Career
counseling, career guidance and career coaching are
similar in nature to other types of counseling or coaching, e.g.
marriage or psychological counseling. What unites all types of professional
counseling is the role of practitioners, who combine giving advice on their
topic of expertise with counseling techniques that support clients in making
complex decisions and facing difficult situations. The focus of career
counseling is generally on issues such as career exploration, career
change, personal career development and other career related issues.
There is no agreed definition of career counseling worldwide,
mainly due to conceptual, cultural and linguistic differences.This even affects
the most central term counseling (or:counselling in
British English) which is often substituted with the word guidance as
in career guidance. For example, in the UK, career
counseling would usually be referred to ascareers advice or guidance.
Due to the widespread reference to both career guidance and career
counseling among policy-makers, academics and practitioners around the
world, references to career guidance and counselling are
becoming common.
Professional career counselors can support people with
career-related challenges. Through their expertise in career development and
labor markets, they can put a person’s qualifications, experience, strengths
and weakness in a broad perspective while also considering their desired
salary, personal hobbies and interests, location, job market and educational
possibilities. Through their counseling and teaching abilities, career
counselors can additionally support people in gaining a better understanding of
what really matters for them personally, how they can plan their careers
autonomously, or help them in making tough decisions and getting through times
of crisis. Finally, career counselors are often capable of supporting their
clients in finding suitable placements/ jobs, in working out conflicts with
their employers, or finding the support of other helpful services.
It is due to these various benefits of career counseling that
policy makers in many countries publicly fund guidance services. For example,
the European Union understands career guidance and counseling as an instrument
to effectively combat social exclusion and increase citizens’
employability.