A Guide to Choosing a Career Coach or Counselor

If you feel that you need some help with landing a job, a good idea may be to find a career coach or counselor. Boles' What Color is Your Parachute is a good guide to help you with your job hunt, but if you feel that it is not enough help, seek a career coach or counselor. There are people out there like this that are willing to help you find a job that best fits you. However, these career coaches or counselors often charge a fee because it is how they make their living. The fee is usually approximately $40 per hour in rural areas however it can be much more expensive in other areas. If that price is too expensive for you there is usually some type of free or almost-free help. This help is more likely to be in a group though instead of being face to face with an individual counselor.

So now that you know there are career coaches or counselors out there and how much they cost, the next step is figuring out how to go about finding a good career coach or counselor. The first step to finding a good career coach or counselor is to find three names of coaches or counselors that are located in your geographical area. There are a few ways that you can find these names. First, you can ask your friends or family if they have ever used a career coach or counselor. If they tell you that they have and that they liked them, then you should find out their names and how to get in touch with them. The second way to find names for a good career couch or counselor is by visiting by 312 of Boles' "What Color Is Your Parachute?" to see if there are any career coaches or counselors near you. Lastly, you can try a telephone book's Yellow Pages under headings such as: Aptitude and Employment Testing, Career and Vocational Counseling, Personnel Consultants, and if you are a woman, Women's Organizations and Services.

Once you find names, it is time to compare them and figure out what questions to ask them. Listed below are five questions that you should consider asking the counselors:

1. What is your program?
2. Who will be counseling? And how long has this person been counseling?
3. What is your success rate?
4. What is the cost of your services?
5. Is there a contract up front? If so, may I see it please, and take it home with me?