12/01/2008

A Diversity Resource for Career Professionals: The Multicultural Career Resource List

By Debra Behrens

Are you looking for multicultural resources to design a workshop, course bibliography, or for your continued professional development?  Have you frequently searched the research literature seeking information that addresses the career concerns of diverse populations?  Do you have an interest in further developing your own knowledge base?

Recognizing the need for readily accessible information in these areas, the NCDA Cultural Diversity Committee has developed a Multicultural Career Resource List  (click here to access the Multicultural Resource List).

In 2007, the Cultural Diversity Committee sought to develop a comprehensive list of diversity career resources.  Over the course of the year, committee members researched, identified and consolidated a list of over 150 resources.  The list is organized by population, including resources for ethnic minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, LGBT, as well as general multicultural career topics and workplace diversity.  It is a valuable resource list with various types of information, inclusive of journal and magazine articles, assessment instruments, training manuals, and books. 

The list can be utilized in multiple ways.  Whether you are interested in gaining information about multicultural counseling theories, creating a training program, or simply learning more about the profession, the MCR list provides a wealth of resources to NCDA career professionals. For example, practitioners may utilize workbooks or training manuals for program development. Journal articles and textbooks are included, which may be used to create class bibliographies, or to enhance your professional knowledge base.   Assessment instruments and other tools for counseling practitioners are also in the resource list.  The Career-in-Culture Interview (Ponterotto, Rivera & Sueyoshi, 2000) for example, can help a counselor to gain insight into a client's presenting issues and to further draw inferences about how to approach the case.  This semi-structured interview protocol is guided by social cognitive career development theories, and may be useful to assess clients' resources and challenges. 

Debra Behrens, Ph.D, is a Career Counselor at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Behrens counsels graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. She is a member of the NCDA Cultural Diversity Committee. She can be reached at dbehrens@career.berkeley.edu