How To Choose the Right Career Counselor?

Uncertainty and Confusion are common when you have to make a cognitive decision regarding your career goals and your job. In such cases, one should get professional consultation from a certified career counselor or career coach. But If you are wondering about How To Choose the Right Career Counselor? We have got you a guide that will help you to find a career counselor. Read this article and find yourself…

How Career Counsellors Help You?

Career Counsellors are professionals who are qualified and trained to assist and guide you to make the right career decisions and provide you with the resources that may be required to achieve your short-term or long-term career goals or secure a good job.

Career Counsellors and coaches can be entrusted because they are experts in the field of Psychometric Assessment and Occupations Research. They help the candidates to understand their behavioral patterns, strengths, and weaknesses.

So they can improve and excel in their careers. A career counselor/coach provides you with success-oriented advice after considering your psychometric assessment, industry trends, market demands, and other feasible factors.

What Services do Career Counselors offer?

Career Counsellors and coaches are highly experienced professionals who are affluent in building their connections in various industries. Therefore they have extensive networks which act as an asset for them in their counseling career.

They can use their networks to help you make your way to the top. We all know the significance of good industry networks and connections in our professional life, They eventually act as career development resources, and sometimes they may help you to bag the greatest career opportunities.

So, this is the main service that a career counselor offer- "Their Networks". Apart from these, there are many other services offered by career counselors such as:

• Career Assessment Tests: These tests are designed by psychologists and career counselors to evaluate the strengths, abilities, and talents of the candidate. The evaluation done through these assessment tests help the counselor to suggest the right career option and envision a career path for the candidate.

• Cover Letters & Cover Resume: Your Resume and Cover Letters are the first things the interviewer takes a look at, based on these two, your suitability for a profile is determined by the interviewer. If they find your resume and cover letter impressive, you will be called for a job interview. Career Counsellors help you to develop impressive resumes/cover letters according to your desired job profile.

• Career Planning: Career Counsellors also assist the candidates to prepare a road map and aware them of the potential obstacles and challenges they might have to face in their career journey. They help them in identifying barriers that may approach during different stages of their career and coach them to prepare a strategy to overcome these barriers.

• Recommend Suitable Colleges: Career Coaches and Counsellors are affluent in the educational sector. They are well aware of the best educational institutions that provide students with high-quality education and placement opportunities. Some highly experienced career counselors also collaborate with certain prestigious institutions and hence they can recommend you some good options for your higher studies.

• Personality Development: Many career counselors help candidates to develop their personalities. For this, they conduct psychometric tests and one-to-one sessions with the candidate to identify the strong areas and areas where they lack. On the basis of their observation and outcomes of the test, the counselor/coach suggests some exercises that may help them to improve their personality and behavior. Through Personality development classes, You can become more appealing and agreeable as you learn how to present yourself in various situations and even deal with them and advance in your career.

• Profession Portfolio Development Tips: There are many professions in which one needs to develop a professional portfolio and showcase it to companies they are applying for. However building a professional yet impressive portfolio is not so easy, Career counselors help the candidates by providing them access to various tools, and tips for portfolio development.

• Building Industry Networks: Career Counsellors counsel and helps many young and middle-aged individuals to build their careers. Therefore they are well connected with many professionals from various industries. They help you to enhance your networks As previously discussed, having industry networks is always beneficial for your career. According to experts, the most connected people are often the most successful. When you invest in your relationships, both professional and personal, it can pay dividends throughout your career. Networking is essential because it will help you develop and improve your skillset while also keeping you up to date on the latest trends in your industry.

How to Choose the Right Career Counselor or Coach?

Finding a good career counselor who can provide you with effective consultation to grow yourself professionally but you don’t know where to start?

Here are the points you need to keep in mind while choosing a career counselor or Coach:

1. Pay Attention to Accreditations

Usually, Most career counselors have bachelor's or master's degrees in Psychology or any other field with certifications in counseling and education. However, some counselors do not possess any kind of qualification for career counseling. Since the counseling profession is not regulated on the state or central level, anyone can claim to be a career counselor.

Therefore it is imperative to choose a career counselor whose training and qualification certification aligns with his/her profession. While finding a career counselor look for national or international certification.

Here is a list of reputable certification programs:

• The National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC)
• The National Career Development Association (NCDA)
• The Association of Career Professionals International (ACPI)
• The International Coaching Federation (ICF)

2. Find the type of counseling you are looking for

Understand your requirements and choose a counselor accordingly. There are many career counselors who offer packages that include various services such as career assessment tests, psychometric tests, one-to-one sessions, mentorship seminars, job assistance, and many more.

However, there are many career counselors who offer only one-to-one sessions and each session has a fixed duration of one or more hours. Depending on your objectives and financial ability, you may believe that an outline package is best for you.

Individual sessions may be preferable if you want to try out a career coach or are unsure how many sessions will be required to achieve your goals.

3. Find a Career Counsellor with Expertise in your career

If you are uncertain about your career goals, you can take help from any certified career counselor. However, if you have a certain career field in mind, then you should search for a counselor who has a history of helping people with similar career interests.

If a counselor or coach has been coaching people for years with a primary career focus that does not align with your goals, you may want to look for a counselor with more experience in your field.

4. Look for a counselor according to your personal preference

When selecting the right career coach, you should consider skills, certifications, and counseling programs but finding a counselor whose personality complements your own is also important.

Some of our candidates prefer a counselor who is direct and concise, while others prefer a counselor who takes a few sessions to thoroughly assess personality. Whatever your preferences are, a counselor should be upbeat, realistic, knowledgeable, and capable of providing actionable advice.

College Disha has a team of versatile career counselors, with us you can choose your career counselor as per your own personality preference.

5. Research your counselors

Everyone uses social media nowadays, you can find all the professional information about career counselors on their professional websites. They might have a professional account on LinkedIn or any other portal where you can find their qualification, certifications, experience, and other necessary details.

Knowing all these details will help you shortlist some of the potential career counselors for yourself. You can also chat with the counselor before hiring them for your counseling. Ask them questions to determine if they are the right counselor for you or not.

Where Can You Find Best Career Counsellors in India?

There are many online portals that have created a career guidance ecosystem to provide career counseling services. These platforms connect you to the career counselor available nearby your locations and display the profiles of many career counselors from where you can choose your career counselor on your own.

College Disha on the other hand is a career guidance company that not only provides you access to the best career counselors in India but also provides you with all the career development services under one roof. From Job opportunities to mentors, you can find it all the College Disha at a very feasible cost. To Know more about our services click here.