Career Services in the Post-COVID-19 Era: A Paradigm for Career Counseling Unemployed Individuals.

The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused unprecedented economic disruption and unemployment worldwide, threatening to become both a financial and a humanitarian crisis. Prolonged labor market recession and an acute rise of unemployment are expected. The main question for career counselors will be how to provide effective career counseling to unemployed people in the post-COVID-19 world, where they may face many other unemployment-related problems. In this article, we suggest application of a holistic intervention model of career counseling for unemployed people that was designed to address the consequences of the acute financial recession in Greece.

Career Adaptability and Resilience of Mental Health Service Users: The Role of Career Counseling.

The employment rate of people who face severe mental health issues is extremely low, while the vast majority expresses their willingness to work. There are various obstacles that impede their work re-integration process. Apart from the illnesses' symptoms and the employers' stigma, these barriers are strongly associated with the effects of long-term unemployment and the lack of positive psychosocial resources, such as career adaptability and resilience. The present study aims to investigate career adaptability and the resilience of mental health service users who receive career counseling services. The career counseling approach that was used combines elements from the IPS model and the career construction approach that has been developed to address the contemporary world of work challenges. We investigated how mental health service users view themselves in terms of career adaptability and resilience, and which factors contributed to their development or impeded them. We used a qualitative approach, which allows for an in-depth exploration of the participants' views. Fifteen mental health users who receive career counseling services were interviewed. The results showed that mental health service users believe that they can overcome any difficulties and setbacks when they have adequate support from their social network and when they receive career counseling services. They highlighted the importance of counseling services to maintain their work and cope with stressful events. Further implications of the results regarding vocational rehabilitation of mental health users as means for social inclusion are discussed.