What is Career Guidance and Counselling?
Career:
Career Counselling for students can be briefly defined as the path of an individual during his education and work.
In the past, it was normal for an individual to choose only one profession for his lifetime, for instance driver, cashier, waiter etc.
Due to the rapid changes in the labor market, this is not possible anymore.
People were supposed to change their working places and professions more often.
Because of Career Counselling For Students, the term profession has become very static to be used for career orientation.
It is now replaced with the term career which describes the path of an individual during the process of learning and work.
The notion of career has changed with time.
If once career was a synonym for the individual progress in the organizational hierarchy or in one profession.
Today it is a term that describes the path of learning and the path of work of an individual.
And it is not one term which is exclusive for the most successful individuals (managers, singers, athletes etc.)
But it refers to all adult individuals but also to students.
Today, everybody has a career.
The periods of education, capacity building, unemployment, and maternity leave are phases in one person’s career.
Career Development:
Career development (in the context of career orientation) is a lifelong process which involves the management of learning, work and transition.
In order to advance and head towards a determined individual future developed personally.
The career development is the individual managed by the individual.
Career guidance in Schools/institutes:
Like everyone school students are also needed to acquire the knowledge, attitudes, and skills that contribute to effective learning and subsistence in life.
At the secondary level;
They need to choose from the base of courses in different streams available in the schools and from special skill training courses available in the community.
Students also need to fix future academic and vocational goals.
They relate their academic achievement with the world of work and overall in life.
Career Guidance is not only as an instruction, but it is also a plan to move our life to a good way. It helps students‟ development through:
- Academic Information
- Career Information
- Group Guidance
- Counselling
- Orientation
- Assessment
Career guidance contains the career-orienting activities which are generally provided by school counselors and teachers.
In order to help students to become aware of possible career alternatives with a variety of services such as
- Guidance
- Advising
- Education
- Placement
- Coaching
- Mentoring in educational settings
Many countries recognize the importance of career guidance programs in terms of enhancing the lives of their citizens and improving their economy
Career development (in the context of career orientation) is a lifelong process which involves the management of learning,
work and transition in order to advance and head towards a determined individual future developed personally.
The career development is the individual managed by the individual.
In some countries, such as the United States and Turkey,
career guidance is often delivered as a part of the school counselors’ responsibilities
It was determined that career guidance interventions which involve a career counsellor were significantly more effective than those interventions that were without career counselor.
Particularly, when computer system and career counseling were used together it may be more effective than allowing individuals to just use a computerized guidance system
Modes of Counselling for Career Selection:
- Parents
- Teachers
- Relatives
- Seniors
Parents are considered the most trustworthy source of guidance on the basis of their seniority, experience, and success.
After this, teachers are reported to be the most credible source of guidance.
Relatives are seen as important in the process of career selection to the extent that they were themselves engaged in unique or difficult career fields.
Finally, seniors are mentioned because they guide us in most recent opportunities and developments in different career fields.
Issues being faced by students in Career Planning:
The subthemes identified under this theme are eight in number, i.e.
Resources, psychological issues, peer pressure, gender biases, financial hurdles,
family and society comments, confusion and indecisive behavior, and a clash of interest with family.
The most common issue student come across is a clash of interest.
This Globe is a collectivist society, and parents are the ones who usually make the decisions for the children in every aspect of life. Career is also one of those.
The other most narrated issue is indecisiveness, unable to choose out of the available choices.
It can be attributed to a lack of awareness about the various available choices;
besides that, the children are very much on the spoon-feeding side;
they are just provided with the guideline to do this and to do that, so their decision making power is very weak.
They also lack confidence because of having less and limited exposure. Children’s decisions are not very much supported in general.
But the trends are now changing as more educated the parents are, the more they give space to their children’s decisions and guide them accordingly.
Conclusion:
A variety of variables impact the career choices, yielding to various threats and opportunities for the individuals.
Career planning needs to focus on the changing variables, context to address these as opportunities rather than threats.
Career counsellors are very crucial at this stage, as they can guide the students in such scenarios and help them tap their interests in the relevant careers.
The parents, family members need to focus on the potential of the individual and facilitate decision making.
The issues that come across in career planning as hurdles are to be approached proactively rather than reactively.
It will ultimately bring in a well-informed youth having the potential to become a productive nation and contribute to the economy creatively;
only then we can have an impactful society.
