Geary & Associates, Inc. offers career counseling (aka Career Coaching) services to help:

• Individuals who want to resolve a career choice.
• Parents who want to assist children explore career and educational options.
• Employers who want to assist valued employees with career development and management issues within the firm.

Who can benefit from career counseling services?

Career counseling can help you, if:

• You are troubled by issues regarding career choice, career advancement within your profession or career transition within the firm or industry.
• You are uncertain about whether or not you want to invest in formal training and/or are concerned that you may not be able to handle the academics.

What can career counseling do for the individual?

Career counseling services can benefit the individual who is prepared to invest time and effort to work towards achieving goals and objectives. Career counseling can help the individual:

• Tailor a career management plan towards specific goals.
• Select a college major or training program.
• Evaluate a self-employment objective.
• Implement immediate and pragmatic career, occupational, or employment change decisions due to an industrial injury, physical impairment or illness, a layoff, plant closure, company reorganization and/or other life crises.
• Prepare a tailored resume, promote and market skills, improve oral interviewing skills, develop job leads and organize a job search campaign.

What is the role of the counselor?

Career Counseling is not handholding. There is more to career counseling or consulting than just administering an aptitude/achievement test or interest inventory, viewing video modules or accessing computerized career exploration systems. These are useful tools- but only tools. The counselor will assist you in thinking through goals and objectives, researching options and exploring alternatives. The counselor will work with you to prepare a plan, guided by your needs, values and goals to set down what you want to achieve; i.e., your vocational, occupational and financial objectives.With considerable work on your part, the counselor will help you:

• List the steps or tasks that you need to complete to achieve your plans on a daily and weekly basis;
• Identify, with your diligent efforts, your talents, abilities, aptitudes, temperaments, values, leadership/ management style, all of which identify your job content, functional, and management skills;
• Develop a structure to help you organize activities and suggest methods to help you take advantage of what you have learned;
• Monitor your progress.

Life Unrest!

Sometimes the problems that you experience are rooted more in interpersonal relationships or personal issues. Since these issues may precipitate conflicts or unrest in your career or occupation, you may need counseling with a psychotherapist, marriage & family counselor, or psychologist to get to the root of the problem. Changing occupations may not be recommended until these issues are resolved. We will recommend a referral.

Beware!

There are no cookbook solutions to career and occupational challenges. This field has more of its share of trendy fads based on junk research, fuzzy assumptions or bells & whistles. Please refer to What Color Is Your Parachute by Richard N. Bolles for information on selecting a career counselor. A counselor, educational institution, book, workbook, or videotape program cannot guarantee that you will achieve your goals, develop a plan of action, make an occupational decision or learn anything. A counselor or firm cannot guarantee that you will secure the employment you want.

Tests!

Tests, computer software programs, Internet subscriptions, workbooks and other products are useful tools when used appropriately. Some of these instruments are trendy fads that serve the purpose of the "career counselor" or publisher more often than the consumer of the service.

The Counselor!

Any person can use the title “counselor” in the State of California. There are no state regulations that restrict this designation to an individual with accredited or approved professional training such as a Masters Degree or higher degree. Any person can place legitimate or deceptive abbreviations and letters after their name to claim expertise.

Jack Geary and Edelweiss Geary, M.Ed., C.R.C. have completed a master's level graduate counseling program, supervised internships and supervised professional practice. Edelweiss is certified by the Commission for Certification of Rehabilitation Counselors.

Any organization or pseudo organization can claim that they will “certify” an individual who pays the fee for a course and the postage for the certificate. The authenticity of a “certifying” body can be evaluated by checking out the following web site: http://www.noca.org/

The Fees!

Geary & Associates, Inc. charge fees by the hour. Fees are payable at the end of the session. Equally important are the estimated total fees and calendar time, which of course, depend on the unique situation and needs of the individual. We will discuss estimated total hours and fees and the calendar time in advance. Individuals do not pay in advance or sign contracts or agreements.

• “Time” is reserved or purchased when the appointment is scheduled. Appointments should be canceled as far in advance as practical so that someone else can use the time slot you reserved and purchased.
• Our fees are reasonable and very competitive because we do not support non-producing management and administrative staff, pay stockholder dividends, support passive equity investors, or pay referral agencies.
• Since we do not charge up front fees or require contracts or written agreements, there is no need for a so-called courtesy session. Some individuals want to interview the counselor first to find out if they can relate and obtain information about the services. This type of interview will help the individual explore goals and purposes. Consequently, the individual benefited from the conversationl.
• The history behind the practice of a free interview with the counselor developed to counter the firms that charge fees in advance. However, we will meet with a company representative to discuss services that may be delivered to multiple employees.

Geary & Associates, Inc. is not a public agency or educational institution subsidized by the taxpayer. We are not a charitable non-profit (tax-exempt) institution. We are a private firm that receives remuneration for the "time" reserved for and purchased by the client. We charge by the hour and expect payment at the end of the session. We will invoice third party sponsors according to the agreed on service agreement and rate.

How Many Counseling Hours!

The number of counseling sessions will vary with the individual’s needs. A session is usually 1.0 to 2.0 hours. For Career Counseling, our experience suggests that the individual should be prepared to commit two to ten sessions over a period of four to twelve weeks. During this period, the individual should clear their calendar and expect to schedule significant amount of personal time to complete assignments.

The Career Counseling Practice

Retaining a career counselor is like retaining an accountant, attorney, or financial planner. Each professional is trained to offer a specialized but related menu of services. There is a specialized vocabulary, professional practice protocol and office practices. You need to find out the specific services offered by the firm and most important what services the firm will not perform.The counselor will explain the process and the activities that will help you. You should expect to do significant research on your own. The counselor will also discuss what you can reasonably expect for your time, effort, and investment. Therefore, at the outset, you and the counselor should reach an agreement on the expected range of outcomes.

Meaningful and Challenging Work

It is certainly helpful to secure a job that is personally meaningful and challenging. However, for most people, their job funds 100% of the costs that support the desired quality of life over their work life and funds the investment contributions for retirement years. That is, the lifestyle or standard of living depends on the income from the job.Therefore the quality of life objective would appear to be the primary objective, not the “‘meaning” of a particular job. The job is just the “vehicle” to help you reach the quality of life objective. Career planning is important to help you select “jobs” that “leverage your time” and maximize your net earnings to reach the quality of life goals. Yet, many individuals spend more time preparing a travel plan and a menu than their career. “Meaning” and “challenge” exist within the individual not the job. “Meaning” and “challenge” are achieved when the individual knows they are moving towards their quality of life goals.

Career counseling services may include:

• Initial Diagnostic Interview to clarify objectives & challenges.
• Supportive counseling to handle acute family & personal needs.
• Identification of marketable transferable skills.
• Assessment of aptitudes, achievements and interests.
• Clarification of employment goals and immediate objectives.
• Projecting financial obligations of training or college and daily expenses of training..
• Clarification of long term goals.
• Research - industries, companies, occupations.
• Research position titles and compensation packages.
• Identifying and developing mentors in an industry or professional field. 
• Preparation a resume.

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