Career Councellor Info Interview
Question:
I am a recent graduate of Career Practitioner Training program, and I am having difficulty getting any interviews. I have been trying to do informational interviews with prospective employers, but as you know everyone is busy. I have come to realize that the employment counselling field is a very tight fit, and it is difficult getting into. Do you have any suggestions what else I can do to get interviews. In addition to my certificate in Career Counselling I have a 2 year diploma in Substance Abuse Counselling and a Life Skills Coach Certificate. Thank you, Valerie.
Answer:
Thanks for your question, Valerie. You’re right: it’s not as easy as taking some training to break into a new profession, especially one where long term experience and broad expertise are so critical to success. In my experience, it tends to be the “Job Club”-style employers who hire recent grads of career practitioner programs to deliver group services, and more corporate practices prefer advanced degrees, 10-15 years of senior level career experience enhanced by professional development in performance-centred counseling or executive coaching to deliver one-on-one career development. Consider carefully your own values and the kind of work you want to do, take an honest assessment of your qualifications, and research carefully the demographics served by each employer with whom you would seek to develop a relationship. The spectrum between helping youth at-risk or the systemically entrenched unemployed and doing advanced leadership skills and career management is very broad and includes a wide range of options in between. Your resume, telephone approach, level of conversation and personal appearance will need to be quite different from one to another for you to feel like a fit to the employer.
I’m somewhat dismayed that you have not had results to requests for brief meetings: if you are coming at it from the perspective of “looking for work,” I can see people putting you off if they are not actively hiring. But if you are making clear that you would take just a few minutes of time to seek some advice and insight from someone more experienced, I’m disappointed to think that people in our industry, preachers of the value of networking, are not practicing the openness and accessibility you deserve.
Minto Roy
President
CareersToday Canada
www.careerstodaycanada.com
www.mintoroy.net