Consider the following situations:  

  1. Your child is in class 8th, 9th or 10th, and you are one of those non-judgmental parents who wish to provide open platform to your developing child and wish to understand their interests and their aspirations. You know that in future things may change depending on the increased exposure your child will get but you are excited when your child wishes to know way forward about some career. In short you are looking forward for figuring out your child’s persona, interest, and skills so that you can prepare them well for future challenges and at the same time help them not to be victim of herd mentality.  
  2. You are the progressive parent of a student in class 11thor 12thand wish to discuss about career options for your child after understanding their interests, academics, persona, skills and opportunities. 
  3. You are a student of class 12thand confused about your future. You have studied in one stream say PCM, PCB, Commerce or Arts but don’t intent to take them further in graduation.  
  4. You have taken admission in engineering and somehow after a semester you realize that it is not something you would like to continue and wish to discuss pros and cons 
  5. You are in your graduation or final year of graduation and believe that after class 12thyou did not make the right choice. You find yourself in a dilemma and wish to rewrite your success story by comprehensively evaluating:
  • Self- Persona & Skill set 
  • Your family circumstances & financial responsibilities
  • Peer pressure
  •  Market opportunities 
  • Your interests and Passion. 

6. You are done with your graduation and looking strategic recommendations on               following a particular career 

7.You are done with graduation ,certifications, post-graduation and now wish to do a complete restart in new direction.  

8.You are confused about going for job or competitive preparation. You know what needs to be done but the path is hazy, and clarity of action plan is   

9.You are dwindling between leading a job life and starting something of your 

10.You have been in job for 3-4 years or even more but look forward for a career jump, career shift amidst all other things going steady /unsteady in your life. 

If any of the above situation or combination is close to yours then it is the time to take a proper step in the right direction which is to go for a detailed career counselling, guidance, Mapping and planning as the case need may be.  

This answers ‘When’ part of the question posed in the beginning.  

Now let us dwell deeper on the ‘WHY’ part.  

Career is an ever-evolving process, and we must appreciate early climbers and late bloomers equally in this short span of lifetime. Nevertheless, lack of information about opportunities, market trends & future scope may sometime prove regressive if not pondered well in advance. Unbiased evaluation of current capabilities, openness towards inculcating necessary skill set and availability of an agreed structured plan makes life easy. This helps one to concentrate more on efforts rather than daily contemplation of “What if scenarios.” 

These terms Career Counselling, Guidance, mapping and planning may look synonymous, but each hold a specific meaning and function depending on the ‘When’ scenarios. 

Typically, Counselling is used in context of problem. So, when career layout itself is under doubt and complete haziness exists, I prefer to call it counselling. Here the process for career planning starts from the very basic entity of finding out ‘What is the want.’ & ‘What are current circumstances.’  

Career Guidance is more of the process of restructuring or shaping the already agreed career path of an individual. This may be in terms of future higher studies or finding a job or shifting job or going ahead with competitions. This may involve long term intervention, suggestive alterations in case of focus shifts , skill set improvements and anchoring till the individual realize their goals and need no further guidance.    

Career Mapping is typically used when at a particular stage the individual is clear about their path and it matches well with their persona and skill set, however the individual is not able to set up the path in context of the practical execution as per competitive, region specific or industry norms. A simple scenario of mapping would be to get into IT sector but coming from a non-IT background. 

Finally, a word which may encompass all segments would be career planning because that is a strategic process which is broad and typically brings out a clear approach to move in life in terms of career.  

All this is the need of the hour because we have endless possibilities today and the world is far and wide open to explore. The need for structured career streamlining sessions becomes important because many times when we are stuck in our limited possibility bracket there should be a truthful source of information which can cut out chaos, widen our vision and build focus.  

 Additionally, the need for career decision making, guidance and counselling gains ground because sometimes when we outweigh our emotional crises or failures too seriously then at that point it is important for a professional to revisit our potential and hand us the tools to relish the beauty of a good life once again.     

Career planning is a must because at times one takes foolish steps just in ignorance or when baffled by marketing gimmicks and seek a way out to courageously rewrite a better story.  

Last but not the least for some individuals when career is in picture, lot of other emotions are also reeling in one’s head and one often wish to take time out, speak their heart openly and confidentially, discuss visions, fears, strengths, possibilities, doubts and then they are able to regain their strength to take bold career decisions. 

At htalks I do not follow typically route of simply laying out information and just act like a google store. I sit with an agenda of long term betterment for my connections. The personalized , in depth sessions involve discussions, psychometrics, assessments and at times emotional healing for better decision making.  

A lot of statistical data already exists on various platforms. I precisely work not as information despatcher but as your eye opener, vision builder and lighthouse for your success.