(Forbes) - “Does the Institute of Masters of Wine offer career counseling?”

That was my question, a year or so ago, to a friend and colleague of mine who is a Master of Wine (MW), one of less than 400 people around the world who has achieved the distinction.

The answer was No, there isn’t career guidance per se, though he wishes there were.

I can imagine. The gap is striking, between Masters of Wine (MWs) who have taken their achievement and parlayed it into financially successful careers, and those MWs with the same credential who seem to be struggling to make ends meet.

The situation is certainly not unique to MWs, as the underlying questions are the same whether we’re discussing sommeliers or wine educators from any number of training programs that are available around the world.