Career Counseling

We offer extensive career counseling services to assist you with identifying a satisfying career path.

We are delighted to provide customized career counseling services catering to your objectives. Steven Montesinos, LMHC, has more than a decade of experience working as a therapist and administrator in university career counseling centers and has helped teenagers, young adults, and older adults with their career-planning goals. His expertise in this field has also been put to good use in college classrooms.

Whether starting your career or making a career change, career counseling can make a tremendous difference in career preparedness and confidence.

Why should I try career counseling?

Because career counseling works! Choosing a job, career, and educational path can be a daunting task to undertake alone and without the valuable information and guidance that can be provided through career counseling. When working with us, we will identify and explore your interests, values, and personality, matching them to careers and work roles you will likely enjoy!

Because the cost of not doing so can be much, much greater. The average cost of college today is estimated to be between $60,000 and $80,000 if you attend a public 4-year institution. This cost increases significantly if you attend a private institution or graduate school. Career counseling can help you make an informed decision regarding your educational path and offer peace of mind that you are making a good educational investment. The financial investment in career counseling will cost you less than 2% of the average cost of one year of college tuition, making it a worthwhile investment.

Because you don’t want to have regrets about missed opportunities. Surveys have indicated that while reflecting upon their college experiences, graduates often wish they took advantage of more opportunities to prepare for their careers. Here are some of the findings:

• 71% feel they should have done things differently while preparing to enter the real world. (Forbes)

• 50% wish they gained more work experience. (Pew Research Center)

• 30% wish they networked more before graduation. (Forbes)

• 25% would have applied to more jobs. (Forbes)

Because the cost of working in a job or for a company that you dislike, or worse, hate, goes well beyond the dollar signs…it can negatively affect your mental and physical health, relationships, self-esteem, confidence, and quality of life. Research shows us that happier people are healthier; they are less prone to develop illnesses and diseases, experience longer life expectancies, have healthier relationships, and make increased occupational earnings over their lifetime.

How can we help?

Most of our clients benefit from meeting 1 to 2 times per month. Meetings include the development of a personalized career development plan, career development activities, informative discussions, personal assignment reviews, and chat messenger support between sessions. In addition to meetings, we also provide résumé and other career document assistance.

Our counselors take you through a four-stage career planning process:

1. Self Exploration

2. Career Exploration

3. Career Decision-Making

4. Career Plan Development and Implementation

Below is an example of what you can expect from your first three sessions.

First Meeting: Discuss your career and educational history, review your career goals and concerns, identify the best approach to assisting you in reaching your goals, and create an action plan with steps to complete for the next meeting.

Second Meeting: Review your action plan and completed activities, provide an interpretation of any career assessment results, develop new goals, and update your action plans.

Third Meeting: Review your action plan, provide and discuss resources for researching the world of work, focus on narrowing down your best career options, discuss the next steps for gaining additional information about your careers of interest, update your action plan, and schedule a follow-up meeting.

Here are a few examples of career issues that we help to address:

• Choosing a college major and career field

• Career assessments and interpretations

• Career exploration and informational resources

• Career decision-making

• Job search strategies and resources

• Professional networking

• Reviewing and assistance in building resumes, a curriculum
  vitae, cover letters, and reference pages

• Practice interviews

• Guidance with the college and graduate
  school search and application processes

• Professional Etiquette

• Social media tips, strategies, and etiquette