Education systems are diversifying and expanding, new jobs and opportunities are being created, changing the way individuals make their career choices both in Australia and around the world. With such changes in place, career planning has become more complex and confusing.
In order to better understand what they want to do with their lives, some individuals tend to rely on their family and friends, leading to choices where they end up in careers they do not see a successful future in.
Unfortunately, since career choices at a young age are so important, there is much competition with many professionals having made a career out of it; therefore, it can be quite tricky to get free career advice.
In this article, we will analyse the concept of career counselling, why a career coach could be a good investment for your future and give you some tips to connect with a great career guidance counsellor through Superprof.
Why is a Career Guidance Counsellor Important?
Counselling is a broad term. In a general sense of the word, it refers to the process of helping a person by providing guidance, moral support, and exploring solutions for the problems being faced.
That said, it is usually linked to the idea of a professional helping out an individual in need. This professional is someone who understands human behaviour, their personality, and knows how to give the right direction to their thoughts.
Career Counselling, on the other hand, is a process that focuses on helping one understand one’s own self, as well as work trends, so that one can take an informed decision about career and education. It helps manage a diverse range of problems such as low concentration levels to poor time management, trust issues with family to non-agreement between parents and children on which career to choose.
A qualified career coach is essential to get the right guidance. But, how to know if a career counsellor is good and has the tools I need to advance in my personal and professional development?
Career Counsellors are experts in psychology, which means that they should hold at least a post-graduate degree in Psychology/Applied Psychology, and/or a diploma in Counselling Psychology. Career Counsellors who give guidance for a particular field, such as engineering, management, hospitality, etc., must be experts in the concerned domain.
In terms of soft skills and personality traits, a good Career Counsellor is a problem solver, a keen listener and observer, and has sufficient knowledge of various fields to guide you in your career decisions.
Reasons Why Career Counselling is Effective and Important.
There are several things that you will be able to develop during your sessions with your career coach. Some of them have more to do with self-awareness, others with determining outside opportunities while others look more into your soft skills and personality.
These are some of the reasons why career counselling guidance is a good idea:
- It will help you choose the right career: they can help you analyse your interest, personality and character. This way, you can evaluate yourself against the best possible career options for you.
- You can create a timetable and career strategy: a career counsellor will share tips to create a short, mid and long term plan that can help you achieve your personal and professional goals. If you are not the best planner and creating a schedule is not your strong suit, they will be there to guide you along the process.
- They will show you which skills you need to perfect: once you decide your path, you will need to make sure you have all the skills necessary in order to succeed. A good career counsellor will guide you and point out the skills you should be focusing on in the near future.
- It can help you become more tech-savvy: career counselling has expanded its length and breadth so that it can reach a mass audience through technology. The skills of coaches have also expanded on this front since they have had to learn more about industries like tech or digital. They can help you get up to date with things that may feel a bit overwhelming to you, suggest platforms and courses and make sure you feel comfortable doing the tasks at hand.
- You will get advice from skilled people: counsellors are professionally trained to guide concerned people. They are furnished with various expertise including, communication skills, problem-solving ability, and self-awareness.
- You will be presented with diverse opportunities for a professional future. There are thousands of professions that you can take on. Sorting one out of these prospects can be a tedious task for an individual. Career guidance comes out as a lifesaver in terms of distinct career opportunities.
- It will help you find ways to grow your career: career guidance shows a complete roadmap to mark the flag of success.
- It will be a learning experience: you will learn about a range of tips to help you excel in an interview or handle corporate pressure and you might go through a step-by-step process to transform into a perfect job candidate. This way, you can take advantage of career guidance to build your profile.
- It will help you save time and money: instead of spending money in degrees that are not suited for you or commuting to jobs that are not aligned with your plan and expectations, you will have the clarity to avoid these situations therefore saving money and time.
Other skills that can be learned via career counselling:
- Students can develop a problem-solving attitude which can be helpful in resolving their career queries.
- Students can enhance their communication skills.
- Students can be more up to date on the latest industry and job trends.
- Students can be more patient and get better at listening.
Online Tools For Career Development
The formal career guidance process uses a scientific approach based on multiple human science theories and their applications. While it cannot, of course, offer any guarantees, it can suggest subjects and career pathways that the child is most likely to enjoy and be successful at.
Most importantly, the process will make him aware of personal and social biases and any misinformation he may have picked up.
While finding a good career coach is the first step towards development success, there are other ways for you to keep practising and finding support online. The best thing? A lot of these resources are completely free!
Career planning tools are documents, worksheets, procedures or practices used to help determine the best career for you. Some high schools provide career planning tools as students prepare to apply for college or join the workforce, usually in the form of questionnaires and guidance counselling.
However, career planning tools are available, both online and in person, for anyone at any age who is interested in exploring new career options.
These tools are important because they help narrow your options when you are uncertain about what you want to do for your career.
They can help you determine what jobs might interest you, what jobs are available in your field of interest and what skills you already have that are transferable to a career. They can also help establish a path to obtain a job, guiding you through the necessary educational and experience-based steps.
These are some career planning tools that you can look for online:
- SWOT analysis: SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A SWOT analysis helps you learn about yourself so you can identify a job that fits your skill set and identify external factors that may impact your career choice. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors while opportunities and threats are external factors.
- Career testing: Many companies provide career tests to determine what job best suits your personality and qualifications. Some of these cost money and some are free. It is helpful to have them analysed by a career coach afterwards but you can start by taking the test on your own and then enlisting the help of a coach.
- Self-assessment: Self-assessments assume that you know yourself better than any test could. Self-assessments rely on personal reflection to identify interests and skills in a particular field. There are many ways to complete a self-assessment: writing, doing worksheets and workbooks, shadowing people in their current jobs, etc.
- Research: a great way for you to understand the professional world around you is to read about different careers and see which ones appeal to you. There are many ways to research career and job opportunities, both on LinkedIn and Indeed as well as employment portals at companies' websites. It allows you to explore many career paths quickly to ascertain what interests you and plot a path to establishing that career.
- Community resources: many communities offer career planning tools through workshops, seminars, websites and publications. Public libraries are an excellent community resource for those interested in career planning. Libraries offer books, magazines and computers for research. Libraries and community centers may also provide community workshops on career planning.
- Personality tests: Personality tests are assessments that identify fundamental aspects of your personality and try to explain how those aspects make you a positive or negative candidate for certain jobs, relationships or activities. A very popular option is the Myers-Briggs test which helps you figure out your personality type and steer you in the right direction for your career.
- Career planning process: If you want to determine what career you should have and the steps it will take to get there, use a career planning process. This is a step-by-step plan created to determine your interests, skills, and ideal career. It will help you determine what education and experience you need to find a job in your chosen career field.
Some universities like the UNSW Sydney have their own career planning tools. In their case, they have a platform that uses questions and simple tasks to take you step by step through:
- How you can assess where your career is right now
- Where you want your career to head
- What you need to put in place to get there
You'll be surprised just how many career opportunities there are once you start looking for jobs and internships and thinking about a future career. There is no need to worry since you'll definitely find something that will fit your needs!
If you're helping your child or teenager with their career, don't make these mistakes.
At What Point In Life Should I Seek A Career Guidance Counsellor?
Since career development is a lifelong process, career counselling can be appropriate for anyone, young people or teens struggling to figure out what electives they want to study at school or even seasoned professionals who are looking for a career change.
The earlier you get started making intentional decisions about your future, however, the better prepared you will be!
Career counselling for kids and teenagers
The influences of early childhood play an important part in shaping a child’s future career choices. Introducing children to the world of work is the first informal step to career guidance. Parents can start having casual conversations with their children about life after school, their own career journey to encourage the child’s curiosity.
Also, participating in extra-curricular activities will give children an opportunity to begin learning work-related skills such as getting along with people, researching information and resources, planning and organising, teamwork, problem-solving, coping with frustrations, turning setbacks and failures into learning experiences, creativity and managing time.
Career counselling at university level
Career coaching is a tool which can be very effective in allowing students to realise their true potential and find work that aligns with their natural inclinations. The best time to give students exposure to the idea of career counseling is when they are at the start of their degree.
Those attending university need help choosing what to do during their university years and can benefit from professional career planning.
Career counselling for adult professionals
According to Harvard Business Review, “young adults no longer have as clear or straightforward a career path as previous generations did.” More requirements, certifications, and experience for entry-level positions have become the main obstacle for approximately 65% of students who are having trouble finding work.
For people at this point in their work path, career counseling is beneficial for both short-term and long-term success in your professional life. Spending time with a career counselor enables you to recognise your value as a professional, find a new job, get a promotion or just get advice concerning work-related issues from an expert.
It allows you to reflect on the knowledge, skills, and abilities that you possess to allow you to map a career path that is aligned with your values.
No matter what age you are and what stage in your professional career you find yourself on, these are basic things that should be covered with your career coach:
- You should feel like you are in a safe space: your coach should create a safe and secure environment, where both parties feel at ease and are able to discuss life and career, without any hesitation. A part of this secure environment is the assurance of confidentiality of the information shared by the student.
- You should trust and confide in your coach: the process is based on a relationship of trust and confidence between the career counsellor and student. Something that students might find stressful is if the counsellor talks about their emotional and developmental issues. The student needs to place an enormous amount of faith in the counsellor to take care of such matters.
- You should partake in relevant psychometric assessments: Psychometric Testing (Career Assessment) is a scientific and standardised process carried out to evaluate a person’s aptitude and personality. Psychometric assessments are a counsellor’s tools, which are used to obtain the most important information about a student’s behaviour, emotional strength, interests, and skills. This information helps to facilitate on what kind of careers would be suitable for him/her.
Find A Career Coach with Superprof
Are you ready to take the plunge and find a coach? Well, believe it or not, career counsellors can be quite accessible if you know where to look.
These are three ways in which you can look for a coach:
- You can ask friends, family, colleagues, or work acquaintances who may have a helpful connection.
- You can check out the CEAV Career Counselling Australia, a division of the Australian Centre for Career Education. They have professional and accredited counsellors recognised for their qualifications and adherence to CICA standards. It is an excellent place to look for support if you are seeking help to establish goals, re-enter employment, go for your first job, or overcome a recent redundancy.
- Ask around your University. Your career services centre might be able to offer the service or recommend an external career counsellor. If you can’t find one at your college, reach out to others locally. They may have their own career offices or refer you to their preferred counsellors.
Finally, you can also use Superprof as your ally to find a good coach and help you reach your personal and work-oriented goals. We have a wide network of coaches all over Australia who are ready to connect with potential students and professionals looking for support and advice.
The average cost per hour of coaching in Australia is $46 dollars but this varies depending on multiple factors like the city that you live in.
To give you an idea, this is what an hour of coaching in the different Australian cities costs:
- An hour of coaching in Sydney, NSW costs an average of $46 dollars
- An hour of coaching in Melbourne costs an average of $51 dollars
- An hour of coaching in Perth costs an average of $57 dollars
- An hour of coaching in Adelaide costs an average of $41 dollars
- An hour of coaching in Gold Coast costs an average of $48 dollars
Another factor that could determine the cost of your coaching sessions is the teacher or tutor that you choose. Every tutor in Superprof has a different profile and qualifications.
Some specialise in supporting teenagers while others have a better grasp of what a professional in the job market needs in order to succeed.
We advise that you look at their profiles thoroughly and make sure that their qualifications match your expectations. Check out their academic experience, work experience as well as their teaching method and the tools that they use in their class.
Finally, don't forget to look at the reviews that previous students have left on their profiles. This is an excellent way of understanding what their coaching is like, what you can expect from them in terms of personality and rapport and any potential issues you should take into account before deciding to embark on this journey with them.
Are you ready to start your career development with Superprof?
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