Issues Brought to Career Counselling

Individuals approach career counselling when they, or perhaps someone else, have identified issues in their lives which they perceive to be primarily career related, and therefore appropriate for discussion with someone offering a career counselling service. This might be a service offered by an employer or an independent service.

However, we believe it naive and unrealistic to help clients solve their career problems without allowing them to see the wider ramifications of their situation. In order to find the best solution to a career-related issue, we often find that clients need to examine their career problem in the context of their lives as a whole. This may be necessary for the following reasons:

• The desire for a more interesting job may be a reflection of a life stage or event outside

of work.

• Problems can be linked (for example, a relationship difficulty at home may have precipitated a crisis at work).

• A long-time problem which has been tolerated may have become intolerable (for

example, continuing relationship difficulties at work may have been tolerated until a

‘last straw’ incident).

• Lack of career advancement may be partly linked to poor interpersonal skills.

• Anger towards ‘company policy’ may reflect a general dislike, for example, of being

controlled.

• An apparently realistic constraint (for example, a recession) may belie the need to

focus on the emotions engendered by personal difficulties.

• Dissatisfaction with job content or career attainment may conceal a deeper lack of

self-esteem.

• A client presenting as highly stressed may have chosen a job for its potential monetary

rewards, but many years of being in unsatisfying work have taken their toll.