In a research study of job satisfaction rates among the Western culture population, it was found that 30% of respondents view their work as “just a job to get and work for” rather than as a meaningful, fulfilling career. This is unfortunate since work accounts for roughly one-third of the average person’s life. And if one is not happy and contented with one’s work life, the mental health of the person gets affected too.
Given the importance of career satisfaction, it is perhaps not surprising that career counselors are in high demand. Career counselling is a kind of service that helps people begin, change, or advance their careers. It includes one-on-one conversations between a career counsellor and a career seeker, as well as assessments, activities, and projects designed to help career seekers make the most of their strengths.
Professionally trained career counsellor assists students by imparting knowledge about different career options available and suggesting an ideal career option as per their interests. Every individual needs to make important career decisions in his/ her various stages of life, and career development is not a one-time but a lifetime process.
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Now let’s understand how this career counselling works to understand its impact on one’s life. Through psychometric test results, career counsellors make one person aware of his/her strengths and weaknesses and explain to them the best career options to follow. Such options should be ranked as per the best path to follow and the ones below that in order of decreasing preference. While counselling a counselee, a counsellor needs to have a few essential skills, to gain trust and understand the needs of the person.
- Active listening
- Respect for confidentiality and professional boundaries.
- Resilience, patience and humility.
- A non-judgmental approach.
- A genuine interest in counselling
- Counselling training includes knowledge of various career opportunities and options available
- Excellent communication skills
- Critical thinking
- Compassion and empathy
- Flexibility, Confidence & time management.
The Ultimate goal of a Career Counselors is to
- Help clients find jobs/ work life that they find meaningful, satisfying and financially agreeable. To accomplish this, career counsellors work closely with their clients, identifying their strengths, weaknesses and interests and exploring career possibilities and job openings.
- Career counsellors act as advisors, coaches, confidants and instructors. Providing customized help to each client, tailored to meet each individual’s needs.
- Counsellors can help one with handling obstacles that include a lack of direction, self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and a lack of confidence. By working with a career counsellor, individuals can develop a plan to overcome these obstacles and move forward in their careers.
- A career counsellor can also provide support and encouragement when individuals are facing difficult challenges in their careers. By helping individuals to see challenges as opportunities for growth, career counsellors can help them to develop the resilience needed.
- Counselling assesses your interests, skills, and values, and matches them to careers that fit you. Counsellors help one to explore different careers, learn about job outlooks and requirements, and find the education and training counselee needs.
It’s important to have knowledge, but this is more important that how you deal with the knowledge in practical life.
Many students choose the most sought-after professions among their friends or what their family suggest them. They follow the general stereotyped professions like doctor, lawyer, engineer etc. They don’t look at what they like to do and when they realize their real aptitude areas it is quite late, this leads to frustration in their lives. Professional choices made in the high school times often make the right choice of career.
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Recent survey of around 10,000 parents and students resulted that 93 per cent of them were aware of less than ten career options, mainly the basic ones like engineering, medicine, law, finance, IT, etc. In contrast, there are more than 600 career options available today. Therefore, the awareness levels of all the available career options for a student need to be increased.
It is found that students choose what others choose in their vicinity and also get influenced by the perks that the professionals get in their lives. Ideally speaking, it is somehow right to observe people of other professions and undergo the process of what does that professions functioning means and what are the responsibilites one has to dutifully conduct.
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But if only on the basis of professions’ respect, dignity and perks, make the student (and his parents obviously) decide the fate of the student for his/her work life, that is all against the reality of the world. And if at all that happens, the student undergoes a lot of frustration as over a period of time, either the person doesn’t reach those steps or it might be that even if he reaches those places of his desires ( decided as per the perks etc), he might not be satisfied and will have unfulfilling career and hence life.
Unfulfilling career gives a student and person very many life disappointments and frustrations, that also cause deterioration in mental health, physical health, family life, and social life too.
Career guidance can be beneficial in many ways, including
- Identifying suitable careers
- Making informed career choices
- Developing career goals
- Enhancing employability
- Overcoming career obstacles
- Improving job satisfaction
To sum up, career guidance help students fulfill their aspirations by setting up realistic goals. Career choice will determine the students’ future by providing them with their work of their liking and providing them a better lot with job satisfaction.
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Career guidance with an expert counsellor will develop a clear road map to have a full life of happiness. Therefore, it should be implemented in education policy that every school/ college should have a well-equipped career counseling cell wherein every student must have one hour of counseling session with the counsellor to explore their choices and draw a career path.
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