Hazards in the Use of Clinical Techniques in Vocational Counseling

Abstract

Two approaches to vocational counseling, the trait‐factor model and the dynamic model are contrasted. The failure to obtain positive results in several now classic investigations involving the use of clinical techniques to predict occupational success and adjustment compared with the success of more traditional predictors suggests that uncritical utilization of the dynamic model is ill advised at the present time. Until some convincing evidence of the validity of the application of clinical techniques is available, it is recommended that the more economical and empirically validated techniques of the trait‐factor approach be relied upon.