Career Guidance

ballooba

Is there such a thing as career guidance counselors for more mature people? i.e. a couple of years post graduation experience. Just wondering if anyone has any experience of working with these and if they have been useful?

starlit

I am not sure what you are asking but is it that you are looking for career guidance counsellor in college that caters for mature students is it?
Some colleges might offer this service otherwise someone who is trained as a guidance counsellor or in HR, be worth looking up if they have a business of their own. A professional career advisor be wise to go to if that is what you are looking for.

If you are looking into a course UL has a postgrad but if you looking for work experience you be looking into going to the UK. Schools and colleges be an option or set up your own career guidance business in Ireland.

http://www2.ul.ie/web/WWW/Services/Research/Graduate_School/Prospective_Students/Graduate_Programmes/Taught_Programmes/Education_&_Health_Sciences/Career_Guidance_and_Counselling

ballooba

I'm talking about a person who works with experienced people (as opposed to secondary school or university students) offering career guidance. I'm wondering if they exist and what kind of assistance/advice they can offer. I'm also wondering what qualifies them to do this and if it's worthwhile talking to someone.

phoenix999

ballooba wrote: »

I'm talking about a person who works with experienced people (as opposed to secondary school or university students) offering career guidance. I'm wondering if they exist and what kind of assistance/advice they can offer. I'm also wondering what qualifies them to do this and if it's worthwhile talking to someone.

Ballooba most freelance guidance counsellors are happy to work with adults (whatever their age). Check the Insitute of Guidance Counsellors for a nationwide list of professionals (www.igc.ie). They can offer personality or psychometric testing if they deem it necessary to help with course choice or job preference. Most will have undergone professional training at Masters Level. ETC Consult in Dublin offers an excellent service for adults. You can also check out www.careerguidance.ie

ballooba

Thanks for those responses.

FlashD

Most definately there is.

There are also plenty of books on career guidence and career change too.

'What colour is your parachute?' is probably one of the most popular and you will probably find many more books in this category, some specialising in specific careers.

Are they guidence consellors worth going to see?

Some can be kind of pricey and in my case really just confirmed what I was already thinking in my head. That was many years ago before the internet had expanded to its present form too. I think now a days with so many forums and websites to get your info that all you need to do is have an idea about what it is you want and then just start researching courses / training /opportunities and asking questions.

smallgarden

in my case really just confirmed what I was already thinking in my head.

Thats exactly what guidance counsellor should do,they should help you explore what you want to do.they should never tell you what you should/shouldnt do. psychometrics etc can give you a good idea of what you like. they cant know every job/course available.they should be a good person to bounce possible ideas off without being judged

(ps totally biased as recently trained guidance counsellor)