Students and clients differ in their need for occupational information, just as they differ in abilities and interests. Some need a great deal of information, some need little or none, and some are already in a position to supply it.
Client needs differ. The beginning counselor will soon observe a few students whose need for occupational information appears to be negligible: the boy who expects to take over his father's business, who already works at it on Saturdays and on vacations, and who shows every indication of being successful and satisfied; the prospective nurse who visits hospitals at every opportunity and has been caring for the sick among her family and friends ever since she was big enough to carry a breakfast tray; and the electronics wizard who repairs all the neighborhood radios and television sets and has been accepted by the engineering college of his choice. Conceivably, any one of these persons might be more successful and better satisfied in some other occupation, but the average school or college counselor will find little time to explore such a remote possibility unless he sees some indication that the choice is not appropriate or that the student needs help on other problems. The competent counselor who knows something about occupations will be much too busy helping clients who obviously need and want his help.
Some clients have tentative choices which appear appropriate but which they want the counselor to help them review just to make sure they have not overlooked some consideration of importance.
Some clients are moving toward appropriate occupational choices on their own initiative. They neither need nor want extensive counseling, but they do need, want, and ask for specific information to use in arriving at their own decisions. One of the counselor's major responsibilities in occupational information is helping these clients to get the information they want, check its accuracy, and see its implications in terms of their own choices.
Other clients are positive about their plans but with less apparent justification. One of the problems which worries counselors most is what to do with the client who is certain of what he wants to do but whose choice seems unwise, because he lacks some essential qualification or because employment opportunities are negligible or because he anticipates some satisfaction that the counselor believes the occupation will not yield. There is no easy solution to this problem. If the client seems unable to face reality, psychotherapy may be tried. Even then, the counselor may find himself wholly ineffective until the client has followed his choice and failed. If and when this happens, the counselor faces one of his most challenging responsibilities, which is to help such clients find acceptable substitutes for the things they want to do and can't. At this point, occupational information in large doses may be indicated. Before this time, occupational information may or may not be helpful.
Somewhat different is the problem of the client who has no idea of what he wants to do. Individual counselors differ in their approaches to this problem, but all of them come eventually to the place where they must acquaint the client with the occupations which are open to him. It is at this point that the counselor begins to use the information he has compiled from his follow-up studies, community occupational surveys, and other sources. For further discussion of this problem see Chapter 10.
Because the adequate presentation of information about a variety of occupations is a long and time-consuming process and because much of the information to be presented is needed by more than one client, a good course in occupations is sometimes a help to both the counselor and the client. Individual interviews will still be necessary, but more interview time can be used to discuss the individual aspects of the problem if the background information has already been presented by the same counselor to the same client in the more economical group situation. .
