Career Guidance

Introduction

                                                                               

Deciding upon the right career option is quite tricky for both students and their parents. Most of us go through the same dilemma after passing class 10^th or 12^th exams or during graduation.

Career options for students pursuing professional courses like degree in medical or engineering, are quite clear. For the remaining students, a lot of thought goes into choosing the right option after graduation. 

Interest and aptitude of the student is main deciding factor. Lucrativeness of the career and job prospects plays an important role in making the decision.

Some of the popular career options include degree in Engineering, Medical, MBA, Software, Chartered Accountancy, Journalism, Advertising, PR and architecture. These fields also offer attractive pay and well defined career paths.  

There are numerous other career options such as flying & aviation, physical education & sports, law, fashion designing, laboratory research & product development and administrative services. These options can also lead to attractive career prospectus if good quality training is pursued.

Necessity of Professional Career Guidance

Careers can actually make or break one’s life, so it is important to make the right choice. Choosing the right career can be a very daunting task especially in a world which offers an array of paths, all of which seem to be leading to a golden goal.  However, often the candidates are unaware of necessary steps to be followed and potential obstacles in order to pursue career in selected field.

Career guidance can help you in pursuing the right courses, in the right colleges or institutes and can guide you in choosing a suitable career.

Choosing a career can be very satisfying if you have made the right choice. Like the famous adage goes, if you choose the job you love, you don’t have to work a single day in your life.  On the other hand, a wrong decision can leave you wishing that you had trodden a different path.

While doing a career search it is imperative to have the correct career information.  An informed choice is always a better bet than an uninformed one.  The right career advice can help you to choose a career to suit your personality as well as your aspirations.

Education, of course, plays an important role in getting you the right job in your chosen field.  The stepping stones or pre-requisites for choosing your dream career are of course, the qualifications required to achieve it.  With the right qualifications, the top careers are open to you and the power of choice would be with you.

Career counselling can guide you in selecting the courses suitable for you.  It could be an undergraduate course or an Associate Bachelor’s, the choice depends on various factors including convenience and requirements.  For some careers, a Bachelor’s degree will do, but others may require additional training and certification courses, a Master’s degree or even a PhD.

The choice of the university is vital as well, as each one differs in its outlook and approach.  The choice offered by various universities is also vast; with some of them offering distance learning courses and online learning resources, which make pursuing the requisite qualifications much easier.  This is especially useful for students planning to pursue multiple courses at the same time; and also for working executives who are looking for a career change. 

With proper career coaching, a job search would be easier and you would be able to bridge the gap between job-availability and your qualifications.  Whether one is looking for a new career or a career change, career guidance can help in smoothening out this important path of transition.

Assessment of Personality and Skills

Career counsellors use various personality tests to help clients choose careers. Career counsellors contend that those of a particular personality type are better suited to certain careers. An obvious example would be that an introvert would not do well in a career that requires public speaking.

Many personality tests used in career planning are based on a theory by psychologist Carl Jung. Jung divided people into eight personality types — extroverts, introverts, thinking, feeling, sensing, intuitive, judging, and perceptive.

However, a personality type alone shouldn't be used to predict whether you would succeed in a particular career. It should be used in conjunction with other parameters, such as those that look at aptitude, personal interests and values.

When deciding what career path to select or what field to enter, you need to determine what skills you have. You should look at what you're good at, as well as what you enjoy doing. You usually enjoy what you do well.

While you're assessing your skills, you should also consider the time you are willing to spend on acquiring more advanced or new skills. A question you could ask yourself is this — if a career holds all the qualities I find appealing but it takes X years to prepare for it, would I be willing and able to make this time commitment?

There are several computer programs that can help you with self assessment. These programs require users to answer a variety of questions about interests, skills, and values. Based on those answers, the software comes up with a list of career the user may be interested in. There's a component that allows users to gather information about these careers. Computer-Assisted Career Guidance programs are often found in career centres at high schools or colleges. Some job and career centres at public libraries also make these programs available.

Other important aspects of career development include

·                Preparing for Admission Tests

·                Selecting Institute / University

·                Resume Writing

·                Job Search

·                Interview Preparation

·                Salary Negotiation

·                Workplace etiquettes

·                Advancement in career