Personal constructs and careers: A reaction

This special issue of the Journal of Career Development on personal constructs and career choice offers us a glimpse at the core material of career development-the filter system by which career-relevant in-formation is screened, retained, and integrated for use in making ca-reer decisions-a neglected area about which we have made some painfully simple overgeneralizations. We have avoided, collectively, the toughest of questions about how information is actually absorbed (see Bloch, 1989), assuming, instead, that the simple presentation of written or verbal information would generally be beneficial for a cli-ent. We may have to butcher a few sacred cows if we are to progress in our understanding about how career information is processed. As an example, although we have spent millions of dollars and legions of professional effort in collecting and categorizing career information for use in career interventions, the most obvious quality of career information-its content, apparently has little effect on its potency