What Kind of Career Adviser Is Right for You?

It is the right time for fresh resolutions, including resolutions about your future career. Find a new job, look for a promotion, seek more flexibility for the family, pursue further education, look for something more enjoyable, or whatever. However, it rarely makes sense to make career decisions alone. What kind of career adviser do you use? Or, if you don’t have a career adviser in your life, what can you do about that?

Below, we list six different “pure types” of career adviser. Some advisers, of course, can move between types as their client’s situation demands. However, even then it can help to know what range of types is out there, and what kind of service you are getting.

The good friend: A good friend, including a spouse or life partner, has the advantage of the level of trust that already exists between you. That friend may know you better than anyone, and if they are a good listener, they can help bring all your career concerns into the conversation. However, friends – either alone or in groups – bring expectations along with their friendship. For example, they can expect you to identify with or spend time pursuing interests that interfere with your career opportunities. Or, your friend may not know enough about your career field to provide the kind of help you need. So enjoy talking to a good friend, but also exercise good judgment about how much you depend them.

The career counselor: We use this term to refer to a wide range of people in schools, universities, public and private career services organizations that are typically trained to adopt a psychological approach. They will often begin by using some form of testing to determine your interests, values, personality type or self-described strengths, and lead you toward the kind of occupation or position that appears right for you. The approach is most effective at the beginning of a career in helping you make a start. However, it may overlook the career experience you already have. It may also attribute career challenges to what’s goes on in your mind rather that what’s happening around you at work.

The network member: With this kind of career adviser any one person is not enough. You need to assemble a “developmental network,” where different members contribute different insights into your career. These insights can be about, for example, your employer, former employers, your occupation, school alums, family, friends and fellow hobbyists. The idea is to take advantage of the range of advising they can offer on your career. Having a developmental network is a good idea as long as you assemble good people. However, it is only as good as the quality of the advice you receive, and it can leave you to weigh up the separate pieces of advice on your own.

The pragmatist: We use this term to capture a range of people, commonly but not always referred to as career or life coaches, who focus closely on your present situation and the problems you describe. They will help you talk through the politics of your employment situation, or your relations with your boss, or the new job application you’re making, and apply their experience to help you improve your situation. Their background training varies widely in both its depth and the kind of education they bring. Moreover the focus they bring can be a drawback, such as keeping you inside the same company, or in the same line of work, when a more substantial career transition is called for.

The sensemaker: This is someone interested in your present place in society, rather than in adopting a straight psychological view. Such an adviser will help you see your career situation in a wider social context. Back in the early nineteenth century, celebrated social scientist William James observed a distinction between a bird’s flights and its perchings. In flight, the bird is focused on getting to its destination. However, while perching, it has an opportunity to reflect on its flights and come up with a wider understanding of its environment. So it goes with your career. When can you engage in perching, and what sensemaking can you pursue?

The narrative builder: This kind of adviser will focus on the underlying story behind your career. The first task is to help you to understand and take ownership of your story to this point. The further task is to help you edit and tell that story - in interviews, networking events and chance meetings. Moreover, in today’s world much of your storytelling takes place over the Web, involving social networks and what is commonly called personal branding. A skilled narrative builder who can help you bridge between both physical and virtual space can be particularly helpful in getting you more comfortable with today’s technology-driven opportunities.

So what kind of career adviser is right for you? The above provides some guidelines you can apply, depending on your present situation. Do you need to look beyond friends and family? Will someone committed to early career advising offer what you want? Also, how flexible is any career adviser to reach across the six types to provide wider advantages? A further question is, do you already need help in help in sensemaking or narrative-building or both? Even if you don’t think you need these kinds of advising now, it is highly likely you will need them later in your career.

One last thing. If you don’t feel you are getting the right type of career advising right now, do something about it. Now is the time to put that right!