Choosing the right career

I want to ask you a question, try to answer it as honestly as possible. Do you really want to study the subjects you have chosen or are you happy with the job you are currently pursuing? If your answer is yes, I am happy for you. But if your answer is no, don’t be surprised, almost 85% of the people feel the same.

Just like we seek advice and suggestions for everything in our day to day lives such as what to wear, which phone to buy, what to watch, where to go to hang out, it is apt to seek guidance for our career choice as well.

Another reason career counselling is important is that not many are aware of the various new age careers. According to a survey conducted on more than 10,000 students, 93% of students were aware about just 7 career options while there are more than 250 career options available at present, in India.

Given this information, do you think in such a scenario, people are pursuing careers that are right for them? The obvious answer is a stark ‘No’.

What’s the solution? It’s simple, career counselling. Consider this, whenever you are trying to learn something new, for instance, baking a cake, would it not be easier to do it with someone guiding you rather than you learning to do everything on your own? Career counselling is very similar when it comes to making career choices.

Career counselling is the process where a career expert helps a student understand one’s own self, as well as work trends, so that one can make an informed decision about career and education. Career counselling helps manage a diverse range of problems such as low concentration levels to poor time management, trust issues with family to non-agreement between parents and children on which career to choose.

The process

The career counselling process involves taking a psychometric assessment and then meeting a qualified career counsellor.

You will take an assessment that will help you assess your current interests, aptitude, emotional quotient, personality characteristics and orientation style. Once you have taken the assessment, you can meet a career counsellor to plan further.

A career counsellor will listen to you, will help you understand your report and will provide you with updated information about various careers. The counsellor will help you develop a framework with specific plans to achieve your career goals.

One of the key elements in career counselling is aptitude. We may have a number of interests but we may not have the aptitude for it. Aptitude refers to your current skill set and based on that your ability to learn specific skills.

Constructive guidance

In the case of making career choices, Career counselling is one way that can provide the student with constructive guidance and be helpful in multiple ways:

Decide the right career

Career counselling can help you explore a range of careers and evaluate all options in a structured way so you know what you are getting into. Counsellors are experts at assessing your personality, interests, and other aspects of you.

Helps provide expert resources

Career counselling provides access to a rich repository of the resources and knowledge that makes you more aware so your decisions are not driven by gut or hearsay. This knowledge of careers, their scope, and ways to pursue them are important to parents and students since most of the time they do not have that kind of knowledge.

Helps change unwanted behaviour patterns

Students and professionals have habits that are hard to break, such as procrastinating, not keeping updated on the latest developments in their chosen career paths, neglecting emotional and mental health, not trying to self-motivate, etc. A career counsellor helps break such behavioural patterns that lead to unproductive activities, both at home and in school, college and work place.

Helps remove career-related frustration

Choosing a career can be a demanding task for both parents and children. A lack of any source of venting out emotions and thoughts may add to the existing frustration. Career counselling provides a platform where such frustrations can be reduced, and focus is redirected to selecting the best career options.

Provides a role-model

Career Counselling helps students connect to experts who have enough life experiences to share.

Helps bring stability

Career Counsellors can help you remain calm when it comes to making a career decision. Counselling helps bring about focus, and maintain that focus throughout our activities. Through proper scheduling and planning, they try and make your life more organised.

(The writer is with Mindler)