WHAT is Career Counselling?

Career Counselling is making oneself aware of their Potentials (combination of Interests and Aptitudes), their Sub-Conscious Thinking (Career Beliefs rooted in Cultural Learnings) and Socio-economic-cultural realities. Mapping this self-awareness with the world of work, shortlist best suitable Careers and Career Planning; which are discussed with the client and their parents (for students). The main objectives are: know thyself, right career goal-settings and plan how to achieve the career goal.

WHY the need for Career Counselling?

For students:

If you are like me, who grew up in India in the 90’s, we are product of the time and context of limited choices. For us the downside was limited choices, but the upside was less confusion.

A student in today’s contemporary India, are product of the time and context of abundance (unlimited choices).

For them the upside is unlimited choices, but the downside is more confusion. Adding to this confusion are omnipresent technology, internet and social media. The student and their parents, need a good counsel who can reduce the noise, cut the clutter, offer clarity, for making an effective career decision.

For working professional:

We are living the 4IR (fourth industrial revolution), which is characterised by uncertainty, constant change, learning-unlearning-relearning and multiple careers in one’s working life-span.

The need for consistent peak performance, continuous learning, periodically re-inventing oneself (career transitions) and staying relevant over a long period can be taxing on a working professional’s wellbeing. During the tipping points of one's career journey,

working professionals will benefit from an experienced Career Counsellor who serves as a sound-board and offers neutral-outsider’s perspective for making an informed, holistic, balanced (rational + emotions) decision for a meaningful, enriching, successful and sustainable career outcomes.

WHEN is Career Counselling needed?

For students:

Students in class 10th are best placed for receiving Career Counselling, due to the time horizon advantage.

Students in class 11th and 12th who are continuing on their exploration journey.We have also come across students in their graduation but yet to anchor themselves in their vocation. We say to them, it’s better late than never to take responsibility and action, for their career pathway.

Frankly, Career education & Career counselling should be a part of school education (it is so, in many OECD countries).

5+3+3+4 is the pedagogical curricular structure as per the new NEP 2020 (National Education Policy India). [5 years of Foundational: 3 years Pre-school (age 3-6), 2 years Class I-2 (age 6-8), 3 years of Preparatory: Class 3-5 (age 8-11), 3 years of Middle: Class 6-8 (age 11-14), 4 years of Secondary: Class 9-12 (age 14-18)].

For Working Professional:

Each stage of professional journey: Exploration (21-25 years), Establishment (25-44 years), Maintenance (45-65 years) and Disengagement (over 65 years) presents unique career opportunities, requirements and challenges. Career counsellor can validate your thinking, guide you in making an informed balanced decision in your pursuit for a successful, meaningful, enjoyable and sustainable career.

[Reference: Donald Super’s life-span approach to career development]

HOW do we do
Career Counselling?

We practice the Jiva Career Counselling developed by Dr Gideon Arulmani (pioneer in the field of Career Psychology).
Our career counselling is a ‘Mixed Method Approach’ – Combination of Quantitative and Qualitative methods.

Quantitative component is a 75 minutes online test, for evaluating five universal potentialsAnalytical Logical (AL), Linguistic (L), Spatial (S), Personal (P) and Physical Mechanical (PM).
Qualitative component is collecting insights on the five universal potentials from lived experiences, by interaction and interview of the student and their parents.
Through this mixed method approach,Potential of the student is inferred.

The top three Potentials are mapped with the world of work and presented to the student and their family.

For under-grads students:

The counselling needs of an under-grad student are usually different from a high school student. The above methodology might apply to them but we don’t adhere to this standard norm as a default. There have been many instances, where we haven’t prescribed test. Breakthrough was achieved through counselling (career and general), connecting them to relevant mentors and through goal-setting exercises.

For working professionals: