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CONSIDERING THE SERVICES OF A CAREER COUNSELOR
Part 2 of 4
by Beverly Baskin
In Part 1 of this series, the reader came to understand what a career counselor is, does and
who needs one. Generally, there are 4 types of clients and everyone from 17 to 65 and beyond
into retirement years can benefit from the expertise of a career counselor. This type of
counselor deals with 8 areas of concern for the client beginning with the initial interview
and setting of goals by the client.
What can I expect when I see a career counselor?
- The Initial Interview. The purpose of the initial session, or the intake interview,
is to gain as much information as is needed to help you make effective and appropriate
decisions about your career. At the initial intake interview the career counselor
may begin by looking at how you perceive yourself at work, at school and/or at home,
and if there are other factors that may be affecting your career at the present time.
For example, a career counselor might delve into the education and occupations of the
client’s family members. Because of their circumstances, especially those over which
they have no control, some clients may feel depressed. There may be substance abuse
problems or issues relating to the client’s home life that affect work performance. A
good career counselor is cognizant of these possibilities and others and is prepared
to help the client get help with issues that may get in the way of making effective
career decisions. When career counselors are trained in mental health counseling,
they may deal with personal problems as well. For example, when entry-level job
seekers have pressure on them from parents, the full-service career counselor may
meet with other family members so that everyone in the family will be supportive in
the likes and dislikes of the person seeking help. The career counselor continually
monitors the client’s feelings with the main emphasis on support and helps the client
understand that it is desirable to be himself or herself, not just what other people
want him or her to be. The trick, of course, is to know the difference. This is
where the career counselor's expertise is invaluable. She or he can help you sort
through all those pieces of yourself so that you can determine who you are and what
you want. Positive thinking yields positive results. Your counselor might very well
engage in creative exercises throughout the counseling process to encourage support
and have fun during the entire career search process. She or he is well versed in
helping you help yourself toward a rewarding and fulfilling life. In order to do
this, though, you and your counselor must first set some goals.
- Setting Goals.
A very important part of the initial counseling session or the first session or two
thereafter is that of setting goals. What do you expect from the process of career
counseling? What do you want to accomplish first? After a certain amount of
sessions, what can you expect? As you and your counselor collaborate on goal
setting, you are working together as a team. There are no surprises. You and your
counselor may work hard, but through commitment to the counseling process your goals
will be met. Typically, people who seek career counseling have only a limited amount
of experience in the workplace and limited exposure to different types of careers.
This is especially true of the exploratory-age client. Surprisingly, this may also
be true of many more experienced 30s Transition and Mid-life Career clients. Even
the Pre-retirement and Retirement client may not be knowledgeable of how and when
their career decisions were made. For this reason, a career counselor would want to
know how you were influenced in any career decisions in the past and by whom. These
influences include those of your parents, teachers, supervisors, mentors, and other
significant people throughout your early and later life.
(to be continued)
About the author: Beverly Baskin
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