Career Counseling for

Gifted Adolescents
Presented by Elaine Wang
Prepared for HDP 2283:
Psychology and Education of
Gifted Children and Adolescents
The Ontario Institute of Studies in Education
of the University of Toronto
July 31, 2003

Components of Career Counseling

Career development
Understanding the factors underlying free and informed
choice, the evolution of personal identity in regard to work,
and the transition, induction, and adjustment to work.
(Herr & Cramer, 1988)
Career education
The total effort of public education and the community to
help all individuals become familiar with the values of a
work-oriented society, to integrate those values into their
personal value systems, and to implement those values in
their lives in such a way that work becomes possible,
meaningful, and satisfying to each individual.
(Hoyt and Hebeler, 1974)

Rationale for Career Counseling

for Gifted Students

Parents and teachers are concerned only about academic

planning. They assume career planning will take care of
itself. They believe students have many choices available
because of multiple gifts, and a career in one of those is
inevitable; thus, there is no need for planning.
While some gifted students develop an early affinity with a
certain life path, the truth is many gifted youth complete high
school without knowing what they will be.
Gifted students career selection may occur later than for
other students because the spectrum of career opportunities
complicates decision making.

Rationale Continued

Evidence suggests talent or gift in one or more areas does

not always translate into adult satisfaction and
accomplishment in working life.
The path from education to career is not always smooth and
may be complicated by the social-emotional problems and
needs of gifted students.
Gifted students need career guidance early in life to help
them recognize capabilities, clarify interests, expose them to
range of possibilities.

Gifted Students
Value-Laden Questions
About Careers

What career would be the most

interesting for me to pursue?
Which field would offer the most
opportunities to develop my potential?
Where do I sense the greatest need?
In what area can I be of most service?

(Silverman, 1993)

Factors Contributing to Career

Development in Gifted Students
For Perrone (2003), these three factors
define giftedness from a career
developmental perspective:

Psychological Factors*

Psychocreative Factors*

Social Factors*

Psychological Factors

traditional sex-role stereotypes slightly

less of a factor in self-identity for gifted
greater likelihood of working at one job
for life
work is central to identity
strong need to achieve mastery in
chosen field
strong desire to make impact on society
feel exhilarated, not exhausted, when
pursuing valued goal
both means and ends of pursuits are
highly satisfying

Psychocreative Factors

constant testing of personal and

environmental limits
challenge status quo
continuous questioning of self and others
less need for closure
highly capable of creating own futures
risk takers
actually create and seek to maintain
dissonance in life

Social Factors

have more worldly view

have greater sense of social
responsibility

Career Development Challenges

for Gifted Students

multipotentiality*
unhealthy perfectionism*
stress from high expectations of others*
early cognitive maturation*
early vocational identity*
social isolation
view of career as lifestyle
lack of adult role models
trivial conventional career searches
* point will be expanded upon

Definitions of Multipotentiality

refers to individuals who have numerous and diverse

abilities and interests (Rysiew, 1999)
the ability to select and develop any number of
competencies to a high level (Fredrickson & Rothney,1972)
the interest and ability to succeed in so many vocational
areas that choosing one career path is problematic
(Delisle & Squires, 1989)
parallels overchoice syndrome (Rysiew, 1994)
where abilities, motivation, interests, opportunity are all
abundant, making career decisions difficult

Multipotentiality as a Challenge

The majority of gifted population is widely regarded as

multidimensional or multipotentialed.
Multipotential people are good at many things, highly
motivated, and eager to explore new experiences.
Multipotentialed adolescents may be distressed about
the wealth of choices available to them during career
planning unless appropriate interventions are available.
Career decision making can be complex as most jobs
require specialization.
Gifted students may waver among several career
options.

Signs of Multipotentiality
Being a Concern

has difficulty with decision making and follow-through

participates in multiple social and recreational activities with
no clear preferences
overschedules, leaving little time to just think
accepts leadership in wide variety of groups
shows signs of stress and exhaustion (absences, illness,
anxiety, etc.)
delays or vacillates about college planning and decisions
is able to maintain high grades in most or all courses
vocational interest test profile shows interests and
similarities to an unusually large number of occupations

Unhealthy Perfectionism and

High Expectations as Challenges

Pressure may cause anxiety and fear of failure, which leads

to career indecision or delay of decision, or frequent change
of majors in post-secondary education.
Gifted adolescents may choose to behave according to
expectations of others rather than pursue personal
fulfillment to gain approval.
Particularly, some gifted females do not pursue own dreams
because they feel they must conform to wishes of parents.

Early Cognitive Maturity and

Vocational Identity as Challenges

Early career maturity may limit the further exploration of

career possibilities, especially in post-secondary education,
when more choices are offered.
Often, gifted students choose careers requiring ten or more
years of post-secondary training. They may not have
considered the long range planning, persistence, and
sacrifice needed to achieve the goal.
Long term training for most professional careers requires
dependence financial and emotional, yet the gifted often
needs more independence at an earlier age.

Career Counseling Strategies

for Gifted Students

set up career exploration through inquiry process*

plan an academic program that prepares students to enter
several fields
encourage some visits to college and university classes
provide opportunities to explore interests, personality types,
beliefs about abilities, aspirations
introduce students to various fields, successful adults and
real-life experience in work world *
explore careers which allow students to synthesize interests
in many fields
determine interests that could be maintained as avocations

Career Counseling Strategies

for Gifted Students Continued

discuss serial or concurrent careers

suggest creating new careers
help students create careers by
engaging in divergent thinking strategies
to combine interests and lifestyle issues
study megatrends and discuss
implications of trends on future careers
(e.g. space medicine)

Career Counseling Strategies

for Gifted Students Continued

allow delayed decision making until college

challenge societal and self-imposed limitations
enhance aspirations for minority or economically
disadvantaged students
deal with sex-role stereotyping, etc.
discourage conformist, stereotyped career choices
expose students to atypical career models
study autobiographies of gifted people

Career Counseling Strategies

for Gifted Students Continued

preview milestones and help students understand

investment of time and energy involved in career choices
requiring long post-secondary schooling
use group strategies to alleviate social isolation and
perceive pressure
engage in strength bombardment by having students share
self-disclosures and offer feedback about peers strengths
encourage assertiveness and leadership training to help
gifted select and maintain high levels of career aspirations
based on personal criteria, not external pressure

Career Counseling Strategies

for Gifted Students Continued

conduct a philosophically based seminar

on society expectation and the gifted
students obligation to self and society.
make connections with students
existential issues
explore life themes as basis for career
choice
explore life experiences and influences
(books, movies, etc.) that have had
greatest impact on students life
provide value-based guidance, which
emphasizes choosing a career that fulfills
deeply held values

Career Counseling Strategies

for Gifted Students Continued

maintain a balance
make sure emphasis on focus does not result in a forced
premature career choice and identity
make sure emphasis on exploration does not lead to
overwhelming career ambiguity and identity diffusion
make sure adolescents are aware of realities of multiple
life roles, but not see them as insurmountable problems

broaden target population

target cultural carriers of stereotypes and agents of
socialization (media, etc.)

Career Exploration Through

Inquiry Process

designate occupational clusters, job families, and careers

as major content areas of inquiry
construct inquiry interest centers to present tools, products,
skills, concepts associated with a career to be studied and
to stimulate thinking and problem identification
have students develop hypotheses about careers which
represent their present beliefs
test hypotheses through investigations, research, study
communicate finding through skits, pictures, poems, stories,
charts, music, etc.

Real-Life Experiences

mentorship*
job shadowing
internship / co-op
community service
volunteer work
job studies
part-time employment
work-study

Benefits of Mentorship

a mentor is a guide, advisor, role model, counselor, and

friend who helps to advance a student s knowledge of a
particular field by sharing personal values, interests, time,
talents, and skills (Silverman, 1993)
gain encouragement, inspiration, insights
opportunity to examine lifestyles and personal attributes of
mentors
see first hand how mentors interact with others
make future job contacts
gain realistic idea of what career totally involves
true mentorship relationships do not formally end; mentorstudent continue learning from each other

Benefits of Mentorship Continued

particularly helpful for gifted girls to have professional

female mentors
they found mentorship particularly valuable when they
discovered ways to integrate career and family
one research shows when earning power of gifted women
was equal to men, women had had one or more mentors
disadvantaged population benefit strongly from mentorships
they develop self-confidence and high aspirations
they also gain a sense of lifestyle associated with mentor s
profession and educational course that leads to it

Career Counseling for

Gifted Female Students

gifted girls have more dominant career orientation, less

traditional sex-role orientation, and greater need to achieve
compared with females in general
in making decisions, gifted females consider instrumental
traits which contribute to sense of personal agency, and
expressive traits which contribute to social acceptance
gifted females career development and decisions are
confounded by social and cultural expectations
regardless of self-perceptions, they preferred predominantly
sex-role stereotypic occupations

Career Counseling for

Gifted Female Students Continued

restricted career vision is due to family, friends, teachers,

society s expectations
studies show gifted women enrolled in nontraditional college
programs received more support and encouragement from
with teachers and counselors being greatest influence
math is the most critical academic area to focus on in order
to maximize gifted females career options
society loses when nearly half of population fail to consider
science and math related careers

Career Counseling Strategies

for Gifted Female Students

help maintain high career aspirations

identify internal and external barriers to
achievement of career goals
help set long-term career goals
encourage girls to take advanced math
and science classes
seek advanced educational opportunities
and scholarships for females
explicitly teach effects of sex-role
socialization

Career Counseling Strategies

for Gifted Female Students

study lives and careers of gifted women

arrange for job shadowing or mentorship
analyze dual (marriage and family)
career paths
expose all students to professional
women engaged in different careerfamily patterns
hold an All-Female Career Day
form support groups

Career Counseling for

Gifted Minority Students

minority students have lower career aspirations because of

lower societal expectations
still, patterns of leadership and out-of-class achievements
of gifted minority students are similar to those of nonminority
minority students may be active leaders in communities
aside from school
focus on raising career aspirations and emphasizing out of
school accomplishments
when career planning, consider building strong ethnic
identity

Career Counseling for

Gifted Disadvantaged Students

career education especially needed for

children from poor families
require early intervention to reduce
limiting effects of lower social class
background and to raise low levels of
career expectations
show throughout school how education is
relevant to work world
mentoring recommended

Conclusion

alternatives to traditional, deductive, career decision-making

strategies are required for gifted students
because aptitudes are high in several areas, gifted students
have unlimited academic areas to pursue successfully
freedom to choose can be frightening and even destructive
without some guidance and support
gifted females and students from economically
disadvantaged backgrounds require early intervention to
reduce limiting effects and to raise career expectations
we need to provide more precise info regarding the activities
and lifestyles of individuals in various occupational areas to
help gifted students make informed decisions

Career Counseling Lesson Plan

for a high school Career, Civics, or English course

assuming a self-contained gifted class
may be delivered over several class periods

Pre-Lesson Activities
Each student lists academic and personal aspirations, gifts,
talents, interests, and strengths.
Each student lists parental, societal, self-imposed career
limitations and expectations (e.g. parents want them to be
doctors; society pressure to pursue career in technology).

Lesson Plan Continued

Lesson Activities
Share and discuss limitations and expectations:
Where are these coming from? Why are they imposed?
What is underlying these limitations and expectations?
What positive/negative effects do they have
Are the demands realistic? Are they fair to themselves?

Compare the two lists. Make observations (e.g. They

may contradict: A student s talent in music may be
undermined by parents and society s belief that
musicians earn low income; it is not a real
profession). Discuss implications.
Philosophically discuss whether gifted students have
any obligations to society. What kinds of obligations?

Lesson Plan Continued

Introduce the idea of creating and customizing new careers

by taking into consideration personal gifts, talents, interests,
strengths and values, and reconciling or synthesizing them
with possible obligations to society.
Use divergent thinking strategies.
Combine and synthesize multiple diverse interests to
derive possible careers.
Study megatrends and discuss implications (e.g.
popularity of space travel + growing concern for health =
new career of space medicine).
In groups, browse current issue of a newspaper. List
unsolved societal problems. Discuss possible solutions
and jobs that these solutions might create.

Lesson Plan Continued

Post-Lesson Activities and Extensions
Create a new career (or explore an existing one) tailored to
individual gifts, interests, and values.
Research educational milestones and required training.
Explore benefits of career to self and society.
Foresee possible obstacles.
Estimate investment of time and energy associated with the
desired career.
Present the new career and research findings to the class
using any suitable medium such as skits, pictures, poems,
stories, songs, dance, or video.