Anthony M. Wanjohi:
Career counselors (who may be teachers or professionals) and parents have a crucial role to play in providing guidance on what career to choose. This article briefly highlights the major functions of a career counselor and parents in helping students to make informed career choice.
Career Counselor
A counsellor is a person who has the psychological understanding of the environment you are functioning and the current job market. Seeking the services of a counsellor is almost like a remedy to ones’ own career choice situation, though the individual has to work out a feasible solution.
A Career Counselor gives you an impartial view-point of the things that need to be worked out. This is important as the counsellor may evaluate your current positive findings and also suggests areas for improvement.
A counsellor evaluates your corporate skills and also suggests personality improvement which enhances your all around development.
The counselor hyphenates the doubts and solutions and the final result is a confident ‘You’.
It is important to maintain a diary or schedule your meeting with the career counselor in such a way that there are no other matters in your mind while a session is going on. Ensure a pragmatic approach to display your concerns with a career counsellor.
Role of Parents
Career advice and direction is something that should start early in a child’s life so as by the time they get to high school, they already know what subjects they need to select and work hard on.
When kids are away from school, it is much wiser for parents to grab the opportunity to find out their progress in school as well as probing their minds to know what they would love to do when they graduate.
As far as influencing children’s career choice, all a parent can do is listen and understand their children as well as giving their own points of view but not coerce them to fulfill their own dreams, for children are different beings from their mothers and fathers.
Conclusion
Career development is a gradual process. It takes time, effort, perseverance and planning. But the concept of career development begins with self development. If you can’t develop yourself, there is no question of your career developing at a desired pace. Thus, as counselors, parents, teachers, friends continue to expose you to different career paths; the final choice is YOURS.