Why career counseling is important for students ?
Career counselling is a process that helps individuals identify and explore career options, make informed decisions about their future, and develop strategies to achieve their goals. It can be helpful at any stage of life, but it is especially beneficial for young people who are just starting out in their careers.
Career counselling can be of wondering help for grooming a person, as they may be overwhelmed by the numerous options available to them. After graduating from college, graduates may feel a sense of emptiness and are often unsure about where to start their job search. Perhaps they are unsure about their education and whether they want to pursue further studies.
Explore their interests, values, and skills: A career coach can help an individual in exploring their interests, values, and skills. This can be done through a variety of assessments and exercises that help the individual to identify these areas. Once these areas are identified, the career coach can help the individual to develop a plan to pursue their goals. This may include setting up informational interviews, researching different careers, and exploring job opportunities. The career coach can also provide guidance and support throughout the process to ensure that the individual is on track and making progress.
Who needs career counselling?
A recent survey showed that 93% of Indian students are aware of just seven career options. In comparison, India offers over 250 career options in various domains. This is where career counselling proves to be extremely helpful. A 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 has to make important career decisions in various stages of life, and career development is a lifetime process. Therefore, career counselling is appropriate for everyone facing challenges in finding the right career path.
Importance of career guidance for students?
1.) Helps in picking the right career: The main objective of counselling is to guide. Due to a lack of knowledge and guidance, you might pick up a course that may not align with your career goals. This is where career counsellors help. They are experts at assessing your interests, aptitude and your personality. Based on their evaluation, they recommend the best career option to ensure your professional growth.
2.) Role of a career guidance counsellor: Choosing the right option is crucial for building a satisfying and successful career. The counselling will assist in decision-making by providing information about the chosen career path, other available career options, their pros and cons, job prospects, and help you locate resources for obtaining important career-related information.
3.) Boosts confidence and morale: Lack of knowledge and lack of direction lowers your confidence and may act as a roadblock to achieving your career goals. Career counselling helps overcome these obstacles and chalk out the path to career success by providing relevant knowledge. Also, it allows you to adopt the best practices that will pave the way to career success.
4.) Encourage students to learn a new skill: The importance of career guidance is not limited to just boosting confidence. It offers unique insights that help you as an individual to grow professionally.
5.) Navigating job markets: Career counselling helps students to understand the job market, provide insight into available job options and make them industry-ready. The counsellor assists students in their job search and guides them on how to crack an interview by sharing some resume writing, networking and interviewing tips.
6.) Change behavioural patterns: Professionals and students have habits that are hard to change, such as not keeping themselves abreast with the latest development in their chosen career paths, procrastinating, etc.
So, to put it simply, career counselling guides students and professionals in choosing the right career option, assists in identifying the barriers in their growth path, and aids in developing strategies to overcome obstacles and attain career success.
