Get Career Counseling

Whether you’re in high school, college, or the professional world, it’s normal to feel lost about what kind of job you should be doing. Career counselors can help you understand yourself and your goals better. Seek out a counselor through your school or a private firm or use online software to figure out your next career steps.

Steps

Visiting a School Counselor

1. Make an appointment with your guidance counselor. Regardless of what grade you’re in, guidance counselors can help you start planning for your future. Stop by their office before or after school to see if they have time to talk, or ask if you can schedule an appointment with them.
2. Visit your college’s career center. If you attend a college or university, there’s likely a career center where you can schedule a free appointment with a career counselor. These centers offer access to networking events, job postings, and counselor advice throughout the academic year. They may also have special resume and cover-letter workshopping services.
   • If you want advice catered more towards which classes you should take to reach a career goal, schedule an appointment with your academic counselor.
3. Bring your resume. If you don’t already have a resume you’ve been using, you can make one by typing up a one-page summary of your education, work experience, and skills listed in a bullet-point format. Bring two copies with you so that you and the counselor can each look at it while you discuss its contents.
   • The counselor may offer suggestions for improving it, so be open to changes and don’t take the editing personally.
4. Prepare a list of interests. Make a list of everything that interests you so that you’re prepared when the counselor asks for them. If you love playing basketball, consider whether you’re interested in the team-management aspects of the game, or if you just like the physical activity. If you like star-gazing, list things like astronomy and being outdoors.
   • It can also be helpful to list dislikes. If you hate talking to strangers, this could help you eliminate any customer service jobs from your career options.
5. Prioritize your goals for the appointment. Decide ahead of time what you want most from the conversation. You have a limited amount of time with the counselor, and you may not be able to discuss everything, so pick your top concern and start with that.
   • Some possible topics to cover are getting an internship, exploring career fields, or choosing a major.
   • Since these services are free, there’s no reason you can’t return for another appointment later to address further career questions.
6. Answer the counselor’s questions honestly. It doesn’t help you at all if you’re not honest about your interests, goals, and strengths. Maybe you feel pressure from your family to be a doctor, but if you hate math and science, say so. You don’t have to share the details of this session with anyone else, so there’s no reason to lie.
7. Use the advice that works for you. The counselor may give you lots of suggestions, and you might not agree with all of them. You can choose to follow all, some, or none of the advice, but try to push yourself to take advantage of any resources they recommended. Attend career fairs, resume workshops, and mock interview sessions to get as much practice as possible.

Visiting a Private Counselor

1. Seek recommendations from friends. It never hurts to ask around your group of friends, family, or neighbors to see if they’ve ever used a career counselor. If so, ask what they liked or disliked about the person they met with. Ask how useful the advice and guidance was, or what they would do differently if they sought career counseling again.
2. Search the NCDA database. The National Career Development Association has a database of all career counselors who’ve met certain standards of education and training. Search based on your location to find counselors near you.
   • A similar resource is the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC). Search their database for counselors, or type in the name of a counselor you’re interested in to see if they’re board certified.
   • After choosing a few counselors from these sources, look online to see if you can find reviews of their services.
3. Call a couple different counselors. Once you’ve found a couple counselors nearby who interest you, give them a call. Spend a few minutes on the phone to get a feel for their style and whether they’re a good fit for you. Tell them what you hope to gain from a session and ask them how they would help you meet those goals.
   • Ask about the basic structure of a session. It should include lots of time to ask you questions about your background and interests.
   • Don’t be afraid to ask about fees and their level of education. They should be upfront about this information.
   • Keep a notebook handy for these calls to help remember your questions and to jot down any impressions you have.
4. Prioritize your goals for the session. Since you’re likely paying for the counselor’s services, it’s especially important that you make the most of this time. Make a list of the top two or three things you want to get out of the session, and be specific.
   • For example, if you want to completely switch career paths, tell the counselor you’d like to focus the conversation on returning to school for a new degree.
5. Take any tests or surveys the counselor suggests. Your counselor may ask you to take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or another personality test that they think will help match your interests and values to a career path. Complete these quizzes, but take the results with a grain of salt. It’s just a starting point, not an absolute answer to what job you should get.
   • For example, if you love working with animals, one of these tests could tell you to be a veterinarian. But the job of veterinarian also requires a lot of human customer service, so that might not be the best fit.
6. Follow up with your counselor. Usually people land a job and think they no longer need career counseling, but the first month of a new job is critical to your future success in a position. Reach out to your counselor again for advice on workplace communication, time management, organization, and leadership.

Using Online Resources

1. Use the O*NET Interest Profiler. This profiler was created by the U.S. Department of Labor to help match you to potential career paths. It takes you through a series of questions to help you see whether your interests and values would fit best into a work area that’s artistic, investigative, social, or enterprising.
2. Find resources on the NCDA website. Not all online career planning sites are created equal. The NCDA has a list of reliable internet sources to explore on their website. The sites range in topic from education, to job searches, to employment trends, and they’ve been reviewed for accurate and unbiased information.
3. Take a personality test. While the Myers-Briggs test is losing popularity, it’s still a good option for opening up your mind to career paths that you hadn’t considered before. There are other tests that measure your traits more on sliding scales than with absolute answers, which the MBTI has been criticized for.
   • Some of these tests are free to take online, while others require payment.
   • Examples of other tests are Traitify, Predictive Index, and Big Five.

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