Author:
M. Fulya Kurter
Bahçesehir Üniversitesi Kariyer Merkezi Direktörü
(BÃœKAM)
www.bukam.bahcesehir.edu.tr

Purpose

To provide practice for career professionals, in a group setting, to practice promoting their practice/business and receiving feedback from their colleagues.

Rationale

In order to perform career counseling properly it is important to highlight the required competency areas related to the profession. According to NCDA’s Professional Standards, a career counselor needs to be competent in promotion and public relations which is defined in GCDF curriculum as “ knowing how to help market career planning services.” This competency is recognized as “program promotion, management, and implementation and also involves the knowledge of “mount a marketing and public relations campaign on the behalf of career development activities and services."

Marketing career development programs is an important part of the work of career counselors and career development facilitators regardless of their work setting (high school, university, job placement centers etc.).

This activity is inspired from the one of the games which is used in psychodrama group work, which can be named as “do your self promotion” and which is published in a book by a leading Turkish psychodrama group therapist Deniz Altnay (300 Warm Up Games, 1998) and adapted by the author to meet the objectives below.

In psychodrama literature, warm up techniques are lableled with different titles, such as “action methods,” encounter techniques,” or "nonverbal exercises.” “Game” itself in psychodrama has a significance in terms of reducing resistance to increase interaction and growth in the group. While choosing the right game, it is important to consider the transition and the next theme or stage the leader wants to move on. This humorous activity is adapted to make an introduction to the topic/competency area mentioned here.

Learning Objectives

1. To increase self confidence of the group members and facilitate group cohesion within the group.
2. To help the participants to overview their own qualities as future career counselors or facilitators.
3. To emphasize the importance of PR and promotion in our work.

Materials

1.Sheet of papers equal to the number of particaipants in the class and pencils
2. One small box or basket

Participants

GCDF students or counselors who are trained to work at career development field.


Setting
No special preparation is needed. Movable chairs in U or round style at a class setting is suitable for this activity.

Time required
Approximately 40 min.
Can change depending on the number of the group.

Lecturatte:
Can be a GCDF trainer or counselor trainer

Exercise:

“Do your self promotion as a professional”

1.The group leader makes a brief introduction to help to group members overview their positive professional qualities then tells the group that they will be doing their self promotion as a career counselor to thier target population.
2.The leader gives the instruction that they will be writing down on piece of paper briefly in two or three sentences describing themselves in terms of “why she/he needs to be chosen as a career counselor or career development facilitator?”.
3. The leader emphasizes that it will be like an ad so needs to be brief and creative as much as possible and tells them that no names will be mentioned on the papers. (Anonymity is important)
4. As each member finishes her/his part, puts the paper folded in the box or basket the leader holds
5. Each participant then picks up one of the ads from the basket and reads out loud to the class.
6. The participants then make guesses about who can be the owner of that “add”!
7. The exercise is finalized after each of the participants’s ad is read out loud and clarified.


Discussion:

-What made some guesses easy, but some harder?

(For the the ones which was easy for the group can be regarded as “they are more clear about communicating themselves.”)

- How we can add value to, what sort of our activies by enhancing our skill on PR and promotion?

* PSYCHODRAMA:Conceived and developed by Jacob L. Moreno, MD, psychodrama employs guided dramatic action to examine problems or issues raised by an individual (psychodrama) or a group (sociodrama). Using experiential methods, sociometry, role theory, and group dynamics, psychodrama facilitates insight, personal growth, and integration on cognitive, affective, and behavioral levels. It clarifies issues, increases physical and emotional well being, enhances learning and develops new skills.(http://www.asgpp.org)

Suffix, "-drama" implies a more emotionally intense process. Settings that are wary of intensity thus are turned off by this term. Yet schools, businesses, and other settings can make use of the methods when they're called "action methods," "experiential techniques," "role playing," "behavioral simulations," or some similar mixture of words. This is by no means deceitful, because these approaches need not be deeply emotionally evocative (http://www.blatner.com/adam/pdntbk/Psychodrama-FAQ.html)