Time squandered on poor career decisions can cost thousands or even millions of dollars in lost income over the span of your working life. But with professional career counseling or coaching, you can improve the return on your investment.

Career counseling is in greater demand in the wake of recent economic turmoil and layoffs. But the stereotypical middle manager, in his 40s or 50s and downsized into despair, isn't the only one seeking career counseling these days

After years of corporate restructuring, re-engineering and reorganization, few people still expect to keep a job with a single company for life. Instead, many in today's work force are taking more active roles in designing their futures.

Often, people who seek career counseling are planning for the next job, the one after that and the one after that – linking professional growth and development activities along a continuum of career steps.

Added to this is a greater emphasis on meaningful work, personal fulfillment and balance between life and work – values that have gained significance since the terrorist events in the United States on September 11, 2001. Sure, people want to earn decent incomes, but they want to have lives, too.

What Career Counselors Do

Career counselors can help people create and carry out plans related to their lives and career directions. They can guide people toward suitable fields, assist in job searches or help resolve career challenges that are holding them back. Because clients pay for these services, they can expect counselors or coaches to work for them, supporting their best interests.

Counselors' strategies vary, but they usually do one or more of the following:

• Conduct personal counseling sessions, with individuals and groups, to help clarify life and career goals
• Administer and interpret tests and inventories to assess clients' interests and abilities and help identify career options
• Provide information on career planning and occupations
• Help improve decision-making skills
• Help develop individualized career plans
• Teach job-hunting strategies and skills and help develop resumés
• Teach human relations skills that can help resolve potential personal conflicts on the job
• Help integrate work with their other roles in life
• Provide support for people going through job stress, job loss or career transition

When to Hire a Career Counselor

The time to see a career counselor is when your career is fairly stable. Don't wait for the ax to fall – you can't make good career decisions in a crisis or when you're motivated purely by survival.

Rather than thinking of career planning as a problem-solving process, think of it as a creative process. When an artist goes to the canvas, he's not trying to solve a problem, he's trying to create something. Likewise, your career is your own work of art – a reflection of your personal values, interests and skills. Career counseling helps you create your personal vision of where you want to go with your working life, and it guides you in developing a strategy for getting there.

If you think you could benefit by talking with a career counselor or coach, start by assessing what type of help you need. Do you have a career focus, or is your future blurry? Do you need help marketing and presenting yourself more effectively? What are the specific results you want to achieve?

The better you can articulate your needs, the better you'll be to identify the appropriate resource to help you.

To help you take inventory of your career development needs and priorities, here's a sample questionnaire that many career counselors use. Ask yourself:

1. Who am I? What are my interests, values, likes and dislikes?
2. What have I done? What are my transferable skills, training and experience?
3. Where am I going? What's my knowledge of alternatives and options for my career?
4. How will I get there? What's my strategy for reaching my career goals?

How to Find a Counselor or Coach

Most states don't require licenses, certifications or credentials to work in the career development field. Basically, anybody can hang a shingle and peddle their services. You'll discover an array of fees, services and capabilities. As a consumer, you'd be smart to do some preparatory work to figure out who's best for you.

Start your search by asking friends and colleagues for suggestions, or inquiring at your alma mater's career services office for a referral. Even if your college is located outside your current geographical area, it may have relationships or affiliations with schools in other locations.

Online resources include:

• The Association of Career Professionals International
• The National Career Development Association 
• The Institute for Career Certification 

Select a counselor or coach who's professionally trained and who has experience working with clients in your situation.

The designation "national certified career counselor," given by the National Board of Certified Counselors, signifies that a counselor has:

• Earned a graduate degree in counseling or a related professional field from a regionally accredited institution
• Completed supervised counseling experience, including career counseling
• Had at least three years of full-time career development work experience
• Passed a certification exam

While this particular program was discontinued in 1999, in 2001 the National Career Development Association offered as alternatives the designations "master career counselor" and "master career development professional." Other respected designations include "career management fellow," "career management practitioner" and "certified career master."

Reviewing credentials can help you weed out untrained practitioners. But credentials only measure a counselor's education and expertise. They don't tell you much about the counselor's personal style – so you'll want to interview three or more counselors before deciding.

Ask career counselors for detailed explanations of services, fees, time commitments and copies of their ethical guidelines. Be skeptical of services that require large up-front fees with promises of better jobs, higher salaries or speedy results.

Also ask for references from other clients, and make certain that you can end the services at any time if you're not satisfied, paying only for the services rendered. Fees range from $60 to $200 per hour or more.