Career consultants: Why and how to find the perfect one

At MentorCruise, a booming community of mentors and mentees, we have seen how people have gotten through hard times with the help of amazing mentors who guide them towards the path to success. By the time you finish reading this article, you’ll be able to find the right career consultant for your goals and needs.

In this article, you will learn about;

• Who a career consultant is.
• What the role of a career consultant is
• How to find the perfect career consultant.

So, let’s go!

What is a career consultant?

Career consultants or career advisors are professionals in skills like career planning, resume building, interviewing, and negotiation. They generally help people with difficulties in their careers or work life.

However, you wouldn’t face some of these challenges if you had a mentor or a right mentor/mentee relationship. Everybody needs a mentor to guide their decision, if they must thrive smoothly in all aspects. What about you?

Do you have one? Do you aspire to connect with just the right one for you? Maybe you’ve been looking for at least a startup advisor to begin with.

What is the role of a career consultant?

They offer diverse services among which are;

• Careers consultants will guide you in making a decision about their careers.
• They can assist you to advance your career, to change your career path or help you when you are uncertain about what you want. They can evaluate your qualities, skills and interest through one on one interview plus or minus group sessions.
• They render proper assistance, guidance, and suggestions based on interviews and or quiz results .
• They also run mentoring sessions to help define a set of activities to achieve within a timeframe
• They can implement and evaluate psychometric and personality questionnaires
• They’ll encourage you to resolve difficulties and succeed in your careers
• They will support you in seeking peculiar employment.
• They write action plans, reports, and careers literature
• They may equally counsel you on experiencing anxiety or facing redundancy/redeployment.

How can you find the perfect career consultant

With the thousands of career advisor out there, finding the perfect one can be quite daunting. As an unfettered industry, anybody can swing a shingle and proclaim him/herself a ‘career consultant’, a ‘career coach’, or even a ‘life coach’.

However, some are indeed talented and knowledgeable, while others not as much. So before jumping out for one, make sure you do a proper research to guarantee you’re getting the best advice. Below are some suitable criteria for narrowing down your options.

1. Do proper research

You need to be as careful in your hunt for a career consultant as you would for a

job search.

Scroll through LinkedIn profiles to view client endorsements and question individuals in your network for proposals and referrals. You can also browse through our career advisors at MentorCruise and find the right career consultant for your needs.

Notwithstanding, if you’re still studying, career adviser services are usually available through your establishments. Besides, it is worth it to ask about career consultancy and career advisers within the professional relations for your industry.

2. Accreditation and affiliations checks

It is good for you to understand that not all career consultants are accredited and this can be considered a significant differentiator.

Consistent renewal actions mean that accredited career advisors are up-to-date with best practices, which is vital as the sphere of work and job seeking continue to change constantly.

3. Explore by industry proficiency or kind of consultants.

Some career consultants have diverse zones of focus, like operating only with executives, or career changers.

Conversely, career consultants mustn’t always have to be restricted to a particular sector background, even though in-depth skills and a network in a specific industry can serve as an added advantage.

You should endeavor to enquire from your consultant his/her experiences, that is, where they accomplished their most outstanding results.

4. Go for chemistry

You can bear with us that hiring a career advisor is a huge decision with trust at the center of it. This isn’t only because of the personal/confidential info you’ll share with your consultant but, also because career consultancy involves being challenged and supported.

Therefore sharing a great deal of chemistry with them might be a great thing to consider. You have to experience a smooth mentor/mentee relationship with your career consultant for the best outcome. You can get the help you deserve here.

You might discover that you react better to some communication styles than others. For instance, how much/how often do you desire to be challenged by the career advisor? While some people will rather their feedback is gentle, others prefer a more or less direct straight-talking.

5. Request for a no-commitment intake session

This will apply to both ways. The moment when they can grasp something about your specific needs, you have the chance to check whether or not your career consultant is a great match.

However, for this to be successful, you both need to be committed. You may want to ask some probing mentor/mentee questions to find out if you both are on the same page.

Find top questions you may want to ask your career consultant here. Be totally honest concerning what you want to achieve and the career consultant will tell you whether or not they can help you through it.

6. Give it a try before hiring

If you’re uncertain whether you need a career advisor for help, MentorCruise offers a 7-day trial, and you can always cancel this mentorship, if it has not provided the value that you wanted to have.

7. Manage your anticipations

Yes! Your career advisor can indeed help you get “unstuck” and offer answers that are unique/perfect for you.

Your career advisor will ensure that you remain on track with your goals, explore options as well as handle diverse features of a job search.

You should, however, bear in mind that you will go through a thought process to establish what’s important to you, but the career consultant would definitely not tell you what job to do.

The path to a successful career is actually a rough one and may seem really overwhelming. However, this can be completely easy for you if you can readily get career advice and professional guidance anytime.

Find the perfect career consultant to take your career to the next level

At MentorCruise, you can find that exceptional mentor and expert that will uniquely suit your needs.

Are you among this majority? Do you need advice on training, career progress, or employment options? Are you facing unpredictable futures and seeking a green start between redundancies?

Maybe you just feel unfulfilled in your current role and have applied to numerous jobs without success. Perhaps you are wondering whether or not you are on the right career path and simply yearn to switch careers entirely.

Whatever the case, whether you’re perplexed regarding which career tracks to seek or that which is even feasible, you don’t have to go through it alone.

Relating to the right people can afford some perspicacity and fix you up for long-term professional achievement and the best way to go about this is via mentorship. A career consultant can provide the perfect opportunity you can rely on if you want to turn these crises into an opening for growth.