Career Counselling

Understanding Career Counseling In India

It is not that all that career counseling does is to advice the potential student of the current options to pursuing a career. There are the usual consultants who make a show of researching out the possibilities and only to insist that the student sticks to what is the convention. Often there are vested interests at play which more or less gets to push specific predetermined options to the student. Thus the first step to getting guided sufficiently well on career counseling in India is to pick out the right service provider who would keep the interest of the client foremost in mind.

What career counseling seeks to do?

There are broadly three or four stages to a complete career guidance session. Each stage aims at the specific outcomes to be arrived at which could be the input to the next phase of evaluation. This would allow each part of the client to be focused upon and to be improved to facilitate the taking up of an active career option.

Evaluating the person

Before the student is suggested options to choose from concerning a career option, it is best to start by understanding the mental conditioning and the true capabilities of the person. Things like psychometric tests determine the number of the traits of the individual, and to provide a reference point to start finding a suitable career choice. A person with excellent interpersonal skills should be matched with a career option that can make good use of this feature and not be at a hostage to the behavioural trait.

A large part of tests is the questions that are designed to understand the individual. A good counselor would take sufficient pains to explain to the client the need to be truthful with the answers. After all, a set of wrong answers is going to end up providing the incorrect assessment which can do more harm in the long term than any good as such.

Advising corrective action

In many instances, it would be evident that it is possible to correct certain aspects of a person and more so if the individual is on the younger side. However, this must be done professionally that it does benefit the student. Certain traits can be corrected and some behavioural aspects further strengthened. In case the student does have a certain interest area, it is best to focus on how to equip the individual better to face the field of study.

Just as trying to change a person, it is essential to know when it would be futile to do so. Unless this differentiation is made, the student can be put through some traumatic conditions in the bid to bring about changes which cannot be done.

Presenting the options for a career

Once the student has been put through the paces to find his strengths and weakness, the next progression would be to suggest the options available on hand that would be in tune with his abilities. In case a client does have strong opinions about a particular course of study or the career line, it is best to work out an option which does take into consideration these concerns. One of the gravest mistakes that can be committed while choosing a career option is the factor of making money after the studies. No doubt, money is vital to living but not to such an extent that it is the only aim of picking out a career path.

If a careful study were to be done on the career options that were available a good two decades ago, it would be evident that there would not be many options of those days that are relevant today. Thus it is essential to realize that career options and choices are a factor of the times people are living in and must not be taken as being permanent by any means.

What would matter to a student starting on a career is to pick out a field of study where he would be able to excel and stand out. This would ensure the most possible that the individual would be valued for his service and ability far longer than an option that does not stress this aspect.

Offering the admissions assistance

After the student has zeroed in on what to pursue in terms of his life goals, the next step is to provide options of institutes and universities that do have the right courses which would ensure his success in the chosen field. One of the critical features of student life in India is the mad rush to get admission to the most prestigious teaching facilities available in the country.  It must be made clear to the student that getting a good elite institution to pursue a course of study is great, but the refusal to the top few institutions need not mean the end of the road.

An excellent career counselor would focus on providing the good reachable alternatives when speaking of institutions to study. If this is done from the first day of the counseling sessions, the individual would be more balanced in his approach to pick the right educational institution. Never should a person be made to feel worthless just because he was rejected from being admitted to a prestigious institution of study.