Getting the right support for your career

Simon Broomer of CareerBalance, a qualified career professional, explains the options available and gives his expert view.

Career coaching, career counselling, career advice or career guidance? What’s the difference?
As the professional world evolves, the careers industry has become bigger and more complex, and there is an ongoing debate among career professionals about what phrases like “career coaching” and “career counselling” really mean.  So let’s start by defining our terms.

Career advice and guidance are closely related terms.  Career advice is more directive, and involves making recommendations to an individual for roles that might be suitable for them. Career guidance tends to mean providing information on options rather than direct recommendations. Advice and guidance are usually suitable for someone who is still in full-time education, or is about the enter the job market.

Career counselling involves working with a client in a more in-depth way, and over a longer period, to understand their strengths, needs, personality and goals - inside and outside their careers. Career coaching and career counselling are often interchangeable terms for a similar process. In my view the term career coaching means supporting you to do your own research into alternative careers and organisations, to make decisions and to increase your effectiveness in marketing their strengths to potential employers, and in finding and securing a new opportunity.

What’s right for you?
This will depend on where you are in your career and the nature of the decisions you face. Careers advice and guidance will tend to suit young people still in full-time education or the early stages of their careers: people who may as yet be unaware of their true strengths and potential, and of the careers available to them. Career guidance is usually completed over one or two sessions. You’ll get information about different careers, sectors and organisations. Guidance might also involve completion of and feedback on aptitude tests and interest questionnaires. 

Career coaching and counselling are better suited to those whose careers are already underway.  They may want support in progressing more quickly, to identify new career options, additional training or qualifications, or to make a change in career direction. For example, you may have reached a point where your career path leads into management, and you are in a dilemma about taking the next step. This can often occur with scientists and technicians devoted to highly specialist work who have already built a professional reputation in their field.

A personal approach
Career counselling and coaching are more in-depth than advice or guidance.  The counsellor or coach will be looking to build a deeper relationship with and a greater understanding of their client. In short, it’s more about you: your skills, your personality, your needs from your career, your aspirations and what’s important to you in your life now.

Coaching and counselling are also good for people who want to resolve issues around their performance, their happiness at work, or changing the way they work, e.g. by moving into part-time work, going freelance or setting up their own business. 

What are the benefits?
Whether you choose advice, guidance, coaching or counselling, the main advantage of talking to a qualified careers professional is information.  A good consultant will be able to give you insight into industries and roles you simply hadn’t thought about, or had dismissed because you thought they weren’t suitable.  Finding out the lay of the land is especially valuable if you’re fresh out of university or you’ve been in the same organisation for a while.

The second big advantage is knowing how to find the opportunities that will suit you, including help in ‘selling’ yourself.  Navigating your way through job web sites, recruitment consultants, newspaper advertisements and career sections of company web sites can be a very time-consuming and thankless task. A good career coach will point you in the right direction and steer you though the ‘job market jungle’. Your job search also a ‘self-marketing’ campaign; you need to bring your skills, expertise and qualifications to the attention of potential employers.  An experienced career consultant will ensure you do this in the right way – in your CV and application forms, in your conversations with recruiters, and in job interviews.

Finally and most importantly, going to a consultant can mean more long-term happiness and stability at work. A well-informed career decision will help you fulfil your potential, achieve greater job satisfaction, earn a better salary, and gain the ongoing personal and professional development you need to remain employable.

When is the right time?
Changes in technology, organisations and the global economy all mean that careers are changing fast. Whether you like it or not, a “job for life” is a thing of the past. Many of us will make at least three significant career changes during our working lives, so regular reviews are essential. At CareerBalance, we encourage our clients to review their career progression regularly. How have you developed? What new skills and knowledge do you want to acquire? Have your career goals changed?

We are glad to see the Government is echoing this approach with the proposal of a new All Age Careers Service for the UK. Whether this new body will get the levels of funding it needs to succeed is another matter.  In the meantime, individuals may be best advised to take matters into their own hands and seek out the right career professional to support them in their career.