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Career counseling - Has anybody benefitted from professional career counseling?

I am working in the IT field and have a wide range of skills - from developing systems to working on strategy for IT at the CxO level. I am still not able to land the right job/opportunity that I know I am capable of handling. I also work very hard and give any job 110% attention. I tried starting a company but am unable to gain any momentum with the software product I have developed, even though everyone I have talked to thinks that the idea is a great one. Do you think career counseling will help? any other ideas?

Public Comments

1. it probably will, what is the product anyway? I am curious now.
2. I too have been trying to "figure out" my career path forward and have been working with a career counselor for about 8 months now. For me, it has been very helpful in "learning" what I enjoy doing (it's amazing what comes up when you are guided using structured exercises). I am now putting together the evaluation criteria for opportunities (where such opportunities may even lie outside of IT). One thing to understand is that a coach won't "find" your a position, etc. but rather empower you to recognize a good fit vs. poor. I don't think that a career coach would offer much benefit to your product effort however, as that sounds more like a marketing dilemma. Best of luck!!
3. Possibly the best career counseling may come from just an informal 'chat' with some other, older professionals in your field...or the reading of books and articles about your profession. One of the 'boredom' issues of work is the daily grind. We spend our hours of work, and few hours of rejuvination and celebration with friends and family. If you happen to be a trailblazer vs a trodder, you may feel stumped in one area simply because things are not 'moving' as fast as you would like for them to move. My advice is simple. You are currently struggling to determine if you are ready to move to the next level as a business person vs. being an employee. You have arrived at the 'fork' in the road. When was the last time you had a vacation? Sometimes, some time away from the grind will allow one to 'recharge' their batteries, and allow them time to think a little clearly. Even a lumberjack takes the time to sharpen their axe before taking on a new tree! TTFN