Career Guidance: How To Make The Best Use Of Your One Hour With The Career Counsellor

One of the most important decisions a teenager has to make is about their future career. Today, your child can choose from innumerable mainstream or alternative career paths. However, their options are limited when it comes to choosing the right stream at Grade 12.

While some students know exactly what they want to do and where they want to go, others are clueless about what career path they want to follow. This is when a career advisor plays a crucial role in a child's life and leads them onto the path of professional success.

Why career counselling is important

Career counselling offers children a more systematic and thoughtful way of making better choices for themselves. Career information offers factual data about the subjects available, course content, job requirements, and the opportunities available. Career guidance enables deep inner exploration to understand their core interests, family influences, aptitude, personality, skills, and attitudes. These elements can be combined to derive a personal career profile, which will help the students choose subjects and a career that they are more likely to enjoy and find satisfying in the long term.

Career guidance uses a scientific approach to map an individual's career profile. It offers students information and support in making choices and leads them from conflict and confusion to clarity about what they truly want to do in life. Most importantly, it gets them actively involved in making a major decision. When they love the work they do, they are motivated, energised, and confident, and will seize any opportunity that comes their way.

How to make the most of your session with the career counsellor

Before you take your child to a career counselling expert, be very clear about your goals and your expectations from the session. Here are some questions you should consider.

Analyse your reasons for seeing a career consultant

• Choosing subjects for the +2 level

1. Do you want your child to continue or change the board of education?
2. Does your child need help in deciding the subject combination to take in +2?
3. Do you want your decisions to get validated by a professional?

• Choosing subjects for college

1. Does your child want to change their stream?
2. Does your child want to pursue the same stream but isn't sure of the specialisation?
3. Do they want to know about other available options?

The next step is to prepare yourself for the meeting. Here's how you can go about it.

Prepare for the meeting

• Prepare a list of the questions you would like to ask.
• Make a note of your doubts and confusions.
• Stay calm, and expect a friendly conversation.
• Prepare to be honest and open-minded.

Prepare your child for aptitude assessments

First of all, as a parent, you should help your child understand the difference between aptitude and interest. Also, explain to them what an aptitude assessment is. It measures a person's cognitive or thinking skills. The scores indicate how well the child can grasp concepts in various subjects. These inputs are combined with a student's core interests and career profile to create a career path that is most likely to be suitable for them. Often, there is a high correlation between the two.

What to expect from the session

The session will fulfil one of two purposes:

1. Career information - You will learn about the subjects available, the schools or colleges that offer them, entrance and competitive exams, admission requirements, etc.

2. Career planning - Your child will undergo a formal career planning process. The one-hour session at the career counselling centre will be an introductory session to understand them and their needs. This will help the counsellor explain how they would be able to help your child and the tools they will use to help them plan their career path.

What your child should do to make the most of a career guidance session

During the session, ask your child to keep the following points in mind to make the most of it.

• Make themselves comfortable and bring their energy into the session.
• Be open-minded and attentive.
• Be active during discussions. This will give them more ideas and perspectives.
• Be aware of their socio-economic circumstances and be prepared to overcome obstacles.
• Be aware of the future of the career they are interested in pursuing, the risks involved, and the opportunities available.
• Be alert and ready to answer the counsellor's questions, which will include their interests, confusions, pressures, self-expectations, conflicts, family influences, and so on. Their answers will help the counselling expert to understand your child.
• Explain their specific need, as it will help the counsellor decide what approach and assessment tools to use.
• Ask questions and clear doubts, no matter how many.
• Listen carefully to the counsellor and focus on the information or guidance they are providing.
• Not to expect the counsellor to decide for them. They will have to make their own decisions.
• Take notes so that they can go back and reflect on the discussions.
• Be curious about how people have used their skills to enhance their prospects or create new opportunities.

If approaching a top career counsellor isn't possible, you can also go for online career counselling for your child.

Ultimately, help your child choose the path best suited for them. Don't impose your decisions on them in any way. They need to find their way and carve a niche for themselves on their terms.