What is a Media Careers Counselor?
A career counselor helps people make all sorts of professional decisions. A media careers counselor is a career counselor whose knowlegde base is in the media sector. (That said, a career counselor who specializes in media might not go by this specific title.) A media careers counselor can help someone isolate what specific area of the media they might most suited to launch a career in.
Career counselors can help with myriad decisions: what career to enter into, whether to change your career or whether to relocate for a new professional opportunity.
While it may seem odd to seek outside advice about your job, career counselors can help you identify problems you might not recognize on your own. Much like a therapist, a career counselor can offer objective advice that can be helpful for making more level-headed decisions about your professional path.
Why Would You See a Media Careers Counselor?
Although you know you want to work in media, you may not know which sub-field. Do you want to be in book publishing? Magazines? Television? New Media? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What matters to you most? Money? Job security? Job location?
Theoretically these are easy questions to answer but, sometimes, it can be hard to make life-changing decisions. And the career you choose is definitely something that will have a major impact on your life. So, too are the exterior factors about where that job is and how much money you earn at that job. If you know what you want to do, and have a strong sense that it will be fulfilling, you probably don’t need to see a career counselor. But if you feel lost, and you don’t know exactly what job you want or what you’re strengths and weaknesses are as an employee, you might want to have a conversation or two with a career counselor.
How Do You Find a Media Careers Counselor?
There are various directories online for career counselors, but you want to make sure to do a local search. The National Career Development Association has a list of career counselors throughout the country, so it’s a good place to start. But you may also want to check out the media support organizations listed on this site, since they will have information about career counselors who work specifically with people interested in media careers.