Right about now, many high tech professionals are re-evaluating their career decisions. Layoffs....dropping stock prices...uncertain futures... The high-tech industry has lost its glamour.

But what if you're not really sure what to do? Maybe you're debating looking for a new job, but aren't sure what type of job or even industry you want. Or perhaps you've been laid off and are feeling increasingly shaky about your options.

The answer, for some, is to consult a career coach, sometimes called a job coach, a life coach, or a career counselor. Those who have chosen that route often say that it made the difference in helping them understand their options and make progress toward their new goals. As for the best way to select someone, be sure to:

• Ask for recommendations from friends and colleagues.
• Request an interview or sample session to make sure that the individual's style and attitudes meshes with your needs.
• Check the person's certification/education.

Joel Garfinkle is the founder of Dream Job Coaching (www.dreamjobcoach.com). When I consulted him, I was not certain as to just what my "dream job" was: Project management? Marketing communications? Corporate communications? Public relations? Technical journalism? And I also wanted to know how to appreciate my current work.

What I discovered, through working with Joel, is that the solution to these puzzles are within me, and what I needed was help from someone like Joel to understand how to use my inner resources. I don't have all the answers ... yet. But the progress that I'm making has been worthwhile.

Joel's own story illustrates the process of finding one's dream job.

"My way of finding my true essence and what I was meant to be doing was through eight years of research," he recalls. "I was trying to find out what I wanted to do. I felt like I wasn't in the right field, right industry, right job or right career and it was very frustrating."

For him, however, as for many of us, "I knew something was off," he said. "I think most people know that. But the question is what you can do about it. I was working for companies where the environment did not allow me and my gifts to come forward. I received hints that said, 'You aren't liking this very much, are you?' It was subtle, but it kept building. I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that."

The increase in those hints "was the biggest indicator," says Joel. He knew that he wanted to enjoy his job and his life; the question was how to achieve those two simple goals. Determined, Joel spoke to more than 1,200 different companies in order to find his dream job, he told me.

Did his dream job exist in the corporate world, or would he need to create it himself? Joel sought the answer, and the result was his current job and life.

At this point, the career counselor reveals that he's worked with more than 3,000 clients and workshop participants, offering them "clear strategies and easy methods they could use to find work they are passionate about." One feature of Joel's Dream Job Coaching company is his "Seven Step Dream Job Process," which he created when he "looked back over the past eight years that brought me to where I was when I formed Dream Job Coaching."

For more information about career and life coaches, visit CoachU:  www.coachu.com.

Author Joanne Eglash specializes in corporate and technical communications.