Does career counselling really help in career selection?

I hate going to restaurants that have a 10-page menu.

I just can’t seem to decide on anything.

So I usually ask the waiter to recommend something.

Today careers have become a 10-page restaurant menu.

There are so many career options that most of us are unable to decide which career would taste good and which one would make us puke.

Oh sorry. I think I mixed up my restaurant menu problem and today’s career problem. But you get my point

Like I ask the waiters to recommend something good, we have career counsellors who can recommend what career options would be right for us.

However, there’s a small difference.

A decent waiter would recommend the dish that sells more and tastes good according to the chef and other customers.

He/she only wants to sell food to us.

But a really professional waiter would ask what our likes and dislikes are.

And based on that, he/she would recommend dishes. This waiter doesn’t only want to sell the best dish. 

He/she wants us to truly have an amazing experience.

That is exactly the difference between a good career counsellor and a professional career counsellor.

A good career counsellor recommends career options and professions that fetch more money and brings a good reputation in society.

A professional career counsellor recommends career options and professions that match and play to our strengths, abilities, interests and personality.

In short, they recommend career options with the objective of ensuring we succeed and really enjoy 40-50 years of our professional lives.

They want us to not just live. They want us to experience the joys of having the right profession.

Ask this to any 10th or 12th class student, “What career stream are you going to choose?”

Ask any graduate, “What career path do you want to follow now?”

For both cases, the most likely reply would be I don’t know.

In fact, I know many 30-year-olds who have a good job but aren’t happy with it. 

I have asked them to quit and do what they want to do. But they also say, I don’t know what I want to do.

Now, all of them have two options:

• They can try out various careers and skills, and see what excites them
  
  
• They can go to a career counsellor who can guide them and help them select a career that’s right and ideal for them.

The first one takes a lot of time, effort and in most cases money. If you are up for the challenge, go for it.

But a guide can make that journey to finding your ideal career so much easier and quicker.

Think of it like Google maps.

You know where you want to go. But you don’t know how to get there.

You could get there by wandering and exploring.

You might get lost a hundred times, get frustrated and maybe even give up. And if you still persist, sooner or later you will reach your destination.

On the other hand, if you simply open Google maps and allow it to navigate you to your destination, you would save yourself all that trouble.

Career counselling is similar. It will help you find your ideal career without you having to explore hundreds of career options before finding the right one.

Ganesh Kohli, Chairman of International Career and College Counseling (IC3), KIC University Assistant and Former High School College Counsellor, said, 

“Students need guidance and coaching for career development like any other discipline taught in schools.”

Finally, we all want to have a career that pays well, gives us a reputable social status and allows us to live a comfortable life.

But at the end of the day, when we come back from our jobs, we want to feel a sense of satisfaction that we were productive and achieved something. 

We want to be happy that we are doing what we want to do.

We want to go to bed excited to wake up the following morning and achieve more.

Unfortunately, most of us don’t get to live this life.

Yes, people who are socially backward and financially poor, might not get to choose a career path.

But if you are even marginally well off and have the luxury of choosing a career, you must choose wisely.

And in doing so, a guide is the most helpful asset you have to find your ideal career.

If you could ask one career related question to a career counsellor, what would it be? Head over to the comments section and tell me.