career consultant?

[EmilyGF]

Hi all,

@marbelmentioned seeing a career consultant.

Have you talked with a career consultant? I feel like I totally chose the wrong major in college (22 years ago!!!). I am thinking about going "back" to work at some point in the next few years. However, given that I haven't worked a career job in a while, and didn't really like the job I got in my major post college, I feel like I need more help and direction to figure out the next step. 

Suggestions?

Emily

[regentrude]

Are you thinking of going back to school? Then I'd start at the career office of a nearby college for a free initial conversation.

[plansrme]

Have you ever taken aptitude and interest tests? Two of my kids did youscience, which was about $35 at the time, and it was absolutely spot-on with their interests and aptitudes. I wanted to do it but was afraid it would persuade me that I needed a different career, and I didn't want a different career.

[mom2scouts]

I don't know if I'd advise going to a college for advice. DS is a freshman exploratory major at the university and was required to take an interest test. The results were so far off that I wondered if they gave him the wrong results. Art Therapist? This kid hates art! Biology professor? Um, no. Child care worker? Kids like him, but I can't ever see him doing that. He said he thinks his combination of interests are probably so unusual that they didn't know what to do with him. LOL! Maybe I'll have him take the youscience one and see if he gets results that he might actually consider.

[Farrar]

I have a friend who is one. I'm always referring people to her. She's wonderful. Mom of youngish kids. Totally gets the whole second career and women thing. Career counselor was not her own first career. She had to take a pandemic related break, but I know she's seeing clients again. She specializes in resumes, but I know she does traditional counseling as well. https://mltcareers.com/

[marbel]

My experience with a career counselor was not super helpful. I came across one viia a program at the public library about finding work after age 50. They gave a coupon for a discount for some personal consultations. So I went. The most helpful thing was interview clothing. I also sought help at a state-run career/employment center. That was somewhat more interesting as they had some good seminars, but ultimately not super helpful. I found I liked going to seminars and could pretend I was being productive. Also, I had had experience as a corporate trainer in the way back past, so I enjoyed critiquing their methods in my  head. 

What I found, though, was that because of my long break from paid employment for homeschooling, they all pointed me toward tutor, substitute teacher, going back to school for credential.  None of which I wanted. I was happy to have homeschooled (most of the time) but I was not going to be teaching other people's kids, end of story.  (Corporate training is very different.)

So, for me, it wasn't all that helpful because I could not convince them I could get out of the "teacher" box. Which seemed weird to me, but 🤷‍♂️ 

Edited September 15, 2021 by marbel

[EmilyGF]

4 hours ago, marbel said:

My experience with a career counselor was not super helpful. I came across one viia a program at the public library about finding work after age 50. They gave a coupon for a discount for some personal consultations. So I went. The most helpful thing was interview clothing. I also sought help at a state-run career/employment center. That was somewhat more interesting as they had some good seminars, but ultimately not super helpful. I found I liked going to seminars and could pretend I was being productive. Also, I had had experience as a corporate trainer in the way back past, so I enjoyed critiquing their methods in my  head. 

What I found, though, was that because of my long break from paid employment for homeschooling, they all pointed me toward tutor, substitute teacher, going back to school for credential.  None of which I wanted. I was happy to have homeschooled (most of the time) but I was not going to be teaching other people's kids, end of story.  (Corporate training is very different.)

So, for me, it wasn't all that helpful because I could not convince them I could get out of the "teacher" box. Which seemed weird to me, but 🤷‍♂️ 

That's sort of the vibe I've been getting from websites; they are aimed at people who have been out of work for two years or less and want to keep doing what they did before. Not me - not even me when ds16 was 2!

I think I'm going to look at YouScience and see what it tells me. I could see going back to school and need to figure out what sort of direction that could take.

Emily