Career counselling offers individuals with personalized guidance and support to assist them in making informed decisions in regard to their career path. As per Harit Gaba, career counselling often involves assessing the personality traits, values, skills and interests of a person in order to identify potential paths for higher studies and career that aligns with their aspiration and goals. The ultimate objective of career counselling is to help people achieve optimal professional success and satisfaction.
Harit Gaba talks about the myriad of ways career counselling can help students
With the assistance of proper career counselling and guidance, students are able to competently select the right career path based on their educational and professional choices. A qualitative and quantitative assessment of the knowledge, skills, information, and experience of a student is done to identify which career options would be well-suited for them. There are many ways career counselling can help students, including:
- Helps pick the right career: Career counsellors have a high degree of expertise in assessing the interest, personality, and skill level of a student. They make use of this evaluation to identify and suggest the ideal higher education pathway and career options from all the available and relevant options.
- Helps provide expert resources: Career counselling offers people access to the knowledge and resources possessed by the career counsellor. This knowledge can be quite valuable in helping students understand the appropriate career path for them. Not all parents or guardians would have this sort of expert knowledge and insights. Hence, it is better for students to seek help from professionals.
- Helps gain confidence and insight: Career counsellor can help students to understand the hurdles they may face in a certain career path. This would allow the student to be better prepared, and hence develop the confidence to overcome these hurdles.
- Helps change unwanted behavior patterns: A lot of students follow certain habits that are pretty hard to break. These habits can range from procrastinating and neglecting emotional and mental health to not keeping updated on the latest developments in their chosen career path. A career counsellor can try to break such behavioral patterns that lead to unproductive activities at home and in school/college/work, enabling students to develop better work ethics.
- Helps remove career-related frustration: Selecting the right college major and career path can be very confusing for the student. Their frustration can significantly go up if they do not have anyone to discuss their confusions and problems with. This is where a career counsellor comes in. They can help manage career related frustrations, address their confusions and queries, and re-direct their focus towards the best career options.
- Helps bring stability in thought: Career counsellors can help students to maintain a calm and collected mindset when it comes to making any important career related decisions. They teach the value of planning and scheduling, which can make the life of a person a lot more organized.
As per Harit Gaba, for many students, career counsellors actually end up becoming valuable role models. They can serve as an inspiration to those who require it, and often share their life experiences to help students make the best possible choices that would significantly impact their future.