Career Counselling is a life-long process which an individual can avail until he/ she is satisfied with their career. Different age groups can benefit from career counseling in different ways. The age groups can be divided into five different categories:
• Students (Grade 8-12)
• Graduates and post graduates (18-34yr old)
• Working professional (22-30 and 30-50)
• Professionals after sabbatical (26-50)
• Senior citizen (55+) seeking
How to avail Career Counselling
For the students of classes 8-12, it is necessary to have access to career counselling. At this age, it helps the students to understand the different career opportunities that are available to them.
Students can be advised to take a psychometric test after they are aware of the career options. The psychometric test can help to assess their strengths, weaknesses, aptitude, personality type, reasoning capability and potential in order to map their skills to the right career opportunity.
Further, career goals are set for the students, and they can take help in their University/ college admission process. In the perspective of school-going students, career counselors have a greater role to play which is a combination of – ‘academic activities’ supporter’, ‘social development’ and ‘career development’.
In addition to that, career counsellors have a significant role to play in overcoming social issues related to low enrolment in several countries. Career counseling can be a substantial tool for the education system at the school level in different ways.
Needs of a student
A school going student can make career counselling highly beneficial for his/ her career. For example, a student at a school level may understand that he wants to become a mechanical engineer, but he cannot be sure what subjects can help him achieve his goals.
A career counselor can help and support him in understanding the skills that are required, the future potential of the selected field, and the emerging trends which can be important for the student.
It is surprising to see that the student literacy rate in India is as low as 69% while other countries have a rate above 80%. Such a low literacy rate demands serious efforts from the government of the country.
Providing schools and educational facilities is not enough in such grave situations. It is necessary that awareness is created among the parents and leaders in urban as well as rural areas of the country.
Career Counselling can prove to be highly effective in such a situation by motivating students and their parents to pursue education and set career goals. Strikingly, there is a similar situation in other developing nations.
These countries are facing several social challenges that impact student literacy rates, however, opting for a model similar to those in developed countries can bring out positive results.
It has been estimated through studies that career counseling can improve drop-out rate at school level by at least 62% in a developing nation and by 35% in a developed nation.
