Job profile! Private career advisor: Personal help in times of crisis

A personal crisis can hit anyone: The Company fired Employees, even traditional companies are facing bankruptcy – and many are People have rethink. A careers advisor can help!

A career counselor can help

Many people have their personal and professional goals from the Eyes lost - I've known that since I settled in Buxtehude almost exactly ten years ago as Germany's first private careers adviser and was thus a pioneer myself for a new profession.

Managers, skilled workers or engineers, often people have worked too long or too little outside the box for years, and now they can use support to critically analyze their situation and make individual solutions. And the labor market situation is changing faster than you can study.

More than the Federal Employment Agency

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Vocational counseling - wait a minute, when you first think of the Federal Employment Agency. Because it is the first point of contact for most who do not know which profession they want to take up. And it is actually the largest provider of career guidance in Germany. But, it must be said clearly: it is not a monopolist!

Because the need for advice in Germany is great and we will continue to grow in the future. This has to do with the fact that professional and career paths are becoming increasingly unmanageable: it is no longer the case that you do an apprenticeship and then practice your profession for 40 years; much more nowadays is constant personal development, creativity, initiative and Further Training asked. And many people need professional help for this task, for example to develop themselves further or because they can hardly see which further training offers are suitable for them on the further training market.

Why are private career counselors useful?

The employment agencies, whose consultants have to process countless inquiries and increasingly have to take on administrative tasks, can hardly cover the great demand. You can offer basic information and assistance, but individual coaching lasting several months can customers hardly expect the employment agency. In addition, careers advice from employment agencies is only for Boy people in the career orientation phase.

And this is exactly where private careers advisors come into play, picking up customers where the employment agency leaves them: in their private development. Or when searching for a very special course of study. In other words, private careers advisors are not in competition with traditional ones Consulting through the employment agency. Rather, they supplement their offer with specialized services. Provided, of course, that you manage to open up a market niche as a consultant.

How do private career counselors work?

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Each careers adviser works differently: knowledge-based advisers, for example, target clients who already have a Idea have what they want to do, but still need information or are between several Alternatives decide must. Above all, they perform research by informing their customers about jobs, educational paths, courses of study and the job market and checking whether the requirements, job characteristics, suitability criteria and entry requirements match the customer's profile.

The private student advisory service PlanZ in Berlin has specialized in classic knowledge-based advice. A Customer first receives an extensive questionnaire to analyze his personal and professional goals, Motivation, characteristics, interests and talents, which he filled out alone at home and sent back for evaluation. Then find one Conversation with the planZ team of consultants, in which the test results are interpreted together and the direction for the study and Career choice be defined: The consultants discuss exactly what options a customer has and make suggestions, point out the exact study content and job descriptions. If someone does not agree with the study recommendations, we simply continue to look for a suitable study opportunity together - until the customer satisfied is. At the end, planZ delivers the results again in writing as a fifty-page report. Of course, the service costs accordingly. If you not only want to be suggested suitable subjects, but also detailed information on application procedures, admission opportunities, Costs, length of study and quality of University searches, has to dig even deeper into their pockets. However, the costs are put into perspective when you consider that the entire consulting process, including research, preparation and follow-up, takes four full days on average. You can expect an average of 60-100 euros for a consultation hour.

How does psychological counseling work?

Other providers focus more on the psychological area and help with the basics Orientation. As a rule, they look after customers who are still completely unclear about what they want to do and who would like the advice to help them with self-reflection, or those who already have one klare have an idea of ​​your dream job, but are unsure whether it will be yours Objective reachable.

As a rule, the consultant first creates a profile with his customer in which the previous educational path and the educational goal, training and practical experience, interests, strengths, weaknesses and values ​​are recorded. Psychological tests are often used. He also taps into what wishes and goals the customer has in terms of his professional Future has and which professions could fit the profile.

The employment agency is not sexy enough!

This is how Bärbel Löw works. She traded her secure job as a civil servant at the employment office for an uncertain self-employment - for solid reasons: In the office there is not only a lack of time for sensible advice and the right view of the bigger picture. If you don't know from the start how things should go on for you, you'll find yourself fast once again in a labor market policy measure in which a place became vacant. The employment agency is hers Opinions just not sexy enough for many customers!

For them, investing in careers advice is particularly important in times of crisis useful. Because then a well thought out Strategy required - sometimes even forced by unemployment - where professional careers or career counselors are a wise investment in getting back on your feet, developing new perspectives and meeting the demands of working life. A first important step has already been taken with the realization that you can only get out of the crisis with your own resources.

How do you become a professional consultant?

The way to such a career and career advice far away from the employment office was not always easy for Löw. 1998 has abolished the federal government's career guidance monopoly of offices. Since then, 565 career counselors have registered with the Berufsberatungsregister of the German Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (dvb).

But a corresponding professional law does not exist so far, the dvb has been calling for years to stop wild growth and charlatanry. There are also many black sheep who, for example, make career counseling and job placement under one roof. For them and the dvb an absurdity, because who at the same time mediates a job and collects commission, could not independently advise.

Qualification and career

In order to ensure quality advice, professional consultants commit to refrain from such amalgamations, to receive regular training and to submit to the standards of the professional advice register of dvb. In addition, regular supervisions are a matter of course. No question for the dvb consultants is also not to ask for a checkout after a first meeting. Both parties have to decide for each other, only then we agree on a contract, define the goals and the duration of the consultation and thus also the budget.

The trained educator studied vocational counseling in Mannheim and Switzerland, worked in the employment agency for eleven years before becoming self-employed and completed a wide range of comprehensive counseling and now also psychotherapeutic further education courses.

How does career counseling work?

The examples show: The scope and intensity of a consultation can be very different: Some clients want intensive support that only individual consultation can offer. For some, a few food for thought and two short sessions are enough. For others, a coaching process in which a development is worked out in individual sessions over weeks makes sense. Some prefer group counseling because they expect further suggestions from other prospective students. And finally, there are those interested who need technical and psychological support in the counseling process.

At the beginning of every consultation there is always a personal conversation with the customer to find out whether you fit together at all. The atmosphere in the consultation room is also important, so it should be suitably equipped invest. Consulting means supporting the customer, giving him certain food for thought. A consultant provides additional information and tips, structures the decision-making field with you, helps you find the right ones Ask to ask yourself and find answers. Advice does not mean the customer of one decision to convince - neither in advance nor in the consultation itself. It is clear that this work requires empathy and psychological knowledge as well as specialist knowledge, at least in a certain professional area.

Prerequisites, education and training

In Germany, career or study advisor is, unlike in other countries, not a legally protected professional title with a nationwide education. No law protects stipulates which advice is necessary or what advice should look like. In practice, however, most consultants are specially trained people who are trained in Psychology, Human Resources or Pedagogy, or at least a university degree successfully completed. Additional training is often required. In order to maintain qualifications and expand the repertoire, there is also a continuous process Further education necessary.

The Federal Employment Agency offers future consultants hired by the Employment Agencies a Bachelor of Arts degree in “Employment-Oriented Consulting and Case Management”. In addition, partial qualifications for newly appointed consultants are offered in module form. The Technical University of Dresden offers the Master of Arts in Consulting Sciences. At the University of Heidelberg you can do a master’s degree in professional and organizational consulting science. The Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences - University of Applied Sciences (FH FFM) offers the master’s degree Coaching and supervision. In addition, there are a few private educational institutions that offer an additional advisory qualification. The German Association for Career Counseling eV offers further information on the job profile and training. Experts for career counseling can be entered in its career counseling register (BBR).

Tips for setting up a business shortly

As a career counselor, you are working freelance. This means you only need a tax number at the tax office. A business registration is not required.

Since the job title is not protected, there are a large number of consultants on the market with different ones qualifications, specializations and target groups. It is therefore important to find a market niche and stand out from the competition with high quality.

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