What is Career Development Counseling?
Work might be an important part of your life. Your career can become a part of your identity and may give you fulfillment and joy.
But at the same time, work may make you feel stressed, anxious, and depressed. So whether it's because you feel dissatisfied at work or the uncertainty of your future career makes you uneasy, some professional guidance with career development may be helpful.
What exactly is career development counseling?
Career development is an almost lifelong process. Education, entering the paid workforce for the first time, adjusting at work, the many jobs you may take, career transitions (if any), taking breaks (if any), re-entering the workforce, and transitioning to retirement.
In career development counseling, you can seek help regarding your career—at any stage of this process—such as exploring career options, finding meaning in your work, setting realistic goals, and developing plans to implement the actions needed.
What happens in career counseling?
Making career decisions can often be a messy process with jumbled thoughts and feelings. You may have multiple interests—endless options that you can't narrow down—and feel unsure of what to pursue.
Or perhaps you dread going to work. Maybe you finally landed your dream job, but it just doesn't feel right. Your situation might also be that you're planning on exploring a new field or looking to get back to the paid workforce.
All of this may feel overwhelming, and counseling can help you organize your thoughts and feelings. Then, with a bit of clarity and guidance, you can make informed choices for your career.
This informed decision-making happens through understanding the factors that impact your career, such as your interests, skills, personality, and education. Counselors may use personality tests and value assessments to grasp this information better.
In addition, career counseling can help you with gathering resources. This could include information such as education, training, financial aid, applications, potential earnings, typical workdays, and job requirements for different career options.
Knowing this and having other discussions in career counseling can help you make sense of your career path, career choices, goals, and plans for the future. You and your career counselor may discuss finding your purpose, overcoming barriers, and getting career-ready. You might also get help with skills required for job hunting, such as networking, negotiation, and interview preparation.
With career counseling, you'll have a set of goals and plans on how to achieve them. You'll know what you need to focus on and have the ability to take those critical decisions from a position of awareness.
Should you go for career development counseling?
The beauty of career development counseling is that you can go whenever you feel ready and when you think it will be the most helpful for you. Whether it's choosing, changing, leaving, getting back to, or improving your career, you can benefit from career counseling at different points in life.
You make many career decisions over time, and career development counseling can equip you with the skills to make the decisions you'll find fulfilling.
