Making a Career of Career Counseling

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

If you can answer this question not only for yourself, but for friends, family, neighbors, and random people at the bus stop, chances are a career in career counseling might be for you. Even if career-change literature isn't piled up on your nightstand, you might be a likely candidate to become a career counselor. If you've recently made a career change and found yourself unexpectedly engaged by the process, or if you're just a natural matchmaker, as a career counselor you can use your passion to help people recognize their talents and reach their career goals.

Career Counseling Job Responsibilities

Also known as "vocational counselors" or "employment counselors," career counselors spend most of their time with people. They help their clients understand how their personalities and natural aptitudes and interests might combine with their education, work history and available job opportunities to put them on the path toward a satisfying career.

Daily responsibilities might include the following:

• Helping clients define job and career goals
• Administering and evaluating personality and job aptitude tests
• Helping clients develop job search and interviewing skills
• Finding job opportunities or training opportunities for clients
• Providing emotional support for those who have experienced job loss or are otherwise making stressful transitions

With a master's degree in mental health counseling, psychological counseling or community counseling, you can be a career counselor.

Rising Demand for Career Counselors

Once you become a career counselor, you might work for a government-run employment service agency, at a community college or school offering adult education programs, or for a private job-training center.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "demand for vocational or career counselors should grow as multiple job and career changes become common for workers and as workers become increasingly aware of the counselors' services." What's more, "state and local governments will employ growing numbers of counselors to assist beneficiaries of welfare programs who exhaust their eligibility and must find jobs."

Taking the Leap & Becoming a Career Counselor

If you're a naturally helpful person, chances are you spend hours each day talking with people close to you, listening to their problems and helping them figure out how to move forward with their lives. With the demand for career counselors steadily increasing, if you happen to also be the sort of person who scans the "Help Wanted" ads the way some people eat candy, takes every personality test known to man (and has to resist the urge to put the results on your refrigerator), and isn't daunted by the prospect of spending eight hours a day in conversation, it might be time to consider a career change of your own.