Pros
-exposure to wide variety of clients and clinical presentations -opportunity to assist people who need counseling but cannot access it due to cost/social barriers, etc -free supervision for licensure -location is easy to get to and in the heart of the beautiful downtown Chicago (breaks= shopping, walks to the lake/parks/Michigan Avenue/Watertower Place) -breaks built into daily schedule -work can be left at work -huge company so lots of opportunities to make friends with variety of coworkers -dress code is pretty loose since call center; no pressure to "dress to impress" -call volume fluctuates; opportunity to catch up on email or study in-between call if student -job stability; stable corporation so never lack of funds to pay salary -health benefits are available
Kontras
-it can be difficult to overlook ethical concerns; this is a for-profit company that receives a lot of money for the services they provide but does not pay clinicians or employees high salaries -very low team spirit and a work environment that has a very sad, dead vibe to it -confusion as to how to get promoted to other departments within the company Overall, this job was a good "gig" for me as I was unsure where to go in my professional career and needed a job that promoted a good work/life balance. It took a lot of work to overlook the cons associated with the position and company, but it was manageable and lead to some great friendships with coworkers and a good "counselor boot camp" experience.