If you have been wondering, “what is career counselling?” this detailed article is for you. A lot of students assume a counselor is affiliated to a college or company and counseling involves them promoting the college or field of work, but that is not the case. Career counselling involves a trained and experienced counselor who helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses and then advises you about career options that suit your strengths and interests, and that are trending and lucrative options for a bright future.
Take a look at this example of a typical career guidance session: Career counselling session by Mr. Amit Raizada
The Counsellor & the Right Way to Career Counselling
Let’s start with the career counsellor. While schools and colleges today have a career counsellor, it is important to check if they are qualified professionals. A ‘qualified’ career counsellor is one who holds at least a Postgraduate degree in Psychology or Applied Psychology, and/or a diploma in Counselling Psychology. This is important because, to help you understand your strengths and weaknesses, they need to be experts in psychology. The next important aspect of a good career counsellor is experience counselling in your field of interest (engineering, medical science, arts, etc.). Once the counsellor has assessed your personality and goals, they should be able to guide you in the right direction in your field of interest, for which they need to have industry knowledge. These are two things every student should ask their counsellor before committing to a session, their qualifications, and domain expertise.
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A successful career counselling session is only possible when there is absolute and mutual trust between the counsellor and the student. Although a psychologist is obligated to confidentiality, signing an agreement is better as it will further help you be at ease and get more involved, with the confidence of legal confidentiality.
Psychometric Assessments Tools
You, as a student, should ask the counsellor what assessment tools they will use to counsel you. These are personality and behaviour analysis tools that counsellors use in order to assess you properly. This will also illustrate what results from you can expect from the counselling session.
Now that you know what career counselling is, the importance of career counselling, how it should be approached, we also want to give you some insights on what NOT to do when it comes to your career:
1) Do not take advice from unqualified or inexperienced people.
2) Do not take up a career just because your friends have taken it up.
3) Do not opt for a career simply because it pays well. Job satisfaction will eventually become a more important factor than money, which you will anyway be able to earn as you progress.
4) Do not get impatient with the process. Many students even take a year off to think about the best way forward.
5) Do not consult more than two guidance counsellors, or you will only get confused with the excessive advice. Make sure the ones you approach are well qualified and experienced.
6) Do not exclude your parents from the process, especially if you wish to choose an unconventional career path. For example, you might be interested in writing and might want to become a blogger (which is quite a lucrative profession these days:The Importance of Career Counselling