What is a Career Counselor?

Career Counselors are professionals who work with individuals and groups in the process of making career decisions and plans. A Career Counselor can be extremely helpful in assisting people in the process of identifying those life values, personality characteristics and interests that are most important to them.

Career Counselors offer guidance as clients discover their best choices among a wide variety of careers. The counselor then often works as a coach to teach and encourage the client to implement networking and job search strategies or to make plans for appropriate education or training.

Career counselors must be licensed by the state where they practice to call themselves "counselor." (They may also be in the process of getting their license and working in a setting where they are supervised by someone with a state license.) People who do not have this credential may call themselves "consultants" or "advisors" but by law cannot call themselves "counselors."

A counselor has spent many years in education and supervision to meet a high standard of practice. If you seek career assistance from someone who is not a counselor, make sure you have good references and know what training they have to do this type of work.

Career Counselors offer assistance with:

• Identifying strengths, interests and priorities
• Understanding personality type as it relates to career and job choices
• Finding career paths and work environments that are the right fit
• Overcoming roadblocks to finding a direction and making tough decisions
• Deciding if a change of job, employer, career path or industry makes sense
• Plotting a course and establishing a time frame for a career change
• Planning a job search strategy
• Writing effective resumes and cover letters
• Building and interacting with a network of contacts
• Preparing for interviews
• Troubleshooting a job search that is not productive
• Evaluating and negotiating job offers and salary
• Dealing with issues on the job, such as politics or a difficult boss
• Asking for raises or promotions
• Mapping out a plan for long-range career development

Career counselors do not typically do job placement. However, they may have leads, contacts, and resources to suggest to help clients in their search for the right career opportunity.