You are almost done with school, and what next? People often find themselves enmeshed in that aimless, floating feel with absolutely no idea what they want to do with life. So, they end up picking an academic or career path that might please family or keep them close to home and friends – most often resulting in being stuck in a mind-numbing career of their nightmares.
Sounds pretty bleak, doesn’t it?
That is precisely why career guidance is an absolute essential to ensure you get on the right track and make an informed decision before choosing your career path. What exactly is career guidance, you ask? Well, simply put, it is the right advice and necessary evaluations to help you choose the right pathway in terms of career and higher academic development in order for you to meet the ideal career goals that suit you.
Still not convinced? Here are some solid reasons why career guidance is a necessity:
Expert knowledge on all available opportunities
Career guidance counsellors are experts with ample know-how in various fields and their opportunities. They will skillfully guide you towards the many opportunities in store for you, based on your capabilities and interests. While showing you the many pathways available, considering many factors, including economic and functional matters, they would help you choose what is best suited to your strengths.
Especially in the Sri Lankan context, the most common choices revolve around – doctor, lawyer, engineer. This forces students to fit into this niche that may not be a fulfilling or practical option for them, given their talents and abilities. However, a career guidance counsellor will be able to introduce students to a world of professions and careers that could prove to be far more lucrative than these conventional options, such as social media marketing, ethical hacking, research-oriented opportunities, architecture, content creation etc.
Access to Effective Skills Assessments
The best career guidance is advice coupled with scientifically-driven evaluations. Contemporary career guidance counsellors utilize technological tools to assess your skills and capabilities, such as personality tests and aptitude tests. These evaluations help you understand your potential and help you choose a career path that best suits what you can handle and enjoy. In addition, such psychometric tests make it easier to filter out the ideal job roles and fields that suit your competencies.
Helps Map out Efficient Career Plans
Through successful career guidance, students gain much more than a suitable career choice. They are guided into mapping out a fully-fledged and realistic career plan to keep them motivated and goal-oriented. Furthermore, students are taught to self-evaluate and analyze one’s skills and career matches to embrace the optimal pathway. Thus, students are provided with a clear and well-directed map towards career success.
Prevents Familial Conflict
Most often than not, parents play a huge role in deciding their child’s initial career path. This can lead to prolonged conflicts and regrets if the child finds the pathway to be exhausting and unsatisfactory. However, with a career guidance counsellor playing an unbiased mediating role, this will certainly be mitigated. Students will then have the opportunity to voice their preferences and interests, in addition to their skills and capabilities, resulting in happier and more fulfilling careers and lives, thereby pleasing all parties.
Access to Vast Networks
In addition to driving you towards the right direction, career counsellors have an expansive reach. Their professions enable them to network and connect with a broad spectrum of industries, professionals and experts in various fields, locally and internationally. Thus, they can lend the benefits of this far-reaching network to their clients and supply a wide range of opportunities and options from across multiple disciplines and geographies.
Whether you are just stepping into the world of business or are currently in a highly saturated, unfulfilling field and looking for a career change, a career counsellor can certainly help you take that dive towards success. Career guidance is guaranteed to supply you with expert, unbiased advice and the necessary tools to help you understand your potential and subsequently reach its peak, either academically or professionally, with a clear path in sight.
So, take our word for it, ponder no further, and make sure to seek a trained expert to clarify all your career-related doubts!