Why work with a career counselor?

1. What exactly is a career counselor and what do you do?

As a career counselor, my primary role is to facilitate gaining personal insight, help my clients get a reality check of their career aspirations and construct a plan for reaching their career goals. Additionally, I provide support and encouragement to our clients as they implement their plans.

• Assessing your unique interests, strengths, values and personality traits
• Researching careers that have the greatest potential to give you the best fit and satisfaction
• Preparing personal marketing materials such as resumes and cover letters
• Researching industries and organizations to generate more opportunities than you are currently aware of
• Mapping out a step-by-step strategy for landing the job of your dreams

Ultimately, I want my clients to be able to make career choices based on what’s personally meaningful to them and translate that into a job they are happy with.

Career counselors are found in a number of settings: within company hr departments, at college centers, at employment agencies, and in private practices.

I’ve worked with clients in non-profit agencies, community colleges, universities and in my own career management company.

2. What type of people do career counselors work with?

Career counselors work with people facing many career situations for example, college to career, entry level to management, job seeking after a layoff, looking for a promotion, or changing careers.

What people typically have in common is that they want to have a career they can proud of and happy with because it aligns with what is most important to them in life whether it’s travel, volunteer work, hobbies or family. They don’t want to compromise their happiness for a job nor do they want to sacrifice a satisfying job for personal fulfillment. They want to have balance lives.

They also want to feel that their work as greater meaning than just bringing home a paycheck.

The type of clients I work with at Futures in Motion, Inc. are:

• Accomplished professionals with a proven track record for success who are looking for new career challenges
• Fast trackers who want to feel more in control of their career direction
• Young professionals who want to get their career started on the right track
• People who want to balance career achievement and life satisfaction
• Experienced professionals who are looking for personal fulfillment and to make a personal impact
• Entrepreneurs engaged in strategic planning

They represent fields such as technology, communications, marketing, non-profit, entertainment and aerospace and are generally at the management level.

3. Why do people go to a career counselor?

When people think about a career change it causes anxiety.  Contemplating an uncertain future in which your lifestyle may be altered is scary. You don’t know if the grass really is greener, or whether there are actually more opportunities out there for you.

People who seek out my career advice are motivated by a number of factors. They may:

• Be fearful of a pending layoff or reorganization.
• Feel that they have few opportunities for advancement. 
• Be looking for new challenges.
• Think their career is off track.
• Be uncertain about their future career path.
• Recognize that the job market has changed and they don’t know what to do.

They are feeling overwhelmed, under challenged, unmotivated, stress out, bored and burned out.

Working with a career counselor can help them alleviate the anxiety of changing their career situation. Career counselors are knowledgeable about employment and economic trends, employer recruitment and hiring practices, and good career information resources. Many career counselors have undergone career transitions, too, and understand the emotional and psychological aspects of making life changes and how to work through them.

4. How do you do what you do?

Identify the core objective: new job, promotion, clarify a career direction

• Initial consultation
• Career status questionnaire
• Resume revie

Suggest next steps: gaining personal insight, reality check, create a career action plan

• Administer career asmts.- MBTI, SII, Skillscan, Career Values Inventory
• Encourage career exploration- online/print research, info interviews, professional/trade associations
• Conduct a job search- search planning, resume/cover letter development

I’ve developed career resources and services for people at all stages.

• Products: career articles, career guides, audio programs (self-directed)
• Activities: speak, hold workshops, teleclasses (group)
• Counseling/coaching: in person meetings and distance (indiv.)

5. Does career counseling really help? What results do your clients achieve?

My clients tell me that the exercises, assessments, homework and conversations gave them increased personal insight and a clear roadmap for moving their careers in the right direction. They know themselves better and understand their career options. They also learn how to execute an effective career transition or launch an effective job search. Overall, they feel more confident and in control of their careers.

For example, several clients recently reported getting promotions in their companies and better jobs at another company.

6. What suggestions do you have for getting started?

I suggest people contact me for a free initial 20-minute consultation. That way I can help them pinpoint a good starting point and recommend the best resources and services.

I’ve also written several articles on various career topics that are available free on my website.