Career Counseling

Career Counselling and career coaching are similar in nature to traditional counselling (Kim, Li, Lian, 2002); however, the focus is generally on issues such as career exploration, career change, personal career development and other career related issues (Swanson, 1995). Typically when people come for career counselling they know exactly what they want to get out of the process, but are unsure about how it will work (Galassi, Crace, Martin, James, and Wallace, 1992).

Career counsellors work with people from all walks of life such as adolescents looking to explore career options or with experienced professionals looking for a career change. Career counsellors typically have a background in psychology, vocational psychology, or industrial/organizational psychology (Swanson & Parcover, 1998).

The approach of career counselling varies by practitioner, but generally they include the completion of one or more assessments (Swanson & Parcover, 1998). These assessments typically include: interest inventories, cognitive ability tests, and personality assessments.