The Role of School Counsellors in Guiding Student Career

Career planning is essential for students from the early stages of learning. It allows students the time and resources to work towards building their careers and becoming more goal-oriented effectively. The role of school counsellors is to guide students towards their career planning and solve their queries in the process. Boarding schools in India have school counsellors to help address students’ academic and emotional well-being concerns. Students can reach out to their career counsellors and identify their strengths, weaknesses, interests and potentials to work towards career planning. Let us learn more about the role of school counsellors in student career planning.

What is the purpose of career planning?

Parents and students these days are more concerned about career planning than students in earlier days. Parents often begin to decide their child’s career from the very beginning instead of letting their children explore their interests, potential and goals. Parents must support their children to choose a career for themselves and guide them in the process. It is essential to have a career-oriented approach to studies in the early stages of learning as it helps in setting a better foundation in education. Career planning is exploring and setting career goals to develop a systematic plan to achieve those goals. It can combine short- and long-term goals that help build your career. For example, I am enrolling for summer internships, attending workshops, doing additional online courses, and getting relevant degrees. 

Importance of career planning

Career planning fosters clarity in students’ minds and reduces distraction by increasing productivity and smart work. By making informed decisions, students strive to achieve higher results, focus on studying efficiently, and live well-disciplined lives. Not all students need to plan their careers in studies; some go into extracurricular fields. It is essential to have a career plan in both cases to consistently work on polishing your skills and building your resume to attain the career of your choice.

Challenges faced by students in career planning 

Students often feel confused and overwhelmed when trying to decide on their careers. It is mainly due to the following reasons-

1. Lack of timely planning– It is necessary for students to begin thinking about their career at an early age instead of thinking about it towards the edge at classes X or XII. In the later years, students struggle to choose the right career as they are hurried into the process instead of naturally going about the career planning process. In these cases, students often end up choosing the wrong career paths.

2. Lack of information– The right way to choose a career is to know about all potential careers that fit your potential and weigh the pros and cons of every job. Students often lack sufficient information about themselves and all the fields they can try. This unawareness can hinder the process of career planning.

3. Lack of guidance and support– Students are often pressured with crucial decision-making in their school life, and it’s normal for them to feel confused and lost in that process. Lack of guidance is one of the primary challenges that students face while choosing and planning a career. They often feel that their parents may not support them in the career of their choice and end up taking a career they are not naturally built to follow.

4. Lack of interest– Students are often pinned down by family expectations or financial barriers to choose a career they are not interested in. In such cases, it is noted that students do not actively and enthusiastically participate in career planning. It becomes difficult to strike a balance between personal aspirations and family expectations.

5. Technological distractions– In the modern era, students and their study habits are deeply impacted by digital distractions. Students find it quite challenging to disconnect from the digital world and switch focus to following career plans.

Role of School Counsellors

A school counsellor is a trainer, skilled and experienced professional who helps offer school students academic, career-related, mental and emotional support. They help students explore various career opportunities and select the best from them.

• They act as observers, supporters, advisors, and mediators for students to facilitate their understanding of themselves.

• These licensed counsellors work to support and guide the student’s emotional, psychological, academic, and social development.

• They offer their expertise to encourage and guide students who find it challenging to focus on their studies or face problems concerning their personal or professional lives.

• Most students approach school counsellors for career-related guidance.

• Students find it pressuring and scary to talk about their dreams and ambitions with their parents or teachers due to fear of judgment or lack of motivation to choose a career. School counsellors form a student-friendly reputation to allow students to approach them without any anxiety and interact with the counsellors freely.

• It allows students to open up and discuss themselves, learn more about their weaknesses and strengths and have a professionally planned career roadmap for their future. 

What role do counsellors play in student success?

School counsellors help mould student careers in different ways. Let us learn about the role of school counsellors in career planning.

1. Help in self-exploration– Counselling sessions help students self-identify talents, potential, strengths and weaknesses through a series of exercises and assessments formulated by school counsellors. Defining interests, talents, primary learning styles, and potential is essential before choosing a career.

2. Give personalised support– Students get individualised guidance where the school counsellor guarantees student privacy, allows them to learn more about their fears and shortcomings, and helps resolve them. Students can approach the counsellor to get support about career-related issues such as selecting subjects after class X, choosing the right course and college, and getting advice regarding additional courses that may help in career growth.

3. Help define career goals– Once the student has self-awareness, counsellors list potential careers matching the student’s interests and strengths. By carefully considering the pros and cons of each career, counsellors guide the students towards making the right career choice and having long-term and short-term goals for the same.

4. Encourage career planning– After having a career in mind, students need to have a career plan that needs to be systematically and consistently followed to achieve career goals. The career plan must be practical. Counsellors suggest courses, internships, workshops, live sessions of people related to similar fields, and other relevant resources using which students can learn more about their careers and become motivated.

5. Help in risk management– Students may face various challenges in studying and working systematically on their career goals. Sometimes, the interests and strengths of students change with time, and they think of switching to another career based on the market demand for jobs and future opportunities. School counsellors help risk management in such cases by offering suggestions and solutions. These encourage students to redefine and follow their career goals.

Tips for career planning with school counsellors 

1. Early planning– Students must understand the importance of career planning and the role of school counsellors in the early stages of learning at school. Waiting till the last moment to seek guidance for career planning is also ineffective in the long run. Instead, parents must encourage their students to plan their careers and work for them.

2. Self-reflection– Only sound career choices can be made when children reflect on their interests, values, strengths, and weaknesses. School counsellors help and guide students in ways to enable self-awareness through conversations and exercises.

3. Discuss thoroughly– School counsellors tend to have diverse knowledge about different industries, professions, their growth potential and emerging career paths. Students must discuss all potential career options, pros and cons, and future economic growth.

4. Setting realistic goals– Career planning must be based on realistic short-term and long-term goals for skill development and academic achievements. High-end expectations often collapse, and students get distracted by the demotivation caused by the nonfulfillment of career expectations.

5. Enrolling for related workshops and events– Attending and participating in career-related workshops and events is highly beneficial to the portfolio. These workshops can be inside the school or from another third party suggested by the school counsellor.

6. Internship and part-time jobs– School counsellors can suggest internships and part-time jobs that align with students’ career interests. It is advantageous for students as getting hands-on experience in their related fields helps them build networks, understand opportunities, and build a portfolio. 

The role of school counsellors is to provide practical career suggestions based on the student’s strengths, weaknesses, and interests.

SKV is an all-girls boarding school in India that offers CBSE education to students from class VI onwards. We help offer holistic and career-oriented learning to students to transform them into independent individuals.