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Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Going from the corporate world to social services/school counseling
I currently have a job with a very large corporation and have decided the corporate world isn't for me. I'm not a pushy sales person and I'm not motivated by writing new business. I have been contemplating going back to school to do school counseling but I'm fearful of the possible financial consequences. Does anyone have any advice or personal experiences with changing career paths? Would you advise to do it or against doing it? I have a bachelors degree in finance and would need to go back to school for my masters in education/counseling. The thought of losing the amount of money I'm making is very scary but I'm hoping my husband and I can make it work on one salary for the time being. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Can't wait for the day
Re: Going from the corporate world to social services/school counseling
I may be a little bias because I am one, but I highly recommend social work. You can do counseling with a social work degree, on top of that you can get certified for insurance companies once you gain the licensing to go into private practice. LPC's (licensed professional counselors) can't at this time. Also with social work there is a large variety of work you can do. I work in a hospital ER for example. I have friends who work for non-profits, hospital positions, schools, treatment centers, etc.
As far as the money goes what makes the pay so crappy is that people are scared to advocate for themselves for more pay. If you get into the right company and know how to market yourself you will financially be fine. Also make sure to choose your program wisely. My university offered internships both years of the master's program so I already had 2 years experience starting out which was taken into consideration with the company when they figured pay. Also, a lot of hospitals will offer shift differential and overtime. Just make sure that you are prepared to be working around a lot of people who are in crisis and see people at their worst. It can be emotionally draining, especially at first.
As PP suggested, I would look into your state and local district's reqs. I know some of our local school districts require you to have taught in a classroom for X number of years. Also, look at full time job opportunities. There is usually only 1 counselor per school making your job opportunities very limited
FWIW, in my experience, our counselor doesn't do much counseling. She sits in meetings, talks with other staff memebers, "helps" deal with behavior issues, does paper work, and does paperowkr out the wazoo;. Once in a while she'll pull a group to meet with.
I am all for doing the career change. I am biased as I am doing it right now. However, I work FT while I go to school.
As PP stated, you really want to look into the field you plan to enter. See what is required, how long it will take, check out programs and make sure you get into one before you quit your job. Make sure your plan will work. Good luck!
School counselors do very little counseling in my experience. Ours spend the majority of their time managing standardized test administration (and there are A LOT of standardized tests these days), scheduling, and conducting academic audits to ensure students are on track for graduation. They participate in student/parent/teacher conferences as needed, and supervise certain extracurricular activities outside of regular school hours. At least 75% of the job is purely paperwork, and in Texas you have to spend at least 3 years as a classroom teacher before you're eligible to become a school counselor.
Salaries for counselors in your area should be public information--a Google search should tell you all you need to know about the pay scale. We pay pretty well, and I know a brand-new counselor is making barely $45,000/year. This is a bad time to get your foot in the education door, and if what you're really interested in is true counseling I'd recommend an LCSW rather than a school counseling degree.
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I am currently a social worker for my state child protection agency. It can be a very rewarding job, but is very demanding.
School social work/adjustment counselor school jobs are hard to come by. Like a pp said, when a school has them, they typically have one to a few, as opposed to a large teaching staff. Nearly all elementary schools near me have cut these types of jobs. When there is a budget cut, it is usually the 1st to go.
There are many other social work jobs you could get, such as residential, private mental health services, elder care, hospitals, just to name a few. With your background in finance, you could be in high demand for administrative/non-profit management or fundraising jobs.
I am also a social worker with my state CPS agency. Much of what PP said is true, it's emotionally draining at times, but also very rewarding. In WI, Guidance Counselors are mandated by the Department of Public Instruction, but School Social Workers are not. School S.W. jobs are not as prevalent as they have been, but there are still positions out there.
That being said, there are many, many areas you could enter in Social Work: mental health, criminal justice, cps, medical, schools, youth work, shelters, elderly, and other non-profits.
Your background does make you a good candidate for a leadership position w/in an agency.
P.S. Regarding the pay cut-I think it's worth it, but it really comes down to the values you and your husband hold.