Who is a career counsellor
Once we enter into our professional lives, we spend a lion’s share of our day engaged in our work. Hence, choosing the right career and starting on the journey as early as possible are of the utmost importance. Your interests, skills, values, personality, background, environment, every such thing contributes to your career development. Apart from that, there are also other factors that make a difference. Career counselling is a process that helps you understand both yourself and the corporate world. Armed with this knowledge, you can choose the right courses to study or jobs to apply to for success.
Career development is not simply restricted to deciding where you will work post your graduation. Its wider purpose is to provide you with the knowledge and skills you need for making your future career bright.
What does a career counsellor do?
Career counsellors are trained to help people make the right career choices. Whether the person is new to the workforce or or is looking for a career change, a career advisor can steer them in the best possible direction.
These professionals analyse the candidate’s complete background, interests, education, skills and personality so as to understand what would be the best fit for you. Then then use the information to steer them towards the best educational options as well as job opportunities, depending on their requirements.
As a career counsellors, you must have in-depth knowledge of the skills required in various fields, as well as the ability to gauge a person’s soft skills through various means of assessment. After assessing clients, you will then match them wih jobs that match their skill levels, interests, qualification and of course salary expectation.
As a career counsellor, you will also be in a position to advice the candidate on key factors that affect their choices - such as how much salary and what perks they should expect, how they should approach an interview, what extra curriculars they should take up alongside their studies to land their dream job, etc.
Here are some of the things that good career counsellor do as a part of their job:
- Conduct personality and career tests to assess the client's skills and areas of interests
- Identify career opportunities and educate clients about those options
- Provide references to different programs like training opportunities and educational programs
- Assist clients in finding good internships and jobs opportunities
- Train clients to crack interviews by conducting mock interview sessions with them
- Advice them on what they should expect out of a job or a course, and how it fits into their ultimate career goal
Career counselling scope in India
With new technological and social developments happening every day and the lines between traditional professions blurring constantly, it is not easy to pinpoint one profession that a person should opt for. With numerous and often confusing channels of information, people always pfer to turn towards well-trained career advisors to clear the confusion and provide clear actionable advise. Career advisors should, thus, be very familiar with market trends so they can greatly contribute to career development at the individual level.
At over 350 million, India has the largest student population in the entire world. Understandably, there is a need for career counsellors for guiding these students as they progress through their academic careers. With more and more students willing to start the discussion about a career at an early age, the need for career guidance is rapidly growing.
As a direct result, the market for career assessment, advisory and counselling services in out country is only projected to grow, creating more room for competent career counsellors to enter into the market.
Click here to know Nidhi Nagori's take on career counselling
Online Courses
Career counselling is an industry that anyone can enter into - the only prerequisite needed being people skills and having a real passion to help people change their lives for the better. Regardless of your technical or educational background, the door to this profession is always open for you. Mentioned below are a few of the finest online courses that can serve as the perfect stepping stone into a promising career in career counselling.
- The Certified Career Analyst Programme
- Certified Career Counsellor by Udemy
- Basics of Counselling and Career Counselling For Beginners by Udemy
- Career Counselling Certification for coaches and job seekers by Udemy
The field of career counselling helps you build great personality, but it will also help you become more organised as a person. Career counsellors analyse, and use tools to help individuals determine their career paths. They work with a wide range of clients at different stages of their life. So are you ready with your tool now?
Source: The Telegraph, 7/09/22
