HOW GOOD DO I HAVE TO BE?
(Januaary/february 2004 Issue)

How good do you have to be? Once I was asked, "How can I become a career counselor." I thought about it and replied, "You already are a career counselor. In fact, everybody is a career counselor! Doesn't everyone have advice on your resume? Your mother has very strong notions of what you should be when you grow up [usually something like "a doctor."] So, the question isn't how can I become a career counselor, it's how can I become a competent career counselor.

Here's a good yardstick for measuring your competence:
1--Super Klutz
2--Klutz
3--Beginner
4--Novice
5--Apprentice
6--Proficient
7--Virtuoso
8--Master.

Super Klutz: your mother, your friend. Like a bull in a china shop, they're causing damage and they don't even know it. They are well-intentioned, but incompetent. Once they realize/admit that they really don't know what they're doing, they graduate to 2--Klutz.

A Klutz understands s/he doesn't know squat. They either quit giving career advice altogether, or start getting some education. This earns them the rank of 3--beginner.

A beginner reads, reflects, watches, does some of the exercises in the books for him/herself. As they come across someone who is experienced, and whose style fits them, they go formally under his/her tutelage, they advance to apprentice.

As an apprentice, you're actually doing career counseling work and you have someone more experienced who checks it all, steps in when it's over your head, and makes sure you are mistake-free. You're only allowed to practice under this person's supervision.

As an apprentice, you grow to handle, say, 80% of the problems you encounter. As you find yourself handling not only the usual cases, but the unusual ones, too, you achieve the level of proficient. You can meet the challenges of the ordinary and extraordinary problems.

A Virtuoso is a proficient person who has now made the process their own, and their personal flair, personal style is expressed as well as the core competencies.

A master changes the field. As Einstein's e=mc2 changed the whole field of physics, so Bernard Haldane changed the face of career and job counseling. Dick Bolles, too, has changed the field. These great men leave their legacy.

How good to you have to be for private practice? Proficient.

If you're good, word will get around. To be successful in Independent Practice you have to be proficient in both ends of the career advising process: a) career focus and b) job-search tactics.
I came up with 18 different competencies we have, but they center on those two.

a) Career Focus or Choice. This is half "art" and half "science." No one knows enough about the hundreds of thousands of different occupations and industries to precisely pinpoint a client's career choice, but you should be able to offer clients initial directions to pursue and -- most importantly -- a methodology for career exploration from that point on.

Example: a burned-out teacher comes to you. You should be able to figure out if ENFP [Myers-Briggs profile] choices, like training & development, sales, motivational speaking, counseling, etc., are viable choices for them. Or maybe they're more suited to ISTJ meeting planning, event planning, event-based fund raising, office administration.

Familiarity with tests like Myers Briggs, DSI, WOWI, Strong Campbell, 16 PF, a basic understanding of corporate functions like operations, manufacturing, sales, finance etc., and corporate trends impacting the workforce such as outsourcing and self employment are the "science" of Career Focus. The "art" of Career Focus is the ability to listen deeply to another person to impartially discover their passions, interests, visions, dreams. What things they've always wanted to do, but gave up on.

For instance, I worked with a HR manager who love antiques, and eventually worked for and then purchased an antique store. A logistics supervisor loved trains; he is now a conductor. No aptitude test can give you this level of correctness. It's the "art" of helping someone discern their Career Focus.

Beyond that, your work search methodology should kick in. You help them pick one or two of the areas that appeal to them, and then your coaching should get them to complete enough "information interviews" to either decide among those choices, or to discover revised alternatives based on their informational interviews.

b) Job Search Tactics. Once they decide, say, "technical sales," your coaching should be able to get them to have not "informational interviews," anymore, but job-focused exploratory meetings with hiring decision makers. We'll call those "networking meetings."

"Informational interviews" is not a precise enough term to coach a client's campaign. It is used to refer to all three types of interviews clients have in their campaign. Knowing this "tripartite" model of job search will help you and your client to distinguish which of the three types of informational interviews they're undertaking, and, therefore, how to conduct it. If you want to learn more about this model, e-mail me at jkchapman@aol.com and put TriPartite Campaign Info in the subject line, and I'll send you info on it.

There is a fine line here. Once clients are focused, they no longer interview for information; on the other hand, they can't approach a hiring decision maker expecting that s/he will have or know of a specific vacancy or opening at that time. So, you must teach them how to identify, approach, and interview with hiring decision makers with the explicit purpose of being considered as a candidate, but not expecting a specific opening at present.

If you'd like a copy of my 34 page booklet that covers the difference between Opportunities and Openings in the job market, it's called Twelve Biggest Mistakes Job Hunters and Career Changers Make and How to Avoid Them. E-mail me a request at jkchapman@aol.com, and I'll send it to you. It also doubles as an advertorial for career services.

If you don't feel fully competent that you can really zero in on which career choices would be best for people, then apprentice yourself to someone who does and learn it. Same goes for job search.

Proficients and Virtuosos and Masters, alike, all keep in continuous contact with each other to continually sharpen their skills. So, even if you feel confident in those areas, you'll want to arrange support so that you stay at the cutting edge of your field and can have help when you get to the stumper clients.

Jack Chapman is author of:
Negotiating Your Salary: How to Make $1000 a Minute
He is a career consultant in private practice and runs ongoing support and training teleconference sessions for career consultants in private practice.
He can be reached at 847-251-4727 or jkchapman@aol.com