How Can Career Counseling Help?

How Can Career Counseling Help?

So, what do you want to do after school? What do you want to become? This is a question many of us dread to answer. Where do you even start?

The reality is that not a lot of people truly know how to answer this question. Shane Koyczan beautifully states the frustration many experience to answer the above questions. He states:

See, they asked me what I wanted to be, then told me what not to be. And, I wasn’t the only one. We were being told that we somehow must become what we are not, sacrificing what we are to inherit the masquerade of what we will be. I was being told to accept the identity that others will give me.

However, it does not have to be like this! The reality is that in the modern economy, people reinvent themselves constantly. Striving to find more purpose in their work or career choices. The exciting field of career counseling can help empower you to answer these questions. (Or even be more comfortable with the ambiguity in deciding on a career path).

What Is Career Counseling?

Career counseling is the process in which psychological assessments are used to empower clients to make informed decision about their future or current career prospects. Therefore, career counseling can help:

  1. Make decision about the subjects you have to take at school
  2. To decide what to study after school
  3. Identify what career field is best suited for you
  4. Highlight fields that will provide you with a sense of purpose

How Does Career Counseling Work?

The career counseling process is normally a collaborative process. The career counsellor will use various career counseling assessments, and the results of these assessments, to assist the client in making an informed decision about the next step.

What Does The Career Counseling Process Look Like?

The career counseling process, depending on a client’s needs, normally consists of the assessment process and the counseling process. These are normally the type of assessments I use during the career counseling process:

  • Personality assessment
  • Value assessment
  • Interest assessment
  • Aptitude assessment
  • Career construction interview

A very important aspect of this process is using this information to empower the client to make the decision. The information from the above mentioned career assessments is used to empower the client to help tell their own story. A key feature is to identify the career themes that emerge during the process. These themes generally empower the client and help them live out their personal narrative through their career field. This will help to make the decision.

Therefore, if you feel that you, or your child, needs some career guidance book a session with a career counsellor. Let us help discover your career narrative.  


Hannes Wessels is an educational psychologist based in Centurion, South Africa. Hannes has a special interest in cognitive behavioural therapy, career counselling and anxiety treatment. The psychological uses and impact of social media on people is also a field that intrigues him greatly. Therefore, he does various workshops related to social media use for parents, schools and health professionals. 
You can find out more about Hannes from
Twitter: @hannesedpsych

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