Postulate 1: The concept of congruence or multidimensional fit (of ability, interests, sex role, and prestige) should guide the exploratory behavior that will increase the number and fit of career options available to the client.
The idea of congruence or fit is as close to a universal concept as exists in the career development field; it is a theoretical construct that has worked its way into the everyday language of career intervention. What is the nature of this fit, and how is the exploration of reasonably fitting options encouraged? Career development theorists have addressed the searching process that promotes fit and that is so central in career interventions in various ways. Super (1984) acknowledged the convergence between developmental and differential vocational theorists on the issue, but noted that developmental theorists examined the emergence of fit over time, whereas differential theorists studied fit at a single moment. Actually, the convergence of the two schools of career theory on the question of congruence is even more complete than fabulously allowed. Congruence, as originally described by Holland (1985a), is not a static concept. There is a certain reciprocity between the worker and the environment (people change jobs, and jobs change people), but that reciprocity is not presumed to develop in successive or cumulative age-linked stages.
Because many clients come to career counseling seeking a perfectly fitting option that they expect the counselor to unearth, some caution is urged so that the congruence notion will not be misused to reinforce this misconception. The evidence clearly suggests that person-environment congruence will lead to some beneficial outcomes (Assouline & Meir, 1987; Spokane, 1985), although far fewer people will actually be in congruent situations at any specific point than was previously believed (Aranya, Barak, & Amernic, 1981). Indeed, there may be some extreme circumstances under which congruence will neither occur nor affect the outcomes of workers; for example, Heesacker, Elliott, and Howe (1988) found that socioeconomic constraints occasionally predict worker productivity more accurately than does a crude measure of congruence. Several recent studies reinforce the congruence hypothesis, but with a few twists. Grotevant, Cooper, and Kramer (1986) discovered that extensive exploration of career options was more likely to result in a congruent choice, and congruence is generally seen as a comprehensive and dynamic principle rather than a static notion (Greenhaus & Parasuraman, 1986; Savickas, in press; Smart, Elton, 8c McLaughlin, 1986).
The means of identifying congruence can be as simple as a summary sheet listing a few options that have been gleaned from inventories and discussion. Once a few reasonably fitting choices are available, the second phase in identifying and implementing an option begins, as Postulate 2 describes:
Postulate 2. Effective career counseling will instill in the client a sense of hope about finding and implementing a reasonably fitting career option.
In a theory of the psychology of hope, Stotland (1969) proposed that the perceived probability of attaining a goal is the principal determinant of successful action for achieving that goal. Anxiety, in Stotland's view, interferes with that action. Schemas, or mental sets for action, allow goal-directed behaviors to emerge. Stotland links motivation, cognitive set, and action to the probability that a desired outcome can be achieved. Thus hope is a motivational construct clearly linked to the psychology of goal-directed action. Frank (1976) described this activation of hope as a restoration of morale, which he felt enabled clients to combat destructive states of mind when in the throes of indecision. Most therapeutic approaches provide, according to Frank, some hope for help, which then has the motivating power to produce behavior changes necessary to effective outcomes. Salzman (1976) noted that the capacity for intentionality is weakened in most neurotic states and that many therapists rely on clients to mobilize their own will. Most hope is activated by the quality of the counseling relationship (Marmor, 1976; Strupp, 1976). Regardless of one's view of the career counseling task, the activation of hope for a positive outcome, which N. E. Betz and Hackett (1981) called self-efficacy, will contribute to client gains.
Summary
The two postulates presented in this article provide a model of career intervention that draws heavily from the work of John Holland and David Tiedeman. However, although it is based upon existing research, it is not drawn from any existing psychotherapy theory. The model characterizes gain in career interventions as a process of renewing the client's belief that reasonably fitting options exist, and promoting constructive behavior, attitudes, and emotions that will increase the probability of implementing one of those options. The model pertains to all forms of vocational intervention, not solely individual counseling. The high levels of dropout (in excess of 50 percent) in many group settings suggest that in large-scale interventions more attention might be paid to the clients' fears and hopes. The simple conveyance of content in a classroom or curricular intervention, for example, implies that the psychosocial aspects of a career choice are relatively unimportant, and that the goal of preventive or educative interventions should be a broader exploration of the world of work and perhaps some self-assessment. Anyone who has taught one of these classes or conducted a group, however, knows that the issue of gain in a career intervention is emotional as well as cognitive and behavioral.
