“It is the counsellor who gives a patient hearing to each person and sort out the issue with a holistic approach in the best interest of career of the student concerned”
– Tapash Kumar Home
Tapash Kumar Home (TK Home) is the Regional Director of Kaziranga University, Resident Consultant at Sliem Skills, Advisor at Robotix Lab Research Academy and Advisor at Indo Canada Education Council. He specializes in providing guidance to the students aspiring to study abroad in Canada. He spoke about his career and career counselling in an interview with Amarjeet.
Amarjeet Sharma (AS): Please brief us about your Educational background.
TK Home: I’m a graduate in (Eco.Hons.) from Delhi University. Attended certificate course on ‘Public Relations’. Accomplished training program on ‘Jute Diversified Products’ conducted by UNCTADD-GATT, Geneva & JMDC, Govt. of India, Ministry of Textiles.
AS: What has your time as a Career Counsellor meant to you personally and why?
TK Home: I took keen initiative as a Career Counsellor besides my other responsibilities when I took charge of ‘Chief Inf. & Protocol Officer’ in NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) – a premier Institute of Design, Technology & Management under Govt. of India, Ministry of Textiles at New Delhi in the year-1997 to 2008. It is really a perfect guidance to students for futuristic professional career.
AS: How did you get into Career Counselling? What interested you into Career Counselling?
TK Home: I appreciate this relevant and interesting question. Since NIFT had limitation of seats with very few centres in few States it was not a practice to do the counselling session on regular basis. Educational consultants/Agencies appealed to me that students/educational institutions would like some sr.official/faculty should represent premier institute like NIFT and deliver lecture, presentation and attend counselling sessions on fashion study and career prospect in different parts of the country. So, I started to attend such events with all honour and dignity from the concerned institutions. I also recall that in few events it made surprise to students for my presence as no one used to attend such counselling session from NIFT reason being very limited seats for admission and also psychological fear for the exam.
I could understand their problems and guide, counsel and remove their doubts as far as possible. It became a challenging task for me henceforth.
AS: Which tools do you use for guiding careers?
TK Home: I prefer extempore talks and direct interaction with students.
Have a question regarding your career ?
AS: Why do you think it’s important for students and parents to undergo Career Counselling together?
TK Home: The answer lies with the question itself. We have seen in practice that sometimes differences of opinion arise between students and parents and even grandparents in our joint family structure. It is the counsellor who gives a patient hearing to each person and sort out the issue with holistic approach in the best interest of career of the student concerned.
AS: What are the top 3-5 skills you should have to become an effective Career Counsellor?
TK Home: Patience, calm, cool & balance mind, knowledge, capability of understanding and making understand with logic, judgement, psychology.
AS: What is your advice for newbies, who are looking at building a career in Career Counselling industry?
Tk Home: Communication skill, observation of interaction and lecture of sr. and successful counsellors, art of delivery and knowledge of subject.
AS: There are many new career options that have come up over the last decade which was not heard of before, how do you stay updated on the latest trends in Career?
TK Home: Yes. There are many career options are available in abroad too in higher education. It is required to be computer savvy, attending global education fairs and to maintain interaction with educational institutions.
AS: Which are the Career Information resources (i.e. newsletters/ blogs/ websites/ apps) you visit regularly?
Tk Home: Websites, Newsletters.
AS: Share the names of 3 people you respect when it comes to Career Counselling?
Tk Home:
- Uma Pati, Dean,JNU
- Bhaskar Mitra,Pearl Academy
- Dr. Ananya Sadhu – JNU (Bio-Technology-Research scholar)
Have a question regarding your career ?
