Career Counselor

With today’s ever changing job market, people are facing lay-offs, looking to advance their education, and striving to change careers more than any other time in history. The age of spending forty years working for the same employer is fading into the sunset. Buyouts, mergers, technological advances, automation, and poor economy are limiting jobs and raising the bar for experience and educational requirements.

Career Counselors are updated on all these happenings because they spend your day helping people make decisions about job changes. You start a session as a Career Counselor by spending a little time getting to know the client. You ask such questions as “Do you have a family to support?” and “What types of activities do you enjoy?” and “What kind of job experience do you have?” This type of discussion helps you evaluate interests, personality, and talents. And the information you gather helps you match the person to a new career. After all, you wouldn’t advise a social butterfly to seek employment as a Biologist, or an artsy type to pursue a Systems Analyst degree.

The position of Career Counselor requires good listening skills and the ability to relate to a wide range of people in a non-judgmental way. You put your skills to use in a college career center, or in a private, clinical setting. Either way, your objective is to help the client set career goals, and then give them a push down the right road. You present achievement and aptitude tests, locate jobs through a variety of sources, help with the application process, and offer interview advice.