Career Counselling

Career counseling is a way to provide counseling, guidance, advice, and information to those who are confused about their future educational and professional careers. The process of career counseling may take place at any stage of life, be it childhood, teenage, or adulthood. The mere purpose of career counseling is to have a clear vision of the best future choice. 

Career counseling has the best impact if it starts to take place at a very young age. It not just enables the children to make informed decisions but also to be aware of their areas of interests, skills, and abilities and then choose the educational pathway leading toward the career that best fits their capabilities and interest. Making informed career decisions is not just of benefit to the individuals but to the employers hiring them as such individuals have a better understanding of their abilities and the particular field of work. 

Importance of counseling

Career counseling is not just about choosing the right career. It is more about enabling individuals to be competent enough to make their life decisions. Without any doubt, every individual has a unique personality, skills, and capabilities. To enable an individual to recognize all these aspects, an expert helps the individuals to be aware of themselves. A career counselor plays the role to enable individuals through one-on-one interaction with them.  

The process of career counseling is best conducted by professional career counselors who are well aware of the methods, techniques, and procedures of conducting a career counseling session. It is important to embed career counseling at the early schooling level up till the higher education system to professional life and even after retirement. Career counseling isn’t just about finding and choosing the career that best fits someone’s personality but it also guides individuals in the process of transitioning from one profession/job to another. 

People may seek career counseling due to any reason at any stage of life. As much as it is important and needed at an early age, it is also required for people who are near retirement age. Usually, people have no plans after their retirement which leaves them with no purpose in life and an inactive lifestyle after retirement. So it is also important to guide retiring people to find ways to play an active role in the development of society and benefit the younger people with their knowledge and experience. 

Embedding career counseling into school systems from an early age benefits the children to know about a range of diverse careers other than mainstream careers. Career counselors highlight emerging and important careers that can be of huge benefit to individuals. Besides enlightening individuals about the diverse range of careers, career counselors also guide them to learn different skill sets essential for their professional life.

Who is a Career Counsellor? 

Generally, career counselors are thought of as someone guiding through the process of admission and providing information related to different fields and educational opportunities. But it is so much more than just that. 

A career counselor is a certified professional who is qualified enough to help individuals out of their confusion regarding career choices and enables them to make an informed career decision. Career counselors are competent to administer different tests and assessments that indicate the clients’ personality type and areas of interest based on which they suggest some educational fields to the clients that can lead to a successful career. 

A good career counselor is someone well-qualified, well-aware, and sensitive to the needs of the clients. A counselor is supposed to ensure the integrity of the process is keeping the client’s shared information confidential and by being more open and sensitive to the client’s issues and situation. 

How can career counseling be beneficial? 

Career counseling may not be as common but it has a wide range of benefits if embedded into the educational systems. Seeking career counseling helps individuals with many career-related concerns;

It enables individuals to find the career that best fits their interests, skills, and abilities.

Several career assessments guide the students to a range of fields they can explore as career options.

It helps the students map out their career pathways to avoid any sort of confusion and distractions.

It also helps professionals to seek validation of their career choice or in the process of transitioning from one career to another.

What to expect from a career counselor?

Due to a lack of awareness people usually come with the common mindset of seeking help to choose the right academic options. While career counseling is more than just guiding toward some educational options. It is also concerned with enhancing and enlightening the individuals’ interests, skills, and abilities to explore new and diverse career options that may lead to a successful professional life. When seeking help from a professional career counselor you must be expecting them to be:

• Open and sensitive to your concerns.
• To have a listening ear to your issues.
• To be aware of the career-related options that may best fit different individuals having different personality types. 
• To be a helping hand for you to explore different areas of interest.