I'm taking a Civil Service exam on Tuesday evening 12/17, for
Emloyment Service Specialist 2. I'VE NEVER HAD A COURSE IN COUNSELING.
There will be some BASIC questions regarding counseling on the job.
Where (what website) can I find some basic principles of counseling?

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Clarification of Question by annie63-ga on 15 Dec 2002 08:28 PST

What are the basic principles of "on the job" counseling by a
supervisor in government work not especially trained in counseling. 
I'm taking a civil service exam on Tues. 12/17 where these prin. will
be included.  I don't want the answer after 5pm on Tues.

Hello Annie,

I've organized a digest of links to information and articles related
to what is addressed in your question.

The National Employment Counseling Competencies defines Counseling
Skills as follows:

“The ability to establish a trusting, open and useful relationship
with each counselee, accurately interpreting feelings as well as
verbal and nonverbal expressions, and conveying to the customer this
understanding and whatever pertinent information and assistance is
needed. Knowledge and awareness of career development theory and the
ability to support the customer through transitions and facilitate
decision-making and goal setting. The ability to recognize the need to
refer the customer to appropriate resources to remove barriers to
employment. The ability to conduct effective intake to insure that the
applicant is suitable and able to benefit in the agency's programs.”
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/6491/comp.html

Effective Counselors:

- Have good will (are optimistic and hopeful) 
- Are able to be fully present for another 
- Equalize the counseling relationship 
- Have a sense of vulnerability 
- Have self-respect 
- Are willing to model appropriate thoughts, feelings and behaviors 
- Turn mistakes into learning experiences 
- Have a sense of humor 
- Are empathetic and compassionate 
- Demonstrate patience 
- Are non-judgmental 
- Are active listeners 
- Care about the clients' well being
http://www.newdirectionscounseling.com/info/defcoun.html

Basic Counseling Ethics 
http://www.scs.unt.edu/classes/RHAB/quinn/3050/ETHICS.doc

A Leader's Basic Counseling Skills:
http://www.rareinformation.com/counsel5.htm

A short excerpt from the above article:

 “Listening and Watching - During a counseling session, the counselor
should concentrate on what their employee says and does. They can then
be sure that the employee accepts what is said and fully understands
what the counselor is trying to communicate. The counselor needs to be
an active listener and be aware of non-verbal signals such as, eye
contact, posture, head nodding, and facial expressions in addition to
their verbal behavior. This is all part of the total message the
person is sending. It is important to note the differences between
what the person is saying and what they are doing.”

Basic Steps to Problem Solving
http://www.rareinformation.com/proble.htm

Basic Approaches to Counseling
http://www.wholeperson-counseling.org/ndoc/approach.html

I selected the following questions and answers from the (Army)
Counseling Study Guide which will help you understand the basic
concepts of counseling.

“What are the requirements of successful counseling? 
Establish communications. 
Get the person to feel at ease. 
Listen to the problem. 
Don't put the person down by showing him his problem is common. 
Develop confidence between the counselee and yourself. 
 
What is the definition of counseling? 
A process of listening, communicating advice, instruction, or judgment
with the intent of influencing a person's attitude or behavior.
 
How many human needs are there? 
Four (Physical, Social, Security and Higher (Religious))

What are the two categories of counseling? 
Event-oriented counseling 
Performance / Professional growth counseling 
 
What is the best way to open a counseling session? 
Clearly state the purpose of the session
 
What are the four qualities of an effective counselor? 
Respect for subordinates 
Self-awareness and Cultural awareness 
Empathy 
Credibility 
 
Leaders should seek to develop and improve what three leader
counseling skills?
Active Listening, Responding, and Questioning
 
What is the objective of counseling? 
For one person to help another
 
What are the five steps to problem solving? 
Recognize and define the problem. 
Gather facts and make assumptions. 
Develop possible solutions. 
Analyze and compare the possible solutions. 
Select the best solution. 
 
What is communications? 
Communications is the flow or exchange of information and ideas from
one person to another.
 
Faulty communications causes most problems. True or false? 
True
 
To insure that they understand the message sent to them, the receiver
should send what back to the transmitter?
Feedback
 
In communications, your exchange of information has three important
parts. What are they?
Message, content and context
 
What are the five steps in preparing to counsel? 
Advance notification. 
Selection of a site. 
Schedule of an appropriate time. 
General outline. 
Create a desired atmosphere. 
 
Is performance counseling limited to bad performance? 
No. Counseling may also be for good performance”

Source: Army Counseling Study Guide
http://www.armystudyguide.com/counseling/studyguide.htm

How to Counsel
http://www.armystudyguide.com/counseling/how_to/index.html#2

Leader Counseling Skills
http://www.counseling.army.mil/appendix.htm#LEADER%20COUNSELING%20SKILLS

Job Counseling in Hard Times
http://www.awss.com/jc_51.htm

Sample Civil Service Test Questions from the State of Louisiana taken
by state employees for promotion and supervision.
http://www.dscs.state.la.us/Examining/SampleQuestions/samplequestions.htm

Professional Supervisor Test -- promotional exam for State employees;
These are only sample questions. They will not actually appear on the
test, but will give you an idea of what the real test questions will
be like.
http://www.dscs.state.la.us/Examining/SampleQuestions/profsupervisor.htm

Promotion Test Battery Guide for Supervisors and Specialists and for
Mid-Level and High-Level Managers and Administrators
Source: The New York State Department of Civil Service
http://www.cs.state.ny.us/announ/mainpages/Prom%20Test%20Bat%20Guide/promtestbatguidesection1.htm

Additional information that may interest you:

An essay on the Differences between Counseling and Psychotherapy
http://antiessays.bigwonk.com/show.php?cat=psychology&eid=1171

Civil Service Exam and Test Information
http://www.pse-net.com/library.htm

Search Criteria:

basic principles of counseling 
counseling on the job
basic approaches to counseling
basic principles of on the job counseling
basic on-the-job counseling
"How to counsel" on the job

I hope you find this helpful.   


Best Regards,
Bobbie7-ga

I thought some of the terms such as good will were vauge, however I
agree with optimistic, hopeful, self respect, sense of humor, patient,
and active listener.  Clearly a good councelor appears non theatening
to the client at least until, the client has reveiled as fully as
possible their own understanding of the problems. At some point the
councelor needs to start being helpful, friendly, couteous, kind,
obedient to the needs of the coucelors employer, cheerful, thrifty and
brave. While some may disagree, I think the councellor needs to be
completely truthful, and needs to keep track, and later clarify any
half truths, false inferences and little white lies which may have
occurred early in the interview process which may have been uttered by
either the cliant or the councellor, and that includes mumbles,
grunts, yes, no, and other short cuts which need to be qualifed to be
completely truthful.   Neil