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 A number of vocational counseling degrees can enable you to guide a wide variety of people in achieving their career and educational goals. A vocational counselor—which can also be referred to as a career, educational or employment counselor—typically has completed a master's degree as well as the relevant state licensing or certification. After graduation, your skills set will derive from a substantial base of knowledge. Here is a glimpse of what many vocational counseling degrees at the masters level will prepare you to do, and what you'll learn while earning that degree.  What Does a Vocational Counselor Do? As a vocational counselor, your role is both teacher and advisor. After completing a vocational counseling degree, you'll help people decide on a career path and teach them how to pursue it. Your clients could range from students in school to those transitioning to a new vocation. By guiding them to pinpoint their abilities, aspirations and career goals, you are helping people understand themselves better and be proactive in finding satisfying—and profitable—work. You might use use different methods or tests to reveal a person's interests, skills and personality (such as the Holland Code or the Myers-Briggs Analogy Test). Once you have a clear assessment, you can link your client's interests to specific fields. You can also help your clients improve their résumés, set up practice or informational interviews and hunt for prospective employers. Although you assist your clients, your job is to encourage them to take ownership and initiative for their own job search. A vocational counselor knows how to identify a client's abilities, but also what skills the job market is demanding. You need to know the skills required for a vast array of jobs, how much these vocations pay, and what hiring managers in these fields want to see in potential candidates. There are various work settings in which you might work as a vocational counselor, such as a high school, college or university, or your own private practice. You might also work in programs found in rehabilitation centers or in local and state government (such as in unemployment or welfare departments). You would likely have your own office in which to meet privately with clients or groups. What Can Vocational Counseling Degrees Teach Me? If you are considering vocational counseling degrees at the master's level, the training you'll acquire will likely include study areas that the National Career Development Association identifies as minimum competencies. The NCDA considers the knowledge and skills of these areas to be beyond those of a "generalist counselor." The competencies include: - Career Development Theory
- Individual and Group Counseling Skills
- Individual/Group Assessment
- Information/Resources
- Program Management and Implementation
- Consultation
- Diverse Populations
- Supervision
- Ethical/Legal Issues
- Research/Evaluation
- Technology
Prospects for a Career With a Vocational Counseling Degree Due to the economic climate and number of people returning to school or in career transition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the employment outlook for vocational counselors to be very good—a faster-than-average increase of 14 percent between 2008 and 2018. Find the program right for you by researching vocational counseling degrees now!  Find a Psychology School Today—Getting Your Psychology Degree is One Step Away! |
