Detail Decision Model Steps 5 and 6

STEP 5: Take whatever career ideas you described in step 4 through an analysis to determine if each can pass the need criteria you established in Step 2.  Every idea you take forward from this point in the analysis should be able to provide you with what you need.  If the idea/alternative cannot provide for this need, you will probably drop the idea from your set of ideas.  You could choose to change your need to a high-weighted want, or eliminate the need altogether – these are choices you have.  If you cannot determine whether or not the need will be met for a given career idea, you will need to conduct additional research including information interviews with people doing what you would like to pursue.

NEEDS:	HR	Consulting	Career  Counseling	MFT	Psychologist
Need to be able to help people	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Need to utilize my mental creative abilities to a great degree	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Need to have control of my time, my schedule and decisions	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Need to make enough money	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Need to be able to attain necessary degree in no more than a 2-year program	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	NO

STEP 6: Use the weighted wants to evaluate all ideas that meet needs, comparing each on the basis of how well it meets your want criteria. For each want criteria statement ask “which of the ideas/alternatives best meets this criteria?” You then assign a score of 10 to that idea/alternative that best meets your want. Give a relative score to the other alternatives, ask “if my best alternative for this criteria got a 10, what score would I give to each of the other ideas/alternatives?” Give each idea/alternative a score relative to the 10 that you gave to the best performing idea for the want you have. Once you have assigned a score to each alternative for all wants, compute weighted scores for each alternative for each want criteria. Add all of the weighted scores for a given alternative together to compute a grand total of the weighted scores for that alternative.

example from Norm's 1987 decision:

Wants	Wt	HR BofA	Consulting	Career Counselor	MFT
Work with all Ages, cultures, diverse population		In a good sized company, wide range of ethnicities, ages, etc.	In a good sized company, wide range of ethnicities, ages, etc.	Could target special populations - my choice, Lots of flexibility	Could work with families of all Backgrounds – but would have to work with agency or supervisor
Score	10	6 Wt Sc 60	6 Wt Sc 60	10 Wt Sc 100	9 Wt Sc 90
Use business experience		Business knowledge would be used, used a great deal – maybe too much!	Business knowledge would be used, used a great deal – maybe too much!	Could apply business expertise as much as want – achieve balance I require	Working with family situations would tend to draw less on business expertise than career work or HR work
Score	7	9 Wt Sc 63	9 Wt Sc 63	10 Wt Sc 70	6 Wt Sc 42
Use systems structure, leader, project skills		Would be able to apply key skills to a high degree – some constraints and imposition from management	Would be able to apply key skills to a high degree – some constraints and imposition from management	Would be able to apply key skills to a high degree – in control of degree	Would be called upon to use new counseling skills – some leadership, some structure, but mostly newly acquired skill
Score	8	9 Wt Sc 72	9 Wt Sc 72	10 Wt Sc 80	7 Wt Sc 56
Facilitation and teaching abilities		Would be able to use these skills, less control over content and quantity – more of a management slant	Would be able to use these skills, but would have to follow the lead of management	Would be able to use these skills and would have more control over the degree of use in my work	Would be able to do some of this work – however more limited than with career counseling
Score	9	6 Wt Sc 54	8 Wt Sc 72	10 Wt Sc 90	7 Wt Sc 63
Profession – w/credential, colleagues, organizations, publications		Human resource professionals – less status than MFT’s or NCCC	Human resource professionals – less status than MFT’s or NCCC	Getting pretty professional – National Certification now available	More established than career counseling
Score	10	6 Wt Sc 60	6 Wt Sc 60	9 Wt Sc 90	10 Wt Sc 100
Perfect Score	440
Totals		309	327	430	351

Detail Decision Model Steps	Detail Decision Model Steps	Detail Decision Model Steps	Detail Decision Model Steps
1 and 2	3 and 4	7 and 8	9 and 10