Over the years, the OCPD staff have been intentional about determining where counseling services fit in with the overall strategic plan. As students and postdocs aren't always clear on what services to expect from a career office, staff have prioritized articulating what counseling services the OCPD offers, how they are offered and metrics to determine if this service is successful.

Below are 31 questions staff have needed to answer as the OCPD has developed our counseling services:

1. Who do we serve? 
2. Do we serve alumni?
3. What's our counseling philosophy/approach? Why?
4. What topics do we cover/what services do we offer? (career exploration, CV reviews, etc.).
5. Which topics don't we cover, and why?
6. What topics do our clients expect or want us to address? Is that in alignment with what we offer?
7. What times of day and what times of year are most popular for counseling appointments? Why?
8. Do we offer only in person appointments, or are students/postdocs able to schedule phone and video appointments? Which career topics work for various mediums of communication? 
9. How do our counseling appointments fit into the different services offered by fellow counseling bodies, including student health counseling, the Faculty Staff Assistance Programs (for postdocs, who are considered staff at UCSF), their advisor or the Ombuds)?
10. Where do we refer clients to for topics we don't serve?
11. How to those services want to be described/want to be referred?
12. What length of counseling appointments do we offer (hour long, 20 minutes, etc.)
13. What type of counseling appointments do we offer? scheduled? Drop-ins, etc.?
14. Do we put limits on the number of counseling appointments students/postdocs can access?
15. What is a sustainable number of counseling appointments do staff see each week on average?
16. How many appointments can a student/postdoc schedule at each time?
17. What level of confidentiality does the university allow us to offer? What do we disclose to UCSF staff, including faculty, department chairs, etc?
18. Are we mandated reporters for discrimination, etc.?
19. Do we keep counseling notes? If we do, once again, with whom would we be required to share that information?
20. What is our approach if a client presents themselves as a danger to themselves, others or the counselor?
21. Do we keep tracking data? 
22. What factors do we keep tracking on? Utilization? topic?
23. How to counseling appointments fit into our overall strategy? (e.g. do we expect students/postdocs to attend workshops and then come to counseling appointments? Do we expect students/postdocs to look at online resources before coming in?)
24. How do we prepare students/postdocs for counseling appointments?
25. How are appointments scheduled? In person, online?
26. How do we handle cancellations? No-shows?
27. What trends are we seeing in counseling appointments?
28. Are there other ways to address those topic trends - in a workshop, or resources,  for example?
29. What metrics are we using to assess the success of our counseling?
30. What training, resources or information do the counseling staff need to be able to counsel effectively?
31. What are challenges that staff are facing in counseling appointments?