Making the right preparations for a career counseling session should be not any more different than getting prepared for an interview. The only way you can get all you can out of your career counseling sessions is by bringing and showing your real self in the process.
Well your aim might be to get a little direction in order to choose a career or the next step in your path, you’ll need to play some thought ahead of time regarding what your desire in life is and what is not.
Two things need to be answered when being counseled in your career. Don’t think that your counselor will be able to give you these answers to these two questions. They cannot do that.
All they can do is help you find out what your own interests, skills, strengths and weaknesses are so that you your self can make those best choices on your own. In order for you to do this you need to make some preparation similar to what follows:
find a pen and some paper. Simply write down all your strengths. They don’t have to necessarily be academic and professional strengths but those things you believe to be the best components of who you are. From these you’ll be able to draw out your specific skills to impart into a workplace setting.
Doing this will show your counselor that you have unused but available project management skills.
Next, make another list that will show those things you would want to improve on. These things should not necessarily be said in or during an interview for a job. These may be those issues you need to work on before you start using them continually in the workplace.
Perhaps this list might reveal to your counselor that you need to increase your ability to communicate better.
Following this, start doing a little brainstorming. For the next 10 or so minutes, jot down various questions directed towards an employer. The answers to these questions should show the expectations they require for their employees. You’ll also want to write down any of your own expectations that you have for your employer and profession.
Remember once again that you only want to write down your honest thoughts. Don’t think of this as being recorded for a job interview.
Lastly, be as open as you can. Your career counselor will be doing an in-depth look into your history and find out more about how to guide you in your career path.
You should expect that they might require you to participate in some exercises that you have not expected. He or she might ask questions that could offend you. Therefore, try not to be offended. If they are trying to reveal weaknesses that you have, it may be too better guide you or help improve you in some way.
Two things that you might be asked to do during your session will be:
Assessment Testing and/or Mock Interviews
Certain tests may ask you what you would do in certain circumstances. They might try to gauge how you would respond or perform in a specific work setting or with a certain type of personality. They might dig into interests that seem to be totally unrelated to your career or work. However, they will give the counselor a more far-reaching profile of your personality.
As for the mock interview, a staff member may be tasked to give you various common interview questions. These will about you a your interview skills and also show those areas of concern that you had never known about before.
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