Customer Reviews

Career Theory and Practice: Learning through Case Studies

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Let's face it, you're probably buying this because a professor assigned it, not for light reading. It's great for some theories (Holland, and Social-Cognitive). But for others (Super's Theory, for example), it's completely unintelligible. It's a very dry book, which is to be expected, but it could really do a much better job of illustrating some of the theories and clearly laying out the core components of a theory in bullet form as well as in prose. The case studies are helpful at times, but I dislike their approach of trying to use the same case study for every single theory. There are times when the client's situation calls for certain theoretical approaches and disqualifies others, and that's just the way it is. (If you try and use a trait-and-factor approach when the client's work is causing problems with his/her home life, then that's not going to be terribly helpful). There are smaller case studies in each chapter, however, and those can be helpful. If you have a great professor (like I did) and review a lot of the theories in class, you'll be fine, but if you try and just use this book as your only resource, you'll be disappointed.

This book makes an excellent supplement to any text in a career development course. Swanson and Fouad utilize 7 different theoretical approaches in order to integrate and apply career development theory.

The case studies make excellent use of theory and actual practice.

One of the better books on career counseling. Theories are presented, and greatly enhanced by in-depth application of theory to case studies.