Career counselor
- your ally and partner

What qualifications do career counselors have?

In Australia, members of the Career Development Association of Australia (formerly known as the Australian Association of Career Counsellors) possess a university degree plus specific experience in a related field, such as teaching, HR and psychology. Professional members of CDAA also have qualifications or training in career development, or significant work experience in the field.

When is it helpful to seek career guidance?

Here are some situations where career guidance would be useful.

You are not making as much progress in your career as you'd like. You don't like admitting it but you are feeling stuck.

You've been made redundant.

You are restless and thinking of a midlife career change.

What career guidance is

The job of a career counselor or career advisor is to draw out what is already in you and to provide feedback and guidance at various points of your career journey.

To help him achieve this, he has a variety of career guidance tools and assessments at his disposal. These may comprise psychometric tests, career exercises that you work through with the help of your adviser, and self-assessment tools where you score your own answers using the explanation notes provided.

Which tool(s) your career advisor recommends would depend on what your particular situation requires.

Your career advisor may also offer training in specific areas that both of you agree you need to work on, for example:

• negotiation tactics (a must-know if you want a salary increase!)


• decision making tips


• how to identify your transferable skills
• how to write a career change resume, particularly if you are entering a different industry or vocation.

A career advisor may work with you one on one, by telephone, by email or a combination of these methods. Decide what method is most comfortable for you so that you get the most benefit out of your sessions and are motivated to improve your career situation.

What career guidance is not

A young lady complained to me that her school's careers advisor was "totally useless".

She'd made an appointment to see the advisor without taking time to think through what she wanted to do with her life. She expected the advisor to tell her what careers might suit her. When the careers advisor suggested various pathways to further education or training that my acquaintance might like to explore, the young lady got angry.

The young lady had mistaken career guidance with being told what to do. This is not what career guidance is.

Career counseling is the process by which you discover how to integrate your life values and life purpose with the work you do daily.

But you have to invest the time and effort to find out what your purpose and values are and, through your own work of reflection and discovery as well as guidance from your career advisor, decide what work best fits these fundamentals.

No one can do this work for you.

Career Coaching vs Career Counseling: What's The Difference?

The main difference between coaching and counseling is that a coach focuses on what you can do about your situation now and how you can do better in the future. A coach works with individuals who are ready to make changes in their lives.

A counselor analyzes the past to help you understand why you are in your situation and what might have brought it about.

Beyond that, I am of the view that you would be equally served whether you see a career coach or a career counselor. What's more important is that you find the right person to work with and commit to making the most of your opportunity to transform and revitalize your career situation.

More Career Resources

Benefits of career counseling
What career planning is and why you need to do it
Life coaching FAQs



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