Concept of Career Counseling
Career counseling is a process whereby an employee is guided by a manager in performance-related behavior. Career development is more than just deciding on a major and what job you want to get when you graduate. It really is a lifelong process, meaning that throughout your life you will change, situations will change, and you will continually have to make career and life decisions. The employee is unable to perform the job satisfactorily. His work behavior is inconsistent with the work environment and organizational culture. It is manifested in fighting, stealing, unexcused lateness, and absence. The goal of Career Counseling is to not only help you make the decisions you need to make now, but to give you the knowledge and skills you need to make future career and life decisions.
Career counseling involves guiding of employee by a manager to overcome performance problems. The problem is desire-created based on unwillingness.
Process of Career Counseling
Career counseling involves the following steps:
Identification of the performance problem
The reason for poor performance should be identified. Specific job behavior should be objectively documented in terms of date, time, and what happened. The manager should have good listening skills to uncover the reason for performance problem. The manager should focus on job performance problems only, not the employee as a person. He should treat the employee objectively, fairly and equitably.
Make sure the employee owns up the problem
The employee should own the identified problem. He should take responsibility for the behavior-related problems. There is no chance of correction until the employee accepts the problem. Employee tends to be defensive while owning up the problems. The manager should keep calm.
Offer assistance to help the employee
The manager should offer assistance to solve the problem. He should work with employee to find ways to correct the problem. The assistance can be manager-based or organization-based.
Develop action plan
An action plan should be developed to correct the performance problem. Expectations from employee are clearly specified. Resource commitment by organization to assist the employee are also specified.
Control progress
The employee’s progress in correcting the performance problem is monitored. Feedback is given to the employee. Good behavior is reinforced.
Conclusion
Career counselors help individuals with the task of self-assessment and self-analysis. They then match the aptitude, skills and interests of the individuals with various job types. They also help identify the various jib options available and provide clarity on different job roles.
Overall, they help individuals make informed career choices and help them define their career paths to maximize the success in their chosen careers.
The perfect time for students to seek Career Counseling is during the ages 13-17 years (8th standard to 12th standard). This is a time of many changes taking place in their life, both physical and emotional, such as transitioning from school to college, and trying to “fit in” with peers. It is also a time when career decisions are made. This is why they need someone to guide them in the right direction at this time.
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