The purpose of guidance is to provide ‘learning experiences to enable clients to acquire knowledge, skills and competencies related to making personal, educational and career decisions’ (Clark, 1999, p. 10) Guidance includes, but is not limited to, educational guidance and counselling services staffed by trained professionals.
It can also include:
Career planning is a lifelong process, which includes choosing an occupation, getting a job, growing in our job, possibly changing careers, and eventually retiring. We will focus on career choice and the process one goes through in selecting an occupation. This may happen once in our lifetimes, but it is more likely to happen several times as we first define and then redefine ourselves and our goals. Career development and the career planning process include a number of specific steps that help to identify personal skills and attributes. Finding out how those skills can be utilised in the job market is accomplished by researching a number of career fields that are of interest to you and then by gaining experience in those fields and/orspeaking to people currently working in the field. The career planning process is comprised of four steps. Whether or not you choose to work with a professional, or work through the process on your own is less important than the amount of thought and energy you put into choosing a career. 49 Counseling and Guidance for Career Planning and Decision Making Career planning means know about yourself, explore your options, make decisions and move towards your goal. 1) Self Evaluate who you are as a person. This involves taking a personal inventory of which you are and identify your individual values, interests, skills, and personal qualities. What makes you tick as a person? You will look at those personal attributes under a microscope and come up with key qualities you can identify and use in your search for the perfect career.
Guidance and counseling is a helping profession that involves molding,rebuilding, and rehabilitating people. It is a self-informing relationship that is both preventative and corrective of maladaptive and self-destructivetendencies. Both focuses on persons and are highly required in schools, colleges, higher education institutions, hospitals, courts, industries and businesses; there have been several purposes of counseling and guidance in all aspects; however, the significant purpose from the educational ecosystem has been identified and the intent have been stated as follows: (Ojo, 2006).
Career assessments may be required to promote a better understanding of personal attributes and skills. The individual should gather information about oneself. That is self assessment in terms of their interests, values, roles, skills / aptitudes, preferred environments, developmental needs and their realities. 2) Options The individual should be able to explore the various occupations in which they are interested. The exploration should be in each and every field the individual is interested and keen. After the area of occupation is chosen, the research or a survey on industries and labor market should be done to see in which they would like to work. Once the individual is clear about the specific information on the area to be chosen, he / she can go in for part time work, internships and can also go in for volunteering jobs or opportunities. 3) Match After the option is clear to the individuals, they will be able to identify the possible occupations and evaluate the opportunities within that occupation. The individual can explore the alternatives available, and thus chose both a short term and long term option. 4) Action The individuals in order to reach and achieve their goal have to explore and investigate the sources for additional training and education. They would have to develop a job search strategy, write an effective resume, gather information regarding company and prepare themselves for job interviews. 50 Assessment in Counselling and Guidance 3.3.1 Interrelation between Counseling and Career Planning.