TPC-Journal-V4-Issue4

The Professional Counselor \Volume 4, Issue 4 296 regard to the top ranked item (“increase knowledge, awareness and counseling skills in regard to the influence of contextual and cultural factors on the career development of traditionally marginalized populations”), one expert suggested the following: More education and professional development for career counselors and practitioners is also useful, especially dissemination of research and practice implications related to the specific populations. For example, many counselors or others in the field know little about the career or work issues of transgender people (especially in the context of more competition for fewer jobs, as well as increased competition once hired), and would be better able to serve and advocate for them if they themselves were more informed. In regard to one of the items tied for second place (“career counseling and programming should be culturally and contextually relevant to various traditionally marginalized populations [e.g., involving networking, mentor development, career knowledge and experiential learning] and should be developed in partnership with these populations when possible”), one expert said the following: At the community level, counselors may be involved in public education—in facilitating communities in identifying needs and accessing resources that may be used by the whole community, including but not limited to facilitating a forum for the voices of communities to reach policy makers as well as influence services, programs and grants. In relation to the Training item addressing the legal rights of marginalized groups (“increase knowledge of legal regulations and protections that apply to traditionally marginalized populations”), one participant focused on training for both counselors and employers: Career counselors need to be well educated about the regulations governing people in these groups and the kinds of protections the laws offer. Employers definitely need to be better educated about the laws as well as provided with examples of how international or disabled candidates are valued employees. This quote also refers to another action item calling for advocacy in relation to educating employers about the value of marginalized populations. In any case, this list should be interpreted in light of how any one individual or organization is able to address the population(s) being served. Each professional and organization has a unique array of opportunities, social networks, skill sets and constraints. Given that all items on this list were ranked to reflect relatively high importance, there is no “wrong” item from this list on which to act. Rather, by working together across contexts and organizations, it may be possible for counselors to enact all of these items by using their unique resources and talents. Limitations of This Study This study has several limitations. First, by asking career development experts instead of directly asking marginalized populations, this study is skewed toward expert-based models of understanding and their collective assumptions. This may exclude important nuances for particular populations. Second, the majority of the experts identified as White and female, which may bias the results of this study due to factors of personal identity. Finally, the majority of the experts worked and focused their research primarily in urban contexts,