Career Services at ACA

Christa Butler:

Welcome to The Voice of Counseling from the American Counseling Association. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of season two of The Voice of Counseling podcast. I'm Christa Butler from ACA, and joining us today is Danielle Irving, who is here today to share about career services available for ACA members, including the upcoming virtual career fair. Save the date for the American Counseling Association's upcoming virtual career fair. This engaging event will take place on Tuesday, November 1st, 2022 from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Christa Butler:

The virtual career fair provides convenience and the opportunity for recruiters and job candidates to connect with one another in the virtual setting. Danielle Irving is a licensed counselor in Maryland and currently a doctoral student working towards her PhD in counselor education and supervision at Hampton University. She manages the career services department and supports the Center for Counseling Policy Practice and Research at the American Counseling Association.

Christa Butler:

Over the past 10 years in her role at ACA, she has utilized her specialty in career counseling by providing career guidance, consultation services, and resources designed to encourage and assist counseling professionals in obtaining their educational, employment, and career goals, while also promoting the importance of self-care, work-life balance, and burnout prevention. Welcome to the podcast, Danielle. Thank you so much for joining us.

Danielle Irving:

Thank you so much for having me.

Christa Butler:

Let's hop right in and could you share with us what services does ACA offer to counselors who have an active membership?

Danielle Irving:

Yes, absolutely. We have available career consultations. We also do resume, CV, and cover letter reviews, assistance with mock interviews, individualized job search or practicum and internship assistance. We also have a job board that's available to members, as well as the general public. However, if there are no available positions within your city or state, you can give us a call or email us and we will assist you in finding some of those jobs that are available near you.

Christa Butler:

Those sound like really helpful services for professionals at different levels of their career. From my understanding, these services are available to students and new professionals and counselors. Can you share a little bit about that and how these services can be accessed?

Danielle Irving:

Yes, so it's available to anyone that is an active member with the ACA, so students, newer professionals, practitioners, those that might be looking for new positions or different positions from what they were previously doing. They can be accessed by going to our website. Once you're at our website, www.counseling.org, you'll click on the careers tab and then that will show you... It will give you access to the job board. It will also show you some sample documents that might be helpful in creating or building your resume, and then contact information at the bottom.

Danielle Irving:

I'll also include that email here, but it does have contact information in case you want to send an email. The email address is acacareers@counseling.org. You can email us and then we will be able to assist you with your request. We just ask for 24 to 48 hours to receive a response regarding your inquiry.

Christa Butler:

That sounds very helpful. I'm sure counselors will want to take advantage of some of those services and resources that are available. Can you tell us about the ACA Career Central that is available on the ACA website?

Danielle Irving:

Yes. ACA Career Central is having access to our job board, and that job board is a very robust list. I will mention that we are part of a national healthcare network, so that means that we pull in jobs from different associations and organizations that also have a job board. Sometimes you might see positions that don't necessarily speak to the counseling profession and that's okay. That's because we're a part of the healthcare network and that includes medical positions, positions within a hospital setting, psychiatric nurses. You might see some things that don't necessarily apply, but that is the reason why.

Danielle Irving:

However, you will also see positions for clinicians, as well as counselor educators, and that could be in a variety of settings from universities and colleges to agencies, as well as private practice that have openings. It's a very robust list that has a lot of different positions in different settings.

Christa Butler:

Earlier we were talking about the virtual career fair, which I know will offer members a tremendous benefit for attending that. Can you share with us about the virtual career fair and what members can expect as far as the benefits and some of the services and resources that they'll have access to through attending the event?

Danielle Irving:

Yes, absolutely. Just to reiterate the date, it's coming soon in the fall, November 1st, which will be a Tuesday, 10:00 to 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. During that time, job seekers will have the opportunity to explore different employers and recruiters that are looking to fill their open and vacant opportunities at that time. And that doesn't mean that they'll just be interviewing. They will also have the opportunity to chat, send messages, and learn more about the company, the organization or association. They'll be able to learn more about that, learn more about the position that is open during that time and speak with recruiters.

Danielle Irving:

It's not just an opportunity to interview, but you can be learning more about opportunities down the line in the future and what the position entails. Another thing that I would mention is taking advantage of some of those career services opportunities and benefits that ACA offers prior to the event. If you know that you want to attend, reach out to us so that we can have a consultation and discuss what you can do with your education or reviewing some of those documents, whether it's your cover letter, your resume or your CV. We can assist with that.

Danielle Irving:

Even mock interviews, if you need to go through some of those questions that might be asked during the interview and that can help you feel a little bit more prepared and more comfortable for what's to come. Taking advantage of those benefits prior to the event would be a good thing to take advantage of. I would also mention that this is a great opportunity to interact and engage with job candidates and seekers, as well as recruiters. For those who have not attended an in person ACA conference, we have this available at the annual conference each year in person.

Danielle Irving:

However, due to travel or not wanting to miss work, some of those employers are unable to attend and some of those job seekers are unable to attend as well. But this virtual opportunity gives recruiters and job candidates and opportunity to meet within that virtual space. This will be our first time doing it, so I'm very excited to be offering this to members, as well as the general public. It will be free for job seekers, general public that wants to learn more about available positions. And then the recruiters, they will pay a fee for boost space and to be able to have access to the resume database.

Danielle Irving:

And that is why I wanted to mention, if you have those resumes that you're looking to build or want someone to just take a look at it, take advantage of that because there will be a resume database and your resume will be uploaded to that. Employers will be looking, pulling candidates that meet the requirements and criteria of what they're looking for. Those are just some of the things to expect. It will be going on pretty much all day. You'll have the opportunity to be in and out. You can sign on in the morning, in the afternoon, or later in the evening and have that opportunity to engage with some of those recruiters that might have positions that you're interested in.

Christa Butler:

Awesome. You mentioned having your resume, maybe been doing a mock interview in advance. Let's get into that. Let's get into what are some things that a counselor may want to include in their resume so that when they attend the virtual career fair, you already have some pointers on some things that you can do to market yourself a little bit better. Can you share with us what are some things that would be important for a counselor to include on their resume?

Danielle Irving:

Sure. I'm going to start with the most important things first. You always want to highlight your education, your experience, and your credentials. If you have any certificates or certifications, trainings, you want to highlight those things first, and those are the most important things. Then you also want to include any qualifications or skills that you have. Then those additional skills that may not be counseling, but can be beneficial to your role or the role that you're seeking. If you have experience with Microsoft Word or Excel or some of the electronic health records, those are the type of things you want to include in those additional skills.

Danielle Irving:

And then you also want to highlight within your experience the client population that you're working with or you have experience working with, how many clients or what your caseload look like, any specific diagnoses, those things you want to include in there. And then you also want to include professional affiliations, any experience volunteering, and those are some of the things that are going to be specific to a resume. Of course, at the top you want to have your name. You want to at least have city and state. You don't necessarily need your full address, but city and state, contact information, including your phone number and email address.

Danielle Irving:

Those are just some of the specific things that you want to highlight within your resume. But very important to include your education, important to include your experience, as well as your credentials. Or even if you don't have those credentials just yet, if you are pursuing them, for example, if you're pursuing licensure and you're currently under supervision, you can include that information. You can say currently accumulating hours towards licensure, and then include your supervisor's name and their license number. You can include that information because it's good for recruiters to see that you are maintaining your education in the field, and then you are also advancing.

Danielle Irving:

Because one thing that comes with licensure is professional development and continuing education. They can see you're committed and dedicated to the counseling profession with this information.

Christa Butler:

Now, can you tell us... Because I'm thinking about counselors who may have a little bit more experience that's been doing this work for five, 10 plus years. How long is too long when it comes to a resume?

Danielle Irving:

I get this question a lot and I know we usually see one to two pages worth of a resume, and that might be a little difficult for some of us that have a lot more experience over time. I would say a comfortable number of pages would be three, no more than four. With that, you only want to include your last positions in the past 10 years. Anything beyond 10 years, you don't need to include it, or you can utilize a summary or a qualification section. This way you can just outline over 20 years of experience providing individual counseling. That's just an example, but you can use that in your summary area or the summary of qualifications area and just kind of give a range and a brief overview of what that includes.

Danielle Irving:

Looking at the three to four pages, and then also keeping in mind that you want to have the most important details on the first few pages. That's when that one to two pages comes. It can be very beneficial to include what's really important on page one and page two. Because after page three, the recruiter might not read everything. They might start skimming at that point. You want to be sure to have all that important information on the first two pages and also utilizing your cover letter. The cover letter is a great way to include summary of your experience, your education, and what you can bring to that employer or that role that you're looking to interview for.

Christa Butler:

Very good information. Three to four pages and your best information, you want to include that earlier on, like on the first two pages. That makes me think about a CV, for example. Sometimes those might be 10 or 20 pages, et cetera, cetera. Can you share with us when would you suggest that someone use a CV instead of a resume?

Danielle Irving:

Yeah, that's a great question. A CV's purpose is going to be for those academia positions. If you're interested in research or teaching or becoming a counselor educator, that's when you're going to start to build your CV. It may start off looking like a resume, but it will be a lot longer. That's when you do see 10 to 20 pages and that is appropriate for a CV, not appropriate for the resume, but very appropriate for the CV. That's when you're going to highlight not only your education, you might also have licensure, so you'll highlight that as well, but you want to include, do you have any publications? Do you have teaching experience? What's your teaching modality?

Danielle Irving:

Those are the type of things that you want to included there. Presentations, research, those are some things in addition to what the resume will usually look like, which is why it becomes a little bit longer. The more that you teach, you'll be putting in course information and the classes that you taught, the specific topics. And then you might have a lot more research or presentations than the typical practicing counselor. That's why it becomes a little bit long, but that's appropriate for a CV. But generally, you're only going to use that if you're looking for academia or research position.

Christa Butler:

No 10 page resumes, but perhaps for your CV, because you're including in a lot of the work that one might do in an academic setting, as far as research, education, the courses they're teaching, publications they're writing. It may get to be a little bit longer because you're listing both experience and the things that one may do in an academic setting.

Danielle Irving:

Yes, yes, exactly.

Christa Butler:

Are there any do's and don'ts that you would suggest as far as I guess either one of them, but we can start with the resume?

Danielle Irving:

Yeah, absolutely. The resume, again, focusing on that length and not going too long on the resume and utilizing the cover letter for that. And then also, you have the interviewing opportunity. That's when you can expand upon. You don't want the resume to be too long. And then also using bullet points, very short, concise, straight to the point, easy to read, easy to digest, all of that information. I always recommend using bullet points. I know some people like to get fancy with their resume. Try not to get too fancy. It's okay.

Danielle Irving:

I've been seeing lately people include their pictures, they include maybe their LinkedIn profile, the link to that. Those things are okay, but fancy with the font. We want to stick to the basic font Times New Roman. Did I say that right? New Times Roman.

Christa Butler:

Times New Roman.

Danielle Irving:

Times New Roman, yes. Using kind of the basic fonts instead of the cursive ones and some of the more fancy ones. You want to have that basic format. And then highlighting your different sections so it's easier to read. Education, listing that out. Experience, listing that information out. Credentials, listing that out with the bullet points. And then some more don'ts that I don't love to see. I know people want to share the personal information about themselves and that's okay because that's what makes us who we are. However, for the resume, we don't necessarily have to do that. We want to show that within our work.

Danielle Irving:

Even if we're just saying hardworking, well, how are you hardworking? I need you to describe that, because anybody can say I'm hardworking or committed or dedicated or team player. Show that within your resume. How are you a team player? What are some examples of that? Providing those examples. Providing numbers, that's always good and that's why I mentioned, what did your caseload look like? Provided services to 10 to 12 children and adolescents. And then also having those statistics and numbers within there. That's always good for employers to see and easier for them to get a better idea of what you've been working on, what you've been doing, and your past opportunities.

Danielle Irving:

Don't be afraid. For the students out there that might say, "I don't have experience. I don't have anything to include in my resume," you want to include practicum. You can include your internship opportunities. Don't forget that you have those things. You might not have had that professional experience beyond your master's program, but those are starting. You can say, "700 hours within my internship opportunity at," insert company here and what you did there. That is experience and that equals about one and a half years worth of experience. Don't be afraid to include that and highlight what you did in those roles.

Danielle Irving:

And then as you're starting out, you might highlight some of the classes that you've taken, the electives or additional classes where you've gained some experience and some of those trainings and certifications that you might have been working on. Those are just a few tips for resume. I think I gave a lot more of the do's than the don'ts, but that should be pretty helpful.

Christa Butler:

I have a curiosity. For students who, like you had mentioned, listing their practicum and their internship, what are your thoughts on them also maybe even listing volunteer experience that might be in human services or that might be transferable in terms of some of the skills that one might use in volunteering in any position?

Danielle Irving:

Yeah, absolutely. Always include any experience, whether it's a paid opportunity or not. Volunteer services that is experience nonetheless. Usually I say include a section that might say volunteer services or volunteer experience and list those things out. List what you provided within that setting or in that space. And then another thing that I want to mention that you can do with your resume, because sometimes we have professionals that are career changers, and so they might have 10 years or more of another profession not related to counseling, right? What do they do with that? We don't want to just leave that out, because we've spent a lot of time working in that role or within that different field.

Danielle Irving:

What I say about that, in addition to including it in your summary of qualifications section, you can also list that in your resume and considering space, what you might have space for. When I talk about experience, you can break that out. Sometimes it's counseling experience. Sometimes you might have teaching experience in there, and then other times you might have additional professional experience. That's another section that you can create, because sometimes you don't want to forget about the role that you played prior to the counseling profession. It could also be beneficial to include and might set you aside from other candidates that are applying for the position.

Danielle Irving:

Within that section, you can also include some of those additional skills, experience, qualifications that may not be specific to counseling, but may be beneficial to you in this new role that you're seeking.

Christa Butler:

Awesome. Awesome. Any do's and don'ts for CVs that you want to mention?

Danielle Irving:

The thing about a CV is that it's a lot longer, so you don't necessarily have to be as considerate about the space within that one. But again, well, the difference with the resume is I would recommend bullet points. With the CV, you might be writing a little bit more because it's a little hard to capture all that information. You don't necessarily have to use the bullet points in there, but structure and format is going to be important because of the length of the document. It might be difficult to capture all the information within there because it's just a longer document, a lot more going on within that.

Danielle Irving:

Again, highlighting the most important things and you can do this by calling out the different sections. Maybe the different sections are in bold or they're a little bit bigger in font. So then that way the employer or recruiter that's reviewing the document can go to the specific area that they are seeking some information. If they want to go straight to see, "Okay, what kind of research work has this candidate presented or done," then they can go ahead and find, "okay, this is the research information," or looking at the presentations or publications. Calling out those specific areas.

Danielle Irving:

But I think the CV has room for a little bit more grace because recruiters and counselor educators are looking for that information, so they do want to see it. But also utilizing the cover letter to highlight those things and also making them want to be interested to read more about you. A thing that I mentioned about the cover letter is that's the employer's first impression or opportunity to develop an impression about you. When they're reading your cover letter, you want to make it so engaging and informative that they want to go on to your resume or your CV.

Danielle Irving:

Making sure that you're highlighting some of those important and key concepts within your cover letter is very important because you want them to want say, "Oh, let me read more about them and let me see what their resume or their CV has to offer."

Christa Butler:

Thank you for all this information. This has been really helpful, and I hope that those who are tuning in are able to jot down some of the tips that you're sharing with us to then go and update their resume in time for the virtual career for coming up on November 1st. Before we finish up, is there anything else you'd like to share with our listeners?

Danielle Irving:

Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to just include the email address again, acacareerscounseling.org. It's a benefit to your ACA membership, so take advantage of it. Sometimes we go through this process and feel like we don't have any help or any assistance. This is exactly what we're here for, to help you with your journey from students all the way through becoming a practitioner and later on maybe becoming retired and offering volunteer services.

Danielle Irving:

We are here to assist you with every step of your career and don't be afraid to reach out if you have questions or if you're not sure of something, whether it's what you can do with your degree or how to pursue licensure or navigate that process. Don't hesitate to reach out with the questions that you might have and utilize these services that are a benefit and available to you.

Christa Butler:

Awesome. Thank you so much, Danielle, for joining us. This has been another episode of The Voice of Counseling season two. All episodes of The Voice of Counseling Podcast, including today's episode, are available on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. Thank you so much for tuning in.

Disclosure:

ACA provides these podcasts solely for informational and educational purposes. Opinions expressed in these podcasts do not necessarily reflect the view of ACA. ACA is not responsible for the consequences of any decisions or actions taken in reliance upon or as a result of the information and resources provided in this program. This program is copyright 2022 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved.