How does recruiting and career counseling differ?
I am thinking about becoming a Licensed Professional Counselor so that I may specialize in career counseling. Originally, I wanted to be a career coach, but figured that specializing in other areas makes me more marketable. My main goal is to assist people with career knowledge and help them find jobs, should I look into Human Resources/recruiting as an alternative? #career #career-counseling #career-choice #career-path #human-resources #recruiting
4 answers
LaShona Patton-Jones, MS,TKP
LaShona’s Answer
In Career Counseling you are helping to build the person and educating the potential employer at the same time. As a Recruiter you don't build the candidate's skill level. Most candidates being recruited have demonstrated some level of skill.
Chris’s Answer
Recruiters are paid to fill job openings
Career Counselors are just that- they counsel and work with clients on developing a career path in line with their career aspirations and goals...
You will be far more impactful on people's lives as Career Counselor/Coach then as a recruiter...
Chris
Ken’s Answer
Hi Mounia!
You are asking about two important areas that are somewhat related, but may not been in the same career area.
After graduating in Human Relations, I participated in recruiting as a part of my job. I recruited employees locally and did college recruiting trips, but that was not the major part of my job, as you will find in many companies. The majority of my job dealt with employee relations, which too much of the time dealt with conflict resolution - a part that I had tried to ignore while in college but really detracted from my enjoyment of the job.
As Human Relations is the first area to experience lay offs when times are bad, and the last to get rehired, when things are getting better, I found myself becoming a pro at looking for and acquiring jobs - as I was able to look at the process from both sides of the desk.
Once when I was participating in the search for a job, I heard of a social service organization that wanted someone to set up a reemployment program for people who were out of work. After making a presentation, I set up the program and ran it for 8 years, during which time I helped many people to get back into appropriate jobs. A very important part I inserted into my program was a depression screening at the beginning, as many people needed counseling before being ready to look for employment, as depression was killing their interviews.
Currently, I am involved in a large counseling organizations where I provide support to our therapists and staff.
After the depression screening, I had people complete a set of interest and aptitude exercises to confirm their career track, or identify a more appropriate one. This is where I would like to start with you. Here are some exercises that will help you to learn more about yourself:
https://www.themuse.com/advice/14-free-personality-tests-thatll-help-you-figure-yourself-out
If you are interested in pursuing counseling, here is a good link to read:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marjorie-hansen-shaevitz/post_9154_b_6865002.html
What I have found out about career counseling is that the people who need it the most cannot afford to pay for it, so there are non-profit organizations such the ones in these links to provide such services:
http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/socialservices/employmentassistance/
https://www.dllr.state.md.us/county/bacity/
Some of our counselors provide career counseling as a part of the counseling services that they provide. The majority of our clients come to us for services paid by their insurance companies, and insurance will not pay for career counseling as a separate service.
Let me know if and how this might help. Keep me posted. I would like to follow your progress.
Debra’s Answer
You don't have to be a licensed CLINICAL counselor to be a career counselor. As a licensed clinical counselor, you would certainly be more marketable. To be a licensed professional counselor -a clinical counselor - you will need to complete at least a Master's degree...and in some cases a PhD. And there are different kinds of counseling programs... from a degree in school counseling (k-12) to a degree in higher education counseling (college) to degrees in Counseling Psychology which is probably what you're thinking of. The APA - American Psychological Association has good info on the different types of counseling and specifically tells you the difference between clinical counseling and psychological counseling. helping people with career counseling is something that happens in different settings.. so think about the setting you want to work in and with what population of people. High school students? College students? Adults not in an educational setting? etc. Here are some links you may want to check out:
APA: http://www.div17.org/about-cp/what-is-counseling-psychology/
Careers in Psychology: http://careersinpsychology.org/start-your-career-counseling-career/
You can also look into the different kinds of certifications and licensures which are handled by the individual states