Are career development professionals worthwhile?

Career development professionals can give you excellent guidance, whether you’re just starting out in a job or still searching for your career path. You may have heard of career development professionals or career guidance professionals but thought they were only for people in college to help select the right industry or for those making big transitions in their career paths.

While career development professionals certainly advise people in these situations, the work they do goes far beyond these areas. A career guide provides support throughout your life and can be instrumental in the growth and maturity of your career.

What is career development?

Career development is both related to your career and to your personal development. As you expand your understanding of your personal skills, it may change your work priorities. Some people jump into a career based on what they like. Others may choose a career because of how much money they can make. These criteria may not help get you on the right path to success.

Instead, assess what you would be best suited to do. This comes by evaluating your skills, personality type, special interests, strengths, and weaknesses. You may not have given this much thought. That’s where a career development specialist comes into play. Your career guide will help you through the process of self-reflection and understanding.

Another important factor to consider is that your skills, interests, and so on will evolve and change throughout your life. Therefore, your career development is an ongoing process. It may change as you change. You need regular reevaluation and potentially new direction. Career development provides this.

How do career development professionals work?

A career development professional can assist you all along your career path. Of course, it’s best to begin your journey with a career guide before you get too far along any particular career path, but you can start at any time.

The career development professional will use tools to assess what type of career would be best suited for you. Usually, the assessment is administered as a written questionnaire that identifies skills and interests.

After the test is scored and the administrator matches potential careers with your skill set and interests, you may participate in a verbal interview to discuss the results.

Benefits of using a career development professional

There are several benefits to working with career development professionals. They can provide invaluable tools, insight, and help throughout the career journey. Some of these benefits are as follows:

Resume writing help

Once you’ve identified your skills, developing a resume is the next logical step. Your career development professional is right there to guide you in this next step of the process.

Assist with the mechanics of a job search

Whether you’re looking for your first or tenth job, a career guide has access to all the up-to-date tools and search methods for finding the best available jobs. Although you may know the basics of looking for a job, a specialist will have more tools at his or her disposal.

Interviewing tips

Interviewing for a job is a significant step in the process of securing the position. However, an interview can also trip up a lot of people. Even before you secure an interview, a career development professional will be able to offer tips and guidance on presenting a winning case. Before you are in the hot seat, your guide can help prepare you for what types of questions you might be asked and how best to answer these, so you can go into your interviews with confidence.

Networking skills

Networking is a vital part of keeping connected to others who are in your industry or connected to it in some way. By mixing with other professionals with similar work experience and interests, you may find new opportunities that you wouldn’t have otherwise found.

Not everyone is adept at networking. A career development professional will teach you the ins and outs of this important skill.

Job offer negotiation information

If you get offered a job, there will be the question of what your compensation will be, including benefits. It can be challenging to negotiate salary and benefits, even for experienced individuals. For one thing, you may not know what your job skills are worth. It’s vital to know your value, so you’ll have more negotiating power, and a career development professional can help you with this.

Advice for career transitions

Sometimes life just changes, and you discover that the best course of action is to transition to a new career. A change like this may make you feel like your whole life is coming undone and that you aren’t prepared to move on to a new venture. Choosing to transition your career could be due to any number of reasons. Maybe you need to have fewer responsibilities in life, or you’ve discovered that you no longer enjoy the job position you are in.

Whatever the case is, a career guidance professional will assist you with the search process. Career guidance professionals can also help you explore new career avenues that would better fit your interests, skills, and lifestyle.

Assistance if you lose your job

If you lose your job, it can come as quite an upset in your life. Losing your income isn’t the only thing that can be devastating during this time. You also lose a piece of yourself and your contributions to the company when you leave a place. It may feel paralyzing and difficult to move forward. A career development professional will be there to assist you with the gap time between this loss and getting your next job.

Working with career professionals at every level of your career journey will give you the boost of confidence and assistance you need. Find a career guide to connect with and receive motivation, inspiration, resources, and real-life tools to help you find success all along your career path.

Interested? Check out the Career Thought Leaders directory.