What are alternatives to becoming a career coach/career counselor?

Workforce Development Specialist.
That's my official title. I work in a state workforce office, helping people find jobs. This means I help them with resume writing and interview skills, but also sometimes have to provide encouragement and help them to address some of life's other problems. It's rewarding, but, working for the government, it does not pay well. There are also private contractors who do the same thing, and they get paid considerably better. Most of the people here have at least some college education, however, at least for now, it is not required. I would expect for this to change over time. There are other positions similar to this working at the colleges and universities, as most of them have"career placement offices."

Hope this helps!
Kim

Hello Mounia:

The Career Consultants who had provided you advice have done a great job in giving you perspectives to differentiate between the two.

Like me, I was a Career Counselor in higher educational setting servicing diverse student population in a two-year college. The Career Services is one of the most important resources of every school that every student should be aware of and utilize. The department usually provides tools, materials, services, and resources, either online or physically, that will assist job search. My duties included career assessments of students actively looking for jobs, either part time or full time.
Moreover, employer-building that can connect the students' field of programs is one of my most challenging tasks that I do. This means that, in view of compliance in GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT (place students in in-field or related field with satisfactory salary after graduation), we work diligently to expand our job bank and book of contacts that will open opportunities for the students' employment opportunities.
Career Coaching is one of the components of being a Career Counselor. Well, at least on the tasks that I used to perform, I also provide workshops to students of the college (and to participants of a workforce development company) so that they will be job ready or job-interview ready. This means that I helped (coach) them build their resume from scratch, boost their morale, do "mock interview", coached them to ace their interview, facilitated them to community resources for business attire, workshops on "LinkedIn 101" and the like.

Other alternatives to become any of the two will be: A. STUDENT COUNSELOR, B. HR ASSISTANT, C. JOB DEVELOPER, D. CAREER ADVISOR, E. RECRUITER, F. ACADEMIC OR STUDENT ADVISOR. Again, it all depends on what you are passionate about and the goal that you would want to achieve. There will be a lot of challenges in your pursuit of any of these careers. The one positive result is PERSONAL GRATIFICATION AND ACHIEVEMENT to HELP OTHERS AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THEIR LIVES.

Being a Career Consultant for CareerVillage.Org, I feel, takes me to the functions of Career Coaching as well a Career Counselor, depending on the type of questions that was posed to me. One thing I know, I feel good in servicing you and others seeking advice like yours.

I hope this will help. I wish you the best of luck!
Ms. Maria

Hi,

Coaching can take place face to face, both one to one and in small groups, or it can be delivered at a distance by telephone, Skype, email or instant messaging, with access to our wide range of downloadable Internet resources.

Different types of coaching
Coaching can be used for various purposes.

Performance coaching. Coaching activities here are aimed at enhancing an individual’s performance in their current role at work, to increase their effectiveness and productivity at work. Generally, performance coaching derives its theoretical underpinnings and models from business and sports psychology as well as general psychological theory.

Skills coaching. This form of coaching focuses on the core skills an employee needs to perform in their role. Skills coaching provides a flexible, adaptive, ‘just-in-time’ approach to skills development. Coaching programmes are tailored specifically to the individual and are generally focused on achieving a number of skill development objectives that are linked to the needs of the organisation.

Career Coaching. Coaching activities focus on the individual’s career concerns, with the coach eliciting and using feedback on the individual’s capabilities as part of a discussion of career options. The process should lead to increased clarity, personal change and forward action.

Personal or life coaching. This form of coaching provides support to individuals wishing to make some form of significant changes happen within their lives. Coaches help individuals to explore what they want in life and how they might achieve their aspirations and fulfil their needs.

Personal/life coaching generally takes the individual’s agenda as its start point.

Business coaching. Business coaching is always conducted within the constraints placed on the individual or group by the organisational context.

Executive coaching: One to one performance coaching is increasingly being recognised as the way for organisations and individuals to improve performance. By improving the performance of the most influential people within the organisation, the theory goes that business results should improve. Executive coaching is often delivered by coaches operating from outside the organisation whose services are requested for an agreed duration or number of coaching sessions.

Team facilitation: Coaching in its role as facilitator is particularly valuable during the budget and strategy planning season. And coaching a team before a presentation can dramatically improve performance – as well as self confidence.

Work shadowing: As well as being a means of identifying an individual's behaviour and performance, work shadowing is an excellent method of getting immediate feedback on behaviour, with a discussion of alternative ways of handling future such situations.

http://www.brefigroup.co.uk/coaching/types_of_coaching.html

How do I become a coach / mentor?

First:

Decide what sort of coach or mentor you plan to be and what you can bring to this role. Options include setting up your own business as a business or personal (life) coach / mentor, taking an internal coach / mentor role within a business or working in the voluntary sector.
Consider what will make you a great coach or mentor and how your skills, experience and expertise will differentiate you from other coaches or mentors.
Identify what additional skills and frameworks you need and complete appropriate training, as required.
For more information download our Help Guide: Becoming a coach / mentor

Then, if you plan to offer your services commercially without joining an existing company or practice:

Set up as a business, partnership or as self-employed. Seek advice from an accountant or business advisor if you are unsure which route to take.
Develop a business plan which includes your target market, business proposition, marketing and sales plan and financial goals.
What training do I need?

There are many different options for coach and mentor training and Continuing Professional Development(CPD). Courses range from introductory short courses to advanced programmes leading to Masters or Doctorates. As well as content level, training providers vary in terms of delivery methods and style so it's important to find the course which both matches your personal learning style and will best equip you for the market you want to work in. Whether or not you will need specialist coach or mentor training before becoming a coach or mentor will depend on your existing core skills, professional qualifications and experience of people and organisation development.

Download our free Help Guide: What training do I need?

http://www.coachingnetwork.org.uk/become-a-coachmentor.aspx

Good luck in your decisions!!

Hi Mounia!

That is a great question.

A career counselor and a career coach are not the same.

A career counselor is one who does much work like we volunteers do here at CareerVillage. See this page:
https://www.careervillage.org/about/

Career counseling is about helping a person recognize their interests, personality traits, and aptitudes that correspond with various career areas and assist them with the exploration of those career areas to find a match that will bring satisfaction and fulfillment to their work life.

A career coach is a person who acts somewhat like a tour guide helping someone through their career after the work mentioned above is done.

To find out which one might be most suitable for you, complete the following exercises:
https://www.themuse.com/advice/14-free-personality-tests-thatll-help-you-figure-yourself-out

Career counselors might be found in academic situations or in organizations such as these in the Baltimore area. who are doing work similar to that which we do here at CareerVillage:
http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/socialservices/employmentassistance/
https://www.dllr.state.md.us/county/bacity/

It might be very interesting for you to visit one of these, or both, and talk to them about their application of career counseling.

After spending many years in Human Resources, I had the opportunity to set up and run a program similar to these, where I helped people get back to work after a layoff. Sometimes the task was just to give them the courage to get back on their feet and pursue the same career area, and sometimes the task was to help them to pursue a new career area which was more suitable for their personality, interests, and aptitudes - either way it was very satisfying to help get back to a situation to again make a meaningful contribution to society.

Let me know if and how this might help. Keep me posted. I would like to follow your progress.

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