5 Professional Challenges Faced By Career Counsellors

The problems we face today are rapidly evolving from the ones we had only just learned to resolve. Earlier, people would struggle with the limited awareness of numbered possibilities. Now, we struggle with the abundance thereof. We are constantly aware of everything that is happening, growing and changing, not only around us but across the world. We are also very familiar with the multitudes of options available to us today – which is a problem of current times. With so many options at our disposal, we turn to career counsellors for guidance.
But have the challenges faced by career counsellors, too, evolved like ours?
 
Challenges Faced by Career Counsellors
While the evolution of technology brings with it hope for more, it also creates modern issues. Listed below are challenges that have persistently haunted counsellors, and some that are new to their area of expertise.
 
1. Crumbled Education System
While our country progresses in so many aspects on paper, the reality remains far from these claims. We may be living in the 21st century, but our education systems are rather old school. Institutions are slowly opening up to the importance of career counsellors, yet always with a hint of caution. In a system responsible for catering to a child’s every need, it becomes difficult when they themselves don’t advocate the importance of career guidance.
 
2. Imbalance in Demand/Supply
With the burden of service resting heavily on counsellors, it becomes  difficult  to deliver the quality of attention every individual deserves. This could lead to inefficiency which in turn makes people lose faith in the profession itself. Do you now see the vicious cycle? The only positive outlook that one can have in this scenario is that the scope of career counselling in India is high, and it needs motivated professionals to step in and fill in this gap.
 
3. Access to Substantial Resources and Reach
As mentioned above, it is tough for career counselors to establish trust with clients when the institutions themselves don’t regard guidance as important, let alone necessary. This also implies that there are fewer bodies working towards filling the large gap created by the lack of investment in this sector. This leaves us with fewer coaches, able to reach only a sparse audience, with a limited set of resources.
 
4. Challenging Stigmas, and Prejudices
Making clients unlearn the ingrained, or asking them to see from a perspective completely foreign to them can be tough. Disturbing foundational beliefs is never easy, let alone destabilizing them. More often than not, the idea of self-concept or career identity for individuals is formed on the basis of their surroundings, and not always their personal preferences. Challenging these notions and encouraging clients to make their own decisions can take a lot longer than anticipated, and sometimes even end in harsh disagreements.
 
5. Fighting the “Quick-Fix” Psyche
We live in a world that is losing its ability to be patient faster than humans depleting nature and its resources. Firstly, it could be a task to explain to people how it is a process – and not something that can be determined in two sessions. Psychometric tests, while reliable, are never completely accurate. There are always possibilities of discrepancies due to an individual’s changing thoughts, how they’re feeling while taking the test, answering dishonestly to match certain expectations, or even test anxiety.
These tests do not completely analyse the student to give accurate results. Instead, they are a guiding tool that helps in the actual work done by the coach – and this requires time. The role of a career coach is not to pick the right career for the child. It is to hand the tools needed by them to make such decisions for themselves, not just after 12th grade but whenever needed in their lifetime.
 
Solutions We Offer
Having been in the industry for __ years, Mindler has managed to build a strong network of students, teachers, trainers, schools, universities, and leaders.

Mindler offers the International Certified Career Coach (ICCC) Program to everyone who wishes to pursue career counselling, regardless of their prior experience and field of work. While we understand the need to create adept professionals, we also understand the urgency of spreading awareness about the need for career counsellors in India. Not only do we train people who wish to become career professionals, we also encourage schools and colleges to enroll themselves for our training programs.
Our team of globally certified and experienced master trainers anchor our ICCC program. They deliver the curriculum with the expertise from varying fields of experience, leaving no stone unturned.

Our Partner Platform offers end-to-end technological support to professionals. This helps make various processes efficient and easy, thereby leaving them with more time to focus on actually studying and analyzing their clients.
 
Conclusion
With the ever-increasing gap between skill building and job availability, and the increasing rate of unemployment in our country, it is imperative that people working in this sector work towards creating a more informed and conducive environment for the coming generations.
While the present time coaches are struggling with these problems, it should not dishearten others from exploring career counselling as an opportunity for themselves. Every field has its own set of challenges, and regardless, they are meant to be overcome! While we explore how to overcome these, you can start your journey with our career counselling certification course by signing up today!