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Career Counseling

Providing career counseling to talented people is some of the most challenging work that counselors can undertake. Trait-factor models of career counseling, which match a person's interests to corresponding work environments, often fail to recognize the profound abilities, specific values, and creative flow that many talented people possess. As a consequence, scholars have devised career counseling models that support the exceptional people's talents, which in turn help them to choose careers that are both satisfying and challenging. Multipotentiality, specific abilities, and creativity are areas that career counselors need to address with their bright clients.

History

Specialized interventions for gifted and talented people began in the 1920s with the work of Leta Hollingworth and Lewis Terman, two pioneers in the field of gifted education, who advanced the understanding of the needs and development of talented people. Terman focused on the qualities of talented people, and worked to dispel the myth that exceptional people are weak or needy. Hollingworth noted that exceptional young people are often thwarted in fulfilling their potential when adults believe that they do not need additional support, or when they are not challenged by their studies. She also determined that many gifted students have difficulty choosing from their many interests and narrowing their focus to a few activities, a phenomenon that was later termed multipotentiality.

It was not until the 1950s that the counseling needs of exceptional people began to be addressed: the Wisconsin Guidance Laboratory for Superior Students, the Guidance Institute for Talented Students, and the Talented Youth Project were the first guidance programs for gifted people. Since then, counseling and guidance laboratories have emerged to support the educational, vocational, social, and emotional needs of gifted people. Barbara Kerr's Guidance Laboratory for Gifted and Talented at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Linda Silverman's Gifted Child Development Center at the University of Denver were established in the 1980s and extended the work of the Wisconsin Guidance Laboratory. The Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development at the University of Iowa focused on psychological assessment, career development, and personal and family counseling. In the 1990s, Kerr's (Talented At-Risk Girls: Encouragement and Training for Sophomores) TARGETS and GEOS (Gender Equity Options in Science) programs at Arizona State University focused on the career identity, self-esteem, and self-efficacy of talented, at-risk girls. In 2005, the Counseling Laboratory for the Exploration of Optimal States (CLEOS), cofounded by Barbara Kerr and Robyn McKay, became the latest addition to a successful line of counseling laboratories geared toward the vocational and educational needs of creative people, including writers, artists, musicians, inventors, actors, creative scholars, and other innovators.

Multipotentiality and Specific Abilities

When multipotentiality and specific interests are acknowledged and understood, talented people seem to be more prepared to navigate their career paths, and better equipped with skills that will help them to navigate their personal and professional endeavors. Multipotentiality is characterized by high, flat, career interest profiles, which indicate career indecision and distress about career choices. Because multipotentiality gives the impression that a person can be whatever he or she wants to be, it tends to be viewed as an asset. However, multipotential people may find their abilities problematic as they sacrifice the time and effort demanded by expertise development in an effort to become well-rounded adults. In fact, underemployment and sustained productivity are common difficulties for multipotential adults. Other bright people possess specific abilities, such as exceptional ability in language, math, or science. Though there is no evidence that a young person's interest in one specific area will impair his or her career decision-making capabilities, career counselors need to ensure that a young person with a specific talent or ability does not fall behind in other coursework.

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