SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS
(May/June 2004 Issue)

What is the place of social consciousness in career counseling? I introduce this as a matter of dialogue. One traditional answer would be that clients are free to decide how much or how little socially conscious they want to
be. Easy enough to go that route. Freedom of choice, client knows her own heart, and so forth. It_s hard helping clients to decide what they want to do. Why make it even more complicated?

Perhaps because we live in societies, not in bubbles. We have the option of caring about other people. Should concern-for-others enter into career counseling? Many would say "No. Let people decide on their own who they care about."

Pursuit of a career is framed in our culture as a quest to satisfy one’s individual needs. It is an automatic perspective that a career is for You. Your happiness is paramount. This sort of assumes that others’ needs are a side issue or not an issue at all. Career happiness is described externally as "getting" as much as you can, and internally as inner satisfaction. "Inner satisfaction" leaves the door open for social consciousness, but only if the client chooses it.

What if you’re a career counselor and you believe, in many ways, our society (and other cultures as well) is "going to the dogs". Ongoing wars. Genocides. Polluted water and air. Social injustice. Need for better education. Etc.
Do you say anything about these problems to your clients? If you really believe societal problems are escalating, sending clients into careers might feel like marching people toward a raging river and not giving them either a lifeboat or a paddle.

I feel genuinely stuck on this issue, because I know that "freedom of choosing one’s work values" is a cardinal principle of career counseling. On the other hand, the culture, at least that huge part controlled by money hungry television, emphasizes self-indulgence to a fair-thee-well. People are hypnotized by TV ads to chase after self-centered images of "success." These images often drive people into massive debt. Can or should a career counselor ignore all that?

Would career counselors like to see their clients make more socially conscious choices? Maybe. Maybe not. One could make the argument that "freedom of choice" will lead to more "socially relevant" choices, because the client feels maximum empowerment from counseling sessions that reinforce her strongest energies. That is, clients who have energies in that direction will be encouraged to express them.
It seems that people whose careers are "larger than themselves" tend to get a lot of satisfaction from their work. But that does not mean everyone wants to pursue a socially-conscious career. Furthermore, a person can get a lot of good feelings from jobs that one would not ordinarily think of as "societally relevant".

We have all seen people in food service, construction, computer services, copy shop jobs and others who dispense a lot of joy. Any job can have social value if the person engages others in a positive, warmhearted manner.

So, what does a career counselor do with the feeling that a person might be doing "a little something" about the state the world is in? Shelve it until discussions outside of the counseling room? Or, perhaps ask clients about how (or whether) their career options might be related to any societal concerns? The latter (open-ended questions during counseling) would be a departure from traditional counseling practice. Would such questions as these be appropriate?

"How would you like your work to affect others?"
"Who would you like to see benefit from your work?"
"What social concerns are related to the career you’re seeking?"

Individualism is the driving force in career development, and it will continue to be, for a lot of good reasons. It_s worth asking whether the social relevance of career options has a place as a topic alongside the primary pursuit of individual goals. Ultimately, individual choice will reign supreme but, if we care to introduce anything about social relevance, how might we do it and remain true to the client’s freedom of choice? Or, should we do it at all?

Howard Figler, Ph.D., is the author of The Complete Job Search Handbook and The Career Counsleor's Handbook. He can be reached at: hefigler@pacbell.net