Career Counselling
Career counseling is a subject that is always being ignored in the Pakistani Education System. This should a compulsory subject during matriculation or at least at the intermediate level. The awareness about choosing an educational path to pursue the desired goals is as much necessary as the other subjects.
Problem Statement:
As far as my educational path was concerned, I personally dealt with the problem to identify the correct path of education to pursue my desired career. The awareness to adopt a suitable career depends upon the educational path you choose in the first place.
I believe that students should be clear about their educational career at least at intermediate levels before pursuing their Graduation. Now that’s the problem in our education system. Nowadays, In schools & colleges, students’ minds are being burdened just to get higher marks to put on the board instead of guiding them about their educational path which would help them pursue their desired careers. So I decided to take this initiative to be a career counselor in the lights of my own experiences.
My Convincing Pitch:
To convince someone to get career counseling isn’t as much easy in our educational environment. Because the majority of the students are not even aware of their skills and capabilities. So, I came up with a convincing pitch to convince the students to be aware of their career.
“Dear student, I would like to introduce you, to yourself. You have to learn about yourself before choosing any educational path for your graduation. Because it will lead you to your desired career or to failure. You have time now to decide, what skills you have, what is your passion, what you wanna pursue as your future career. Because you won’t be able to restart it all over again. Decide wisely, discuss your passion with us. we are here to help you find your best career in the lights of your passion and skills. Enhance your vision, clear your canvas, and set your goals now. This is the right time. best of luck!”
Example:
Let me share an example here. One of my relatives went to take admission in the Government College University Faisalabad in wildlife photography as his Graduation without even thinking about the scope and career of it in Pakistan.
As he pursued his 1st semester, he realized that he made a mistake. He became depressed as he belonged to a poor family in Gojra City. One day, they came to my home, I felt that he’s not feeling good enough. He seems restless and tense. So, I tried to figure out what the problem was. He discussed the whole issue. Then, I decided to counsel him. I asked him about his skills and passion. What I came to know, he was very good at accounts instead. So keeping in view his financial situation, I suggested doing a job along with BCom privately. He understood me. It has been four years now. He followed his passion and my advice too, now he’s happy with his career.
Target Benefits of our Career Counseling:
1. Identification of Strengths and Weaknesses:
As a career counselor, we suggest going through certain tests and activities to have a check about the skills, capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses of the students. Because with the help of these self-testing procedures, they are able to identify the areas they need to improve in themselves. Thus this information regarding their strengths and weaknesses will play a very important role in helping them choose a suitable career path.
2. Goals Setting:
In career counseling, we believe the goal-setting should be compulsory. Setting short term and long term goals and creating a proper activity plan about each stage to achieve those goals will lead them to assess their progress at specific stages to create a career path. As a career counselor, we tend to believe that we have to play the role of an Accountability Partner as well who can guide and take a proper check during the goal attainment times. Setting goals helps the students to get prepared for challenges and changes they gonna face in the future.
3. Exploration of the Options:
As a career counselor, we have proper research about the scopes and fields for our target students so we better understand options and advancement options widely. We can help the students by spending little time with them and trying to assess their interests and the available options they can explore. We, also tend to provide the students with better advice appropriate for the stage they are at. Our professional perspective will give them the confidence to explore various options and settle for a choice that suits them best.
4. Career Opportunities:
Once the students select a career path, we’ll help them identify available opportunities and follow up on them accordingly. We’ll also help them prepare for interviews and find the right people to help them with their choice, for example, financial advisors for entrepreneurs or college advisors in case they choose to further their education.
5. Self-Branding:
As a career counselor, we tend to help the students to create them a brand that employers and other professionals appreciate and respect. We will take advantage of their strengths and use them to strengthen their brand. For example, if a person is a good artist, we can help him identify the ways he can use his artistic skills to solve problems in the corporate world. This will set aside as unique and open-minded, traits that can help him advance his professional brand.