Career Indecision

Career indecision, the state of being undecided regarding occupational interest or career path, has been defined in a variety of ways, making it somewhat difficult for investigators in this area to reach conensus on its nature and causes. Researchers have described individuals as undecided if they have not chosen or declared a college major, if they reported that their certainty about vocational choice was low, if they could not name a career choice, if they were unable to articulate career goals, or if they scored below a specified point on a measure such as the Career Decision Scale. The term career indecision has also been used to apply to the range of problems and difficulties individuals encounter during the career decision process. An individual might, for example, know that she wants to be a therapist but is not sure whether she wants to major in psychology or social work. Another individual might narrow his career options down to two choices but may have difficulties in choosing one over the other. Such individuals might be said to be career undecided to a degree, illustrating that career indecision can be thought of as existing on a continuum rather than as an either/or proposition.

Many people will, at some point in their lives, face a certain amount of indecision related to making career choices. It has been estimated that between 10 percent and 30 percent of college students could be classified as “undecided.” In fact, in many cases, career indecision might be thought of as a normative phenomenon, closely related to an individual's age and educational level, with younger and less educated individuals more likely to be career undecided. In this regard, some researchers have suggested that a certain amount of indecision might actually be beneficial. The undecided student or adult may be more likely to systemically explore his or her options in hopes of making a more informed career decision than would the individual who hastily chooses a line of work but is nonetheless classified as “career decided.”

Most individuals who are undecided at some point do eventually move forward, make choices, and enter the workforce. However, for some individuals, career indecision is more than just a passing phase or a normative part of the developmental process. For those people, career indecision can be a major impediment to successfully preparing for work, for entering an occupation or profession, or for maintaining a satisfying work life. Since identity and self-concept are closely tied to an individual's occupation and since job satisfaction is positively related to overall life satisfaction, prolonged or chronic career indecision can have a detrimental effect on an individual's mental health and well-being.

The definition of what is prolonged or chronic is not always clear, but career counselors typically become involved after the individual or family members have become frustrated with a lack of progress toward a decision. Since career decision making is an important task in the life-span developmental process, the developmental timetable accepted by a given society often defines the point at which an individual's indecision may be viewed as problematic. In the United States, the educational system expects that college students will declare majors by [Page 110]approximately age 20. Societal norms suggest that most young adults, unless headed for graduate school, begin to pursue careers after college graduation, when they are approximately 22 years old. Young adults who do not pursue college degrees are expected to choose and enter careers even earlier. However, in light of recent findings that suggest that brain development may not be complete until the mid-20s, as well as the sociological phenomenon of “extended adolescence,” it is not clear that these timetables are always appropriate. One viewpoint is that the diagnosis of career indecision cannot be made reliably until the individual is 25 years old. There is, however, evidence that chronic career indecision can be predicted at a much younger age. Because chronic career indecision is related to underlying psychological issues rather than a normal development process, individuals at risk for chronic career indecision will gain no advantages if they wait until they are 25 years old to begin treatment for their underlying condition(s). Chronic career indecision and its causes are discussed in more detail later in this article.

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