Career Development and Planning: A Comprehensive Approach

5th EDITION NOW AVAILABLE

The aim of Career Development and Planning: A Comprehensive Approach is to provide instructors and students with knowledge drawn from cognitive psychology that can be used to solve career problems and make career decisions. This text and related teaching materials (including a comprehensive instructor’s manual and PowerPoint slides) provide a comprehensive, integrated system of career learning activities intended to improve instruction and enhance learning outcomes. 

In order to meet college level general education requirements, the knowledge base of a textbook is of crucial importance. The three knowledge domains of this text are (a) cognitive and social foundations, (b) the occupational world and work behavior, and (c) career choice and development in individuals and organizations.

Learner Outcomes

As a result of using this text in a course, students will be able to:

1. Understand the multidisciplinary nature of information related to career and work behavior and how individuals differ in the use of that information;
2. Understand the acquisition of semantic and personal knowledge;
3. Understand how memory and cognitive information processing relate to human problem solving in general and career decision making more specifically;
4. Understand how the cognitive approach, including the Pyramid of Information-Processing Domains and the CASVE Cycle, are applied to individual career decision making and problem solving;
5. Identify unique, personal information, including self-knowledge, occupational knowledge, decision-making skills, and metacognitions, affecting career development;
6. Understand how interdisciplinary social and behavioral sciences inform persons about job acquisition and employment processes;
7. Formulate personal goals and action plans designed to proactively enhance one's career/life planning; and
8. Develop personal, employment-related skills and information.

Text Design

The text includes theoretical work in cognitive psychology and relevant knowledge from the applied behavioral sciences.

• Part I (chapters 1-5) focuses on the theory base in cognitive information processing, with detailed, practical examples of the application of the theory in typical career situations, including self-knowledge, occupational knowledge, and decision making.
• Part II (chapters 6-10) provides a multidisciplinary overlay of issues that affect career decisions, such as economic trends, organizational culture, new work styles, and dual careers.
• Part III (chapters 11-15) focuses on concrete steps for executing a strategic career plan and seeking employment, including an examination of familiar topics such as interviewing, resume writing, negotiating, and work adjustment, from a cognitive and multidisciplinary perspective.

Instructor Resources

The text provides instructors and students with knowledge that can be used to solve career problems and make career decisions. The 293-page text includes a 64-item glossary; 13 appendices with student assignments and learning activities; 24 tables; 23 figures; and subject/author indexes. The instructional package includes a sample syllabus,114 page spiral-bound instructor’s manual with varied teaching/learning tools and 440 PPT© slides and test items published on the Kendall-Hunt Website.