There are many ineffective career counselors. That’s unfortunate because they give the whole profession a bad name. It reminds me of my days as an attorney. Routinely, someone at a dinner party would make a joke about the ethics of lawyers. Not all lawyers are unethical and not all career counselors are ineffective.
The ones that are ineffective are really counselor-therapists who decided to add “career counseling” as a service. Most are well-meaning people with good intentions. Past clients have come to them for therapy and part of the reason for their misery was their job/career. The counselor may have been effective in helping their clients deal with anxiety/depression and other psychological issues related to their job/career but, from what I’ve observed, rarely helped the client with the practical work of finding a new career path. While this may be an overstatement, most therapists do not know that much about different industries, jobs, the new world of work etc. They – as a generality – are not suited to give practical advice.
A few years back, a therapist in the New Haven area approached me about joining Career Counseling Connecticut. I tend to root for whomever interviews for us but it soon became clear that she had no business giving career advice to anyone. Whether she effectively gave life advice was not even clear but her expertise was in the emotional, not the practical world.
My approach is the opposite. I know how to help people figure out a more suitable career path and get on that path. Indirectly, I know my clients are comforted – and thus their anxiety/depression are alleviated – but the focus is on the practical.
If you want to treat the symptom (anxiety/sadness), see a therapist.
If you want to treat the disease (mismatched job/career), come see Career Counseling Connecticut.