CAREER COUNSELLING DEFINITION

Career counselling is counselling, mentoring, or coaching on issues related to an

individuals career. It is also known as career guidance. Career counselling is a discipline
comprised of two similar but distinct tracks: coaching and counselling. The goal is to support
people in making informed decisions about their career development, as well as offers
various tools that they can use like rsums and cover letters to meet those goals.
. Career guidance consists of services that help people successfully manage their
career development. The counselors do not provide academic advising, but rather guide
students through an information-gathering process about self and the world of work to
determine which academic programs or careers might be a good match for them. For
example, counselors can assist students with clarifying values, examining interests,
identifying skills, resolving chronic indecision, developing insight into personality type, and
communicating with parents about career decisions.
The career counseling process begins with a confidential, one-on-one appointment
with a counselor, and culminates in the identification of a career goal and the selection of an
academic program to support that goal. You and your counselor will decide together if career
testing would be helpful for you during this process.
Not all career coaches have clinical training, definitions of the field and the work may
still vary among more conventionally trained coaches. In general, coaching tends to be a
solution-oriented approach, which involves working with clients to see what concrete steps
they can take to achieve career objectives. Counselling, however, is more process driven.
You look at whether there are any behavioral, emotional or psychological issues that could
be impeding a persons desired career ambitions. But the core virtue of career coaching is to
help people assess their professional situations with a greater degree of honesty, curiosity,
empathy and compassion.

Although this aspect of human development occurs on its own as we mature,

everyone can benefit from assistance navigating through this process. With more and more
diverse career options and professional opportunities emerging, career counselling helps
individuals make the right choice about their career paths, career development and career
change. Career counsellors help individuals with the task of self-assessment and selfanalysis. They then match the aptitude, skills and interests of the individuals with various job
types. They also help identify the various jib options available and provide clarity on different
job roles. Overall, they help individuals make informed career choices and help them define
their career paths to maximize the success in their chosen careers.

CAREER COUNSELLING PROCESS

Career counselling process is the process of finding career direction with counsellor,
as well as testing, exercises and career research completed between sessions. This process
is very personalized and tailored to our individual needs. It takes time and commitment, but
is very interesting and motivational. Spending at least 2-3 hours between sessions
completing tests and exercises provided by our counsellor will help maximize our chances of
finding the right career direction for us.
There are 3 stages in career counselling process:
1. Self-Assessment
This initial phase of the Career Counselling process is undertaken before we make
any decisions about our career and personal development. A career counsellor can
assist us in our exploration by providing informal or formal assessments. This stage
involves completing an interview with the counsellor, as well as various tests to
understand and enable us to answer some key questions including who am I? and
what do I want? It will normally include the use of questionnaires and exercises to
help us better understand and appreciate the following:

Transferable skills. What can I do and what am I good at?

Interests. What motivates me?

Values. What is the most important to me?

Personality. What work roles and environments would suit me?

Career drivers. What are my key career needs?

Positive experiences. What activities and situations make me thrive and be

at my best?

The above will then be clarified using some additional exercises and enable us to
create a Job Template which is a summary of the key elements we must have in our
work life. After taking assessments, we will work collaboratively with our counsellor to
understand and utilize the results of our assessments in our career search. Perhaps
it is more than one thing and we need to know this to better assist.
2. Exploring Careers
The second step in career planning process is to gain knowledge and increased
understanding about available career options. This stage includes further testing and
exercises, but also involves exploring various careers. The clarity provided in the first
phase will have put us in an ideal position to begin to explore ideas for our future.
These could include:

Improving your current prospects

Developing your potential

Different roles

Alternative work environments

New or complementary careers

During the meeting with Career Counsellor, we will first ensure that our Job Template
(what we must have in a job) is as accurate and specific as possible, so that we can
pass the employer test. In other words, we will be able to answer clearly a
prospective employers question: So what is it you are wanting from a job?. This
phase can help us to develop a much clearer vision for our future. We can find out
about careers, the world of work, and career descriptions through websites,
informational interviewing by talking to people in the fields that interest us, make use
of internships and volunteer experiences to help us become exposed to various fields
of interest. By learning about different careers, we can narrow down our choices to

those that are a good fit. We may meet with a career counsellor for help in narrowing
down our choices.

3. Career Decision
The third step in the process is to make a career decision includes final career
research and to devise a plan of action. After our earlier ideas meeting, we will
need to carry out extensive research and talk to potential employers and
organisations as well as any contacts who know about our area of interests.
Counsellor will give us exercises to assist us in assessing the suitability of different
options, and to help us decide on the best fit. They will also help us to set realistic
goals and devise small and relevant action steps to achieve them. Counsellor will
help us create a visible plan with target dates for completion, evaluate our progress
towards meeting our goals, and make adjustments if needed to achieve the chosen
career. We can also assist with resumes, cover letters, interview and job search skills
as needed. During this final phase, the counsellor will also work with us to develop
realistic Action Plans and at the end of this phase we will also have gained a toolkit
for decision making which we will be able to use again and again.