My experience has shown that there are many valid reasons for a career change. Some of these may include:
(a) Unhappiness in their current job/profession
(b) Poor or no previous professional career guidance
(c) Stumbled into a job role they thought would be meaningful
(d) Few employment options due to a lack of further training
(e) Illness, stress or injury
(f) Retirement or redundancy
(g) Boredom
(h) Needing a change or a new focus on life
(i) Chosen the wrong course at university or TAFE.
There are obviously many many more reasons than the ones listed. Every person I see in this position has their story to tell. Listening to that story carefully and taking a case history helps me to understand the person and where they are coming from to reach this point in life.
This narrative allows me to see patterns that have emerged over time and provides me with insightful information to provide links to viable and purposeful alternative pathways to a new career. Some may argue that it’s all guess work and the process may not be any better than you going to the pub with your friends (who already know you well) and asking them to guess some new career roles for you. The difference between a professional career counsellor and your friends is that career counsellors are trained to see the links and patterns. We do this for a living and we are objective and so is our advice. There is no emotional attachment and therefore our advice is well considered and calculated based on our extensive experience, our training, theory, knowledge of the job/training market etc.
As a career counsellor my advice is also based on psychological science. There are many tools at my disposal to help engage and understand a client’s vocational needs and values. Vocational assessment is one tool that has shown to be quite accurate in assessing one’s vocational profile. Such a tool can narrow in on some very profound data that can help in making some very important decisions for the future.
(a) Unhappiness in their current job/profession
(b) Poor or no previous professional career guidance
(c) Stumbled into a job role they thought would be meaningful
(d) Few employment options due to a lack of further training
(e) Illness, stress or injury
(f) Retirement or redundancy
(g) Boredom
(h) Needing a change or a new focus on life
(i) Chosen the wrong course at university or TAFE.
There are obviously many many more reasons than the ones listed. Every person I see in this position has their story to tell. Listening to that story carefully and taking a case history helps me to understand the person and where they are coming from to reach this point in life.
This narrative allows me to see patterns that have emerged over time and provides me with insightful information to provide links to viable and purposeful alternative pathways to a new career. Some may argue that it’s all guess work and the process may not be any better than you going to the pub with your friends (who already know you well) and asking them to guess some new career roles for you. The difference between a professional career counsellor and your friends is that career counsellors are trained to see the links and patterns. We do this for a living and we are objective and so is our advice. There is no emotional attachment and therefore our advice is well considered and calculated based on our extensive experience, our training, theory, knowledge of the job/training market etc.
As a career counsellor my advice is also based on psychological science. There are many tools at my disposal to help engage and understand a client’s vocational needs and values. Vocational assessment is one tool that has shown to be quite accurate in assessing one’s vocational profile. Such a tool can narrow in on some very profound data that can help in making some very important decisions for the future.