Harit Gaba Speaks On The Most Vital Skills of a Career Counselor
Career Counsellors play a vital role by shaping the academic and professional career lives of individuals apart from their mental health and overall wellness. As per the opinion of Harit Gaba, to provide clients with the best solutions to excel in their career path and address their prevailing career-related issues successfully, a career counselor should have a number of skills. They need to adopt industry-standard counseling techniques, up-to-date job market knowledge, and skills to ensure the best outcome of their counseling session. While they should possess numerous skills, in this article, four of their most vital skills are focused.
Active Listener
A professional and dependable career counselor should possess active listening skills. According to Harit Gaba, clients who come with career-centric issues, need to comprehend that their concerns are well understood and recognized wholeheartedly by the professional on whom they can rely. During the counseling session, the right professional should have a remarkable balance between listening and responding letting the clients feel that the professional has the patience and keenness to listen. If a career counselor remains busy attending multiple telephone calls and seems unresponsive – it signs a ‘red flag’ for clients who are recommended to search for some other professional without fail.
Problem-Solving Skills
Individuals contact a career counselor with different issues and with the belief that the professional will fix the problem. Therefore, problem-solving skill is the next and most important skill that a career counselor should have. A counselor should possess the ability to understand the problem and get the client an accurate solution to it. Moreover, they should explain the ways to implement the plan and also review its performance.
Noteworthy that analytical as well as critical thinking skills are intimately associated with problem-solving ability. Career coaches need to evaluate the problem and by applying their crucial thinking and analytical ability should give a custom solution that can fix the issue. Given, no two problems are similar types, therefore, they should have a great insight level to analyze the facts and get a custom solution for it.
Rapport Building Skills
It is one of the basic skills that a seasoned career counselor should possess. Establishing a quick rapport with a client is the key to building strong associations among them. The ability helps in installing trust in the client toward the professional which is essential to let the client follow the strategies with dedication. As the person starts getting results, there grows a mutual trust and great understanding which is essential to work in collaboration for a longer period. Since career life is stretched way, an individual may experience different issues in their career cycle and trust building makes the client come back.
Confidentiality
Maintaining confidentiality is not only a professional code of a career counselor but it is the condition of counseling that lets clients feel free to express their issues to the professional. It does not matter whether the client is a college-going young student on the search for the right career or a professional timid about career transition. Every client regardless of their age, believes that the concerns they discuss with the counsellor will remain confidential at all times. Only in certain exceptional cases, the career counselor may discuss the issue of the client with a third party, that too with the permission of the client. Providing a safe setting like a standalone chamber for discussion is vital. From the viewpoint of Harit Gaba, rather than a skill, it is the duty of a career counselor to remain respectful of the privacy of every client.
