This post was updated to bring you the most current tips and information in October 2020.

College health counselors are seeing a drastic rise in mental health disorders in their students. Over the course of 2019, the American College Health Association found that 87% of college students felt overwhelmed by all they had to do and 66% felt overwhelming anxiety. According to the study, one in three students was diagnosed or treated by a professional for at least one mental health disorder.

While these issues are sending more students to health counselors, they aren’t the only ones who can help students rise above their frustrations. As a career counselor, you can help by preparing students for the overwhelming job search.

This post was updated in September of 2022

Career advice can come in all forms. When you feel disappointed or stuck in your career or job search, having the right encouragement can really help. This is why, in honor of Black History Month, we’ve collected some quotes from inspirational Black Americans.

While none of these words were spoken as career advice, they still apply. Whether you need the motivation today, or someday in the future, here are five inspirational quotes for your career:

Determining whether or not to shift careers is challenging. Even if you aren’t content in your current role, there are many benefits of remaining with the company rather than embarking on a new job search. Before making any move, you should first determine whether it’s better for your career to find a way to move up in the company, or begin searching for a new job.

It’s important, however, not to wait until you’re “burned out” to begin planning your next career steps.

Use these tips to gauge your satisfaction level in your current career track, determine if there are changes you can make to make the shift in your current job, and how to know it’s time to move on:

Walt Disney wasn’t born into excellence. In fact, it was after he failed to sneak into the armed forces at age 16, and then drove ambulance in France for the Red Cross that he switched to pursuing a career as an artist.

Like so many others, Disney didn’t immediately dive into a successful entrepreneurial career. In 1919 he started out as a newspaper artist. It wasn’t until December 21, 1937 that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated film, was released in Los Angeles. After it produced an unimaginable $1.5 million, in spite of the Depression, Disney’s career finally took off into a world where dreams really do come true.

Let’s take a look at what Disney has taught us about challenging job searches:

If you ask most of his employees, Doug is the ideal manager. He rewards hard work by offering his staff days off, is often heard telling people they’ve done a great job when passing them in the hallways, and will stop to help his team anytime they ask.

While Doug feels he’s on the right track with almost all of his employees, he can never seem to get on the same page with Carrie. During their monthly group meetings she’s very quiet, his gifts for her hard work seem underappreciated, and when he tells the team they’ve all done a good job, it doesn’t seem like she really hears him.

Does any of this make Doug a bad manager or Carrie a troublesome employee? No. The issue is that Doug, like many good managers, isn’t speaking the same language as all of his employees.

Forming a solid relationship, or bettering the ones you already have with your employees, is crucial for employees to reach their full potential. According to a recent  Virgin Pulse survey, 60 percent of respondents said their relationship with their employer positively impacts their focus or productivity at work and 44 percent said it positively impacts their stress levels.

Nurturing positive working relationships with every single employee is a manager’s dream, but how can that be possible with so many different personality types? The key is understanding your employees’ languages.

The popular relationship book, The 5 Love Languages, points out we all need to be aware of what languages those around us are speaking in order to fully develop our relationships.

Here’s how you can take four of those languages and begin speaking to your employees in a way they’ll understand:

Whether it’s taking a year off to backpack through Europe, or just giving yourself time to decide where your life is going — a gap-year is a healthy career move. But coming back to the job search after an extended break is undeniably intimidating.

Many family members and friends may not understand your choice for taking a gap-year, but you’re not alone. In fact, a November survey of 1,000 U.S. citizens by HostelWorld, A gap year, found a quarter of adults surveyed have taken a year off from work or school. Even though this year is used to take a break from both work and school, there are ways to come back into the workforce even better equipped than before.

Now that you’re refreshed and ready, here’s how to come back strong in 2017:

Buying gifts, worrying about money to buy those gifts, spending time with family, not having time to spend with that family — even without added work pressure, your employees are already extra stressed during the holidays.

Virgin Pulse’s December 2014 survey of 1,000 participants, ‘Tis The Season For Stress, found 70 percent of employees have significantly raised stress levels during the holidays. Of those respondents, more than 10 percent said they feel an overwhelming 60 to 100 percent more stressed during this time of the year.

It turns out, the packed on stress during the holiday season isn’t just hurting your employees. In fact, Tis The Season For Stress reported 64 percent of employees say holiday-related stress causes them to be distracted at work, which in turn drives 30 percent more anxiety — diminishing their quality of work by the same amount. With so many employees feeling the effects of holiday stress, that’s a number employers can’t afford.

It’s time to leave the bottle of wine on the shelf and back away from the cinnamon scented candles. Your employees deserve long-term changes in the workplace that will help them de-stress and grow all year long. Here are three things your employees really want this holiday season:

(This post was updated on 6/22/2020)

College graduates are quickly learning the high expectations for their first job out of college aren’t exactly going to be met the way they pictured. There are many perks they hope to find at their first job that end up missing.

It’s important for career counselors to fully understand the anxieties of college students and the extent of their expectations surrounding that all-important first job.

Once you know what those lofty expectations are, here are a few ways to handle them as their career counselor: