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Career Paths in Consulting, Training, and Coaching

Training in Intercultural Skills, Management Training, Personal Coaching, Political Consulting

The field of consulting is closely related to that of education, and in the field of cultural studies in particular, educational and consulting activities are closely intertwined. Consulting is the art of processing acquired knowledge in such a way that it can be useful to others as a recommendation for action. For several years now, there has been a trend away from traditional, more “talking-based” consulting toward something that could perhaps be called “applied” consulting. Coaching and training are on the rise, with “intercultural skills training” already becoming somewhat of a classic. In this respect, cultural studies students are very similar to their fellow students in education and psychology, even if they are unlikely ever to engage in “therapy.” The methods of applied education and psychology, such as conversation techniques, mediation, and behavioral training, can be acquired as additional qualifications. Access to the field of political consulting, on the other hand, is most often gained through experience abroad, foreign language skills, and “country” expertise.

  • Possible Tasks

    - You act as the first point of contact for assisting people seeking advice. To this end, you maintain open office hours, hold advising sessions (individual or group advising), and help those seeking advice to make decisions.
    - You create informational and advising materials and hold (preventive) information events for various target groups.
    - You plan qualification and training initiatives, agree on goals and processes with those seeking advice, and monitor and document the initiatives.
    - You support those seeking advice in overcoming personal problems and applying for social assistance or legal entitlements. In doing so, you also take into account the social environment of those seeking advice, their life situation, and their life plans. Counseling training is usually expected here.
    - You clarify legal, social, and medical issues by working together with other advising institutions and authorities.
    - Together with your clients, you define goals and develop solutions that they can integrate into their personal and professional lives (personal coaching).
    - You analyze conflicts and hold meetings with the parties involved. You develop conflict resolution strategies and collect, evaluate, and develop proposed solutions together with the parties involved (mediation).
    - In joint meetings, you support individuals, groups, and teams in the process of reflecting on their own actions and drawing conclusions from them by, for example, revealing power structures and relationship dynamics (supervision).
    In media consulting, you develop and implement marketing and media concepts for the advertising campaigns of your clients.

  • Industries and Occupations

    - Social services institutions
    - High education, professional organizations (e.g. chambers of industry, commerce, or crafts), Federal Employment Agency, job centers (→ educational, study, and career counseling/social counseling)
    - Educational and counseling institutions of trade unions or employers’ associations, church counseling centers
    - Health centers, nutrition counseling centers, health insurance companies (→ health counseling/care counseling)
    - Parenting, youth, and family counseling centers, schools (→ parenting counseling)
    - Law firms or mediation practices
    - Advertising agencies, media consulting companies, TV and radio stations, film industry institutions (→ media consulting)
    - Consumer advice centers
    - Management consulting agencies
    - Staff development/consulting

  • Job Boards and Professional Associations 

At a glance