Career Counselling - Navigating Career Paths

The duration of the last few school years is the time when a student is most confused about which way to go after finishing school. Students at this point of time are highly perplexed and the varied choices in front of them do not help to lessen the confusion. They need calming and counseling at these stages. It is for this purpose that nowadays Career Counsellors are being employed by many schools across India.

A career counsellor helps students choose a career as per their interest, personality, attitude, aptitude and skill. Through various tests, exercises and methods, they help a student in deciding that career path for them which is best suited to their capabilities and liking.

In India, students of standards X, XI and XII are made to attend extensive sessions with a career counsellor in some schools. Some career counsellors also work independently and provide counseling to anyone who wants to avail their service. They prove to be of great help to those students whose schools do not provide the facility of career counseling.

A career counsellor asks the student about all the interests the latter has. The student is asked to list down at least ten of the career choices they find fit for themself. After a series of psychometric tests, discussions, talking sessions, engaging activities and counseling, it is brought down to one major and one minor choice in the same order of priority.

The pay scale of a career counsellor is good. Those who are employed by schools can make 15,000 INR to 25,000 INR per month in the starting years. As they gain experience, their salary too increases. It becomes around 35,000 INR to 60,000 INR a month. On promotion to the senior level, one can easily earn up to 1,50,000 INR to 3,00,000 INR on a monthly basis. There are many career counselors who are not associated with any schools and/or colleges and prefer to work as independent counselors. Once good reputation is gained, they can make anything between 2,50,000 INR and 5,00,000 INR in a month.

To become a career counsellor, one must complete class XII with Science or Humanities. This must be followed up with a graduation course in Psychology, after which one must opt for a post-graduate course or diploma in Guidance and/or Counselling. People who have not studied Psychology as a subject in graduation or post-graduation can also take up this career but they must have a pretty good knowledge about all the aspects of counseling. Also they must be well trained in formulating Psychometric tests, conducting them and deducing accurate results from the same.

Some institutes that offer courses and/or training to students interested in taking this up as a career are the University of Mumbai, Mumbai, the Karnataka University, Dharwad, the Punjab University, Chandigarh and the TISS, Mumbai.