Career Interventions

Career Counseling

Career counseling refers to an ongoing set of activities and conversations between a counselor and a client designed to help the client (a) decide which career to pursue, (b) complete a job search, or (c) build a sense of satisfaction and achievement at work. Thus, career counselors work with a wide variety of clients facing different career challenges. The specific form career counseling takes varies depending on the goals established by counselor and client.

Counseling for career choice is focused on helping people decide which career to pursue. Often, clients seeking this type of counseling are either beginning a career or considering a career change. These clients may be undecided for a variety of reasons, including a lack of information, too many or too few attractive options, conflict with others concerning these options, or a general difficulty making decisions. Throughout the course of counseling, clients are encouraged to gain a better understanding of how their personalities, interests, values, and skills might be more congruent with certain types of occupations than with others. Career counselors often ask clients to complete inventories or to discuss their personal backgrounds to help them gain self-understanding. Career counselors then assist clients in gathering information about various occupations. A final step is to analyze this information, generate a set of possible careers, and decide which career to pursue.

Counseling for job finding is focused on helping people implement their career decisions by finding jobs. Clients seeking this type of counseling are often either entering the workforce or looking for new jobs. Over the course of counseling, these clients are encouraged to put effort and intensity into a thorough job search. Job search effort and intensity can be influenced by factors such as personality, self-efficacy, social support, and perceived barriers. Clients who commit a great deal of effort and intensity to the job search tend to meet with success. Career counselors help clients conduct thorough job searches by encouraging effort and assisting with a comprehensive array of resources, including information on job search components such as effective resumes, interviewing skills, and networking.

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