Career Counseling

Career counseling is a free service offered to the students and citizens of the New River Community College region. People choose to pursue career counseling for a number of different reasons. Many people choose career counseling because they want to improve the quality in their careers and personal lives. Others are forced into career counseling as the result of plant closings, layoffs, serious illnesses, accidents, divorces, or the death of a spouse.

What is Career Counseling?
The career counseling process begins when you start making reflective observations about the recent events in your life. You've probably already started the process. The act of coming in and participating in career counseling helps to give meaning to these reflections. Career counseling takes place in three phases:

• Phase 1- Getting to Know Yourself
• Phase 2- Gathering Information
• Phase 3- Future-Time Reflection

How Long will career counseling take ?
The average number of career counseling sessions to arrive at Phase 3 is five. These sessions are typically planned over a period of two-three months. The average amount of time spent in counseling sessions, on homework activities, and using the computer is 25-30 hours.

What will I gain form career counseling?
The first payoff is that you learned a valuable skill-career and life planning- which you can use throughout your lifetime. The second payoff is that you will have a plan of improving the quality of life.

Phase 1 - Getting to know Yourself

• Homework for Phase 1 may include writing success stories. Writing and analyzing your thoughts concerning and event in your life is powerful means for reflective learning.
  
• You may also want to talk to someone else about your thoughts and concerns,
  This is a wonderful tool for self -understanding.
  
• During Phase 1, you may want to complete one or more surveys on interests, skills and values.
  
• Descriptions of some of these surveys can be found in the section individual
  Assessment.
  

Phase 2 - Gathering Information

• During this phase, you will begin to gather current information on your occupational and educational options.
  
• Homework for Phase 2 may include informational interviewing. Informational
  interviewing can speed up the career counseling process.
  
• Real-time reflection of these sessions focuses on obtaining an accurate perception of oneself in the career fields under exploration.
  

Phase 3 - Future-Time Reflection

• Now that you have gathered information, this phase helps you to reflect prior to actually entering the career field.
  
• During this phase, you will begin to produce your career plan and alternatives...