Good Online Career Counseling
October 3, 2015 10:18 AM Subscribe
Since graduating college, I've wandered from job to job. I taught kindergarteners English in China, then I got an EMT certification and worked on and led Americrops chainsaw crews, and now I'm in the Peace Corps, at a health center in Rwanda. When I'm done, I think I'll be ready to go back to school (if necessary) and move towards something that could be a more permanent career, but I don't know what that would be. I'd like to talk over that decision with someone qualified, online.
I'd really like to talk one-one one with a knowledgable human who can talk me through a decision about what to do when I'm done with Peace Corps service. I'd be willing to pay. I want them to be able to suggest careers I haven't thought of based on my resume, and reality check a few vague ideas I have about things I'd like to do next.
For example, I have a lot of outdoor experience and personal experience working with troubled youth and mental illness, and I'm interested in going into counseling with an eye towards wilderness therapy - but would a degree give me a good chance at a real job? What does completing that degree require in terms of money, time, and qualification? Is it possible to financially support yourself that way, or would it always have to be a sideline to a more bread-and-butter type desk job? (What would a good bread and butter type job be for me?) And so on. I have some other ideas that need to be similarly reality-checked.
I've emailed my college career center, but I'm keeping my expectations low.
Here's a little more about my education and work history, in case it matters who you recommend.
I graduated High School around Seattle in 2007, then Oberlin College in 2011, with a 3.1 and a religion degree - but without any eye to do anything religion related. At the time, I felt very confident in taking whatever classes I found compelling, which in retrospect was fairly impractical. I became TEFL certified online and then taught english to primary school and kindergarden-age children in Guangzhou, China, for all of 2012. In 2013 I did a wilderness EMT class, and became a registered EMT-B with some additional wilderness skills. I was hired onto a chainsaw crew that fall before I got a callback from my local ambulance service, and was on an Americorps Chainsaw crew in Utah. I went back into Americorps last year, this time in Alaska, as a crew leader, for spring and summer. I went back to Utah in last fall for another round of chainsaw-crew goodness. I did a whole bunch of tutoring over the winter and spring and left for the Peace Corps this June. I'm working in a small rural health center and teaching malaria prevention and hygiene in the local language, as well as some occasional work with an LGBT clinic while in the capital. My service will end in the fall of 2017. I'll have good references, federal hiring priority, and about 15K left on college loans. I'd like to go back to Seattle, but that's not set in stone.
I'd really like to talk one-one one with a knowledgable human who can talk me through a decision about what to do when I'm done with Peace Corps service. I'd be willing to pay. I want them to be able to suggest careers I haven't thought of based on my resume, and reality check a few vague ideas I have about things I'd like to do next.
For example, I have a lot of outdoor experience and personal experience working with troubled youth and mental illness, and I'm interested in going into counseling with an eye towards wilderness therapy - but would a degree give me a good chance at a real job? What does completing that degree require in terms of money, time, and qualification? Is it possible to financially support yourself that way, or would it always have to be a sideline to a more bread-and-butter type desk job? (What would a good bread and butter type job be for me?) And so on. I have some other ideas that need to be similarly reality-checked.
I've emailed my college career center, but I'm keeping my expectations low.
Here's a little more about my education and work history, in case it matters who you recommend.
I graduated High School around Seattle in 2007, then Oberlin College in 2011, with a 3.1 and a religion degree - but without any eye to do anything religion related. At the time, I felt very confident in taking whatever classes I found compelling, which in retrospect was fairly impractical. I became TEFL certified online and then taught english to primary school and kindergarden-age children in Guangzhou, China, for all of 2012. In 2013 I did a wilderness EMT class, and became a registered EMT-B with some additional wilderness skills. I was hired onto a chainsaw crew that fall before I got a callback from my local ambulance service, and was on an Americorps Chainsaw crew in Utah. I went back into Americorps last year, this time in Alaska, as a crew leader, for spring and summer. I went back to Utah in last fall for another round of chainsaw-crew goodness. I did a whole bunch of tutoring over the winter and spring and left for the Peace Corps this June. I'm working in a small rural health center and teaching malaria prevention and hygiene in the local language, as well as some occasional work with an LGBT clinic while in the capital. My service will end in the fall of 2017. I'll have good references, federal hiring priority, and about 15K left on college loans. I'd like to go back to Seattle, but that's not set in stone.
It's not a human, but the instructor who taught my career counseling course recommended O*NET as a resource. It's a neat site that lists almost all conceivable jobs, the educational requirements for them, wages, whether the job's in demand or growing, and lots of other information. There's a related site called My Next Move that has an Interest Profiler, where you can tell it things you like to do and it will suggest careers.
It's not exactly what you're looking for, but it might help you narrow things down and/or open things up.
posted by jaguar at 11:39 AM on October 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's not exactly what you're looking for, but it might help you narrow things down and/or open things up.
posted by jaguar at 11:39 AM on October 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Speaking with a hat of (trainee) coach with an interest in career counselling, you might need a couple of humans to help you meet your goals:
1. A career coach to support you with the process of more general career exploration, somebody to help you identify your skills, give you the space to talk through options etc. overall I'd say pick somebody qualified but unfortunately I have no knowledge of what the relevant qualifications on careers guidance would be (I'm UK based). Yes you can do a lot of that online but the ability to talk things through with an actual human is very useful and a lot of coaches are happy to work online.
2. In terms of finding out options/routes into the very specific career paths you identified, that's where informational interviewing comes in. You might want to identify (LinkedIn is brilliant for that) a couple of people who already are in your desired role and pick their brains about how they got there. I know that reaching out like that might feel awkward but you'd be surprised about how much people like to talk about themselves especially if they are passionate about their jobs. Those interviews should also act as a reality check to help you find out how realistic your career plans are.
Good luck!
posted by coffee_monster at 11:56 AM on October 3, 2015
1. A career coach to support you with the process of more general career exploration, somebody to help you identify your skills, give you the space to talk through options etc. overall I'd say pick somebody qualified but unfortunately I have no knowledge of what the relevant qualifications on careers guidance would be (I'm UK based). Yes you can do a lot of that online but the ability to talk things through with an actual human is very useful and a lot of coaches are happy to work online.
2. In terms of finding out options/routes into the very specific career paths you identified, that's where informational interviewing comes in. You might want to identify (LinkedIn is brilliant for that) a couple of people who already are in your desired role and pick their brains about how they got there. I know that reaching out like that might feel awkward but you'd be surprised about how much people like to talk about themselves especially if they are passionate about their jobs. Those interviews should also act as a reality check to help you find out how realistic your career plans are.
Good luck!
posted by coffee_monster at 11:56 AM on October 3, 2015
The book Wishcraft was infinitely more helpful and practical than the career counsellor I spoke to. The career counsellor did help me clarify some of my feelings about various jobs I've had though (but wasn't helpful in narrowing down what to do going forward - YMMV, I suppose).
A quick google search will lead you to a free PDF version of the book on the author's website.
posted by jrobin276 at 4:58 PM on October 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
A quick google search will lead you to a free PDF version of the book on the author's website.
posted by jrobin276 at 4:58 PM on October 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Another book recommendation. A former colleague swore by What Color is Your Parachute. It's what he used -- successfully - when he decided to change careers after this field of work collapsed.
(Ha! A search for that book yielded an ad for paracord.)
posted by bentley at 12:27 PM on October 4, 2015
(Ha! A search for that book yielded an ad for paracord.)
posted by bentley at 12:27 PM on October 4, 2015
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posted by andrewcooke at 10:26 AM on October 3, 2015 [1 favorite]