Career GUIDANCE

"The minute you decide to do what you love to do, you have made a life plan for yourself and a career choice." - Huda Kattan

Choosing the "right career" is of utmost importance in everyone's life. Careers can make or break lives, is well-understood with a decent knowledge of the definition of the word "career" - "an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life and with opportunities for progress", "a person's course or progress through life (or a distinct portion of life)". Sufficient information of the Career options that we have (local & global), along with a proper understanding our natural skills, desires, inclinations & personality is mandatory for us to choose the career that suits us the most, and to set sails to acquire the academic qualifications and soft skills required for that specific Career (from national or international institutions). Though we can change / switch careers in the course of our professional lives, which is a very common aspect of career & career management, it's highly desirable that we start off our careers with the best choice that we have.

Career Guidance has a major role to play in our lives, as we ourselves are least likely to have adequate information about what's happening around the world with respect to career options (opportunity awareness), and our own judgement about the natural capabilities, skills, attitudes, desires, fears and limitations that we ourselves have (self-awareness) may not be accurate. Professional Career Counsellors are well-equipped to help us choose the best career for us.

Why is professional Career Guidance critical?

 

  • In today's Global world, so many new career options spring up every other day, which professional career counsellors keep well track of (opportunity awareness).
  • The cut-throat world of professional competence requires us NOT to be a misfit in our professional lives!
  • There are multiple factors to consider while we choose our career - like our natural talents, working style, social interaction, current financial position, work–life balance, our what-to-give-back-to-society attitude/policy, our comfort with public attention, our ability to deal with stress, and finally, how much money we want to make. Professional assistance is highly recommended here.
  • It's very important to identify our personality type at a very young age (while we are high school students, ideally) through Psychometric Assessment tests by a professional agent (self-awareness).
  • They can help us identify the best, the second-best, the third-best like career plans for us (like plan A, plan B, plan C etc.).
  • It's highly desirable that we interact with professional career counsellors before we start our higher education.

 

Interesting Facts / Trivia about Career Management:

  • A commonly used framework for careers education is DOTS which stands for decision learning (D), opportunity awareness (O), transition learning (T), and self-awareness (S)
  • Individuals between the ages of 18 and 38 switch between more than 10 jobs (as per a study in the US)
  • One out of three people currently employed spends about one hour per day searching for a new job (a 2008 study in the US)
  • About 33% of those who switch careers do so because "personal strengths and capabilities are not a good fit with the present job" (misfit cases)
  • About 21% of those who switch careers have the reason "to improve work/life balance"
  • Another 21% have the reason "our contributions are not being recognized"
  • The word "career" derives from the Latin word "carrus", referring to a chariot
  • Online Professional Career Guidance is growing, though a decent number of students/parents still prefer face-to-face support