A review of career counseling and other services
By Robert J. Lee
Norman Miller isn’t an unusual person. He’s a hard-working, middle aged middle manager with modest aspirations, above-average performance appraisals, an adequate income and a good balance between his work and his home life. His only major problem is that, along with dozens of others at his former company, he lost his job and needs to find another in the near future.
Even Norman’s kind of work isn’t unusual: He was a traffic manager for a retailer, having started there 12 years ago as a specialist in inventory control. His early years were in systems planning, which looked like a promising field for someone with a bachelor’s degree in industrial management.
In the six weeks since losing his position, Norman (not his real name) has discovered that getting another job isn’t easy. The handful of industry friends he has contacted haven’t come up with anything, nor have the letters to companies and search firms or his responses to newspaper ads. It’s becoming harder for him to keep a smile on his face. Discussions with his wife are getting more tense and less frequent. His two teenagers are hesitating to ask him “How did it go today?” because they know the answer. Simply put, Norman is a worried man. Only two months from now he could have no income at all, no job and no prospect of finding one.
Norman decides he needs some help with this mess. He needs help finding job openings and preparing for interviews. He isn’t sure where his skills fit in the corporate world, or how to modify his story so it’s attractive to various employers. Which companies should he contact, where are they, do they have openings and how would he present himself to them?
Who can Norman talk to about these things? Let’s look at his options. Corporate outplacement isn’t available. That choice was up to his former employer, and they didn’t provide the service. If he calls one of these firms he’ll be told they can’t take him as a client because they don’t accept fees from individuals.
Norman has these options open to him:
1. Self-help: Reading books and talking with well-meaning friends, relatives, neighbors, ex-colleagues, etc.
2. Volunteer and nonprofit organizations: The support groups and job clubs sponsored by his university, trade association, church or community center, the Forty Plus Club and similar groups.
3. Resume services: Someone who will help him write a professional-looking resume and cover letter and arrange to print them nicely.
4. Career counselors: Professionals who will help him understand his alternatives and how to deal with the mysteries of the job-search process.
5. Retail outplacement service: Firms that will accept him as a client for a large fee, and promise to help him until he gets a job.
These options vary in terms of cost and mutual commitment. How can he decide which one is worth the price and time? The answer lies in understanding what they offer, and matching that to what he needs and can afford.
1. Self-help is virtually free, and should always be part of the answer. Norman should use all of his friends, relatives and neighbors at this time as a basis for his job search network. If they can be of any “personal” help to him, so much the better. The odds are good that at least half of them have had a similar experience. This is no time to be too proud, embarrassed or shy to ask for a little help from friends.
Good books are available. Public libraries may have special sections for job hunters. Book stores have large displays on how to find jobs. If wisely selected, Norman can pick out several useful ones at reasonable cost. (Norman probably won’t need more than three or four books, however, since they tend to be redundant after a while.) Books won’t solve his problems directly, but they may give him suggestions and ideas which wouldn’t have occurred to him otherwise.
Every job hunter buys newspapers for the position-available announcements. There’s no reason not to. But there may be a lot more to gain from regularly reading papers and magazines for trade news and general business information. Some of the best ideas for new jobs come from knowing what’s going on in the world at large.
Regardless of other options Norman may elect, it’s still his responsibility to manage his search campaign. The worst mistake is for him to put his fate fully in anyone else’s hands.
2. Volunteer and nonprofit organizations are another low-cost option which may be worth electing. There’s a cost in time and maybe a few dollars, but it’s not a significant consideration. Many years ago these groups were mostly for people in trouble, but that’s simply not true any more. The idea of self-help support groups has caught on, and the level of sophistication has improved with experience. It’s not uncommon for six-figure-income people to be a large part of the group in some communities.
The service available will vary by groups; some people join several groups because they offer different things. Some groups will have professionally trained counselors available; all will offer networking opportunities. An important value of these groups is the chance to rid yourself of anxiety and get a better perspective on how you fit within the alternative worlds of work.
3. Resume services can be helpful and they’re usually not too expensive. Writing a resume is difficult for two reasons:
a. Layout and phrasing of the text is a skill not normally held by most job hunters. The people at the resume service should have the experience needed to write it so that it’s attractive.
b. Almost everyone runs into “existential” glitches when trying to reduce a whole adult life to a couple of pages. Sometimes it’s easier for another person to make the decisions (even if they are made arbitrarily) about what to include and how to phrase it.
Resume services will provide duplication services and may help with cover letters and mailing lists, perhaps for additional fees. There is a need for some caution: The real profit to the resume service may lie in doing mass mailing with fancy stationery for anxious job seekers, even though mass mailings may not be appropriate for the person’s search. If he uses this kind of help, Norman will have to decide if such a mailing is in order. He may be better off having them write the resume and make the necessary number of copies on their offset printing equipment. The resume service can provide personalized stationery on the same kind of paper they use for the resume.
It’s absolutely essential, however, to realize that resume services are not counseling services.
4. Career counselors may be the ideal option for Norman. These are professionally trained people who offer genuine counseling for a reasonable fee. There are many kinds of practitioners in this arena, which makes a choice difficult, but it also means that a good fit usually is possible if care is taken in making the selection.
Norman’s basic problem may be that he doesn’t know what he has to offer, how to present it or who would buy it. This problem exists because his former career path is blocked, and he needs to shift not only to another company but also into another industry or related functional track. It also exists because Norman is too involved to get perspective on the transitions he’s going through.
The result is that Norman is stumped; he doesn’t know how to begin his search. These problems can be addressed by a good career counselor.
The point about transitions is important. The middle years of an adult’s life are packed with changes in financial goals, family situation, personal energy level, aspirations, etc. Time and reality combine to create a different world view for Norman. Rather unfairly, Norman became unemployed right in the middle of this transition. Now he has to handle an immediate cash flow need as well as plan for the remaining years of his life.
Career counseling by a professional could help Norman gain perspective on how he compares with others his age. In which ways is he above or below average? Has he run into dead ends that are unique and of his own making, or are they part of the deal for many others too? Given his particular strengths and weaknesses, what does he have that’s special? As of today, what’s possible for him?
Norman’s counseling may include psychological testing, some straight-talk opinions from the counselor and a mini-campaign to collect data about himself in a systematic way from the people in his network. This kind of feedback too often isn’t available to managers during their corporate careers, and now that it’s really needed, it has to be obtained in limited time.
Counseling and feedback provide insight. This may require being reconciled to a different Norman than he had hoped he would become—maybe less powerful, less attractive, less exciting. Some people develop the insight that what they were hoping for really was on target, but just isn’t available in the labor market. Or it could be the reverse: Norman could discover positive things about himself that have been under wraps all these years, and perhaps some ideas about how to achieve these potentials.
Based on the insights, Norman has a good shot at organizing his search along productive lines. New actions become possible; priorities and decision criteria become clearer. Counseling cannot change Norman’s reality. but it can bring that reality into focus and thereby allow him to energetically pursue what is possible to achieve.
An organized, focused search campaign is certainly more likely to succeed than one which is reactive, opportunistic and unfocused. The resume can be shaped to fit the logic of the campaign, and so too the cover letters, phone calls, answers to interview questions and decision-making criteria.
Career counselors are professionals. They may be trained in psychology, counseling, human resources or other fields, and they often have Master’s degrees. Most of the good ones have corporate in-house experience. In some states they are licensed or certified.
Career counselors aren’t therapists. They provide help to solve a particular reality-based problem, whereas therapists help a person who is in pain due to a personal or interpersonal problem. They also aren’t in the executive search or personnel agency business. Those are separate fields, and the people in them offer a very different perspective.
Career counselors often charge by the hour, although many have fixed-fee arrangements. Hourly rates may be from $40 to $100. Typical fixed fee or total program charges may run from $500 to $1500, depending on the length of the service and the reputation of the counselor.
The method Norman should use to find a career counselor, if he decides this is what he needs, is the same method he would use to find any other kind of professional, such as a tax advisor or lawyer; Ask for referrals and interview with several before settling on a choice. He should ask his perspective counselor specific questions about what the service will and won’t include. It’s perfectly fine to ask for the names of satisfied customers. Remember there’s an important distinction between career counselors and outplacement counselors, as the next section will show.
5. Norman’s fifth option is to sign on as a client of a retail outplacement firm. These firms provide a wider range of services than career counselors and charge significantly more for their help. Often calling themselves personal marketing firms, they are much easier to find, since they advertise heavily in the business sections of newspapers.
They are called “retail” outplacement firms because they offer their services on a retail basis to individuals. The client will be asked to sign a binding contract. They will accept payment from former employers too, of course, but most of their fees don’t come from that source. Corporate outplacement firms are only retained by employers when terminations occur; these firms will not accept individual fees.
There may be wide variations in what a retail outplacement firm will offer to provide and actually deliver, and thus the services of any particular firm are a key topic to consider. Some less reputable firms come close to promising to find jobs for their clients, which is the kind of promise an anxious job seeker loves to hear but which almost inevitably creates difficulties later on. Some of these difficulties become lawsuits. Because of abuses in over-promising, a number of states have enacted licensing laws applicable to such firms. No one can find a job for Norman; he has to do that himself.
What can a retail outplacement firm offer for fees in the range of $3,500 to $10,000? All of the things described above in regard to resume services and career counselors, as well as other services, such as telephone answering, mass mailings, business reference services and databases.
Some firms may claim to have access to hidden jobs or offer to make use of their personal contacts at important organizations. Some firms have computerized lists of openings, perhaps gathered from newspaper ads throughout the country or world.
These services should be investigated fully by Norman before he decides they’re worth any money at all, to say nothing of a large amount of money. The hidden jobs may not exist, or they may be visible to anyone else who looks for them. The personal contacts may not be personal at all, just names on a public list. The data-base of openings may have information so old that it won’t do anyone any good.
The message to Norman is not that he shouldn’t consider the services of a retail outplacement firm, but that he should know what to expect and what he’s paying for. He should check out the firm’s references not only with local employers, satisfied customers and personal friends, but also with the chamber of commerce and the state attorney generals office.
This article is reprinted by permission from the National Business Employment Weekly, © 1993, Dow Jones & Co. Inc. All rights reserved. For subscription information, call (800)Job-Hunt.
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