Career counselling, as its very labelling suggests, mainly aims at helping a client cope with

issues associated with the vocational aspects of his or her life. An ‘ideal’ scenario for tackling
career issues may be that an expert counselling professional, such as a career counsellor or a
counselling psychologist, would provide a client with an accurate diagnosis and/or prognosis.
Once a career problem was spotted and analysed, prescriptions for resolving the problem (e.g.
rational reasoning and matching) would be initiated and implemented. While this approach
sounds efficient and is still being utilised in various contexts for career counselling and
vocational guidance, it is far from being comprehensive in dealing with career issues in the
current world of work. In fact, as a part of the complex human psychology, career issues can
hardly be discussed and perceived in a ‘vocational context’ only. A career problem
intertwines with other issues and situations in an individual’s life; it is impossible to query a
career problem without taking a close look at issues and circumstances in one’s general life
context. These social and personal issues interplay with career development issues, making
the career exploration a rich yet complicated and challenging task. At best, this situation
facilitates an integral view toward the co-existence of personal and work life. Career issues
can be identified and comprehended within a larger and more holistic context of inter-related
personal experiences. At worst, this same circumstance can make career counselling a multi-
faceted, sophisticated, and often ambiguous and uncertain mission to accomplish. Career
counsellors are frequently challenged to work with a career dilemma that encompasses a
range of diverse issues and factors in their clients’ personal lives. Career counselling often
proceeds hand-in-hand with personal counselling. Career counsellors are called upon to
become better prepared for working in such situations. The purpose of this article is to draw
attention to the importance of addressing and dealing with personal and social life issues that
may arise in career counselling situations.
We strive to make a progressive world today, where technologies are booming and opening
doors to various career opportunities in several fields. With multiple career options ranging
from Medicine, Mass Communication to Aeronautical Engineering and Marine Biology, etc.
choosing a field of study that not really suits your interests or skills could prove disastrous.
That is when you need to understand what is career counselling? Career guidance is designed
to help individuals while choosing, changing, or leaving a career and is available at any stage
of life. Our career is one of the most important aspects of adulthood, therefore it can be a
stressful event for most of the students out there. Career counselling can be a great way to
overcome all your fears and take a positive decision towards a promising path.

Understanding Career Counselling

With an aim to help students realise their own self and what is best for them, counsellors
provide career advice. These experts deal with a diverse range of problems such as low
concentration level, time management issues, family concerns, peer pressure, indecisive
nature, and many other aspects of growing up, that have a negative impact on a student’s
decision-making ability. Career counselling helps in planning, decision making,
implementation of choices, adjustment and ways to tackle personal issues.

Who Needs Career Counselling and Why?

Students tend to require career counselling after 10th because this is the time when not just
academically there are changes happening but physically and mentally as well. Young adults
find it difficult to cope with a lot of pressure and end up making mistakes that might make
them feel regretful later in life. Moreover, this transition from school to college and trying to
fit in with peers and especially the ‘society’ creates confusion and might divert students from
their career path. This is where they need someone, be it their own parents or a professional
counsellor to help them be stable and carve out their path of success.

However, it is sometimes difficult even for our parents to identify our strengths and weakness
and unintentionally forgetting the fact that every child is unique, they end up making a wrong
decision. So, to avoid such a situation, it is important for every parent to keep track of what
their child is doing, and how often does his or her passion and interest changes. If you know

What is Career Counseling?

Your career development is a lifelong process that, whether you know it or not, actually
started when you were born! There are a number of factors that influence your career
development, including your interests, abilities, values, personality, background, and
circumstances. Career Counseling is a process that will help you to know and understand
yourself and the world of work in order to make career, educational, and life decisions.
Career development is more than just deciding on a major and what job you want to get when
you graduate. It really is a lifelong process, meaning that throughout your life you will
change, situations will change, and you will continually have to make career and life
decisions. The goal of Career Counseling is to not only help you make the decisions you need
to make now, but to give you the knowledge and skills you need to make future career and
life decisions.

What can I expect?

Your Career Counselor WILL:

 Help you figure out who you are and what you want out of your education, your
career, and your life.
 Be someone for you to talk to about your thoughts, ideas, feelings, and concerns about
your career and educational choices, who will help you sort out, organize, and make
sense of your thoughts and feelings.
 Help you identify the factors influencing your career development, and help you
assess your interests, abilities, and values.
 Help you locate resources and sources of career information.
 Help you to determine next steps and develop a plan to achieve your goals.

Your Career Counselor WON’T:

 Tell you what to do, or tell you what you should major in or what career you should
pursue.
  Advise you in course selection or scheduling.

Who needs Career Counseling?

Since career development is a lifelong process, Career Counseling can be appropriate for
anyone, including freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and even alumni. The earlier you
get started making intentional decisions about your future, however, the better prepared you
will be! We recommend that all freshmen come in and visit with a Career Counselor.

Below are some examples of concerns that bring students to Career Counseling:

Exploring Career and Major Options

 “I have no idea what I want to do with my life.”

 “I don’t know what to major in.”

 “I’ve narrowed it down to a couple career options, but I’m having a hard time
choosing between them.”

 “I know what I want to major in, but I have no idea what I want to do once I
graduate.”

 “I know what I want to do, but I’m not sure what the best major would be.

 “I want to know what kinds of jobs I can get with my major.”

 “I don’t feel like I know enough about all the different careers out there to know what
I want to do.”
Resolving Conflicts
 “I like a lot of different subjects, and I keep changing my major because I’m not sure
which one is the best for me!”

 “I don’t like any of my classes and none of the majors seem really appealing to me.”

 “I have a lot of work experience and I want to find a new career path that will build
on the skills I already have.”

 “I was planning on going into the _______ program, but I applied and didn’t get in.
What do I do now?”

Career counseling is a type of advice-giving and support provided by career counselors to

their clients, to help the clients manage their journey through life, learning and work changes
(career). This includes career exploration, making career choices, managing career changes,
lifelong career development and dealing with other career-related issues. There is no agreed
definition of career counseling worldwide, mainly due to conceptual, cultural and linguistic
differences.[1] However, the terminology of 'career counseling' typically denotes a
professional intervention which is conducted either one-on-one or in a small group. Career
counseling is related to other types of counseling (e.g. marriage or clinical counseling). What
unites all types of professional counseling is the role of practitioners, who combine giving
advice on their topic of expertise with counseling techniques that support clients in making
complex decisions and facing difficult situations.

Scope for Career Counselling in the Indian Education Industry:

“Most students today don’t have access to right counselling & guidance when it comes to
their higher education needs and career goals. More often than not, students make crucial
decisions regarding courses; degrees and colleges based on hearsay, only to repent later
when they are unable to cope with the academic pressure or are unable to find a good job.”
         – Ruchir Arora, Co-Founder and CEO, CollegeDekho.com
With the increasing ambiguity of choosing the right career, the need for career counselling is
also on the rise. This has created a new gap in the market for budding entrepreneurs,
especially in a country like India. Following are some of the key reasons –
1. The gap in the Industry – India needs a whooping 1.4 million career counsellors to
maintain a globally accepted student-to-counsellor ratio. This provides a wide
scope for budding entrepreneurs to enter this market and serve this grave need of
the hour.
2. Booming Market Share – The market size for career assessment and guidance is
currently estimated at over Rs 5,000 crore in India and continuously growing. This
means that there is an inherent advantage of gaining profitability from this
booming sector and also serve a relatively untouched market.
3. Lean Investment Business Model – Setting up a Career Counseling venture
requires minimal investment. With the right certification and setting up an
efficient platform, career counselling business can be started from any part of the
country and can serve any customer in the world.

What Is Counselling?

Counselling is a broad term. In the general sense, counselling refers to the process of helping
a person by providing guidance, moral support, and exploring solutions for the problems
being faced. “Counselling” is usually associated with a professional helping out an individual
in need. This professional is someone who understands human behavior, their personality,
and knows how to give the right direction to their thoughts. This professional is a person you
can reach out to in times of uncertainty, and who makes sure that your identity and problems
remain confidential.

The relationship between a Counsellor and a Counselee is based on a good rapport and trust.
This is important while counselling, as it helps to achieve the end goal, i.e., helping the
counselee reach the solutions to his problems.
What Is Career Counselling?

Career Counselling is a process that focuses on helping one understand one’s own self, as
well as work trends, so that one can take 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.

In order to understand Career Counselling a little better, let us look at its most important
elements:

A Qualified Career Counsellor

A genuine Career Counsellor is the essence of right guidance, which is why he/she is the
most important element of any career counselling process. Career Counsellors are experts in
psychology, which means that they should hold at least a post-graduate degree in
Psychology/Applied Psychology, and/or a diploma in Counselling Psychology. Career
Counsellors who give guidance for a particular field, such as engineering, management,
hospitality, etc., must be experts in the concerned domain.

A good Career Counsellor is a problem solver, a keen listener and observer, and has
sufficient knowledge of various fields to guide you in your career decisions.

A Secure Environment
The process of career counselling involves creating a safe and secure environment, where the
student feels at ease and is able to discuss his/her life and career, without any hesitation. A
part of this secure environment is the assurance of confidentiality of the information shared
by the student.

An Agreement Of Trust And Confidence

The Career Counselling process is based on a relationship of trust and confidence between
the career counsellor and student. In order to help him/her, the counsellor may sometimes talk
about their emotional and developmental issues, which can be a little stressful. The student
and the parent needs to place an enormous amount of faith in the Counsellor to take care of
such matters.

Relevant Psychometric Assessments

Psychometric Testing (Career Assessment) is a scientific and standardized process carried out
to evaluate a person’s aptitude and personality. Psychometric assessments are a Counsellor’s
tools, which are used to obtain the most important information about a student’s behavior,
emotional strength, interests, and skills. This information helps to facilitate on what kind of
careers would be suitable for him/her.

Find all that you need to know about career assessments here

In this manner, relevant and standardized assessments help a student understand him/herself
better, and career decisions can be made more easily.
Why Do I Need Career Counselling?

All of us require career guidance at some point in our life. It helps us get insights about
ourselves, our career and what we can do to improve it. Here are a few ways in which career
counselling helps us:

Helps Pick The Right Career

Career Counsellors are experts at assessing your aptitude, personality, interests, and other
aspects of you. They use this evaluation to suggest the best career options from all the
available and relevant options.

Helps Provide Expert Resources

Career Counselling provides access to the resources and knowledge that a career expert
possesses. This knowledge of Careers, their scope and the paths to pursue them are most
important from the point of view of a parent and child, since most of the times, parents or
guardians do not have that kind of knowledge.

Helps Gain Confidence And Insight

Career Counselling helps a counselee understand the hurdles in his/her career path. This
knowledge helps to develop the confidence to overcome these hurdles. It is the duty of a good
counsellor to provide such insight and confidence to the counselee.

Helps Change Unwanted Behavior Patterns

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

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 re-
directed to selecting the best career options.

Provides A Role-Model
Career Counselling helps students connect to experts who have enough life experiences to
share. They are role models who have accomplished much, and helped people in their life.
This is why Career Counselling can serve as an inspiration to those who require it.

Helps Bring Stability In Thought

Career Counsellors can help you remain calm when it comes to taking a career decision.
Counselling helps bring about focus, and maintain that focus throughout in our activities.
Through proper scheduling and planning, they try and make your life more organized.
Who Need Career Counselling & When?

The perfect time for students to seek Career Counselling is during the ages 13-17 years (8th
standard to 12th standard). This is a time of many changes taking place in their life, both
physical and emotional, such as transitioning from school to college, and trying to “fit in”
with peers. It is also a time when career decisions are made. This is why they need someone
to guide them in the right direction at this time.

Most of our parents are actively involved in shaping our career, in fact at least 51% of Indian
parents’ priority is their child’s financial success (Survey by HSBC Retail Banking and
Wealth Management in a report titled “ The Value of Education: Learning for Life”). We can
safely assume that our parents follow a hands-on approach when it comes to making career
decisions for us. Sometimes, it works and many a times, it does not. We can attribute this to
the fact that every child is unique, and it is extremely hard for parents or teachers to always
recognize the child’s strengths or weaknesses, and his passion or dislikes. This is another
reason why career counselling is needed.

For students in college, who are still confused about what they want to do, as well as for
professionals who want to transition from their field to something they love, career
counselling helps in the following manner:

Career Counselling helps them understand the career options that they have, and how to
pursue them.
Career Counselling helps them understand their own strengths and weaknesses with regard to
their present course or profession, and lets them know what career they would be suited for.
Career Counselling gives them a platform to voice their opinion about what they would like
to pursue, as well as discuss the obstacles that they may be worried about.
Career Counselling makes the transition from one field to another a non-stressful event.
Career Counselling helps give them the required confidence to change their domain, with the
support of an experienced mentor.

What Career Counselling Is Not

There are some common misconceptions about career counselling. Let us have a look at what
career counselling is not:

It is not general advice about careers, courses and curriculum.

Career Counsellors help you pick the best career options, based on your abilities. Their
suggestions and guidance are unbiased.

It is not a short-term process that gives instant results.

Career Counselling takes time, effort and patience. It is a long-term process involving many
changes on the part of the student.
It is not a service that helps you get jobs or admissions in companies and colleges
respectively.

Career Counsellors are not affiliated to any academic institution. They only help you reach
your potential and aim for the best institutes and companies in your career.

It is not a procedure that runs on trial-and-error.

Career Counselling is a scientific process and involves making calculated moves, based on
hard facts and methodical research.

Why You need career counselling in India?

As stated, the maximum of us makes random career choices by listening to our parents,
friends, society etc. These random decisions shape a major part of our life. So don’t we need
to make a highly informed decision while making such life-changing choices?
A person needs career counselling to find the best career choice. Every student has different
talent and capabilities. Career decision-making is not something that occurs only one time in
a person’s life but, rather, it is a continuous process that may take place at any age. An
experienced career counsellor can help tap the potential of the student and the professional.
Effective career counselling in India is the need of the hour. It facilitates effective career
preparation.
Right career guidance at the right time can help many individuals to live a life of their
dreams.
Have you ever thought this?
Students spend the majority of their adult life at the workplace. A career decision is one of
the most important decisions in students’ life. There is a very thin line between a happy and
sad career. Choose wisely. That’s where effective career planning and career counselling in
India comes into the picture.
An effective career counselling blends information from psychometric tests with career
information to help the individual discover the most suitable career path. It is essential that
the career counsellor is equipped with skills to help the individual gain insights into personal
interests, talents, skills and aptitude. It is essential that the career counsellor is trained not
only to take tests but also interpret the career report effectively.

MCQs

What makes career

counselling
significantly different
in emphasis from
career coaching?
  Goal-oriented
  
A focus on past experiences
  
Future-focused
  
Achievement focused
  

Which of the
following is not true
of career counselling?
  It includes past experiences
  
It involves building a trusting relationship
  
It is only for the unemployed
  
It is a two-way interaction
  

1. A school counselor is planning a guidance lesson for seventh- and eighth-grade students. Which of
the following instructional approaches would likely be most responsive to the developmental needs of
students in this age range?

1. small-group activities that involve active participation

2. open-ended activities that encourage free exploration
3. counselor-directed activities that are highly structured
4. individual activities that encourage friendly competition

When working with diverse groups, a career counselor should:

 Identify special needs for each group

 Support those with special needs

 Understand that everyone has a unique perspective

 Engage employers and employees in a discussion of diversity

 All are correct

 The problem resolution stage of
  counseling iscounselor
The stage in which the bestor therapist
characterized
explores, in depth, theby
emotional
and cognitive dynamics of the client, problem parameters, previously tried
solutions, and decision-making capabilities.

The stage where methods and procedures for follow-up are determined.

The stage of rapport building, information gathering, goal determination, and

informing the client about the conditions under which counseling will take place.

The stage in which both counselor and client are active, whereby the counselor
engages in facilitating, demonstrating, instructing, and providing a safe
environment for change; and the client engages in re-evaluation, trying out new
behaviors, exploring emotional and cognitive factors, and discarding of old
behaviors.