Career Counselling

Career Counselling: An Underrated Profession

{Lowering Ethical Standards}

In today’s scenario, seeking career counselling and guidance has been seen as a significant aspect in helping one opt for the right streams, choose the best fit careers and also in advancing one’s career field. Many career counsellors are working in this field and guiding students on the basis of psychometric testing, widely available online and also through offline modes without the appropriate qualification or experience in career counselling as well as in psychometric testing. Ethics in the field of psychology state that in order to administer and conduct psychometric testing, one must have the right qualification and experience for the same. However, many ‘so’ called career counsellors have been practicing with an inappropriate or insufficient qualification in this field. For example, a business management graduate or a law graduate practicing career counselling and testing, clearly indicates an open violation of ethics, thus playing around with the profession and earning money in the name of wrongly practiced career counselling and guidance.

Apart from this, awareness regarding the skills required for various career options is bleak; Individuals conducting career counselling sessions only pass information about several subjects’ and related options or job specific subjects. Even in educational set ups, clarity is lacking, in hiring career counsellors without considerable eligibility. It can be inferred that many educational set ups have a vague understanding between the roles of a career counsellor and a placement officer. People start practising career counselling as a professional pursuit just after completing their graduation or post-graduation.  To enter and practice this field, one must have an appropriate skill-set and eligibility. Sound knowledge about various psychometric assessments as well as career development theories is a key. In fact, clear distinction among different career options and occupations is highly recommended when pursuing career counselling as a profession. That is where a skilled career counsellor would be able to help an individual in making appropriate choices in opting for a right career as per the student/professional’s interest, personality and skills.

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