THE PRACTICE OF VOCATIONAL ASSESSMENT BY COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGISTS

One thousand American Psychological Association members who identified counseling as their psychology specialty were surveyed about their vo cational assessment practices; 637 or 64% returned usable questionnair es. Some of the primary findings were as follows: (a) 56% of the respo ndents were engaged in providing vocational assessment services and sp ent about 8% of their professional time doing so; (b) vocational asses sment services were provided by a moderate to relatively frequent numb er of practitioners across most considered work settings; (c) responde nts most frequently recommended that graduate students in counseling p sychology be trained in the Strong Interest Inventory (SII); and (d) r egardless of work setting, respondents most frequently used the SII, S elf-Directed Search, and Kuder Occupational Interest Survey in their v ocational assessment practice. The implications of the findings are br iefly discussed, with particular mention being made about (a) the cont inued relevance of vocational assessment for counseling psychology pra ctice, and (b) the continuing preeminence of the SII in contemporary v ocational assessment.