The mission of Career Counseling Connecticut is to empower our career counseling clients to find careers they love.  But our differentiating proposition – at least compared to psychologists who masquerade as psychologists – is that we provide concrete, realistic options to our clients.

Paul was one such client.  He had ideas, not even ideas, but half-ideas about careers he wanted to explore.  He would take strands of a job  – that sounds cool to be a pilot – and then note that he didn’t want a job where there was a lot of travel!  We laughed at that one.  But some of his other “half-ideas” involved opening a business (although he had no idea what type of business), becoming a web developer (although he did not want to have a desk job), and becoming a chef (although he didn’t want to work nights).

Paul did not have a grounded sense of reality.  He had no idea how to limit his options.  My career counseling work does not involve bursting bubbles but it does involve getting our clients focused on realistic options. In Paul’s case, he noted at the end of the meeting: “You made my options clear. Thank you.”

When we are really young, we think we can do “anything”.  That’s the promise of living in a free country.  That’s a half-truth.  And, as we get older we start to realize that some options are not for us. My work is providing realism within the range of our client’s interests.

We want clients not only to have happy work but also successful careers.