Career Counseling

A Powerful Resource in Career Counseling

Career counseling is a powerful resource that can be used to the benefit of not only students but adults of all ages, from all walks of life, in all stages of their personal and professional development.

Whether one is seeking assistance in career planning, self-assessment, career advancement or change, starting one’s own business, continuing education, or coping with transition, the rewards reaped by availing oneself of the services of an effective career counselor can be enormous.

Through positive career counseling, one can establish priorities, define professional goals and personal values, learn to better understand the drivers by which he or she is motivated, and strike a balance between his or her lives at and away from work. With the guidance of a career counselor, what might otherwise have been a highly stressful period of transition can become an empowering and exciting time of one’s life.

Who Needs Career Counseling?

Whether one is looking for a dream career or wants to improve his or her performance in an existing position, an effective career counselor can be a dynamic asset. For someone seeking employment, career counseling can provide the means to improve one’s interviewing skills, write a winning resume, or construct an excellent career portfolio. For an established professional, a seasoned career counselor can be an excellent coach toward the achievement of such goals as honing interpersonal skills, writing more crisply, or making presentations with more confidence.

For the student with no professional experience, or for someone returning to the workforce after a long hiatus, career counseling can afford him or her with valuable self-assessment tools in the form of personality and IQ tests, and quizzes about interests and aptitudes.

Career counseling is also beneficial for those whose careers are in a state of flux, or for those who don’t know exactly what they want to do at the current point in their lives. With the help of a career counselor and the use of thoughtfully constructed assessments, one can identify what drives him or her to perform well; what career opportunities match skills, interests, and values; individual strengths and weaknesses; and other knowledge that increases self-awareness and leads to a positive and satisfying actualization of oneself.

An asset at the bottom of one’s game, career counseling is equally valuable when one is flying high. Often, a person becomes so entrenched in his or her own company’s culture as to be impervious to the world outside it. Working with a counselor on career planning exercises affords one the chance to reconnect with the real world and the reality outside one’s comfort zone.

Regardless of the myriad of career challenges one may be facing, career counseling is a supportive and positive alternative to the roller-coaster (and often debilitating) method of trying to resolve all the issues on one’s own. With the assistance of a career counselor, one can much more easily evaluate and strategize the course that will be the most beneficial to one’s own personal and professional development.