• adult counselling, where the counsellor operates in a variety of settings where individuals in employment transition are looking for support services (employment centres, community services) and addresses the needs of adults confronted with a wide array of circumstances related to changing jobs.
  
  

Counsellors are also confronted with a variety of objectives of individuals resorting to career and employment counselling (Figure 20):

• to obtain information on education and training or on the labour market to assist in education or career orientation;
• to acquire specific skills related to making a transition into employment: preparation, planning, and implementation of career-work strategies;
• to develop self-awareness to be able to assess one's own strengths, skills, and motivation;
• to obtain support in response to specific needs or specific situations (e.g., problems related to disabilities, sudden job loss).
  
  

As any of the clients listed above may have any of these objectives, there is clearly no one-to-one relation between them. To meet the demands of the diverse clientele, counsellors deliver programs as well as counselling services. All of the programs and services depend critically on the information that counsellors receive about education and training programs and institutions, the labour market situation, the links between education and training, and employment opportunities.

Awareness of a wide range of career options

A major criticism of counsellors, especially in-school counsellors, is that they tend to reinforce the academic bias of our education system by not promoting career opportunities outside those offered by colleges and universities. A lack of awareness of other opportunities seems to be the root of the problem. Counsellors need to know about career options in the trades, the apprenticeship system, and entry-level jobs in the service sector to be able to provide better service to students other than those destined for university.