Genograms

 When most people hear the word genogram, they think of family therapy or medical histories. But in career counseling, genograms can be a powerful visual tool to help clients explore patterns, influences, and possibilities related to their vocational journey. By mapping out the careers, education levels, values, and transitions of family members, clients can gain insight into the roots of their career-related beliefs and decisions—and begin to envision a future that's truly their own.

What Is a Career Genogram?

A career genogram is a graphic representation of a client’s family tree, but instead of focusing solely on relationships or health, it highlights educational and occupational patterns across generations. Clients and counselors can identify:

  • What types of work were common in the family

  • Who attended college or pursued specific training

  • Attitudes toward work, money, and success

  • Cultural or generational values around stability, ambition, or risk

  • Gendered expectations about work roles

Why Use a Genogram in Career Counseling?

Career genograms help clients:

  • Reflect on inherited career values or pressures

  • Identify patterns of resilience or limitation

  • Challenge internalized messages like “we don’t do college” or “real work means hard labor”

  • Explore gaps between their personal interests and family traditions

  • Recognize role models and sources of inspiration

For example, a client might discover that although most of their family members pursued manual labor, an aunt who became a nurse influenced their interest in healthcare. Or, they may realize that messages around job security have been passed down after a grandparent experienced job loss during an economic downturn.

How to Create a Career Genogram

  1. Start with a Family Tree: Include at least two to three generations if possible.

  2. Add Occupations and Education: Label each family member’s job(s), level of education, and any career changes.

  3. Note Attitudes and Events: Use symbols, colors, or notes to show attitudes toward work, job satisfaction, layoffs, or significant transitions.

  4. Discuss Patterns: Together, counselor and client can identify themes, strengths, and blind spots.

This process can be particularly enlightening for clients feeling stuck, uncertain, or conflicted about their career decisions.

A CBT Perspective

In a cognitive-behavioral framework, career genograms can help bring underlying beliefs and schemas to the surface. Clients may uncover unhelpful core beliefs such as:

  • “I have to follow in my father’s footsteps.”

  • “College isn’t for people like me.”

  • “I’m not cut out for success.”

Once identified, these beliefs can be challenged and reframed, empowering the client to make choices based on present values and goals rather than inherited limitations.

When to Use Genograms

Career genograms are especially helpful with:

  • First-generation college students

  • Clients in career transition or crisis

  • Adolescents exploring identity and future paths

  • Adults questioning long-held assumptions or facing burnout

Final Thoughts

Career counseling is more than helping someone choose a job—it’s about understanding identity, values, and meaning. By using genograms, counselors give clients a unique lens through which to view their vocational history and open up space for new narratives to emerge.

Sometimes, seeing the story of where we come from can illuminate the way toward where we’re meant to go.

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