Finding the right career is so important because it can either lead to a super successful life or a dreadful one filled with bills and loans that will take forever to clear. This is a big responsibility to succeed your parents, which eventually starts to weigh you down. We know how painful that can be, but it's not too late. There is just one person in the world who understands you better than you do and is willing to help you stand up and face the path ahead. And those angels are called Career Counsellors.
Now you may ask, “Career counselling kya hota hai?” Or how to find good career counsellors who are not just after your money? Well, don't worry; in this blog, you will find out the three best ways to find a career advisor consultant without paying a fortune.
Tip 1: Sometimes free counselling is enough
You can find a lot of career guidance online, free and paid too, but that doesn’t mean that paid ones are the best and free ones are like just a scam or something. Both of them have their charm, and depending on your need, you may need just a free counselling session rather than a paid one, or vice versa. So, let's see how to take full advantage of the free route in your hunt for a career guidance counselor.
Free basically means a demo session with a counsellor, or those mandatory sessions that happen in schools and colleges before you graduate. There are both offline and online ways, so let’s see both of them one by one.
- Book a demo session on career guidance sites, ours for example. We offer a detailed demo session for anyone, which is enough to give you an idea about how things are supposed to go in a typical career counselling session.
- Ask your elders, teachers, parents, or friends who have been in the workforce for years. You can always get valuable insights from people who made both good and bad choices in their lifetime. The more you talk, the better you will understand how the world works.
- Look for professionals in your related field. For example, if you want to become a doctor, then visit a hospital for a classic therapy session and talk with them. That way you will learn something, and most of the time, that something comes free of cost.
- You can also use chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini, since now they have dedicated models that can talk with you in person. Start talking, or use the text box way. It won’t be 100% perfect like a real counsellor, but it’s better than nothing.
- Don’t take interviews for granted. In your hunt for jobs, you will be taking hundreds, if not thousands, of interviews. Not all interviewers are boring, and if you are persistent enough, you can get some free career help from them.
Always remember one thing: while the freeway is possible, it is still not the most effective way. Free means you are expected to hunt for specific information on your own. Meanwhile, a paid session often gives you all of them as a package, including a career report that will play a vital role in the future.
Tip 2: If free isn’t enough, go for a Paid Session
Most career guidance sites have a paid session, and it can have multiple tiers. The career guidance class and learning materials are divided based on those tiers. But there are some exceptions, like us. We provide a full experience to all with a single ₹2000 to ₹6000 fee, instead of holding back any deciding factors behind a paywall.
That’s why you should always make sure to research thoroughly before buying a paid session. There are always reviews available on Reddit, Quora, and so on about websites and their experiences. Just have a clear understanding of what you are getting into. If it has a demo session, book that and see how they perform. Once you are satisfied, start your paid session. As a small note,
- Avoid career guidance sites that try to sell the product instead of telling you what it is first. Some websites will have a buy now button on every single inch; that’s a big Red Flag.
- If a website gives you a proper intro about its products and has a sufficient amount of articles explaining the technical terms like the Psychometric test, then you can think of it as a good website.
- Remember, most, or we can say all, career guidance sites have a no-return policy. So keep that in mind, confirm it from their terms and conditions page, and then apply for a paid session. Having a No-refund policy is common in the career counselling field.
- Some paid plans give you access to career guidance apps or other online portals.
- You can also book a direct session with a career guidance counselor if you want. They are always ready to help, and most of the time their personal sessions cost less than career guidance sites.
The paid session also has its flaws. Like the no-refund policy or heavy reliance on a career guidance app. Some may even go as far as to limit the personalized counselling sessions behind further paywalls. So yeah, there are some bad traits to both free and paid ways. Now it is up to you to decide which career guidance sites are the best for you or who is among the good career counsellors.
Tip 3: Don’t be limited by a single counsellor
India has tons of career counsellors to choose from. Most provide online services, making it easier to browse through all of them before deciding upon one. This is a crucial element since not all career counsellors in India have the same mindset. Some are good at arts, some in math, and some in counselling software engineers. That’s why it becomes imperative that you choose your mentor carefully. So, here’s a small list of things explaining the deciding factors of good career counsellors:
- Proper Alignment of Thoughts: Most good career counsellors have a signature trait, and it’s to align with their student’s or client’s thought process. They understand you through multiple sessions and provide you with a tailored experience.
- The Psychometric Test: In this day and age, almost every career counsellor will ask you to take a Psychometric test, ALMOST! Yes, there will be cases where a counsellor will try to rush things over, and that is one of the biggest red flags of good career counsellors.
- Smaller Sessions: Most good career counsellors will take longer sessions, up to one hour. This shows that both parties are interested in the career guidance class and want to learn more about each other. And if that’s not the case. Well, the second point applies yet again.
- The follow-up sessions: A good career counsellor will take further sessions even after your package is finished. This is not a surprising factor; all counsellors do that, and it is often a part of the program itself. Make sure that you clarify about these extra sessions beforehand, and if they do not provide them, find someone else.
- Trust your Guts: Sometimes you will feel like your current career counsellor isn’t a good fit for you. Or due to some reason, the counsellor failed to grasp your need. In that case, you have absolute authority to ask for a different counsellor. Most career guidance sites offer this service as a precautionary measure, so also take full advantage of that.
- You can get it Offline: Yes, you can also get a decent or better career counselling experience from offline places like state career guidance center or even books on career guidance. It goes without saying they aren’t free. But some may prefer this offline way over being glued to chairs or screens.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Who is the best career counsellor in Mumbai?
Ans. Mumbai is filled with dozens of well-known career counsellors. We can’t say for sure which of them is the best for you, but we can say this much: you can never go wrong with Poonam Sharma Shah or Sachin Bhatnagar.
Q2. How can I find free career counselling near me?
Ans. You can always get help from your friends and folks; they usually provide a good insight into the future. If you need a more personalized experience, then try out various books on career guidance or join a demo career guidance class online.
Q3. How can I find job counselor near me?
Ans. Most good career counsellors will provide a personalized career path for you. So no need to look for additional counsellors for that one goal alone. And if you are seeking offline sessions, then search for “offline career counselling near me” in Google, and it will give you their location through Google Maps.
Q4. Career counselling kya hai?
Ans. Career counselling is a multistage process of determining the appropriate education and career route for a student. These sessions aren’t limited by age, so any group of people can take a career counselling session and get some much-needed career help.
Q5. How much does a professional career counseling session cost?
Ans. A professional career counseling session can cost somewhere between ₹1000 and ₹5000.
