An Exciting New Opportunity –

Overcoming Challenges in Cross-Cultural Career Counselling

The Code of Ethics for Career Development Professionals, published in 2021, places a continued

emphasis on counselling individuals from diverse backgrounds. This is particularly important

given the impact of global social and economic shifts, such as changing immigration policies,

globalization, technological advancements, and demographic changes. Career counsellors must

‘Recognize and address diversity issues in service delivery and show respect for clients who hold

their own values and beliefs that may not always align with those of the CDP with whom they

are working.’ (2021)

When discussing whether to travel to another country for career counselling, the underlying

issues addressed here are bringing awareness to cultural diversity and adopting a culture-infused

career counselling model. This model emphasizes reflective practice in three domains: counsellor

self-awareness, awareness of other cultures, and awareness of the influences of culture on the

working alliance. Counsellors can adapt their approach to better serve clients from diverse

backgrounds by bringing awareness to these issues.

Challenges in Cross-Cultural Career Counseling

1. Language Barriers

Counselling involves establishing an interpersonal connection and building rapport between the

counsellor and the client. Effective communication is paramount to counselling, enabling

counsellors to convey, explain, and clarify information and knowledge. While interpretation

services can be helpful, poor interpretation quality may introduce ambiguity into the counselling

process.
Non-verbal communication, including body language, plays a crucial role in counselling. Active

listening and silence are essential communication skills critical to counselling. However,

communication barriers can hinder the application of these skills and lead to unexpected

problems.

2. Insufficient Job Search Resources

A crucial aspect of a career counsellor’s role is to provide guidance and resources for clients to

conduct job searches. This typically involves tapping into local communities, government

agencies, job search websites, and other relevant resources that are woven into the local labour

market network.

However, counsellors from another country may lack familiarity with these resources, making it

challenging to offer meaningful recommendations. Additionally, a lack of language skills can

create further obstacles in testing these resources, which may undermine the counsellor’s

knowledge and competencies.

While some job search websites have tailored their platforms to different countries, others have

not. For example, Job Bank caters specifically to Canadian job seekers. Furthermore, while

Canadian Community Centers offer employment services, comparable organizations may not

exist in other countries.

3. The Limited Utilization of Labour Market Information, Assessment Tools and

Their Impact on Career Competencies

Career counsellors use various assessments to help clients develop self-understanding and self-

awareness, encouraging them to reflect on their interests, strengths, values, and capabilities. This

reflection helps clients build future career goals that align with their attributes. Career
assessments are powerful tools in this process. The assessment tools help people understand their

work interests, illustrate the kinds of work they might be most satisfied with, and ‘tap into

personality and aptitude, such as abilities, working style, and skill set.’ (Lent, 2013) Many

widely used assessment tools, such as the MBTI personality test and the Holland Code career

test, have been developed by Western countries. However, the accuracy and relevance of these

tests in other cultural contexts are debatable. Counsellors wishing to provide services abroad

should consider adopting new assessment tools compatible with the local job market rather than

relying solely on what they know.

Setting SMART goals is critical to career counselling, as it promotes career change and

motivates clients. By involving clients in the goal-setting process, counsellors can share control

and monitor progress. Counsellors can provide feedback, make suggestions, and offer

recommendations to help clients adjust their goals. However, a deficit perspective and a failure

to address social contextual issues can create barriers to goal setting, such as unrealistic goals.

Additionally, counsellors from outside a country may have limited knowledge of the local job

market and available employers. They may not be familiar with well-known local companies or

available positions, which could lead to biased recommendations based solely on what they

know. For example, GREE is a Chinese appliance manufacturer headquartered in Zhuhai that is

not well-known in the Western world.

Moreover, counsellors unfamiliar with the local legal system may encounter legal issues in their

practice. Significant legal disparities exist among countries and regions, and a lack of legal

knowledge could increase the risk of legal problems for the counsellor.

4. Cultural Ignorance and Bias: Implications for Counseling

comprise the individual’s social system as and the broader environmental/societal system.

(Patton & McMahon, 2006) ‘People’s understandings about jobs, careers, and the value of

education and occupational attainment are also shaped over time through social interactions.

People do not ascribe the same meanings to terms such as work or career.’ (Arthur, 2019) People

from diverse social and cultural backgrounds often face unique career challenges. For instance,

individuals living in countries without a structured welfare system may prioritize finding

employment as a means of survival. In contrast, those living in countries with a larger population

may face greater competition for available positions. Moreover, cultural differences may affect

the employment opportunities available to individuals based on their age or other factors.

These career-related issues are culturally defined and vary across different social-economic

settings. Career counsellors who lack knowledge of what work means to people in a specific

country may struggle to provide effective interventions and ensure a successful counselling

session.

Career counselling can be greatly enhanced through the use of storytelling, as it allows

individuals to identify successful patterns from their past experiences. By sharing their personal

stories with counsellors, clients can uncover these patterns and connect the dots with the help of

their counsellor’s empathy. The counsellor’s ability to demonstrate empathy helps to strengthen

the therapeutic relationship and establish rapport.

Clients' stories often reflect the social and economic environment they operate within and

cultural norms that reinforce patterns of behaviour. Cross-cultural counselling requires

counsellors to have cultural knowledge, as a lack thereof can be a barrier to effective

counselling. A counsellor may struggle to comprehend how clients perceive the world or work
without understanding cultural differences. For example, a Western counsellor may not

understand why a Chinese client hesitates to discuss irregular work hours, such as working six

days per week.

Bias is described as ‘an inclination, prejudice, preference or tendency towards or against a

person, group, thing, idea or belief. Biases are usually unfair or prejudicial and are often based

on stereotypes, rather than knowledge or experience.’ (Murphy, 2022) Cultural bias involves a

prejudice or highlighted distinction in a viewpoint that suggests a preference for one culture over

another. (Yingst, 2011)

A lack of cultural knowledge can result in prejudice. When a counsellor fails to understand the

cultural context of a client's issue, they may dismiss the problem altogether. Such a deviation

from the essential goals of career counselling can lead to a failed attempt at building rapport.

Without removing these obstacles, it becomes challenging to nurture successful career

aspirations.

Consider a counselling session with a 40-year-old Chinese male who lives with his wife, two

children, and his parents. He faces an urgent issue of balancing his work and family

responsibilities, including caring for his parents, who live in the same apartment. He wishes to

make more money by finding a job far away or changing careers, but his obligation to care for

the whole family holds him back. Without an understanding of Chinese culture, a counsellor may

have questions about why the man still lives with his parents and shouldn’t they be two families.

This unintentional bias may manifest in the counsellor’s body language, such as frowns or head-

shaking, which the client can easily detect and interpret negatively.
When a counsellor lacks language skills, they may unconsciously exhibit favouritism towards

clients who speak better English or possess foreign life experiences that the counsellor can relate

to. This preference may be unintentional, but it can create a bias that undermines the

effectiveness of counselling.

5. Client Relationship

‘Career counselling incorporates being able to research and integrate both the current and

potential future workplace needs in general. For specific career fields, a career counsellor needs

to be able to think critically to understand better the complexity of each client being served.’

(Kauffman, 2023) Building rapport is a critical foundation for the career counselling process. To

discuss and share their emotions and experiences, clients must feel comfortable and trust their

counsellors. These intimate feelings may not be disclosed if the client doesn't feel at ease or

connected. Cultural barriers or biases can affect how counsellors engage with clients, and

without a connection, trust, and effective communication, a stable relationship cannot be

established.

Suggestions

Suppose I were selected to travel to other countries. In that case, I would prioritize working with

the abovementioned challenges before my departure. Cultural differences can pose barriers that

hinder the competencies that career counsellors possess. Without proper preparation, the

counsellor may not be able to fully take advantage of the learning journey and make the most of

their experience.

My recommendation would be to adequately prepare for the trip by doing the following:
 1. Take the time to learn about the culture of the country you plan to visit. Conduct research

on cultural values, beliefs, and practices that are relevant to the client’s career goals.

2. Build your network by participating in training, webinars, conferences, or lectures held

by professional career organizations in the country you will be visiting or global career

organizations to gain global cultural competence.

3. Build your cultural competency by taking courses, consulting with professionals from the

same cultural background, and attending workshops.

4. Familiarize yourself with legal issues, guidelines, and regulations in the country you will

be visiting.

5. Learn about the local labour market and career assessment tools, and improve your career

skills for that specific country.

Conclusions

As the population becomes more diverse, it is essential for career counsellors to develop and

continuously acquire the competencies needed to work with a multicultural population. Working

abroad with people from different cultures provides valuable opportunities to enhance cultural

knowledge. Counsellors can gain firsthand experience, improve their professional abilities, and

become more culturally aware. Suppose career counsellors can work on overcoming the

challenges of working in a different cultural context rather than going unprepared. In that case, I

believe it is a valuable experience that promotes professional learning.

Reference

Canadian Career Development Foundation. (2021) Code of Ethics for Career Development Professionals.
 https://ccdp-pcdc.ca/en/pdf/Code_of_Ethics_2021_EN.pdf

Lent, R. W. (2013). Social cognitive career theory. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Career

development and counselling: Putting theory and research to work (2nd ed.) (pp. 115–146). John Wiley &

Sons.

Patton, Wendy and McMahon, Mary (2006) The Systems Theory Framework of Career Development

And Counseling: Connecting Theory And Practice. International Journal for the Advancement of

Counselling 28(2):pp. 153-166.

Arthur, N., Neault, R., & McMahon, M. (2019). Career theories and models at work: Ideas for practice.

CERIC.

Murphy, N (2022, May 27). Types of Bias. https://cpdonline.co.uk/knowledge-base/safeguarding/types-

of-bias/

Yingst, T.E. (2011). Cultural Bias. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior

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