The world is full of opportunities. We are living in the best of times. This comes to us at costs. When we find ourselves surrounded by such opportunities, the chances of us grabbing the wrong ones are higher. The same is with the students. The chances of a student choosing the wrong career path are comparatively high, especially in a world full of wrong influences/influencers. This is where career counselling comes to the rescue.

Importance of Career Counselling:

1. Helps to choose the right career path: The examples of students discovering their hidden passions and talents through career counselling are innumerable. A career counsellor provides the much-needed expert opinion to a student who finds himself confused between pursuing career paths.

2. Guides a student to overcome barriers: Research shows that in the times of social media, the number of teenagers battling mental health problems has drastically increased. These along with certain barriers can halt a student from reaching his/her full potential. A career counsellor can provide help in tackling the problems.

3. Provides role model: A career counsellor gains wisdom and insight from counselling each and every kid. Years of wisdom and guidance can prove to be beneficial for students who are comparatively less experienced & less exposed to the world.

4. Helps combat unwanted habits: A student can over time develop certain unhealthy habits like procrastination, excessive gaming, binging and much more. A career counsellor can help combat them

5. Helps to overcome career-related frustration: There are many things that can frustrate a student when it comes to choosing the right career for e.g., high tuition fees, lack of parental support, peer pressure, no knowledge of scholarships or entrance exams. A career counsellor can provide guidance for all such aspects.

Tips for parents from a career counsellor:

The love of parents for their children is the purest form of love humankind will ever experience. Everyone knows that a parent will never think ill for his own offspring but sometimes under society’s pressure, we turn a little unfair to our kids. Here are few tips from a career counsellor to all the parents out there:

1. Don’t feel threatened if your child is inclined towards a less main-stream career: Society has wired us in comparing our kids with the others. This can prove to have a detrimental effect on a child’s well-being. It is important to acknowledge the fact that a person upon choosing the wrong career will turn out to be mediocre.

2. Don’t expect your child to live your dream: This is easy said than done. It is really easy to impose our unfulfilled dreams upon our children. This can be avoided by acknowledging the fact that a child has only one life and has full right to live the life pursuing his own dreams and passions. As Einstein wisely said, “But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing it is stupid.”

3. Help find a mentor for your child: it is a mentor only who can provide constructive criticism to a kid. As George Lucas rightly noted, “Mentors have a way of seeing more of our faults than we would like. It’s the only way we grow.”

4. Have an open mind when your child is voicing out his/her problems: There is always a generation gap between two generations. Thanks to social media, this gap has widened over the period of time. When you see your kid approaching you with a problem, remind yourself to look at the situation through your kid’s eyes. Provide him the much-need wisdom and guidance and not judgment.

5. Get your child career counselling sessions if you find him/her confused: A career counsellor will help your kid navigate his/her own way through different career options.