As said, “The earlier the better”. Hence career planning must begin at a very early stage. In this regards, schools do play an important role, not excluding mentors like teachers, parents and friends and most importantly a career counselor. But we as counselors would fail to reach out to thousands of students waiting for their queries to get answered if the right platform for interaction is not provided. Here steps in the school. Here we thank the teachers and Principal Abhay Ghosh of Shanti Asiatic School, a CBSE school in Ahemadabad, for giving us an opportunity to interact with the students and parents and sought out their career related issues. The school is run by Chiripal Charitable Trust, a CSE board based school.
The school is run by Chiripal Charitable Trust, a CSE board based school. Though run by a trust, it has not bargained on the future of students and apart from well equipped and modern classrooms, they encourage students towards overall growth and knowledge encouraging students in sports, and cultural activities, inter school and hence has been acknowledged by the British council of India as the “Best CBSE Schools in Ahmedabad”. Know more about the school, visit at: http://shantiasiaticahmedabad.com/
We the team of Career Guide got the opportunity to closely interact with the students and staffs and enlighten them on various career aspects. We at Career guide, located at Delhi, work day in and out with students of all age groups guiding them through various test that are managed online as well as face to face for students who can make it to the centre. Apart from the test, we also have counselors and experts from various fields, who interact with students and solve their career queries. To know more about us check us at https://www.careerguide.com/
With the intention of helping the students chose a career, the counselor’s team led by Aditi followed by the CEO Surabhi Dewra reached the school venue. Our CEO, Surabhi Dewar is a live example of how people with a vision can e successful even if they are from another profession or field. Being an engineering Graduate from BITS Pilani, she has successfully initiated Career guide and online counseling portal, for which she has on accolades from the Human resource ministry for, “best career counseling initiative” The Counselor Aditi another example of being a visionary, an MBA from DeMontford University, and started her work as a business developer. But due to her good communication skills and assertiveness, and liking towards the field of education, she underwent a training for career counseling and I working in the field for last 7 to 8 years.
The counseling initiative was set for students of class 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th. The session was divided into 3 sections, namely:
- Interactive Session
- Psychometric test
- Individual Counseling session with Students and parents
To accomplish this task, we divided the session into a 4 days session, right from 1st November to 4th November. His long hours and stay helped us in understanding the school culture, students outlook and thereby an open interaction with students, parents and staffs, so that no inch of doubts are left behind and students could approach us at their own pace, without any hitch or disturbance in their schedule.
A brief about the task we accomplished with the school students and their career doubts. Since it was our first meeting with the students, to ease them out, an interactive session was conducted first, so that students get a fair idea as to the mission of the team there in the premise. We conducted individual sessions for each class. Thus there were in total 4 interactive sessions with each section
- Interactive Session: The session was conducted by our CEO Suarbhi Dewra. With her extensive knowledge on existing careers and the necessity to excel in the said career, she conducted an interactive session with students, citing examples wherever needed and thereby motivating students towards a better choice.
The forum was then thrown open for any questions students would have. The session’s main focus was helping students gain insight into different careers and skills or potentials needed to be in the career and how one should realize their potentials and make a choice accordingly.
2.Psychometric Test: After enlighting the students through the interactive session, that a career must be chosen on the basis of ones potentials, students were then exposed to the psychometric test, that would highlight their skills and clear doubts about their own ability and thereby help them choosing a career ideal to their skills. The student’s ability was revealed through 2 tests namely: Ideal Career test and Stream selector test.
- Ideal Career test: The test mainly focuses on identifying areas like motivation, aptitude, interest and personality factors that are the main pillars towards choosing an ideal CAREER. The test is open for any age group and even for candidates who are looking out for a career change
- Stream Selector test: “What to do after 10th”? If this question lingers in your mind, then this is the ideal test for you. The test focuses mainly on 4 sections namely, Mathematics, Biology, Commerce and Humanities. Judgment is made based on your Aptitude and interest.
3. Individual Counseling session with Students and parents: A one on one session with students and parents. After the test, the students along with their Parents had a one on one session with the counselor, who helped them understand the test results.
The main focus was throwing light on the child’s abilities and giving them a direction based on it. The counselor with lots of patience interpreted the test results and helped the student understand their potentials and thereby a career suitable for them. Any queries were also solved by the counselor there and then only.
This was followed by a feedback session, whereby the students and Parents felt that the session was an eye opener for them and it helped them solve their confusions, which arose because of the vast career choices these days, followed by the competition to succeed.
Parents felt that career guidance was the need of the hour for every student, even though they may have planned their career well in advance, as it gives an insight to their thinking and throws light on various options and means to get to their dream vocation.
