For many years, this is what happened: Melinda Bufton, a roaming worker bee in HR and career-flavoured things, excitedly told people the secrets she was discovering about work. She cornered them at parties, bored friends on the tram, earmarked articles and snippets for people with career conundrums. Over time, and when the knowledge consolidated into something like expertise, people began to ask her whether she took appointments. So eventually she decided to, and now she charges. (Apologies to those who’ve missed out on the earlier incarnations of the free services, say, in the 90s. But the quality’s there now. It’s all about inverse proportions).

She has worked as a recruitment consultant, in generalist human resources, as a marketing coordinator, bookseller, writer and music teacher. Big business, small business, government. She has also worked in the careers departments of Victoria, Deakin & La Trobe Universities and holds a BA, a Grad Dip in Arts (Publishing & Editing) and a Graduate Certificate in Career Development.

Now I’ll change into first person, because we all know it’s me writing this content.

Here’s a question that would appear in an FAQ, if I had decided to have one of those. Mostly, I’ll leave it up to you to decide what questions you’d like to ask, and how frequently…this one exception aside…

Q) Why are you called a careers consultant, and not a careers counsellor?

A) Because I like the sound of it better. That’s all.