Perhaps one of the leading stressors in our lives comes from our careers. Many people suffer from extreme anxiety because they are unhappy with their jobs. Career counselors use their skills to help these people deal with that stress, set career goals, and even find work. Here are four strategies career counselors use today to help clients alleviate stress and find meaningful, rewarding work.
Assist Clients in Finding a Career
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The main goal of a career counselor is to help their clients find a career that suits them. To do so, clients will usually take surveys, tests, and questionnaires. One popular test that career counselors use is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This test reveals the clients’ personality traits, which can then be used to decide what type of job would be a good fit for them.
Rate Careers or Goals
Another strategy career counselors use to help their clients find their ideal career or career goals is to rate each career or goal on a scale of 0 to 10. On this scale, clients use 0 for any career or goal they have no wish to pursue and 10 for ones that excite or interest them. The counselor then reads off possibilities and asks the client to rate them. Unless the client rates a possibility as a 10, the counselor will ask what keeps it from being perfect.
For ratings that are 7 or higher, the counselor will ask if the client wants to put that on his or her list of careers or goals. If so, the counselor will ask if the client has ever considered that possibility in the past. If the client has fully investigated it before, the counselor will ask what he or she remembers about it. If not, the counselor will ask why it was never a possibility.
Help Clients Think Outside the Box
Sometimes, clients feel trapped in thinking about typical careers that do not suit their interests. In cases such as this, a career counselor will often have to help them come up with atypical careers. One such counselor recalls a time that he took his client on a field trip to come up with career ideas. His client was very passionate about mountaineering, but he had no idea how he could translate that passion into a career. After visiting a park in the area, the client was able to find brochures on training programs for mountaineering.
Support the Job Search
After clients have narrowed down the possible careers, it is time for a career counselor to prepare them for applying and interviewing for those jobs. Oftentimes, these clients need the help of a career counselor because they do not have a strong network. Therefore, the usual advice of networking for a new job does not work them. Instead, the counselors find that these clients need individualized plans that focus on their strengths, such as recruiters, cold calling, and answering help wanted ads.
Career counselors who obtain their Master’s Degree in Counseling from Wake Forest University Online play an important role in helping their clients find the ideal career and set career goals. Using these and other strategies, the counselors help their clients learn how to complete a job search on their own should they need to do so in the future. Learn more about the online counseling program today!
Recommended Reading
Serving Humanity: Career Opportunities in Mental Health
3 Types of Counseling Specialty Areas and Careers
What an Online Counseling Degree Can Do for You?
Sources
Marty Nemko, A Different Approach to Career Counseling
Careers in Psychology, Becoming a Career Counselor