Career counsellors' perceptions of the severity of career decision-making difficulties

ABSTRACT

Individuals differ in the type and severity of the difficulties they face when making a career decision. Relying on the Gati, Krausz, and Osipow (1996) taxonomy of career decision-making difficulties, we elicited the judgements of 28 career counselling experts about factors that contribute to the perceived severity of the difficulties. Difficulties attributed to an internal or emotional cause were judged as more severe than difficulties attributed to an external or cognitive cause. With respect to the consequences, difficulties that prevent making a decision, or those that require long-term treatment, were judged as more severe than difficulties that may lead to a non-optimal decision, and those that require a short-term treatment. The analysis revealed that the factor that most affected the experts' severity judgements was the expected length of treatment. Treatment priority was affected only partially by severity, reflecting the role of other considerations.

Keywords:

• career
• indecision
• counselling
• decision-making
• difficulties
• severity
• needs assessment
• Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ)

Acknowledgements

We thank Shira Agassi, Chani Etengoff, Reuma Gadassi, Naomi Goldblum, Lisa Peretz, Noa Saka, Aviva Shimoni, and Esty Yekutieli for their helpful comments on this article. This research was supported by a grant from the Horovitz Foundation and by the Samuel and Esther Melton Chair of the first author.