Emotional Intelligence and Vocational Guidance

Without wishing to be a negativist, let's begin with the presentation of a problem that, in addition to being current, is our own and, therefore, increasingly disturbing: more than 40% of young people who are in their first semesters at universities, report what "they chose the wrong career "; of them approximately 15% drop out at the end of the first year.

According to the experts, the factors linked to this fact are directly related to the process that should have preceded the beginning of the university, and that for multiple reasons, was not carried out with the necessary systematicity, nor the expertise and the time expected to obtain success by reducing desertion and personal dissatisfaction that results in the professional: Vocational Guidance. In this Online Psychology article we are going to discover the relationship between emotional intelligence and vocational guidance.

Index

1. What is Vocational Guidance
2. What interests young people when they choose a career
3. Emotional intelligence, the basis of self-knowledge
4. Daniel Goleman and his "Emotional Intelligence"
5. Types of emotional intelligence
6. Decision making
7. Counselor Tasks
8. Other tips to unite Emotional Intelligence with Vocational Guidance

Vocational Guidance, although it is not a univocal concept, can be understood as the help process in choosing a profession, the preparation for it, the access to the exercise of it and the subsequent evolution and progress.

Vocational Guidance aims to help the person develop an adequate concept of himself and her role at work. It is not a one-off process, but continuous over time, which aims to develop the person.

From this perspective, Vocational Guidance is a complex and continuous process, which aims to awaken vocational interests Through self-knowledge, adjust those interests to the subject's job competence and evaluate them in relation to the needs of the labor market, that is, then place oneself in the context social-labor.

If this conceptual exposition is not enough to see the direct relationship between Vocational Guidance and Emotional Intelligence, it is because we have lost the original path, hoping that little but quality would be enough for our adolescents to reach the goal: to be satisfied professionals and successful.

However, we must get closer to our reality. Are adolescents really interested in being immersed in a vocational program? Recent research in the area concludes that despite the Vocational Guidance process, the final vocational choice basically depends on the following elements:

• that the career is socially acceptable;
• that is economically profitable;
• that, in addition, entry into the labor field is easy and fast, regardless of vocation; Y,
• that if it is related to the easier subjects or those that he liked the most in high school, the better.

So something is happening that escapes our good intentions. Are we neglecting personal formation as an essential part of vocational guidance? Or are we acting as if we were dealing with two different and parallel processes?

The individual work for self-knowledge It is the inexhaustible source of resources for self-improvement, personal, family, academic and, of course, professional. The teenager has to know their interests, skills, expectations who has in front of the future, his fears, his anguish; This knowledge makes it possible to define more clearly who I am and who I want to be.

Without this first individual job, the second instance of the process falls on deaf ears: the opportunities that It introduces you to higher education and knowledge of the job reality and the environment in which you are immersed. Generally, this second instance is the one that is given the greatest weight during the specific Orientation process. Vocational, without taking into consideration that its success depends on the adolescent's self-knowledge and emotional maturity in question.

However, the numbers indicate that there are few guidance professionals, which have the real possibility of covering the entire process, especially when it is treated as something specific during the Diversified Cycle. Hence the need to resort to other trends, technologies, strategies, methodologies, proposals, that allow us to get closer to what should be of Vocational Guidance, incorporating in our work "Emotional Intelligence" as an art and part of the process for choosing a race.

The philosopher Pascal once wrote, more than 300 years ago, that "nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come." Well, Emotional Intelligence is an idea whose time has come. The publication of Daniel Goleman's book "Emotional Intelligence" has become a great editorial success, a mass phenomenon. And yet Goleman's work says nothing new: basically, that intelligence traditionally measured (through IQ) does not correlate with professional success. Something already commented on by journalist Walter Lipman in the 1920s and by David McClelland in his famous 1973 article, “Testing for Competence Rather than Intelligence”.

The model presented by Goleman was first proposed in 1990 by Peter Salovey of the University of Yale, and John Mayer of the University of New Hamsphire, in a book that was not as successful as that of Goleman. Salovey and Mayer consider that there are five domains of emotional intelligence: self-confidence, self-control, persistence, empathy and mastery of relationships.

In “Competence at Work”, Lyle Spencer, following McClelland's line, formed five very similar competitions in his dictionary: self-control, self-confidence, achievement orientation, interpersonal understanding and impact and influence. And, even more interesting, the three that involve self-management (Gardner would call it interpersonal intelligence), that is, self-confidence, self-control and perseverance, are linked to motivation for achievement; the remaining two, empathy and the ability to excite others (interpersonal intelligence, in Gardner's terminology), are competencies linked to the motives of affiliation and social power, respectively. Are not these basic competencies for an effective vocational choice? What do we as counselors do to promote them?

Emotional Intelligence is a way of interacting with a world that takes feelings into account and encompasses skills such as impulse control, self-awareness, motivation, enthusiasm, perseverance, empathy, mental alertness, etc. They configure character traits such as self-discipline, compassion or altruism, that are essential for an effective and creative social adaptation. This concept is increasingly valued throughout the world, with a marked influence in the workplace.

This ability to live and manage emotions it is learned from infancy. Therefore, the family is the school in which the child learns, for better or for worse, to develop her Emotional Intelligence. However, parents are not always aware of the importance of attending, integrating and managing children's emotions. Children of families in which emotions have been well cultivated are more sociable and better students, although their "other" intelligence, logic, is not brilliant. While is true that family and school are fundamental In the development of Emotional Intelligence, it is never too late to make corrections and acquire new skills in this area. We play a lot at it and, no matter how teenagers, young or old, we can always develop a more effective control of emotions. Successful decision-making depends a lot on the maturity and emotional stability of the person who decides.

With the evolution of this discipline, various types of Emotional Intelligence:

• Intrapersonal Intelligence, considered as the ability of the individual to be able to understand and identify her emotions, in addition to knowing how she subjectively moves around them. Once the person knows her emotional dimension, he begins to have better and greater control over her life, which results in greater stability and decision-making power.
• The other dimension of emotional functioning is at the level Interpersonal. It refers to the ability of the individual to understand the emotions of other people and act in accordance with them. The individual becomes an enhancer of intellectual resources, since by being able to control his emotional functioning, he achieves important added values ​​for his performance at the level of decision making and problem solving, among others things.

In this sense, the five components of the emotional coefficient coincide with it, three are capacities related to the person (self-knowledge, self-control and self-motivation) or what we call Intelligence Intrapersonal; and the other two, related to other people (knowing the emotions of others and assertiveness), which we call Interpersonal Intelligence.

Self-awareness consists of knowing your own emotions. Self-control is the ability to change or stop emotions to prevent life situations from being a problem; and self-motivation, which is the individual ability to stimulate oneself in adverse situations.

The two remaining components of the emotional coefficient that refer to the ability to know other people (interpersonal intelligence), are related with the skills to intuit the emotional condition of others, which provide very useful capacities and abilities when interacting with others. the rest; and finally, there is assertiveness, which is the ability to be timely in situations, either with actions or words.

Finally, the last key to the process comes into play: decision making. Throughout this approach I have identified the essential elements of the Vocational Guidance process: self-knowledge, which from now on we will call Emotional Intelligence; vocational-professional information, which as a second instance is the one that has the greatest weight in the Vocational Guidance practiced regularly in high school; and, no less important, the fundamental result of the two previous ones, the correct and satisfactory decision making.

Decisions, understood as choosing a course of action Certainly they are important because the success of a company, a professional career, the destiny of a person, a country, etc. depends on them.

There is at least one classical optimizing theory in decision-making, in which we will not delve sure that the counselor handles such information and seek to put it into practice during the process. of Vocational Guidance, but on which we will list the natural steps with which we will establish a relationship between the three essential elements of Vocational Guidance already mentioned. These steps according to Tarter (1998), are:

1. Identify the problem, that is, determine the discrepancies between the current situation and the desired results.
2. Diagnose the problem or gather and analyze information that explains the nature of the problem.
3. Define the alternatives, that is, develop all the solutions that are potential solutions.
4. Examine the consequences, what if???, anticipate the probable effects of each alternative.
5. Make the decision. Evaluate and choose the best alternative, the one that maximizes the achievement of goals and objectives.
6. Do it, that is, execute or implement the decision.

According to the previous approach, the first two steps in the decision-making process necessarily involve the first instance of the decision-making process. Vocational Guidance, or as we have agreed to call it, the identification of my potentialities and weaknesses using Emotional Intelligence as an essential basis for self-knowledge. Stimulating the five elements of the emotional intelligence quotient are the key to working and training students in this instance.

Resort to standardized psychological testsIt can be a resource to help the student evaluate her aptitudes and weigh her interests; all this will be effective, if we do not forget to resort to reflection, to transfer that information to the student's real situation, putting in perspective these results with the information you already have about who he is as a person and what he wants, in relation to himself and to whom surround. Psychological tests are not bad in themselves, they are inadequate to the extent that we do not make proper use of the results they give.

The third step, or definition of alternatives, corresponds to the second element or second instance of the vocational process: the search for alternatives or study opportunities at a higher level. This instance, as we know, must include all the available vocational-professional-labor information, and begin to discard those options that by their nature do not match the results of the first instance.

The fourth natural step for decision making, examine the consequences, It puts us again in front of the problem of self-knowledge, therefore Emotional Intelligence returns here to have a preponderant role. Confidence in myself and my potentialities, self-control so as not to make decisions guided by impulse and the first impression; as well as the ability to persist despite not finding quick and appropriate answers, these are the competencies that I will have to put to the test during this phase of the process.

This fourth step brings me gradually to the fifth, select the best alternatives, and then, consequently, get down to work: prepare for the admission tests, review and update documents, carry out the respective pre-registrations, etc. That is, face reality and execute the actions that allow me to achieve success in what I set out to do. Success that will undoubtedly be the effective result of the long road traveled.

Among the objectives that as a Counselor I must consider to develop emotional skills that allow optimizing emotional intelligence of the students (note that I am talking about students, so as not to limit the process to adolescence, since it is ideal to start it much earlier), we find:

• Increase self-confidence. The feeling of controlling and dominating one's own body, one's behavior, and one's world. The feeling that you have a good chance of success in what you undertake and that adults can help you in that task.
• Encourage Curiosity. Encourage to continue searching even if you have a lot of information (personal or professional). The feeling that discovering something is positive and pleasant.
• Promote Intentionality. Things don't happen because we want them to, they happen because we do something to achieve them. The desire and ability to achieve something and to act accordingly. This ability is linked to the feeling and ability to feel competent, to be efficient, efficient and effective.
• Improve Self-control. The ability to modulate and control one's actions in an age-appropriate way; the feeling of internal control. I own my life.
• Stimulate reflection through Relationship. The ability to relate to others, a capacity that is based on understanding and being understood, will be a useful element to confront personal learning.
• Develop the ability to communicate. The desire and ability to verbally exchange ideas, feelings, and concepts with others. This ability requires trust in others and the pleasure of interacting with them. Being empathetic and precise are its central axes.
• Promote Cooperation. The ability to harmonize one's own needs with those of others in group activities. Make the vocational fact a common problem, which depends on teamwork even if the final decision is individual. Sharing information, ideas, offering feedback on the behavior of another, can place us in a more favorable situation of understanding reality, as it includes more points of view.

Finally, since Emotional Intelligence can be cultivated and that it is fully identified with Vocational Guidance, do not forget to take into account the following factors in your daily work with counselors, both individually and as a groups:

• Work on empathy, open up to others. Watch and listen. Notice their gestures, their eyes, the way they speak. Learn to feel what they feel.
• Cultivate self-control, without suppressing emotions. Encourage observation and analysis, to what extent these feelings are effective for something. Or if they hurt.
• Offer opportunities so that they analyze their tensions and instincts. Without holding back, put order and channel them.
• Rewind. After an argument or a sad day, ask why. If their reaction was proportionate, if it was worth it to have behaved like this ...
• Look for opportunities to laugh. Laughter and good humor make us happier. And, in addition, it seems that they extend life.

The question that breaks paradigms, what could they do in their school, that if they did it today, it would change dramatically the Vocational Guidance process towards an assertive and supportive process of learnings? This is a question that everyone must answer, depending on their experience and their practice in their institution, it moves us to the frontier of our own paradigm of the guiding being, what is it that I do not currently do, that if I did, it would improve tremendously my work; answering this question, doing it honestly, and writing the commitment that as counselors We have towards the change that the answer implies, it is an exercise of emotional and rational intelligence; doing it, a challenge, and walking in commitment, a possible reality for the benefit of all.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Emotional Intelligence and Vocational Guidance, we recommend that you enter our category of Education and study skills.

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