Many career counselors rely heavily on standardized testing instruments, which are essentially surveys. Your responses to questions are statistically compared with the results of other test takers. The validity of the results depends on how many people have already taken the survey, how similar you are to previous test takers, how well the questions have been formulated, and how intelligently the results are interpreted. Many vocational tests essentially tell you how similar you are to others currently in the field you are pursuing. A good counselor will be good at selecting testing instruments appropriate to you, interpreting the results with you (not to you), and helping you use the results to make vocational choices.
Testing can be helpful, but should not replace more open ended forms of self exploration. Take tests as part of yourself exploration, not as all of it. Many career counselors can help you with both standardized tests and more open ended exercises. Quite a few have backgrounds in psychological counseling and can be emotionally supportive to you during your search; most, however, are not trained in communications skills and coaching, thus they cannot help you much with documenting your achievements or handling interviews. Two or three visits to a career counselor with testing expertise can be a helpful supplement to other sources of counseling expertise during your search. You can expect to pay from $25 to $95 an hour for their time.
Some of the best experts can be found at colleges or universities near you. Many schools train people to become vocational counselors, and the folks doing the training are usually experienced counselors who also work with individuals. The training programs themselves sometimes offer low cost testing opportunities. Look in graduate schools of education as well as in graduate schools of psychology.
Psychotherapy
The array of approaches and terminology is bewildering and somewhat deceptive. All good therapists achieve similar results and use similar techniques. Studies of outcomes across a wide variety of therapies suggest that the specific background of a therapist whether he or she is an M.D. or an M.S.W., a psychoanalyst, existential psychoanalyst, or family therapist bears little correlation with outcome. Neither, the amount and kind of training nor theoretical orientation seem to matter much to the success of a therapeutic relationship. What does seem to matter are:
- How much you and your therapist like one another.
- How well you communicate with each other.
- How alike you are in terms of socioeconomic and educational background, intelligence, and relationship experience.
- How experienced your therapist is in providing therapy.
During a job search, problems in relationships sometimes surface dramatically. The stress of vocational transition puts a strain on personal relationships and may literally ruin your love life being with those you love and doing what you love. Psychotherapy can, therefore, be very helpful during your career changes.
Therapy should also make you feel better. To do so, some forms of therapy use drugs primarily, some use talking techniques exclusively, and many combine them. If you feel you suffer from chronic depression, not just circumstantial depression caused by external events, you may want to try a combination of drug therapy and talking therapy. Ask prospective therapists how they feel about the use of drugs to relieve chronic anxiety, depression, or obsession. Many therapists do not, themselves, prescribe but will be able to help you decide whether drug therapy might be helpful for you and put you in touch with a specialist to evaluate your needs and prescribe for you.
Individual therapy can be very expensive, and prices range widely, depending on the credentials of your therapist. Bear in mind as you make your selection that the factors most highly correlated with success in psychotherapy are the ones listed earlier, not the educational background or theoretical orientation of your therapist. Group therapy can be a good supplement to or substitute for individual psychotherapy. It offers the advantages of being less expensive and exposing you to several other people, which can do wonders for psychic health and energy.
