CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Making adequate career choices and following positive career pathways lead to job satisfaction as well as social integration, (e.g., Feldman, 2009). Since the 1990s, the socioeconomic context of Western countries is characterized by globalization, a growing need for career mobility and flexibility, and unpredictable career pathways (Mirvis & Hall, 2014; Sennett, 2010). These changes stress the crucial character of career decisions. In this context, individuals might frequently be exposed to numerous and complex vocational choices, which in turn may induce at-risk situations, such as difficult transitions, social, educational and professional exclusion, and trajectories toward unemployment or poverty (Creed, Muller, & Patton, 2009; O’Brien, Dukstein, Jackson, Tomlinson, & Kamatuka, 2011). In such a fast-evolving and demanding environment, pre-career counseling plays a key function in terms of individual and social development and prevention of at-risk situations (Blustein, Juntunen, & Worthington, 2009). It becomes, therefore, fundamental for researchers and practitioners to seek to promote and validate the usefulness and the eicacy of pre-career counseling (e.g., Bernes, Bardick, & Orr, 2007; Sexton, 2013). Despite the existence of a large variety of pre-career interventions and programs, only few of them have been systematically and empirically evaluated regarding their actual impacts. Moreover, the existing studies often show methodological weaknesses (Heppner & Heppner, 2009; Whiston, 2012; Whiston, Brecheisen, & Stephens, 2009). Meta-analyses have shown that career interventions are globally and moderately effective, with adjusted effect sizes ranging from .30 to .50 (Whiston & Rahardja, 2008). Effect sizes vary when considering different variables, such as client attributes, the treatment modalities, the intervention ingredients, or the number of sessions (Brown et al., 2009; Whiston et al., 2009, Whiston, Sexton, & Laso, 2010). For example, counselor-free interventions are the less effective intervention modalities, whereas individual counseling seems to be the most effective modality (Whiston & Rahardja, 2008). The effectiveness also seems to vary according to the chosen effect indicator, ranging from specific career indicators, such as career choice anxiety (Hung, 2012) or career exploratory behaviors (Mau, 2011), to more general indicators, such as generalized indecisiveness (Hung, 2012) or client satisfaction (Healy, 2010)