6 Benefits of Receiving Career Counseling to Get the Job You Want

Are you looking for a new job, or wanting to transfer to one in another field? Do you need more confidence and help in finding the right position and presenting yourself in a job interview, in order to get hired for your ideal position?

You may want to consult with a career counselor, to help you in your job search journey. Here are 6 ways a career counselor can help you get the position that you are looking for:

Interest and Skills Assessments: career counselors often have tests you can take to assess your level of interest in different types of work, as well as what skills you already have, that can be of use in certain types of positions.

Putting together your resume: career counselors have a lot of experience with knowing what potential employers are looking for in a resume. They can help you design it, whether stressing your past experience, skills, time at different positions, or other factors. They can even help you write different resumes for different types of positions or fields, if they are unrelated to each other.

Researching potential positions: career counselors are often expert at looking up potential positions in your field. They are familiar with many job search engines, companies, and organizations that have jobs which are related to the type of position for which you are looking.

Job Applications: career counselors are often knowledgeable about how to best fill out job applications. They can help you organize your information, including employment history, references, and relatable skills. They can also assist you in what type of information you may want to include, or exclude, on an application, in order to put your best foot forward.

Interview techniques: a career counselor can assist you in presenting yourself well during an interview. He or she can give you tips on being confident and professional in your appearance, and using positive body language to come across well.

Interview practice: one thing that a career counselor can help with that you can’t do by yourself, is practicing interviews. He or she can act as a potential employer, and ask questions that might be given in an actual interview. One major benefit, is being able to video the practice session, to see how you appear and respond during it.

So where can you find a free career counselor to help you? If you are a student or recent college graduate, you can turn to your school’s career advisement office.  The university you graduated from may also have a career services office for alumni. You may also try local social services nonprofit agencies to see if they have career counseling.

The U.S. Department of Labor runs a variety of American Job Centers, or AJCs (formerly called One-Stop Career Centers). AJCs provide free career counseling, employment workshops, networking events and more. Find your local AJC here.

In addition, here are some other options, which include a paid private career counselor.

If you feel like doing a lot of this work on your own, you can find a lot of help and resources for the above mentioned benefits at CareerOneStop.

For more help on your career search, you can find information on the career life area page of this website.