Career Counselling and Vocational Guidance for class XII students
Students of classes XII have a lot of confusion about the appropriate stream in accordance with their calibre. Also, students of grade XI & XII have a new academic life ahead of them, to choose the topmost educational institute and to select a specialised and professional course. To help students with this life-changing selection, a career guidance cell with relevant departments like a psychological mentoring, ombudsman, and emotional quotient variation discussions should take place.
It all starts when the child is in class X and he needs to pick the right stream of subjects for himself. Based on his previous performances, family background, personal interests, and his strengths, he needs to choose from among the available options of commerce, science medical, non-medical, lay, humanities, hotel management, designing, mass communication, finance and business, insurance, risk management and many more options.
Even if the student takes up the wrong subjects in which he has not done very well, this is the only chance for him to rectify his mistakes that is after his completion of class XII. It is of paramount importance to explore career opportunities after class XII.
Prerequisites of career selection:
The Pros and Cons of career selections and college admissions, eligibility for scholarships and taking value-based tests like psychometric and critical analysis should be the agenda. Proper counselling sessions and one to one mentoring and coaching interactions should be provided to all students and all students should be motivated to follow the right career path and yearn for success.
Workshops, Seminars and Skype sessions with world-class universities should be conducted regularly on how children these days need to focus more on their education, family and relationship building rather than wasting their precious time on social media and using their mobiles worthlessly. Besides that, career options and opportunities also hold a significant place in counselling workshops.
Career counselling- a step towards informed decision making:
There are several factors that assist students of class XII to build their right career path and professional roadmap. Around 5 crore students in India appear in class XII each year and there is always a crucial question attached to it “Now, What Next”?
Schools and Universities must have an in-house counselling department which constantly conducts a number of workshops and interactions with high profile faculty of esteemed institutes and educationists teamed up. Healthy two-way interaction with the students on new-age career options, making them career-ready and market employable and giving various options on liberal education and other multidisciplinary courses is mandatory. It should be a great learning experience for students and the doubts that they had must be cleared by experts.
Career-oriented guidance for class XII students and adults is one among the best ways to assist them in making informed decisions here. With a plethora of career choices out there, sound career counselling plays a pivotal role in ensuring that the right career choices are made., This is the most fulfilling experience a career counsellor can have. The professional is able to help an individual choose the right career path based on his/her skill sets and competencies. Right advice not only helps people grow in the profession but also creates ample room for learning in his field.
Benefits of career counselling sessions:
- It is of paramount importance to find out your strengths and weaknesses. A SWOT Analysis needs to be conducted for individuals in their class XII to understand their forte and genre and encourage them to apply accordingly for their careers and further studies.
- Right Goal Setting is again a crucial factor in analysing the future prospects for any student who is completing his class XII
- An opportunity or a podium must be provided to students to recognise, scrutinize and comprehend all career options available for them and the one that is best suited as per their education, interest and passion.
- The right guidance for class XII students and support from their existing teachers, leaders and mentors is again of high importance. They need an unprejudiced advice on how they should choose the right career path.
- Search support and options to study a myriad of variations must be provided to the students so that they are given the leverage and the liberty to search, verify and opt for the right path.
We must recognise that students need to start evaluating options for higher studies, especially the Senior Classes. Students of classes XII have a lot of confusion about the appropriate stream in accordance with their calibre.
It is a pre-requisite to partner with other International and National Counselling bodies to provide the relevant expertise and experience of career counselling.
Domain OPF global counselling:
A Super Career Counsellor is someone who is acknowledged globally for the career-related roadmap and authentic direction towards the formation of an international and domestic career path for students. He not only caters to its set of students but also aims at gauging global students for the academic, psychological and professional growth.
It is imperative to take the initiative of having a guidance cell to cater to the following needs of every for class XII students:
- How to choose between final options- Admission, Scholarships & funding choices
- To refer and conduct Workshops/sessions and interactions with foreign delegates of renowned universities, academic facilitators and the prestigious alumni of different schools and universities.
- A professional Psychologist and counsellor who will conduct one to one counselling session with each student to increase and improve their IQ and EQ.
- Conduct Psychometric Tests on the following topics:
- Personality Type Assessment
- Multiple Intelligences Test
- Learning Styles Test
- Guidance on preparation of the tests, timelines and back up options.
- Career Options and selection of the right stream
- Individual Roadmap as a career graph for each student
Every educational institute must partner with Global Career Guidance Cells through which students can earn grand scholarships from Indian and foreign universities. The unique in-house and external counsellors must provide students a helping hand with their stream selections; psychometric tests and provide an insight into the best colleges and universities of the world.
As a part of a tradition of putting the student’s interest first, the career guidance cell must provide a comprehensive solution around career & college counselling with a focus on improved outcomes for University admissions. The program inculcated and imbibed should aim to guide students and parents from classes XII.
