Career counseling is focused on how individuals manage their journey through life, learning, and work (career). This includes career exploration, making career choices, managing career changes, lifelong career development, and dealing with other career-related issues.
There is no agreed definition of career counseling worldwide, mainly due to conceptual, cultural, and linguistic differences. However, the terminology of 'career counseling' typically denotes a professional intervention that is conducted either one-on-one or in a small group.
There is also considerable variation in the terminology that is used worldwide to describe this activity. In addition to the linguistic variation between US English (counseling) and British English (counseling), there is also a range of alternate terms that are in common use. These include career guidance; career coaching; guidance counseling; personal guidance; career consulting and a range of related terminologies. This frequently leads writers and commentators to combine multiple terms e.g. career guidance and counseling to be inclusive. However, care should be exercised when moving from one terminology to another as each term has its own history and cultural significance.
A key alternate terminology is 'career guidance'. This term is sometimes used as a synonym for career counseling, but can also be used to describe a broader range of interventions beyond one-to-one counseling
Challenges
One of the major challenges associated with career counseling is encouraging participants to engage in the process. For example, in the UK 70% of people under 14 say they have had no career advice while 45% of people over 14 have had no or very poor/limited advice.In a related issue some client groups tend to reject the interventions made by professional career counselors preferring to rely on the advice of peers or superiors within their own profession.
Solutions by Global Technologies Solutions
Career Coaches use a solution-oriented approach to assist and inform any person who is in need of career advice. In other words, they help people define, redefine, and achieve their professional objectives and other work-related goals.
For instance, Career Coaches can help people figure out what kind of job they’re looking for or help them plan a new career path. They can also give people advice on their current work situation (whether they are freelancers, employees, or executives), helping them develop or improve their stress management skills and their leadership and interpersonal skills, including conflict-management skills and self-confidence.
When working within an organization, Career Coaches help with staff training and development, role transitions, and employment-related issues. However, these professionals usually work on their own, implying they’ve started their own business—and can help others do so. They are, therefore, of great help to entrepreneurs who are seeking some mentoring. In addition, Career Coaches sometimes offer career services to employers, such as workshops and other forms of corporate coaching.
Career Coaches are not to be confused with Guidance Counsellors, the latter having to deal specifically with students and usually assisting them with their academic paths rather than their career paths.
Our Primary Responsibilities
Career coaching is a highly diverse field. As explained above, coaches can work outside, within, or for an organization. The client’s needs and the Career Coach’s tasks will vary accordingly. However, the core coaching process remains almost the same in all cases and involves, but is not limited to, the following tasks:
1. Meeting up with clients to learn about their academic and professional background, as well as their aspirations and goals:
#Identifying clients’ skills, needs, difficulties, and opportunities;
#using specialized tools, such as vocational tests, to determine their client’s interests and skills;
#assisting their clients to find career opportunities by researching the market.
2. Giving tips and recommendations to their client on how to keep a job and scale up their career ladder.
3. Advising employers on human resources and other employment-related issues:
#Optimizing efficiency and profitability, improving the work environment, increasing overall satisfaction; and
#establishing measurable goals, tracking performance and creating reports.
4. Helping clients with the job-seeking process:
#Reviewing and suggesting improvements to enhance résumés and cover letters;
#providing interview preparation, including performing mock interviews; and
#providing information on networking best practices both online and face-to-face.
5. Offering concrete tools and discussing strategies to improve leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills, stress management, self-confidence, and conflict-management skills.
6. Identifying the needs of their client and recommending assistance in areas such as finance, or health.
7. Presenting workshops and/or webinars.
Daily Tasks
#Offering support in professional development by identifying clients’ goals and helping them work toward achieving them.
#Identifying clients’ skills and helping them improve these skills or develop new ones.
#Assisting clients during the job searching process by providing them with interview preparation and résumés/cover letters advice.
#Facilitating conflict resolution by helping the client develop emotional intelligence.
#Networking and maintaining relationships to actively promote career opportunities.
What is career coaching?
Career coaching is a sector that has grown exponentially in the last decade.
The goal of career coaching is to empower professionals by helping them make informed decisions about their trajectory. It’s a solution-based approach to career decisions.
Career coaches focus on results, actions, and accountability. They start right where the client is “now”. Most commonly, they use Skype or telephone calls to interact with their clients, which enlarges the audience they can reach out to.
Career coaching can be done at any point during the work-life of a professional. It can go from finding a student job at the very beginning of your career, building a new CV, negotiating specific conditions, guiding you towards your next career step or transition, or even retiring.
Career coaching will give you the methodology and mindset to make smart professional decisions and find your sweet spot – i.e. which opportunities exist, what you are good at, and what you want from life.
What are the benefits of career coaching?
Career coaching is valuable in many ways. Here, we tried to sum up the three main benefits:
1. You get personalized, expert advice that is tailored to your specific situation.
Career coaching will give you the tools to refine your next career step and set out a clear path towards success. Your coach will give you the key to assess your current career situation, identify your strengths and weaknesses as well as your differentiating factors, identify potential skills gaps, and recommend actions to fill them.
2. You dedicate time to focus on your career.
It’s very common among professionals to have the desire to revisit their career and take on new challenges, but most fail to make time to work on it due to their daily routine. With a career coach you will have well-defined, realistic goals, and a clear action plan, which will make it easier to organize yourself and work towards your career objectives.
3. You get to test new ideas and messages in a safe environment.
Career coaching is a fantastic opportunity to test and improve your pitch. Alongside an expert, you will be able to craft a compelling story that resonates with recruiters and address potential pitfalls in mock interviews. You will gain the confidence needed to build smart and convincing strategies to prove you’re the best candidate for the role.
How much does it cost to hire a career coach?
That is an important question. Let’s prepare a budget. Normally, the fees charged by career coaches range from $100-500 for a two-hour session.
It will depend on the coach but the sessions are usually paid up front. The price is generally set after a free initial diagnostic session. To assess your needs, this call will also help you get a feel for the coach and their methods before deciding whether or not you want to continue.
What not to expect from a career coaching program?
A career coach is a facilitator not a fortune teller. Don’t expect your career coach to tell you what to do with your life. They will give you the keys to discover what you want. Use them as a guide and mentor to make long-lasting changes in your professional life, position yourself for success, and make the most out of your skills and knowledge in order to meet your career goals. Be accountable for your career decisions.
Don’t expect your career coach to do everything for you. Of course, you need to listen to your career coach’s advice and learn from their tips, but more than an observant you are a doer in this process. Let the collaboration flow. Coaching does not work unless you do. Your coach won’t come with you to interviews, nor will they find you a job or rewrite your CV every time you need to update it. Your coach will assist you with your career challenges and job application process but won’t do it for you. Be prepared to take action!
Don’t expect to not be challenged by your career coach. Your coach will make sure your career project is solid by challenging your initial ideas. They will do it until you really feel comfortable with your next career step. It is important to question your goal to make it consistent. Be open to challenges!
What to expect from career coaching?
Once you decide to take some career coaching, it is good to set objectives and have clear expectations of what you want versus what you will get from it. So, what should you expect from a career coaching program?
From a good career coaching service, you should develop the tools and methodologies to solve any conflict or doubt regarding your career. In general terms and depending on the program objective, after going through a career coaching program, you should be able to:
*Find your sweet spot
*Gain career confidence and inspiration
*Be able to pitch yourself in a compelling manner
*Know your next career step and how to work towards it
*Be able to highlight your strengths and minimize your weaknesses
So now you know about career coaching, what you can expect from it, and that you need some support. Next you need to know how to find a good career coach. You can reach us with contact numbers below on Whatsapp.
