Interpreting Ellenore Flood's Self-Directed Search.

Armed with Ellenore Flood's Profile (see Appendix A) from her SelfDirected Search (SDS; Holland, 1995) and the summary of her initial counseling interview, I would prepare for my first session with Ellenore (as I would for any other SDS interpretation) by asking myself the following questions (which were originally posed by Johnston and Rakes, 1992). The answers to these questions would shape my interpretation of her SDS profile and the directions taken in that session. WHAT ARE THE CLIENT'S EXPRESSED CAREER CHOICES/ASPIRATIONS (OCCUPATIONAL DAYDREAMS)? Ellenore has listed nine Occupational Daydreams on page 3 of her SDS Assessment booklet. Because clients are asked to provide a history of their Occupational Daydreams listing their most recent choice on line one and working backward to earlier jobs they have considered, I like to calculate the Summary Occupational Daydream Code by using the weighting strategy I describe in the following section. Next to each occupation listed, print the three-letter code (see the Figure 1 Note for an explanation of the letter codes) from the Occupations Finder (Holland, 1994), or Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes (Gottfredson & Holland, 1996). Then for each letter in the first position, enter a 3 under that letter in the tally columns. Add 2 for each letter in the second position, and add 1 for each letter in the third position. Finally, add down the tally columns to obtain a summary code. See Figure 1 for Ellenore's first six Occupational Daydreams From this analysis it is clear that Ellenore's predominant personality characteristics, as captured by her expressed career choices and aspirations, are Enterprising and Social. This portion of her SDS presents a well-differentiated and consistent profile suggesting an individual who has a rather focused sense of career direction and purpose. IS THERE ANYTHING ABOUT THE CLIENT'S CURRENT SITUATION OR BACKGROUND THAT WOULD HELP IN UNDERSTANDING OR INTERPRETING THE SDS SCORES? Ellenore's presenting problem is"Help me sort out all of the things Pve got going right now job possibilities, making decisions, focusing" Ellenore feels that she must decide among four options: renewing her teaching contract for next year (SAE), applying for a teaching position at an American School in Italy (SAE), beginning a doctoral program (SAE), or taking a marketing job in the European office of her old employer (ESA). These four options might seem widely disparate. In fact, based on what we know of Ellenore and her SDS profile, these options seem consistent and fairly focused. Although in some ways it seems helpful that Ellenore has focused on these four options, (I would give her reinforcement for having done so), she may also wish to consider options that go well beyond these. Combinations of these choices implemented over several years may be more in her long-term interest than looking at one of the four as being correct and the other three as being wrong. Ellenore shared a lot of information about her background in the initial interview that has had a bearing on her current career situation. Her initial college majors of international relations and communications are consistent with her current Holland Code of SEA. During her college years, her part-time work as a bartender (ESI) and waitress (ESA/C) probably furthered her interest and skill in Enterprising and Social occupations. Her later work experience in the advertising industry may have reinforced her Entrepreneurial instincts and skills, and her subsequent work as an advertising copy writer (ASI) probably heightened her Artistic talents. I would want to explore these life experiences with Ellenore in greater depth. Because Ellenore's father (a firefighter-RES) died when she was only 5 years old, his influence on her career goals and aspirations was probably insignificant. Her mother (a nurse-SER), probably exerted a major influence both in terms of her Social influence and in terms of the Enterprising influence made manifest by the necessity to support the family after Ellenore's father died. …