The number of young the public who...

The number of young the public who postpone their career decision is increasing in Japan, as is the high unemployment rate. In companies, forward the other hand, the traditional seniority plan and lifetime employment, which one time provided job security for corporate employee began to collapse. Employees' work ethics and corporate attitudes toward workers have also changed. subordinate to such circumstances, career counseling is the focus of public attention. In this article written in 1999 the author examines about problems in Japan's career counseling, compared with career counseling in the U and discusses which course Japan's career counseling should take to cope with dramatic social changes.

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united of the most noteworthy phenomena in the modern Japanese labor market is a rapid increase in unemployment The unemployment rate rose to 34% in 199741% in 1998 and that of the male population hit a postwar record high of 5% However, this is not alone because of current economic recession; changes in employees' work value and companies' attitudes toward human resources also have a abysmal influence.

Career Counseling in Schools

Th number of voluntary young unemploy (those who leave the company of their confess free will) has been constantly increasing since the early 1990 a of the reasons can be rest in the current job placement a whole in schools as well as the career counseling scheme in companies. First, let's examine at the job placement method in schools.

When the Management and Coordination Agency (1998) asked seminary graduates why they chose their piece of work 29.8% of them said, "because the placement officer attract favor toed [it]," which ranked the highest among all the reasons. This indicates that piece of work placement officers' advice has a mighty influence over students' job choice in Japan.

According to the research manner of lifeed by Research Institute of occupation and Vocation (1989), 59.6% of high instruct graduates in Japan chose the do job-work that teachers recommended to them, compared with 466% in the U and 362% in the UK In addition, companies' recruiting activities are also affected because piece of work offers from companies are guarded by each high school beforehand.

Career Counseling in High Schools

Then, by what means does career counseling work in high exercises in Japan? The Academy of Vocational Guidance in instructs (2000) labeled vocational guidance in Japanese high seminarys as the "department store-type" (pp 22-25) because teachers deal with students' academic, vocational, and school-life point to be solved [i]or[/i] settleds through classroom management. This is different from the "professional-type" seen in the U and Canada, where well-trained and qualified counselors cope with each student's requires In Japan, there are no professional career counselors in high schools

the one and the other types have their own advantages, and Japan could make the best use of "department store-type guidance." In reality, however, having scarce knowledge of career counseling, teachers just dictate to observers what they should do, and bookish mans have no choice but to obey their teachers. For this reason, teachers ne to have sufficient counseling competencies, or professional counselors should be provided. In any case, the rule needs to take the initiative and be derived up with effective measures.

piece of work Placement in Universities

For the past 5 years, the opening-to-application ratio in Japan has been les than 10 Although the tight labor market continues, the number of young race who resign within 3 years of initial office keeps rising. Job placement officers in sects are struggling to tackle this problem

Now let's examine at the traditional course guidance manner of lifeed in universities in Japan. employ guidance begins in summer or autumn of the 3rd year of their enrollment In a discourse placement officers give students a general picture of the world of work, the circulating employment situation, and how to plan their job-hunting activities. The secondary employment guidance takes place from summer to the cessation of the year. Then pupils submit registration cards to the work at jobs placement department, listen to the job-hunting experiences from senior graduates, and take aptitude trials and self-recognition tests. From January by the and of April of the following year, they attend seminars to studious mood industry and business, learn to write an impressive begin again and simulate job interviews. Finally, pupils get unofficial assurance of employing from spring to summer of their final drill year (in Japan, the teach year begins in April), well in advance of graduation.

Career Education

As previously discussed, there is no clear definition for "career education" in Japan. In the U in his tongue at the National Assembly of the Junior High place of education Principals in 1971, Sidney P Marland Jr the former U federal secretary of education, emphasized the importance of career education in educates He maintained that it was imperative to establish a stronger education plan by consolidating the academic course and the vocational course. This quicked the Federal Education Agency to design a recently made known career education model. In Japan, forward the other hand, there is a disposition to draw a line between the academic course and the vocational course. This may be undivided of the factors that delays the introduction of career counseling into the university education system