As a youth career advisor, I am asked what benefits professional career counselling can bring to a student.

According to the systems approach to career development, career decision making can be complex and confusing, especially for youth, which is when some of the first career decisions are made. There are so many career influences:

• Family – values, traditions, ethnicity, beliefs
• Friends and peers
• Teachers and community leaders
• Location/Community – City, Regional, Rural
• Financial considerations – social status
• Gender
• Health or disability

The adage, from writer Anais Nin, “We don’t see things as they are; we see them as we are.” refers to the fact that we are looking through the lens of our experience. It is perhaps easier to understand if rephrased; You can only be what you can see!

I was born on an RAF base in England in the 1960s. My first dream job was not to be a pilot, as that was not something a girl could dream of at that time in England, but to become what used to be called an air stewardess, or rather a flight attendant. My school taught girls secretarial skills, cooking and sewing, while the boys learned technical drawing. Neither of my parents had studied beyond compulsory education and so they did not really appreciate the need for or benefits of university education. Earning a living was the foremost consideration in order simply to “make ends meet”.

A lot has changed in the 21st century in terms of equal access to education and to information, however, all of the above influences skill to apply and can be limited without the support and this is where a youth career advisor can help your child.

If dedicated time is spent with a youth career advisor, a young adult can learn about another job, training and education and career options beyond what they can see. They are given the time to explore those career influences and can be assessed in terms of their strengths, values and personal preferences.

A youth career advisor who is an experienced adolescent counsellor is able to explore the narrative and metaphors used in conversation with the child or young adult so that no issues are overlooked that could be potentially problematic. These might include a range of issues within the family or social circumstances that can lead to disengagement from school or friendships and from there detrimental to their education and development of job skills.

Another important advantage of engaging with a youth career advisor for career counselling is that your child can take a career assessment using a career assessment tool such as the Morrisby Online Assessment. This incorporates aptitude testing as required and also a detailed analysis of personal preferences using psychometrics, or occupation preference testing. The aptitudes tested are:

• Verbal
• Numerical
• Abstract
• Spacial
• Mechanical

For youth for who English is a second language or for whom language skills are not well developed a separate language test can be administered. Equally, the aptitude tests can be adapted according to special needs.

I like to use a career assessment, especially if it’s interactive for the student in their career coaching. By this, I mean that some of these tools are well developed so as to provide hyperlinks to a wide range of career resources. By referring to a reliable and valid career assessment I create a comprehensive Career Action Plan as part of my career coaching consultations. This means that your child goes away with practical steps to follow in order to help them to gain career clarity and to become independent in their own career development.

If you are looking for a professional youth career advisor in Melbourne then you will be really pleased with the work I do with students and young adults in this area. I have so much success with my young clients, as can be seen by referring to my brief video testimonial on my home page. It is a delight for me to work with these wonderful young people and it gives me great joy to know that they have become much happier as a result of our work together.

Contact me for more details of my career coaching service for students via my website contact form.