienced by academically gifted students. The problems covered are: Narrowing Occupational Choice, Indecision, Vocational Identity Formation, Lack of Occupation Meaningfulness, Early Occupational Choice, Pressure from Significant Others, and the Need for Occupational Role Models. Stewart discusses each of these challenges and recommends counselling interventions. Social learning theory provides the theoretical framework for this discussion.

A Proactive Strategy for Attracting Women into Engineering Gilbride, Kimberley A., Kennedy, Diane C., Waalen, Judith K., and Zwyno, Malgorzata Canadian Journal of Counselling, Vol 33:1, 1999, p 55-65

Ryerson University (then Polytechnic) initiated the Discover Engineering Summer Camp in 1991. The camp was designed to provide young women with little-known information about engineering: to show women that engineering is a viable career to consider, to increase understanding of what engineers do, and to demonstrate the challenges and rewards of a career in this area. In a follow-up study, sixty percent of camp participants pursued education in engineering, and cited their attendance at the camp as a primary factor in their decision to become engineers. This paper gives more detailed information about the camp as a tool for introducing women to this predominantly male occupation.

Is your University Career Centre up to snuff? Check out the Summer 1999 issue of the Journal of Career Planning and Employment, p 38, for Beyond Surveys: Using Focus Groups to Evaluate University Career Services. Step by step instructions are included for conducting focus groups at your school.

Check your newsstands for the July/August edition of Fast Company magazine. This issue, entitled “How to Design a Life that Works” features articles on the gaps between the techno have and have-nots, ideas for re-designing a too-hectic life, the life of consultants, and a very telling survey: “How Much is Enough”. Features are also available online at www.fastcompany.com The site also features a career centre with lots of interesting articles.