OT: Has anyone ever been to a career counselor?

[soskiomo]

I've been told that I should possibly see a career counselor. I am not sure if they take insurance, as it's not really a health issue. I am just wondering if it would be worth it and if anyone here has been to one and thought it helped them. (aside from reading What Color Is Your Parachute)

[swamp]

I'm pretty sure they aren't covered by health insurance.............

[shanendoah]

My severance package included 3 months of career transition counseling. 
The counselors helped us define what kind of position we were looking for, what organizations we wanted to work at, and how to tailor our resumes for the positions we wanted. 
My resume was good before I went (thanks to having some friends who have done a lot of hiring look over it for me), but it still improved significantly.
We talked about networking- why and how to.

Overall, I found it helpful. It certainly helped me keep focus during a time when my life was in turmoil. (Pop Tart was placed with us while I was in the initial classes.) But I doubt I would have paid for that out of pocket.

[kittensaver]

I saw one about 25 years ago when I gave up on teaching but didn't know where to go next. It was paid by the school district's EAP benefit. Not health insurance, but still insurance. Soskiomo - do you have access to an EAP?

My experience was similar to Shanen - the counselor was very helpful in helping me organize/re-organize my skill sets and moulding my resume into something that would transition me from teaching to business. I too found it very helpful. But only go with an open mind and be willing to hear the bad/ugly as well as the good stuff. I'm not saying you will do this, but IF you (or anyone else) spends their time "yeah, but"-ing the counselor, it will pretty much be a waste of time.

Good luck to you!

[souldoubt]

No but along the same lines of shanendoah's story my work uses one for people that transition out.  This same individual is who the head recruiter recommended to me for my better half as the recruiter's spouse used her as well.  She discusses the individuals background, their skillset, what kind of job they want and some other questions.  Based on the responses she mentioned some jobs that are good fits and tailors the resume towards a position like that.  My better half didn't get a job right away which is more a result of the economy but when she did get a job it was in the field the counselor recommended and she's happy.  Never heard of insurance paying for something like that but who knows these days. 

[workpublic]

in NY you can get counseling from the DEPT of Labor when you are collecting UE. I'm not sure if they offer it iof you aren't though. Check with your states dept. of labor.  Good Luck!

[alabamagal]

I was laid off from a Fortune 500 company 5 years ago.  We had career counseling as part of severance package.

I had one session face-to-face with a group of 4 others that focused on resume writing, bring your resume and they will review and provide suggestions.  That was helpful.

Our career counseling was via conference call, and found it a waste of time.  Other than the advice to network.

Since I collected unemployment, I had to go to Dept of Labor for career counseling.  It was a waste of time, other than the fact that they scheduled all my former co-workers at the same time and it was great to see everyone.

[Deleted]

Are you looking to change careers/directions or are you looking to get help to advance from your current role? To me, they're 2 different types of counseling.

I consulted a local firm I found on the internet 5 years ago. Basically, I was working for a good guy but whose style was the exact opposite of mine. He was British and generally described as "direct". He had a lot of good quantities- smart, fair, honest, worked his rear end off, great credibility with management. But I was once described by a boss as non-confrontational, which is pretty accurate. Frankly, I found him scary. I wanted to find a way to work with him better.

The whole process cost $10K. Yeah, that was a lot of money. Keep in mind that if you do something that expensive, it may put you above the IRS threshold (10% of gross)? for business expenses and thus allow you to write some of it off. I did. There was a fair amount of standardized testing. I think they like to push that because they pay for the licenses anyway and this will help pay for it, and it takes up a few sessions. The end result was information on my personality and my work style that wasn't a big surprise to me. He did deliver a pretty decent package of information on my work style and how to flex when needed as well as a very good list of management books appropriate for my needs. One interesting suggestion: Read biographies of high-powered women. My favorite was Catherine the Great!

Overall thoughts: worth some $$ but not worth what they charged. I'd refuse the standardized testing part if I had it to do over again and make them cut the price. You may just need the corporate version of a psychologist: a person you can talk to outside of the office to help you wade through politics. You're in the driver's seat- don't let them "bundle" services in that you don't need.

The outcome: for $10K I learned that everybody is different. It's OK. We all need to play nice together.
It helped a little in dealing with my boss but eventually I saw that my work in that position was tapering off (it was related to integration after an acquisition) and found another position in the company. Boss actually said it was a good move. So, it gave me some support when I needed it, but if I had it to do over again I'd just tell them I wanted to borrow the ear of a good career counselor, say, once a week, for $X/hour, and keep it up as long as it was working for me.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Soskiomo, have you ever done the Meyers Brigg assessment?

It helps you recognize your personality type and, from there, for what types of jobs you would be best suited.

A therapist may be able to administer it and that *MIGHT* be covered under insurance.  

It's not job placement, but another piece of information that can guide you in a job search.  

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Another thought:  DH was laid off about 18 years ago.  As part of his severance, his former company paid for him to work with an outplacement firm.  It wasn't a "placement" firm.  They simply helped hone your resume, interviewing skills, networking, etc.  They helped you envision the job you wanted and to reach out to employers to find that job based on research that shows some large percentage of jobs are never even posted anywhere.  DH had to do all of the work to get his next job by networking heavily, but he's still there and doing well.  

I'll have to ask him the name of the firm later tonight.  It was in downtown Boston.  I'll let you know.

[Deleted]

BTW, I highly recommend "Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office" for women in business. It covers a lot of things women do that hurt their credibility or undermine their authority, such as speaking too softly, starting everything with "I could be wrong, but..."

[Deleted]

I saw a career counselor through UE when I was (voluntarily) laid off my journalism job in 2009. At first I "pooh poohed" it but it was a 10-week "course" and in the end it was quite useful. But, it was a bit obvious ... you have an advanced degree in English, a journalism degree, you should become an English teacher (EFL, English as a Foreign Language). On the other hand, there are a TON of EFL jobs here in Paris, and most are very badly-paid. I have one of the best ones, at a prestigious university, and that course helped me get there.

I also took my DD to a private, highly-regarded and very expensive career counselor. It cost me a LOT of money, but the guy turned out to be worth his weight in gold. I took DD to see him before deciding whether or not DD could handle mainstream HS. After an entire day of assessment, he said it will be hard for her, but she can do it if she wants, but she will have to work much harder than the others.

So we put her into mainstream HS, 10th grade, in a small private school. It didn't work out (understatement of the year). DD was bullied, she HATED the place, she started cutting, it was a disaster.

Now, "she can do it if she really wants to, if she is motivated" is obviously pretty obvious (well, yes and no, because we really needed to know if DD had the cognitive skills to get through mainstream HS, and he told us she did, which was the main reason we went to see him). 

But where the guy turned out to be great was, at the end of that one-day assessment with DD, he said that if ever it didn't work out in mainstream HS, and we later decided to put DD into a vocational HS, he strongly believed we should put her into a hospitality HS (hotel / restaurant industry). We would NEVER have thought of that for her. Although two of our friends are restauranteurs, one has a degree in civil engineering and got into restaurants "by accident" later in life, and the other is a chef. It just wasn't in our "worldview" for our kids at the time. Also, at that time, I thought attending a vocational HS was a "failure" on some level. (I certainly DO NOT think that way anymore.)

From the minute DD transferred to that vocational HS in 11th grade, she started to thrive. However, she is the ONLY one of her HS graduating class of 20 to attend college (but that's because we are pushy parents lol.) Hopefully she will be getting her Bachelors degree in June. Don't ask me why, but that job is a PERFECT fit for her, and this man saw that! 

Sorry for the long post! To me, the best part of seeing that career counselor was in having him give us options that we would NEVER have thought of otherwise. Most of us tend to follow in the tracks of family, or close relatives or family friends, or choose "obvious" career choices. But there are a SLEW of jobs that nobody thinks of, and a career counselor can help point them out to you, or, more importantly, point out other jobs that somebody with your skill set can do. 

Best of luck to you! 

[Deleted]

Other thing I just wanted to mention. Of course I don't know how these things work in the US, but here, I paid for a full day with the guy. I took DD there, we chatted for 15 to 30 min, then I left her for 3 or 3 1/2 hours, then I took her to lunch, then we went back for a 1.5h report (and we later got that report in the mail). 

But now that he's done that, if DD ever wanted to go back one day, he would see her for a 1 or 2 hours, which would obviously cost MUCH less. But, this particular man will not do "short sessions" for anybody he hasn't done a full assessment on. 

It was indeed expensive (about $700 at the time), but on some level, he saved my DD's life, and gave her a future she is happy and excited about. He came VERY highly recommended to me by close friends, and I have recommended him to other close friends who have also been extremely happy with him.

If you are lost, like DD was, like we were, then even if insurance doesn't cover it, consider it an investment in yourself. If you find the right person, it can be money very well spent.  

[Sunnyday]

Dec 6, 2013 15:06:14 GMT -5 shanendoah said:

My severance package included 3 months of career transition counseling. 
The counselors helped us define what kind of position we were looking for, what organizations we wanted to work at, and how to tailor our resumes for the positions we wanted. 
My resume was good before I went (thanks to having some friends who have done a lot of hiring look over it for me), but it still improved significantly.
We talked about networking- why and how to.

Overall, I found it helpful. It certainly helped me keep focus during a time when my life was in turmoil. (Pop Tart was placed with us while I was in the initial classes.) But I doubt I would have paid for that out of pocket.

can you provide more details
on the advice offered? I am going swimming in the big wide ocean soon, and I don't have the money to spend on career counseling.

[shanendoah]

There's the basic- tailor your resume to the job, but also things like use hard numbers when you can, and tell people why what you did matters. Here's some bullet points from my resume: 

• Directed process improvement work for new hire IT set up, reducing lead time by 40% and errors by 90%
• Developed and tracked operational budgets for multiple accounting units, ensuring the department remained on budget
• Managed department physical space across multiple locations and coordinated changes with facilities management to provide ergonomically sound work stations and maintain team environments
• Collaborated with unit leadership and human resources to create new job descriptions and classifications, providing a career ladder for analyst staff
• Wrote departmental administrative policies the met internal and external regulations, ensuring all staff knew and understood compliance requirements

It doesn't just what I did but talks about why it matters. Yes, I only have one set of hard numbers, but each one tells you why what I did mattered.

Targeted job searching was the big thing. Figure out the qualities you want in a work place and then research companies to find out which ones have that. Also, know where you DON'T want to apply. 

But the biggest thing was network, network, network. They had classes specifically on LinkedIn (I did not take one). But something like 90% of jobs come through knowing someone.
Join professional groups and societies and talk to others in your field, or the field you want to be in. Get personal business cards made up that you can hand out. Mine had my name, what I did (Administrative Operations) and my cell phone and email address.

[Sunnyday]

Thank you for this:

"It doesn't just what I did but talks about why it matters. Yes, I only have one set of hard numbers, but each one tells you why what I did mattered."

I don't have enough of this in my CV. Since I'm looking to change domains, this is critical to explain how my specific skill set could transfer over.

And I know that we're suppose to network, but I currently work from home. I don't have any one to network with. And my field is very small, so if I actually put the feelers out there, it would get back to my boss.

I'm actually lucky that I have this job doing something so specific. However, there isn't enough work for me, and that is why I want to change fields.

I don't want to sound negative, but I'm starting to think that I should just take any entry level job.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to type it out.