Research Paper Sample on Career Counselling Program

Career development is a lifetime process and there are numerous factors that influence the development of an individuals career. These factors include a persons interests, values, abilities, personality, background and other external or internal circumstances. Career counselling is therefore an important aspect as it helps to mould students, and ex-students to have the ability to develop their careers in the most appropriate ways. Career counselling is defined as a process that enables one to understand and know themselves in a more improved way especially in the world of jobs, in order to make wise educational, occupational, and life decisions (Brown, 2004). The development of careers is more than just making decisions on a major and what job to undertake when one graduates from a learning institution. It is more of a life time process, meaning that decisions and circumstances will change along a persons life, that will with no doubt influence their careers. The main goal of career counselling is not only to enable one to make appropriate decisions at the present, but also to give them the skills and knowledge to make career and life decisions in the future. Well planned school-based career counselling serves as a significant foundation for the ultimate success of all the students. Consequently, it encourages the students to stretch their expectations and hope for the future. Career counsellors have the ability to connect the students with their families, friends, resources, and their surrounding environment, to boost their pursuit of their dreams. The end goal of career counselling is to improve equity and access for all learners to every opportunity. Consequently, the key aspect of career counselling is assisting an individual to explore and have a better understanding of what they want from a career.

School counselling programs help students achieve in environments that are academically vigorous, prepare relevant education and career plans, and also practice good citizenship. Living in the 21st Century could be challenging especially for young people who are fresh out of learning institutions. Students can apply relevant skills and knowledge for them to be fully prepared for the demands in this era. Career counsellors utilise a career cluster model that provides an excellent map and framework for integrated career planning. One of the most important concepts in developing students careers is providing them with pertinent contexts for learning and studying. Career clusters provide a relevant context by connecting school-based learning with the skills and knowledge needed to meet their personal career objectives. Basically, a career counsellor helps a learner to figure out what they want to become in their life and also figure out the various influencing factors that hinder tem from accomplishing their career goals. Similarly, a career counsellor will assist a student locate the relevant resources of career information, and also develop the most workable plan. It is important to note that a career counsellor does not tell one what to do or what specific careers they should pursue (Savakis, 2011).

Being a lifetime process, career counselling can be appropriate for anyone. The earlier a student starts to develop a career plan, the better they will be in the real job world. All students are encouraged to take career counselling as it helps them discover their potential and resources within their reach that could boost their careers.

Disruptive changes to business models will have an impact on the employment scenery over the coming years. Many of the major drivers of transformation currently affecting global industries are expected to have a significant impact on jobs, ranging from significant job creation to job displacement, and from heightened labour productivity to widening skills gaps. In many industries and countries, the most in-demand occupations or specialties did not exist 10 or even five years ago, and the pace of change is set to accelerate. By one popular estimate, 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that dont yet exist.1 In such a rapidly evolving employment landscape, the ability to anticipate and prepare for future skills requirements, job content and the aggregate effect on employment is increasingly critical for businesses, governments and individuals in order to fully seize the opportunities presented by these trends and to mitigate undesirable outcomes.

Past waves of technological advancement and demographic change have led to increased prosperity, productivity and job creation. This does not mean, however, that these transitions were free of risk or difficulty. Anticipating and preparing for the current transition is therefore critical. As a core component of the World Economic Forums Global Challenge Initiative on Employment, Skills and Human Capital, the Future of Jobs project aims to bring specificity to the upcoming disruptions to the employment and skills landscape in industries and regions and to stimulate deeper thinking about how business and governments can manage this change. The industry analysis presented in this Report will form the basis of dialogue with industry leaders to address industry-specific talent challenges, while the country and regional analysis presented in this Report will be integrated into national and regional public-private collaborations to promote employment and skills.

A quarter of the companies employ more than 50,000 people globally; another 40% have between 5,000 and 50,000 employees; the remaining third is equally split between employers with 500 to 5,000 staff and high-growth companies with currently up to 500 employees. In the current era of global value chains, many companies are locating different job functions and categories in different geographic locations to take advantage of the specific strengths of particular local labour markets. Demographic, socio-economic and increasingly technological trends and disruptions to the business and operating models of global companies have the potential to rapidly change the dynamics of the global employment landscape. In addition to the outlook for existing roles, we asked respondents to tell us about wholly new occupations and fields of specialization they expect to emerge in their industries as well as those they foresee to be made obsolete over the coming years until 2020. According to many employing organizations, we live in the cusp of a forth Industrial revolution. This brings about demographic and socio-economic drivers of change in the employment world. It is rated that 44% of work environments are changing and thus enabling workplace innovations such as remote working, co-working spaces and teleconferencing. Organizations are likely to have an ever-smaller pool of core full-time employees for fixed functions, backed up by colleagues in other countries and external consultants and contractors for specific projects. Similarly, there is a 23% rise of the middle class in emerging employment markets. The worlds economic centre of gravity is shifting towards the emerging world. Climate change is a major driver of innovation, as organizations search for measures to mitigate or help adjust to its effects. Yet as global economic growth continues to lead to demand for natural resources and raw materials, over-exploitation implies higher extraction costs and degradation of ecosystems. In many economies consumers are increasingly concerned about a range of issues related to their purchasing decisions: carbon footprint; impact on the environment; food safety; labour standards; animal welfare; and a companys record on ethical trade. Additionally, internet users have increasingly become aware of issues around data security and online privacy. In addition, much of the developing world is experiencing rapid population growth and faces a very different demographic challenge than advanced economies: devising appropriate education and training systems to prepare an overwhelmingly young population for the workplace. Leading emerging nations continue to move up the skills ladder and improve access to high-quality education, contributing to a dramatic rise in the number of the college-educated and a shift in the global distribution of talent. According to Flores (2002), an increase of rapid urbanization in the worlds urban population is estimated to double by the year 2050. This rapid and unprecedented pace of urbanization, especially in markets such as China and Sub-Saharan Africa, brings with it many opportunities as well as challenges. The mobile internet has applications across business and the public sector, enabling more efficient delivery of services and opportunities to increase workforce productivity. With cloud technology, applications can be delivered with minimal or no local software or processing power, enabling the rapid spread of internet-based service models.

A career guidance program is a comprehensive, developmental program meant to help individuals in making and implementing educational and occupational decisions that are informed. It also develops the competencies of an individual in self-knowledge, occupational research and planning of ones career. Career counselling helps learners or students to acquire knowledge and relevant experience necessary to identify viable options in a given society. Career guidance and counselling is offered at different levels in the process of learning i.e. junior and senior high school, community colleges, universities, technical institutes, and career resource centres. A successful guidance counselling is characterised by a series of well-planned experiences and activities to achieve particular competencies such as self-appraisal, decision making, setting of goals, and planning of ones career. Effective counselling is also based on accountability and qualified leadership. Most importantly, there are various approaches that career counsellors utilise to deliver such programs i.e. outreaches, assessment, curriculum, follow-ups, consultations, and referrals.

School-based career counselling involves different approaches for specific grades. This difference is brought about by the variation in the level of understanding of careers and occupations. It is therefore important for career counsellors to understand the needs of different grades, in order to offer the most appropriate advice.

Elementary Level

In this case, one will be dealing with kids who have real life issues such as abuse, family abuse, anxiety, depression, self-harm, and also bullying. The goal of the counsellor in this level is to enable the students have self-understanding and courage to face the real life issues.

Middle School/ Junior

This is a crucial level as most of the students will be having adolescent-related issues that should be addressed in the most appropriate way. In most cases, students in this level deal with issues such as middle school drama, sexual issues, body insecurity issues, and drugs and substance abuse. The key objective of the counsellor in this level is to connect with the students and be there for them during this crucial phase of their lives. Also, students in this level are mature enough for more sophisticated conversations and ideas.

High School

This is an important level in the counselling process as the counsellor will be focusing more on academic guidance rather than person counselling. Nevertheless, the students in high school could be facing similar issues with those in the middle schools. The main goal in this level is to enable the students acquire the relevant skills and knowledge to explore different careers. Counselling in this stage can be performed in different forms i.e. class presentations, individually, or in groups.

Community College

This stage cons...