Introduction
There are several strategies that career counselors can use when dealing with a mixed populace. Diverse populations refer to clients of varied racial backgrounds, different genders, race, culture, and abilities. The clients’ diversification calls for keenness on the career counselors’ side to ensure credible advice is rendered. This paper describes issues and concerns related to client diversity, advocacy for clients’ employment opportunities, and legal matters related to workers’ rights and fair employment practices.
Special Issues Related to Client’s Diversity
Youths lack enough experience in life or work that they can use to make decisions about careers. To become successful employees soon, young people need to possess some crucial skills. Among these capabilities are essential academic skills, including reading, writing, and arithmetic, cognitive abilities such as decision-making and problem-solving, and social and interpersonal adeptness encompassing self-management (Rottinghaus et al., 2017). Therefore, counselors need to formulate ways for advising their youthful clients to help them accrue the necessary skills for employment.
Gender socialization of men and women significantly affects the career decisions they make. For instance, working women find it challenging to balance their professional duties and the multiple roles they play. Similarly, men may face extreme pressure to find work and provide for their families due to societal beliefs. This may jeopardize their psychological well-being if they fail to secure a job (Rottinghaus et al., 2017). In essence, gender socialization is crucial in professional development; therefore, counselors should emphasize it.
Ethnicity dramatically influences the types of occupations perceived as accessible and acceptable. For instance, one’s racial or ethnic background can control the types of careers they consider attainable (Weber et al., 2018). Occasionally, this may have been influenced by learning experiences to which their racial group has been exposed. One may eliminate a particular profession they consider inaccessible to their community (Weber et al., 2018). This shows how ethnicity significantly affects career choice and why counselors should put much emphasis on it.
Individual’s abilities also affect the career choice one may make, and counselors need to consider this in dealing with the clients. For instance, individuals with physical or learning disabilities may have limited opportunities to engage in specific career development processes and develop practical decision-making skills (Maree et al., 2019). This limitation can adversely affect their professional development. Therefore, career counselors have to assess their client’s physical or learning disabilities that may limit their occupational advancement.
Strategies for Advocacy for Client’s Career and Educational Development
There are several strategies that a career counselor can take in advocating for their clients’ career and educational development and opportunities. First, they need to identify the issues they are passionate about and find the reasons as to why they want to advocate for them (Weber et al., 2018). Career counselors can research by watching the news, reading journals and magazines, and even interviewing people. After the identification of the issues, they may move to the next step of actual advocacy.
A counselor needs to take small steps that will translate to a big impression in the end. They may attend community and municipal meetings where career development issues are at the center of discussion (Rottinghaus et al., 2017). Consequently, they may participate in the legislation of policies related to career and employment through the provision of view. This will help in enhancing their client’s career development and the success of the company.
Potential Legal Issues Related to Workers’ Rights and Fair Employment Practices
Several legal issues relating to fair employment practices and the rights of the employees exist. Among these judicial matters are health and safety concerns, hiring and firing, privacy affairs, social media use, equal pay, discrimination, and harassment. Every employee has the right to work in healthy and safe environments. Depending on the nature of the workplace, there needs to be plenty of regulations and policies to protect the workers’ health and safety (Howard, 2017). Failure to follow these regulations may attract a class-action lawsuit against the company.
Privacy and social media use are also potential legal issues in a workplace because a firm or an organization should protect their employees’ information from leaking in public (Pedriana & Stryker, 2017). Consequently, whereas firms and organizations may limit how their employees use their social media in the workplace and outside the workplace, they need to be cautious not to infringe individual’s freedom of expression (Pedriana & Stryker, 2017). An infringement of employees’ privacy or freedom of expression will attract a lawsuit that may cost the firm its revenues.
Conclusion
There are various issues and concerns relating to the client’s age, gender, ethnicities, and abilities that career counselors need to assess. These issues affect the career decision and occupational choices of their clients. Consequently, there are some strategies that they can use to advocate for the client’s career and educational development and employment opportunities, such as participating in legislation related to professional development issues. Lastly, there are several legal issues that employers and organizations need to observe to encourage career development. They include health issues, the privacy of employees, and hiring and firing, among others.
References
Howard, J. (2017). Nonstandard work arrangements and worker health and safety. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 60(1), 1−10.
Maree, J. G., Gerryts, E. W., Fletcher, L., & Olivier, J. (2019). Using career counseling with group life design principles to improve the employability of disadvantaged young adults. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 29(2), 110−120. Web.
Pedriana, N., & Stryker, R. (2017). From legal doctrine to social transformation? Comparing US voting rights, equal employment opportunity, and fair housing legislation. American Journal of Sociology, 123(1), 86−135. Web.
Rottinghaus, P. J., Eshelman, A., Gore, J. S., Keller, K. J., Schneider, M., & Harris, K. L. (2017). Measuring change in career counseling: Validation of the career futures inventory-revised. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 17(1), 61−75. Web.
Weber, P. C., Katsarov, J., Cohen-Scali, V., Mulvey, R., Nota, L., Rossier, J., & Thomsen, R. (2018). European research agenda for career guidance and counseling. New Perspectives on Career Counseling and Guidance in Europe, 219−250. Web.