The client has spoken. What happens next?

“I’m only here because my parents made me.”
“The report says I’m not suited for what I want.”
“I want to change, but I’m 35 and I’m scared.”

Every career counsellor knows the pause after a client says something hard. This book is about what you say in that pause.

What Do I Say Now? brings together 50 realistic career counselling situations with school students, parents, college students and graduates, early-career and mid-career professionals. They cover assessment results, difficult decisions, resistance and conflicting expectations, emotionally difficult conversations and professional boundaries.

Each case is set out the same way, so you can think it through before you face it in practice:

What might lie behind the client’s words, as hypotheses to explore rather than conclusions
What you are trying to achieve, and the questions that could help
A sample dialogue in which the counsellor makes a small, natural mistake and then repairs it
What not to say and why, and what to do when the client reacts differently
A practice exercise and debrief, for self-study, role-play or supervision

Where a case depends on a rule, such as an admission requirement, a visa condition or a reporting duty, a box gives the rule, its source and the date it was checked. Thirty-six cases are set in India and fourteen in other countries, including the UK, the United States, Canada, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. The book also marks the point at which a conversation is no longer career work, and shows how a career counsellor responds when a client’s safety comes first.

Appendices include a competency index, a skills index and a glossary of local terms.

For trainee and early-career counsellors, for experienced counsellors who want a structured way to think through hard moments, and for trainers and supervisors who use cases in role-play and discussion.

Find your words. Build your judgement.

This is Book 3 in The Practising Career Counsellor series, after Foundations of Career Counselling and You’re Talking. But Are You Counselling? Each book can be read on its own.