Dear readers,
Several weeks back, I responded to a reader who had decided she no longer wanted to work in media and was seeking my advice about changing careers.

The thrust of my advice was to embrace her decision to pursue a new career without regrets and in deciding what that new career should be she should spend time evaluating her skills and likes and dislikes.

I also advised going to a career counselor and getting herself tested. Good advice, I thought.

Not long after, I got an email from Karen Katz, a principle in the Forum Group, a New York recruiting firm, and in the talk that followed she offered some insights and suggestions I hadn't thought of.

The first has to do with career counselors. She notes that career counselors can be expensive and perhaps not an option for young people in the early years of their work lives.

And besides, not everyone needs a career counselor, Says Katz: "Some people really need someone to point the way. Others can figure it out on their own.”

Her advice is directed at those who decide to become their own career counselor.

The important thing, as I pointed out in my earlier column, is to spend time assessing one's likes and dislikes and skills, what you do at your current job that you like, what you do that you don't like.

"Do that introspective thing, what are my skills and what can I do with them," she advises.

But don't stop there. Also consider the skills you've developed and applied to your life outside of work, such as in volunteer work you do, or some other community activity.

Those go on the list too. They too could become skills that assume a role in your next career. Says Katz: "It's more than just your job skills. It's who you are holistically."

Once you’ve got that done, it becomes a matter of matching those skills and likes with careers that might be appropriate, and you can do all that online.

You want to be thinking as broadly as possible. As Katz advises, look beyond the traditional avenues. Be open to ending up in a field that's far apart from media yet is just the perfect line of work for who you are.

And while you’re online, there are also sorts of places you can go to help you in your self evaluation, and at little or no cost, such as the Myers-Briggs personality test or shortened versions of it.

Major job sites have sections dedicated to changing careers. “You can find articles about assessing transferable skills and how to market them once you know what they are,” notes Katz.

You can also meet up with people who are going through or have gone through similar career changes. You can read case studies.

Here a several sites and links Katz recommends:

http://www.ecareercounselor.org/

http://www.mygoldencareer.com/

http://careerpath.com/career-tests/?lr=cbmsn&siteid=cbmsnchcpath

http://www.careerbuilder.com/

http://careerplanning.about.com/od/careerchoicechan/Career_Choice_or_Change.htm

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp