The most remarkable achievements are an outcome of unparalleled choices. Have you made up your mind yet?
It would be unrealistic to believe that working professionals don’t think about their ‘Professional growth’, ‘Upskilling’, ‘Job Satisfaction’, ‘Giving back to the society’, or ‘Guiding the next generation better’. Even if you’re a homemaker, you hold a categorical influence on people around you and can restart your career when and if you want.
Well, if there’s one profession that eloquently combines all the above factors, then it has to be Career Coaching. Whether you’re an educator, parent, psychologist, HR professional, private tutor, edu-preneur, or any professional, strategizing mechanisms to facilitate a student’s holistic growth, career coaching takes an indispensable role in your routine.
Fact Countdown: Career Coaching as a Profession
While Career Coaching has lately been the talk of the town, we understand if you’re still skeptical about becoming a professional career coach. So here are 10 mind-blowing facts about Career Coaching as a Profession to make the decision-making process a little easier for you!
Fact #10: Age/Gender is no bar!
Career Coaching is neither a single gender’s profession nor is there an age limit to start practicing as a professional Career Coach. The experiences you hold in the respective field of work rather add value to your knowledge about the career. You can be looking at a career change, restarting your career, or even planning to have a venture post-retirement, the students you’ll be guiding as a career coach will trust your helping and coaching skills, breadth of career-related knowledge, and abilities to give them their befitting career plans.
Still not convinced with this fact? Read about the 5 most common Myths About Career Coaching as a profession, and you’ll be flabbergasted on having these myths busted!
Fact #9: Educational & Professional Background
One doesn’t primarily have to be from the psychology field to be a career coach. Your educational and professional backgrounds act as catalysts for upgrading your knowledge related to the field along with plenty of other careers for which a student can seek your help. You can combine your past experiences with career coaching to broaden your horizons of opportunities.
Fact #8: Co-Design a Career Plan
While career coaches constantly update themselves with a plethora of careers, college/universities, exams, etc, expertise lies in working WITH the students and not otherwise. A Career Coach guides the students to clarify their choices, discover their best traits, and prioritize their interests to co-design suitable Action Plans. This helps the students to focus on their strengths and areas of development to achieve their most suitable career goals. So, if you hear somebody say that career coaches only suggest colleges, you know what to tell them!
Fact #7: Vivid Network
One of the best subsets of career coaching is the ever-growing network of professionals from all walks of life. Students’ parents, teachers, school administrators, community leaders, and the students themselves who successfully become professionals in diverse industries, a career coach gets to know them all. Networking is a constructive source of opportunities and you can simply start networking with the like-minded by joining an upskilling and certification program.
Fact #6: Opportunities
Being a professional at the decision-making stage of such organizations, career coaching opens up opportunities for your staff members to align with your vision of establishing and augmenting a revolutionary career guidance ecosystem within the organization. Read more about the present scenario of career coaching in India to understand the scope of career coaching as a profession.
Types of Opportunities: Entrepreneurship, Freelancer, In-house full-time career coach
Types of Organisations: Schools, Colleges, NGOs, CSR Bodies, Coaching institutes, Care Centers
Fact #5: Demand for Career Coaching
Back in 2019, Mindler conducted a survey to discover that 93% of the students aged 14-21 years old were aware of only 7 career options out of the 250+ job options available in India (Read more about the report) The COVID-19 pandemic has only widened this huge gap between adept career coaches and students. While schools, colleges, and parents have taken disruptive measures to make education accessible to students during this time, the demand for career coaching has increased by multiple folds to re-focus students’ attention to career-oriented practices.
Fact #4: Technological Adaptations
Digitalization has paved its way into our lives as a boon and career coaches can now enhance their approach to guiding students with technological adaptations. Mindler’s Partner Platform has modernized the traditional pen and paper method of ability assessments to develop a fully automated Psychometric Testing platform powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence. With the help of technology, career coaches can now use tools and techniques to guide their tech-savvy students
Fact #3: Geographical Flexibility
There’s no place on Earth where the abundance of career options doesn’t confuse students. Every 14-21-year-old needs guidance on looking at on right sources to make an informed decision and finalize their career goals. The skills and knowledge acquired by a career coach are fairly applicable to all places across the globe.
Geographical barriers can be easily overcome with technology and a career coach can even guide a student by the comfort of their home through video conferencing.
Fact #2: Global Competency
Career development is a life-long process where people look may look at adopting various career plans applicable within and outside their native country. The prerequisites of an accomplished career coach are to understand the global labor market, and accordingly develop competencies. Vigorous learning, research, and practice on diverse overseas education and labor market exposure help career coaches expand their services and scale their venture.
Fact #1: Golden Rule – Job Satisfaction
For passionate beings who enjoy helping students untangle their minds from career confusion, career coaching gives people the highest sense of purpose. As a career coach, one is facilitating the successful future of many others and making a difference in guiding the youth towards a better, more fulfilling career. Guiding the students in the focal years of their career development, helping them build their profiles, follow optimum roadmaps, and ultimately becoming accomplished professionals of the future.
Conclusion
There will always be obstacles hindering you from taking the next best steps towards achieving your desired career goals. However, it always helps in being informed about the pros and cons of your career choice, along with following the ways of supplementing your process with reputable credentials. Whether you’re just beginning your journey as a career coach or have been seeking ways to upskill and reskill your proficiency as a career coach, a globally recognized and competent program will benefit you in this journey.
Read more about Mindler’s career counseling certification called the ICCC Program, designed in collaboration with NCDA, US, and CDA, US to help professionals learn from the experts.
