How Can A Career Counsellor Help Me Plan My Career
Career Counsellors can support you to:
- identify your career goals and how you can achieve them
- understand your skills and strengths
- explore your interests and how they relate to different jobs
- find out more about what sorts of jobs and skills are needed now and in the future
- prepare job applications
- connect with other career support services.
Find out more about what a Career Counsellor session involves.
General Counselling Program Requirements
Counselling programs are offered at the diploma and graduate certificate level. Diploma programs require an Ontario Secondary School Diploma or equivalent, which includes a grade 12 English credit. Other senior level courses may be required but will vary by program.
Graduate certificate counselling programs require a diploma or degree in a related field, or significant related work experience. There may be other non-academic requirements, so check program admission details carefully.
Where To Get Career Advice
Even though career quizzes and aptitude tests are helpful, getting professional assistance is one of the best ways to get help planning your career. A career counselor or coach can help you explore options, plan your career, and achieve your employment goals.
Many colleges and universities offer free career counseling for both students and alumni. If youre a college graduate, check to see what services are available.
You may also be able to find free or low-cost career coaching services to help you with the career planning process.
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What Is A Career Assessment
A career assessment is a way to learn about career options that may be a match for your skills, interests, and values. There are different types of assessments that can help you determine which types of careers may interest youand which dont.
Most assessment tools ask questions about what you like, what you dont like, the type of work environment youre comfortable in, and how your personality meshes with different jobs, and then suggest careers that are a match.
Career aptitude tests wont give you a definitive answer on what the best job for you is, but they will give you options to explore and can help you narrow down your career interests.
What Career Counselors Do
A good career development professional can help you explore career options, can inform you of labor market trends, and can assess your skills, interests, and work-related values. A career development professional can help you sharpen your job search skills, and can help you learn how to move up the corporate ladder.
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How Can A Career Counsellor Help
- explore your aspirations and interests and how they relate to potential careers
- understand your marketable and transferable skills and strengths
- help identify your career goals and provide guidance on skills development to support these goals
- locate and understand labour market information
- prepare job applications, including resumes and cover letters
Helping You Get Started
A career counselor can help you figure out what career path you’d like to pursue. They can help you determine what you’re most interested in, what your skills are, and what your values are, and use those factors to help guide you. They can also help you determine whether or not you’d like to transition to a different career.
A career counselor will help you find additional resources and sources of career information. Depending or skills, experience, and the career path you’re thinking of pursuing, a career counselor may recommend additional job training or education.
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Career Counseling Resources: 10 Techniques For Your Sessions
Throughout our lives, we are likely to be troubled with questions or experience self-doubt regarding career choices and what to do next.
We may turn to friends, family, and even colleagues for advice regarding our lack of career advancement or dissatisfaction regarding our current career path .
Dedicated career counselors are available and provide professional advice on career decisions, coping with change, job searching, and identifying learning opportunities .
This article introduces resources to help career counselors provide the necessary career interventions to help clients find that path.
Before you continue, we thought you might like to . These detailed, science-based exercises will help your clients realize their unique potential and create a life that feels energizing and authentic.
What Clients Are Saying
I would like to thank you for your help and support during my job search. It was a challenging process, but your professionalism, kindness, empathy and genuine care made it much easier for me. I really enjoyed our conversations and I appreciate your belief in me and my skills. I’m also grateful for your advice not to give up and continue looking for the creative position to fulfill my passion for architecture and design. And you were right, eventually I got a job offer for the position I was hoping for. You are doing an amazing job as a career counsellor, and I can’t thank you enough for all your support and help. For me it was much more than a career counselling. It was a friendly and supportive process to define my goals and to keep dreaming big!
Weve helped over 400 people find meaningful employmentEvery yearfor twenty five years
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Career Counseling Treatment Plan
While career counseling should be specific and individual to the client, assessments and interventions typically include the following five stages :
Each stage may take place over multiple sessions and should be revisited as new understandings and information arise.
Get Free Career Guidance From Career Professionals
An experienced career consultant, career mentor or career advisor online can help you create a new career vision, provide career motivation, career placement, career assistance, and career management services.
On the SHEROES app for women, you can attend regular AMA and live chat events and interact with well-known career professionals, career strategists, and career specialists for free career advice online.
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Everyone Can Benefit Especially If You Are:
- A high school student, post-secondary school student, or recent graduate
- A professional in need of career coaching
- Looking for a career change
- Seeking more meaning and satisfaction in your life, or to better understand yourself, your strengths, and areas for development
- Facing a major life transition, including succession planning, returning to the workforce, or retirement
Best Activities For Individuals & Groups
There are typically four stages to group career counseling :
- What is your earliest memory?
- Describe an important childhood memory .
- Describe an important adolescent memory .
- Describe an important adult memory .
- Describe another important memory .
Understanding a clientâs narrative can help the counselor make more informed decisions regarding future interventions.
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Forming A Picture Of The Client
While there are several approaches to career counseling, the counselor usually begins by forming a picture of the clientâs self-observations and career beliefs. The counselor develops an understanding based on the following :
- How does the client describe themselves?This may include racial-ethnic identity, health and physical status, family situation, educational background, etc.
- How does the client feel about the process of career development or career change?For example, what goals do they or their family have for themselves?
- Are the clientâs beliefs helpful or unhelpful ?
- Which learning experiences have been formative in their career development?It is helpful to be aware of and understand previous roles, past successes, and role models.
Early sessions in career counseling should center around understanding the clientâs current situation, background, and future aspirations.
Career Development Interventions Spencer Niles And Joann Harris
This comprehensive book on modern career development includes theories, assessments, resources, and planning tools to use with clients.
The text includes up-to-date coverage of technologies to help practitioners and clients, including social media for job seeking and to assist the interview process.
Find the book on .
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What To Expect From A Career As A Counsellor
Helping people overcome addictions, fears, emotional and physical trauma, personal issues and other problems is truly rewarding. As a counsellor, youll help others by applying different techniques and treatments targeted to each clients situation. Counselling programs at Ontario colleges provide you with the interpersonal skills and trauma and addictions knowledge needed to become a counsellor.
If you want to help better the lives of people who are struggling by providing counselling services, heres what you need to know.
Career Services & Library
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to transition in your career, we’ve got you covered. Our industry-leading presenters have workshops, seminars, and panels for resume writing and refinement, interviewing, mature job seekers, career exploration, building your professional network, and more.
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Get Career Counselling On The Sheroes Helpline
Connect on the free SHEROES helpline for women for career counselling and careers advice. Helpline counsellors can provide you with free advice online on career changes, career transitions and any other workplace issues youre facing, as well as relationship advice, legal advice and business advice.
Who Can Access The Service
The service is available to all Victorian residents and is most suited to people who are:
- unsure of their work/career options and pathways
- seeking employment but lack a clear vocational pathway/plan
- unemployed and struggling to secure work due to lack of work experience
- underemployed and seeking more secure and/or skilled work
- in need of support to plan a transition to a new occupation/career
- wishing to pursue a professional career involving tertiary education pathways.
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Become A Mars Certified Remote Professional
The Managed Remote Solutions program by SHEROES is the Gold standard in remote work. It helps women get certified as remote professionals so they can apply for legitimate remote jobs in various roles including customer service, sales/lead generation, content creation, travel, remote sales jobs in the insurance industry.
To be a part of , you need to be a a certification designed to help female career professionals stand out and be prioritised by over 20 thousand companies when hiring work from home or remote professionals.
An MCRP Certification is not a guarantee of employment, however, it helps employers find you easily and increases your chance of finding a work from home job with respectable companies.
Ask Career Guidance Questions Every Monday & Friday In Career Hour
Join the Career Hour every Monday & Friday from 2 pm to 5 pm with our career counsellor, Monica Majithia. This is a 3-hour live chat session where you can directly interact with our career counsellor and ask your career guidance questions without any hesitation.
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What Is Paid Career Counseling
A paid career counselling helps you to get in touch with a professional who takes you through a series of tests, and activities to evaluate the inner strengths, interests and come up with a suitable career plan. The counsellor will surely not tell you to exactly go for this course or that career path.
However, they will help you to understand yourself better so you can pick the right option for you. Whether you are at the beginning of your career or in the middle looking for a change, sessions with professionals will benefit you in millions of ways!
Paid Career Counseling: Advantages and Disadvantages
As already pointed out, paid career counselling offers you plenty of benefits. However, there can be few disadvantages as well. Take a look at the table below.
Advantages:
- Paid career counselling sessions help you to get connected with highly skilled counsellors who conduct the entire process seriously and help you achieve the desired results.
- Paid career counselling sessions help you to get a detailed evaluation of who you are exactly and what are the potential career options lying ahead.
- The counsellors spend more time with you in the paid sessions. After assessing your personality, interests and background, the counsellor assists you with your career plans. You can pick accordingly considering what interests you the most.
- Paid career counselling has additional benefits to offer you. You might get specialized reports after the session.
How A Career Test Can Help
When you’re looking for your first job or considering switching careers, its much easier when you have some ideas about what youd like to do.
There are a variety of free career tests and quizzes available that address interests, values, and skills, but it is not essential to find a test that captures all of the elements.
Do keep in mind that some tests aren’t scientifically validated. However, they are quick and easy to take and can provide insight into what types of jobs you might want to research.
Spend some time taking a few tests and quizzes and see what results you get. Afterward, compare the job options you’re given to decide which of them are worth exploring further.
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Personal Growth And Development
Personal growth and development is all about understanding yourself, developing your strengths, and realizing your potential. By focusing on your personal development, you are setting your path to improving the overall quality of your life and your work.
Self-Exploration and Interpersonal Development Package
In this package, you will explore all aspects of your personality and preferences in order to attain greater self-awareness and have the knowledge and tools to leverage your strengths in personal and professional situations.Includes:
- A detailed exploration of multiple-personality dimensions and strengths
- A review of your personal goals and guidance on how to reach them
- An exploration of your preferences in communication and interaction with others identification of barriers and challenges and how to overcome them
- 3 hours of one-to-one counselling
- A copy of your interpretation reports
*We also offer individual assessment packages, focusing on specific developmental areas. Please contact us for more information.
Be your Best at Work Package
- An exploration of your work engagement profile
- An in-depth review of your Emotional Intelligence profile
- An exploration of your values and character strengths
- A review of various personality dimensions and preferences
- 3 hours of one-to-one counselling and coaching
- A copy of your Interpretation Reports, including developmental strategies and action tools
What To Expect From A Career In Career Counselling
Helping others find a career through analyzing employment trends and assessing strengths and weaknesses can be very rewarding, especially when youre helping those who have lost their jobs or are starting a second career. Many people struggle to find what it is they love to do, and what post-secondary program can get them there. In Ontario college career counselling programs, students gain the interpersonal, research and analytical skills needed to help others begin on the path to the right career.
If you want to help others reach their potential through career counselling, heres what you need to know.
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Finding A Career Counselor
Below is a list of places you should contact to find an inexpensive career counselor.
Your College Career Services Office: If you are a college student or college graduate, contact the career services office at your school or alma mater. College students typically receive free college counseling sessions, and can often attend job search workshops and networking events.
Many colleges offer similar services to alumni these services are often free, or cost a reasonable rate. Career services offices also tend to offer free information for student and alumni online, such as access to online job listing databases.
Your Alumni Network: If you are a college graduate, your college career services office likely has some sort of alumni advisor network. Alumni who volunteer to join this network are willing to speak with you about your career-related questions and advise you on your job search.
Your Local Public Library: Many local libraries hold job search workshops or seminars, which are often free or reasonably priced. Some libraries even hold job clubs, which provide job seekers with support and advice. Ask a local librarian if your library has access to any job listing databases, or has any other job search materials.
Your Local Chamber of Commerce: Many chambers of commerce offer career or job fairs, workshops and various networking opportunities. Search the Chamber of Commerce International Directory for contact information.
Truity Photo Career Quiz
This quiz only takes a few minutes, and its fun and easy to take. Simply click on which picture you like best in a series of photographs to take the free . Youll receive a profile of your career interests, and then you can search for careers and review more information based on your interest profile.
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How To Choose A Career Guidance Professional
Jim Arbogast / Digital Vision / Getty Images
Whether you’re in the process of choosing a career, trying to change careers, re-entering the workforce, job hunting, or recovering from a job loss, you might need some help. Career counselor, career development facilitator, career coach, job coach, and vocational counselor are just a few of the names you might come across as you look for someone to help you with your career.
Take Advantage Of Educational Opportunities
During your conversation with your career counselor, as he is getting to know you and your abilities, he may suggest a change of direction that includes furthering your education. Hell also may help you find government sources that supplement or even completely pay for your education.
If you live in a state where community college is available at no cost, take advantage of it once you and your counselor pinpoint a career direction. Even if its just a workshop course, all education is a plus to add to your resume.
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