CAREER EXPLORATION PAPER
Career Exploration Paper
CAREER EXPLORATION PAPER
Introduction
Unless otherwise cited, the career information presented in this paper was obtained from O*NET
On-Line (National Center for O*NET Development, 2015).
The occupational characteristics for professional counselor fit my current interest because
a professional counselor works with individuals or group to promote optimal mental and
emotional health, this is in line with my current interest and values. My current goal is to find a
position where I can help individuals to deal with their emotional problems, I specifically want to
work with children and some of the occupational characteristics of professional counselors is to
work with family deal with their parenting skills and help children with self-esteem, stress
management and aging. O*Net has lots of advantages that I can use in the future as counselor, I
can search wages in other areas and to search for jobs if I cannot find a job in my area. I can also
find information regarding the duties, kills and activities that I will need to use while performing
my job as a professional counselor. I was not able to find any limitation while using O*Net.
The occupation that I have chosen to explore is professional counselor, the three primary Holland
code in my report are: Social, Artistic and Enterprising and these codes are in line with my
occupational that I chose to explore. The O*Net SOC Code is 21-1014-00.
The Nature of the Work
Professional counselors work with individuals and group to promote optimum mental and
emotional health. Professional counselors help individuals deal with issues associated with
addictions and substance abuse, stress management, self-esteem and aging. Professional
CAREER EXPLORATION PAPER
counselors need to have knowledge of human behavior, psychological research methods and the
assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders. Some of the skills that a
professional counselor need are active listening, which consists of giving full attention to what
the client is saying, asking appropriate questions and not interrupting when the client is talking .
Other skills that a professional counselor needs are critical thinking, judgment and decision
making, monitoring, service orientation and writing. A typical work day for a professional
counselor will depend on the type of work that he or she does, for example if the professional
counselor work in school, his or her typical day will consists of listening to students and
advising, also working with parents and teachers to ensure that students are in the right path to
graduation. Other professional counselors might have their own office and see clients at their
office, they setup their own schedule and have very flexible working hours. Other professional
counselors work as in home therapists and the typical work day consists of visiting clients at
their home.
Working Conditions
The working environment of a professional counselor will depend on the location of their
job. In my case, I will work with a low socio-economic level Latino community because I live in
an area that it is mostly Latinos. I am planning to work with children as an in home therapist
where, I will visit the client in their home. My working hours will be in the afternoon and
evening after children get home from school. I will work alone and will communicate with case
managers and behavioral assistant. Supervision will consist of one monthly hour meeting and as
needed if I need to consult with my supervisor. The psychological aspects of my work
CAREER EXPLORATION PAPER
environment will consists of responding to crisis situations, meeting deadlines and multitask. A
professional counselor cal work from home writing notes and filing paper work.
Preparation and Qualifications
In order to become a professional counselor, a person needs a master degree in
professional counseling and be licensed by the state that the person works. There is no
experience needed to become a professional counselor, except the internship. In order to be an
affective professional counselor, a person needs some abilities or personal traits like oral
comprehension, oral expression, problem sensibility, inductive reasoning, written
comprehension, and written expression. These include the ability to listen and understand
information and ideas presented through spoken words, the ability to communicate information
and ideas in speaking so others can understand, the ability to tell when something is wrong or is
likely to go wrong, the ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or
conclusion. As a professional counselor, one needs the skills like actively looking for ways to
help the client, a professional counselor also needs to have social perceptiveness skills, like being
aware of other's reaction and understanding why they react the way they do.
Opportunities and Future Outlook
Professional counselor is projected to grow 29 percent from 2012 through 2022, which is
faster than the average of all other occupations, this is because more people have mental health
counseling services covered by their insurance. In 2012 the workforce for mental health
CAREER EXPLORATION PAPER
counselor was 166,300 and it is expected to grow to 214,500 by 2022, which is a 29 percent
increase. Job prospect for mental health counselor should be good, especially in rural area which
are underserved by mental health practitioners. Increasing number of people seeking mental
health counseling services and a growing population is expected to increase the demand for
mental health counselors. Mental health counselors can find work at a for small private
companies, for the government or for a large hospital, depending on their interest. In the State of
New Jersey the growth will only be 17 percent from 2012 through 2022, which is below the
national level of 29 percent growth (Careeronestop, 2015)
Economic and Non-Economic Benefits
The median average annual salary for mental health counselor in New Jersey is higher
than the national level $47,500.00 to $40,500.00. The lowest 10 percent of mental health
counselor earn $32,200.00 in New Jersey compared to $26,000.00 at the national level, and the
top 10 percent make $71,700.00 in the state of New Jersey compared to $66,900.00 at the
national level (Careeronestop, 2015). In order to become a mental health professional at a
licensed level, a person needs a master degree, the benefits are in accordance with other
professions, two weeks' vacation, average of 10 sick leave days and health insurance. Some non-
economic benefits are personal satisfaction of helping other people with their mental and
emotional problems. Mental health professionals usually collaborate with social workers,
psychiatrist, psychologist, law enforcement and resources in the community to advocate for their
clients.
CAREER EXPLORATION PAPER
Disadvantages and/or Special Situations
Mental health counselors, depending on their type of job have lots of special situations,
for example of a person is a in home counselor, he has to visit the patients at their home, they
usually have to deal with safety issues, because they have to visit some dangerous
neighborhoods. Another disadvantage is the working hours, if the counselor works with children,
his or her schedule usually starts after 3:00 pm which is when the children get home from school
and/ or weekends. Another disadvantage is that the during the summer the number of cases could
be low because most of the cases are referred by the schools and if the person works as an
independent contractor, his or her salary can be affected. Some hazards, could be bringing
contamination from the client's home to their own home. I have heard of some stories where
some therapists bring bed bugs to their home because they visited a client that had this
contamination at his home.
Conclusion
Some of the characteristics that I like about this position is the fact that professional
counselors work to help individuals deal with their mental health problems. My passion is to
work with children and help them to grow up mentally healthy. The requirements that I like is
that a professional counselor has to be licensed by the state that they work for, this will diminish
the number of malpractice in the field. Some of the aspects that disappointed me is the low pay
level that some professional counselors receive, the lower 10 percent get pay around $26,000.00
per year, I believe this is very low for a professional with a master degree. This career fits with
my interest which is to help children deal with their mental problems, another characteristics that
fits with my current interest with the flexible working schedule. The occupation characteristics
CAREER EXPLORATION PAPER
and requirements for professional counselor fits with my current career goals which is to become
a professional counselor, I am currently getting my master degree in professional counselor. I
hope to graduate next year and I will become a licensed associate counselor, after completing the
4500 hours of face to face experience with client, I will get my licensed professional counselor
status.
Some of the advantages of using O*net in the future as a counselor is that it has lots of
information regarding mental health counselor, it lists the descriptions, the duties, the skills and
lots of information that a professional counselor will need. It also has links to other resources
that I can use in the future, for example the example the occupational outlook handbook. It also
has a link to Job openings in my area. Some of the limitations of using O*net in the future as a
counselor, is that it doesn't have links to resources that I can use to help my clients, for example
it should have links to professional websites like the American Counselor Association.
CAREER EXPLORATION PAPER
References
Career One Stop. (2015). Occupation Information: Occupation Profile. Retrieved from
http://www.careerinfonet.org/occ_rep.asp?nodeid=2&optstatus=000110111&next=occ_r
ep&jobfam=21&soccode=211014&stfips=&level=&id=1&ES=Y&EST=mental+health+
counselor
National Center for O*NET Development. (2010). Summary Report: Mental Health Counselors.
(O*Net Report No. 21-1014.00). Retrieved from O*Net Online website:
http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/21-1014.00
United States Department of Labor. (2015). Occupational Outlook Handbook: Mental
Health Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapist. Retrieved from
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/mental-health-counselors-
and-marriage-and-family-therapists.htm
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
