How to Hire a Career Counselor

Has your career reached a turning point? Are you miserable in your job or looking for strategic routes to climb the corporate ladder? Do you need to conduct a job search? Career counselors are especially effective at providing assistance to people whose careers are in transition.

Things You'll Need

• Recommendations

Instructions

1. Ask job placement centers for recommendations and call them.

2. Find out what the fees are and what services are offered. Will you be taking any self-assessment tests? Will the counselor help you polish your job-hunting skills and build up your network? Do you need to work on communicating more effectively to be more successful in your current job?

3. Find out if the counselor specializes in a particular industry. It may be pointless to hire someone unfamiliar with your field.

4. Ask about credentials. To be called a career counselor you must have a master's degree in counseling with a specialty in career counseling. How many years of experience does yours have? What kind of clients has he or she worked with? Has the counselor published any books? Ask for and call references.

5. Develop realistic time frames to accomplish the goals you've set.

6. Take self-assessment tests and personality inventories as your counselor directs. Fill out any questionnaires that will help identify and clarify your values. Your counselor will show you how the results relate to your career and how to maximize your strengths.

7. Follow your counselor's guidance and explore career options, develop strategies, gather information, hone your communication skills, and much more.

Tips & Warnings

• Some nonprofit organizations, such as the public library or YWCA, schedule short, low-cost career guidance seminars that can be a great way to determine if you really need to hire a counselor on your own.

• If a career counselor asks you to take the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, find someone else to work with. MMPI is used to assess personality and mental illness.