I have increasingly worked with career counseling clients virtually and, despite the name of our entity, Career Counseling Connecticut, an increasing percentage of our clients have come from other states due to word of mouth from friends in Connecticut.
A client from Greenwich – who understandably did not want to trek up Connecticut’s unpredictable 95 and therefore set up a virtual meeting – asked why there are so few talented career counselors and that he had to find someone outside of Fairfield County, a place that should be filled with career counselors?
Here are some reasons:
(1)There is no college or graduate school track to become a career counselor and even if there was I’m not sure who would enroll.  18 year olds trying to figure out their own careers are not thinking about becoming career counselors.  
(2) Prior to the economic restructuring of the last 15-20 years, most people thought – even if inaccurately – that they would have one career path.  While there were career counselors, the need was not sufficient to draw many people to the field.
(3) The word “counselor” has generally been associated with psychologists. I like my friends who are psychologists. But most do – and should – stay in their lane related to psychological as opposed to practical counseling.  Psychologists who masquerade as career counselors are often the reason why people have bad experiences with career counselors. They usually spend a lot of time on how a person is dealing with the feelings of a present job and not a lot of time concretely figuring out their future career path. I note that there are exceptions.
(4) Career counselors need a lot of work experience to be effective. There are no child (or young adult) career counseling prodigies because experience is needed, not just intelligence. This means that most every career counselor had a prior career before and also means that a lot of potentially great career counselors stay doing whatever it is they chose for their first career. In my case, I started as an attorney and then became an education-entrepreneur.  Both careers have provided sufficient experience in a vast array of industries and fields to give me enough breadth of knowledge to advise. 
(5) Related to the last point, most talented people are engaged in a specific career. If they are kind-hearted, they informally give advice to their staff or friends related to their specific careers or industries.  Few decide to leave their career to become a career counselor.
With hope, we can help. Regardless, if you found us from far away, evaluate your career counselors carefully.