Why Career Counselling is Important for You

Career counseling has only recently been introduced in schools and colleges. Earlier, people used to choose their preferred careers with whatever clarity they had. Some succeeded in their endeavors, some not so much, and some lost track midway.

Even as a fresh graduate, it is difficult to get thorough career guidance at college because of the ratio of the number of students per counselor.

Hence, it is best to opt for professional career guidance from an expert. You will be surprised to know how career counseling can help you.

No matter what your age, gender, years of experience, area of expertise, etc. may be, every kind of person will find the answer they are looking for from their careers with the help of a professional career coach.

Nevertheless, here are the top unexpected ways a career coach can help you, which you might not have known otherwise.

1.  When the Racetrack is Not the Same for You

When you are a female, a person of color, a person belonging from a different ethnic background, etc., you can suffer from discrimination at work. The same tasks become more strenuous for you to achieve. For a female, the factors affecting her career might not just come from the office but from her personal life as well.         

What is the solution to the problem? How do you overcome these hurdles in your career track? Surely, your own motivation may not be enough therefore, a career coach helps you alleviate such situation by helping you develop a strategy to work around such problem effectively.           

On discrimination towards women, there is a dialog from the movie Captain America: The Civil War by the character Sharon Carter –        

“I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage at a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either. And she said, “Compromise where you can. Where you can’t, don’t. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say, ‘No, you move’.”         

2.  When You are Good at Something but Passionate About Something Else  

It is one of the biggest dilemmas when you already have a career where you are succeeding and then you discover your passion is in some other domain. Leaving a stable job for passion is something most people will advise you against. They will be unable to entertain the thought, especially when they see you succeeding at your current job.    

Will a career shift be possible? If yes, how do you execute it to make it a smooth transition? This is exactly what a career advisor helps you figure out. With the given career coach advice, you will be able to make your career shift efficiently. 

3.  When Age Seems To be the Biggest Factor          

A career at 50? Sounds fine for the position of CEO or General Manager or another high post. However, to make career changes or to start over a new career at 50, you can anticipate most people’s reactions – “You got to be kidding me!”   

Surely, you cannot explain your drive or purpose to them. But you can definitely share your ideology with a career counselor.  From identifying your skills, learning new skills to how to put your experience to best use and retirement planning – a career coach can help you with it.

4.     When You Hit Rock Bottom

Only if unpleasant surprises could be foresighted. The most stressful time in anyone’s career is when they hit rock bottom. It can mean different things to different people. Being laid off, being terminated due to a dispute at work, a gap in career due to medical or personal issues, etc.  

This phase can be highly demotivating and hopeless. This is where career counseling can really help you get back on track. It’s not just sessions about bouts of motivation but about the complete practical approach on how to get back into the game. Remember, the best things happen unexpectedly!       

5. When You are Unclear About Opportunities Available in Your Chosen Career Path

You love your job, you excel at your job, but how do you grow in your job? It is an essential question to answer since your whole career depends on it and so does your financial and personal goals to quite an extent.       

Understanding opportunities available in your chosen career path starts from working on your mindset to evaluating the market and future of that profession. Now, that is a lot of work to do by oneself. A professional career coach will help you understand every aspect of your chosen career path.  

6.   When You Know your Dream Job but You Don’t Know How to Get There

Do you aspire to work in one of the Fortune 500 companies? How do you plan to get there? If your answer is by working hard and being best at what you do; well, that is not enough.   

For a dream job with a big brand, you need to have the complete package – impeccable trade skills + valuable soft skills. Planning properly here is pivotal. If you plan inefficiently, you may take it longer to get the job or might even miss the time period. You can very well guess by now what can help you plan strategically. You guessed it right, professional career guidance.

Conclusively, a Career Coach is highly essential to enable you succeed at your chosen career path. Nevertheless, if you need help with your career, you can find the best guidance with Global Career Advisors – one of the leading career advisors.  If you are serious about your career, then you should begin considering hiring a Career Coach to help you reach your desired goals.

A Short Guide to Help You With Your Career Change

If you are presently pondering on careers to switch to, then you are not alone. There is no doubt that many people consider career changes for various reasons. However, it is worth noting that there are several crucial steps for you to take to figure out when and how to make a flourishing career change.

For instance, a career change will generally involve conducting thorough research about new career paths, searching for opportunities that suit your lifestyle as well as evaluating your current skills.

So, are you in search of effective methods on how to figure out a new career? Then, continue reading the guide below:

1. As you contemplate on making a career change, it could be beneficial to reflect on things that you have liked and disliked regarding your previous jobs. You may begin doing this through creating two separate lists – the first one should note down the things you hate about your present career and the second list should contain the experiences that you’d love to achieve in your new position.

Aside from this, it is also advantageous to arrange the items in both lists by how valuable they are to your current career objectives.

• Now that you already have your likes and dislikes, the next step is to evaluate your experience and skills carefully. It is essential to think of which skills and training you presently have that make you a qualified candidate for the position you aspire.

Although your new or desired career might not precisely even up with the experience you possess, you most likely possess many relevant and transferable skills that are significant to employers.

Nevertheless, you might even have gained new skills in your present job position that are quite valuable in other fields. Indeed, for you to organize your thoughts, it helps to compose another list of both your soft and hard skills. Soft skills commonly involve your interpersonal skills and personality such as your capability to work as a member of a team, creativity, and timeliness.

On the other hand, you can obtain hard skills through practice and training like speaking a foreign language or possessing the know-how in specific hardware.

Basically, it could be constructive to meditate on specific achievements in your personal and career life and what skills or qualities helped to accomplish them. It is very vital, to be honest when listing these skills of yours.

When you are aware of what you are searching for in a new career and the pertinent soft and hard skills you presently have, then, it is high time to uncover what career choice is available for you

It is worth mentioning that when you’re researching for new career paths, your career research objective comprises of the following components:

•           Careers that do not call for any new training or insight (these are job positions where your present hard skills can be transferred instantly)

•           Careers that may necessitate a moderate or huge amount of the latest training (these are careers where some, if any, of your present hard skills, may transfer)

•           Job positions that might look for a minimal amount of additional insight or training (these are positions where most, but not all your present hard skills transfer instantly)

Hence, it is essential to ensure that you choose career paths, that are easy for you to fit in. Nevertheless, various resources could help you on the journey of your career change. Below are some career tips that could help you with your career change.

1. When trying to switch careers, it essential to be ingenious and meticulous in your career search. For now, we are not pressingly searching for a particular job position but a career change. Eventually, we will learn more about the additional skills that might be necessary for new careers that we didn’t know existed or look for occupations where we qualify for instantly.

• Alternatively, visiting a career resource center is also a great help. Typically, this is identical to a library with tons of career change books and other periodicals that are lined with computers. They also have employees to whom you can make inquiries with and discuss other career-related topics and concerns that you may have.

• Admit it or not, it is relieving when you have people who are more than willing to listen and assist you when you are looking for some effective means on how to change your career. For example, at Global Career Advisors we understand how stressful it could be to change your career, hence we make it a priority to assist those who are looking to make a career change. Believe it or not, it is stressful to be unemployed, so it is just right that you are quite cautious with every decision you make regarding your career.

• Without a doubt, social networking platforms have immensely changed people’s lives nowadays, and we cannot deny the many favors that they could offer. Since these sites are networks of many great influential people, brands and firms, these are also perfect sites where we can make a successful career hunt.

• You may consider checking out a career networking group and reach out to people about different fields they are engrossed in and why. Through this, you can get more career ideas. Meanwhile, you may also try attending meetings that concentrate on specific careers; for instance, a group for future medical technologists. See to it that you can partake in the meeting even if you are not a member of that group.

Conclusion

Career change is a significant decision, and it could be scary as it tends to have a big impact on your life. This is the reason why it matters to deeply reflect on the factors aforesaid so you can come up with a well-informed decision.

There is no doubt that career change is not an easy transition; therefore, take time to volunteer, network or consider working part-time in your new career before devoting entirely to it. This way, you can have a deeper understanding of whether this is the right path for you to take.

However, if you need any help with your career change, feel free to let us know as we can help you with your career transition effectively. Bear in mind that the more effort you put into your search for the appropriate job position, the more you’ll get out of it. It is critical to ardently invest your energy and time since change such as this is barely a piece of cake; however, it is rewarding in the end.