When you ask a four-year-old what they want to be in the future, you will get responses such as doctors, lawyers, and teachers, among other prestigious occupations. Having such career goals will initially motivate the child to work hard in school to achieve them.
However, as children grow up, they discover themselves and gain more knowledge and information. The same child will no longer want to be a doctor. Their interests may have changed. They may now want to be musicians, or they may not even be sure what career they want to pursue anymore. See, this is why schools need to avail career counselling for their students.
So, what is career counselling? Career counselling is guidance designed to help one choose a career or even change it. Career counselling is essential for students in high school due to the following reasons;
- It helps Learners make Informed Career Choice
If a student wants to be a doctor, they may lack the necessary knowledge and information surrounding the medical field. But when counselled, they are fed with a comprehensive range of knowledge and information about being doctors.
Many students are motivated to take specific careers for fame, salaries, or because a parent says so, among other influencing factors. So the students decide to pursue careers without any tangible facts about them. Therefore, a career counselling session is crucial to help feed a student with the necessary knowledge and information concerning different careers.
- Career Counselling enables Learners to identify their Talents and Abilities
A competent and experienced career counsellor can help a student to self-evalute. Through self-evaluation, the learner can identify their abilities. And depending on their abilities, a learner can choose a career based on the determined ability.
Moreover, a counsellor may help one to identify their talent. For instance, the counsellor can help you discover that you are an excellent basketball player. They may then guide you into turning your talent into a profession and becoming a professional basketball player like Kobi Bryant.
- Career Counselling avails Career Options
Children are gifted differently. For students who do not excel in academics, choosing a career path may be problematic. The reason? While growing up, many students are told that you should be doctors, lawyers, pilots, or engineers, you know, those prominent and prestigious careers. So, for students who do not perform well in academics, they may become frustrated or even lose hope of finding a suitable profession. Choosing a career for them is problematic, mainly because they do not get prestigious jobs’ grades. But a career counsellor avails a broad range of career options, some of which learners did not know existed, for the learner to choose from.
- Career Counselling provides Learners with Role Models
In career counselling, learners get to interact with experts who thrive in different fields. The experts share the first-hand experience in various areas, and learners are prepared for what to expect in different occupations. Through the experiences shared, learners get inspired to pursue other careers to be like their counsellors. Learners, therefore, get role models.
- Helps Learners choose the Right Course
Kuala Lumpur international school students, especially those transitioning to higher education, may not know the course to enrol in that aligns with their desired career choice. Career counselling will help guide a learner in choosing the right path for their career. It will also help them to be aware of the subjects they need to put the effort in to achieve their career goals. For instance, if a student wants to be a journalist, the career counsellor will emphasize performing exemplary in subjects like languages.
- Helps to Avoid Career Mistakes
Have you heard of instances where a person practices medicine for three years and decides to quit and choose another career? Or a situation where a student in the university takes up a course, then two years later, they switch to another class and start all over again? Most of these people probably did not receive any guidance while choosing a career path, so they realize that they are in the wrong career a few years into the profession. Students should seek career counselling while still in school to avoid wasting time and resources or feeling miserable while being in the wrong career. A career counsellor will help you identify the right career for you; hence you will avoid making mistakes.
Schools should consider the following in the choice of a career counsellor for their students;
- The counsellor’s experience
- They should consider referrals and recommendations
- Look up testimonials from different clients
- Their student’s needs
The choice of a career is vital in a student’s life. It entails what one will spend most of the life after school doing. Therefore, one should be careful not to make the wrong career choice. A person’s interest and passion, combined with the necessary career guidance, should drive a career choice.