Abilities of a Career Counselor
Group Influencing
The foundation of this pattern is the personal style of a Networker (Extroverted Generalist) with an idea-reach, Flexible Problem Solving style (Idea Productivity, moderate Classification and Concept Organization). This combination leverages a natural ease with working with groups of people; others are likely to listen and respond. People with this pattern can quickly and easily generate a large number of ideas. They can think of a new approach to communicate a thought if the approach they begin with is not understandable to the audience. This is a strong pattern for any of the helping professions, motivation or teaching, or sales and marketing.
Idea Productivity
Idea Productivity also enhances the natural Flexible problem solving style of people with this pattern. They are able to adjust their approach to influence others’ progress toward a goal, including in the helping fields.
Seeing a problem or challenge from more than one point of view, and keeping in mind the group’s perspective, you are able to create a plan without locking into it. You may find you are able to influence other people and persuade them to your point of view.
Concept Organization
Concept Organization can be used to develop plans for influencing people through advertising or marketing campaigns. With this ability you are able to organize effectively. Marketing and advertising are not the only important. People with these abilities and an interest in public service may enjoy politics or lobbying as well.
If your visual abilities (Design Memory and Observation) are prominent, you can use them in fields such as advertising and public relations that often seek to shape opinions through visual media. The visual abilities can also be useful in the helping professions such as counseling and educational consulting. They will help you to notice and respond to body language, dress, and appearance, which can be quite powerful in any people- oriented profession.
The Assisting-People pattern
The Assisting-People pattern combines the personal style of a blended Generalist/Specialist with an idea-rich Pragmatic Problem Solving style (Idea Productivity, lower Classification and Concept Organization), comfort with dealing with intangibles (lower SRV), and attention to visual details (Observation) and the capacity to listen (Tonal Memory). People with this pattern are naturally wired to connect with, understand and be sensitive to others’ needs and feelings – intangible elements of relating. They are patient and less likely to jump to conclusions when faced with new situations.
Relying on an experiential problem solving approach, those with this pattern are able to draw on their own experiences as well as those of others to build a powerful database of information, solutions, and positive outcomes. Once a situation is experienced, they are very quick to know what to do without overthinking. They use their ability to draw on past experience to master a set of skills and pragmatically solve problems. People with this pattern are instinctively driven to provide a balanced perspective. They like to for consideration. Success and advancement in many organizations is based on this factor alone.
This powerful pattern equips people to concentrate on the problems presented, to understand the sender, and to patiently work towards the best outcome for staff, clients, patients, students or even family members. Those with the Assisting- People pattern, with time and patience, can develop an area of expertise in almost any industry, and will likely be happy staying in the same industry for a long period of time.
Connecting- Brainstorming
Connecting- Brainstorming – This is another “low bar” ability profile for counseling, psychology, therapy. Persons with this profile will be inclined to provide a variety of solution ideas for whoever they are serving. They will not be able to present a solution plan in any systemic or logical fashion so problem-solving will be a trial and error approach. The audience they are most likely to resonate the best with will be the “common folk” not those in the professional or executive ranks.
This pattern combines a Generalist orientation with rich idea generation (Idea Productivity) and the skill to communicate with most of the general public. This combination is useful in work roles requiring encouraging, endorsing, marketing, promoting and selling. These activities are valuable in a wide variety of fields depending on interests and goals. People with this pattern have ease and competence in initiating contact and working well with people. Others will usually listen and respond to the new solutions generated. This pattern has practical application in any of the helping professions, as well as in sales and marketing roles and can be applied in one-on-one, small group or large group situations.
Idea Productivity
Many jobs do not provide an outlet for Idea Productivity, although people with this pattern will most likely feel a need to use it. One exception is a role that requires a direct response to people’s needs and then finding different ways to convince others of a solution. Think of selling in this broad context. Any time you listen to someone’s needs, come up with alternative ideas, articulate those ideas so they are understood, and successfully change their minds, you are using this complex group of abilities. You have persuaded them to agree with your assessment and accept your solution, which means you have sold them.
You will be happiest and use your abilities most effectively when you can perform a variety of functions. The Generalist orientation suggests a drive toward variety in your work and Idea Productivity the drive to generate alternative ways to frame your communications. People with this combination often work on tasks that require the cooperation of others, so a Generalist orientation leverages your natural engagement in the success of the project.
Other personal style characteristics can affect the work environment that will feel optimal to you. If you are more extroverted than introverted, projects where working with people is required will feel less taxing on your energy level. If you are more introverted than extroverted, plan to offset the intensity of team interaction with brief respites of time alone.
Group Influencing
The foundation of this pattern is the personal style of a Networker (Extroverted Generalist) with an idea-reach, Flexible Problem Solving style (Idea Productivity, moderate Classification and Concept Organization). This combination leverages a natural ease with working with groups of people; others are likely to listen and respond. People with this pattern can quickly and easily generate a large number of ideas. They can think of a new approach to communicate a thought if the approach they begin with is not understandable to the audience. This is a strong pattern for any of the helping professions, motivation or teaching, or sales and marketing.
Idea Productivity
Idea Productivity also enhances the natural Flexible problem solving style of people with this pattern. They are able to adjust their approach to influence others’ progress toward a goal, including in the helping fields. Seeing a problem or challenge from more than one point of view, and keeping in mind the group’s perspective, you are able to create a plan without locking into it. You may find you are able to influence other people and persuade them to your point of view.
Concept Organization can be used to develop plans for influencing people through advertising or marketing campaigns. With this ability you are able to organize effectively. People with these abilities and an interest in public service may enjoy politics or lobbying as well.
If your visual abilities (Design Memory and Observation) are prominent, you can use them in fields such as advertising and public relations that often seek to shape opinions through visual media. The visual abilities can also be useful in the helping professions such as counseling and educational consulting. They will help you to notice and respond to body language, dress, and appearance, which can be quite powerful in any people- oriented profession.
Specializing- Advising
Specializing- Advising – Psychologist of all kinds tend to want to become experts in their field whereas counselors prefer to be generalists. This ability highlights the specialist ability. This profile matches the key CL and CO abilities presented by ONET but fails to account for need to hear and understand clients probably because these specialist have their knowledge to share with you rather than the need to care and understand you, the client.
This pattern combines the Specialist orientation with Consultative Problem Solving (Classification and Concept Organization) and a deeper connection with the intangible world (lower Spatial Relations Visualization). People with this pattern make connections easily and can diagnose situations quickly. They can also create solutions to implement by putting a procedure or protocol in place. These abilities allow you to quickly identify problems, logically look at each step in the process, and communicate your findings with ease. You have the natural ability to combine various components into a pattern and analyze cause and effect. And, as a
Specialist, you will likely know all of the pros and cons, ins and outs, and the myriad of consequences of any solution selected. You will work most effectively in a career that demands a fast pace and rapid- fire problem solving within a specific niche. You will relish the opportunity to synthesize information and analyze causes.
Your Spatial Relations Visualization indicates you lean toward the intangible and are comfortable dealing with laws, theories, concepts, and ideas. You probably do not require a tangible or concrete outcome of your work to feel satisfied. However, as a strong Specialist you will need to choose an area of expertise. Becoming an expert will be a driving force in your life and may require additional education.
Giving advice as an expert is an ability that is highly regarded in many industries. The research scientist or lawyer has a depth of expertise that those outside their fields admire. You will be motivated to delve deeply into your area of specialty and will be very comfortable informing others of changes in your industry. If you are an Extrovert, you might want to investigate public speaking or making presentations about your expertise. If you are an
Introvert, you may want to take the lead in research writing and documentation or possibly write a book about your field.