Chapter 42: Career Pathways in Counseling

The stress over obtaining a job in the field one desires is commonly found amongst college graduate and undergraduate students. There are pressures from peers, parents, and other environmental factors that make an individual feel anxious to find a job. There is an added stress of finding a job in ones desired field. Counselors seek professional identity through providing services to others, prompted by altruism (Degges-White & Stoltz, 2015). Every individual has a different reason for becoming a counselor, which may include: the will to help others, positive job outlook, or previous experience as a client (Hodges, 2012).

Counseling is a field that has a variety of different occupations across an array of settings. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the projected rate of growth in the counseling field is said to increase about 7.4%, going from 1.3 million jobs in 2014 to 1.4 million jobs in 2024. This growth is due to the high demand for psychological services in schools, hospitals, mental health centers, and social services agencies. There is a projection of 30,500 new job openings in the fields of clinical, counseling, and school psychologists positions (Hogan & Roberts, 2015).