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The field of career services is expanding day by day. There are many types of services provided, like career guidance, career counselling, career coaching, etc. People often confuse career coaching with career counselling. They think there’s no difference between coaching and counselling. The nature of both the fields is same but their meaning is completely different.

Career counselling provides us industry knowledge and advices to help us find a job. Career coaching does the same but also looks deeper into our lives, paying attention to our values, strengths and interests. A career counselor takes a scholastic approach at building our tools for acquiring a job but a career coach does more. A career coach already has the tools and focuses more on our personal strengths, talent and values to build an ideal career path based on these factors.

A career coach helps us to build a career which gives us true meaning and purpose.According to results of NACE’s 2016-17 Career Services Benchmark Report for Colleges and Universities, overall, 81 percent of respondents report that career coaching is their primary focus of career development interaction with students, and 19 percent of respondents report their primary focus to be career counselling for career development.

Career counselling might have an atomistic approach whereas career coaching has holistic approach. Career counsellors tend to look at our past experiences and focus on the barriers that may be causing challenges in our careers or hindering our pursuit to find a job. In contrast, career coaches focus on our current scenario to create goals and plans in order to move forward.

Counsellors give advice on what to do and what not to do whereas career coaches advice as well as put those advices into practice. Career coaches assess where we are and encourage and challenge us to become even better to reach where we want to be. Career coaches stay in touch even after finding a suitable job for us to make sure we are doing well and not facing any difficulties.

Career coaches exercise different coaching techniques as well. For every different purpose, there’s a different technique. For motivating someone, there are motivational techniques like setting reasonable and achievable goals, creating an appropriate environment by keeping our goals in mind, etc. For accomplishing goals, they use goal-setting techniques like creation of new behaviours and modification of existing ones and so on.

Self-assessment, breathing and relaxation exercises, open-ended questioning, assigning accountability, role playing, SWOT analysis for determining strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, guided meditation, understanding patterns to look for potential careers are some techniques followed by career coaches in order to discover and explore different careers.

Parents play a huge role in our lives. Since the day we are born, they become the most influential people to us. They provide us nurture and structure. They provide us the best education they can and help us with career-related decisions. We all have been taught this in our schools that parents are our first teachers and it is true because the person we become in the future is because of them. Parents are our biggest career coaches. We have seen and heard stories about many successful people who pursued their career under the guidance of their mother or father. Yuvraj Singh is also one of those people who became successful and famous only because of his career coach- his father.

Yuvraj Singh is a former Indian cricketer who played internationally in all forms of the game and he is the son of former Indian fast bowler and Punjabi actor Yograj Singh. Yograj Singh was the only career coach Yuvraj Singh had. Yograj Singh didn’t gain the fame his son did but he trained him very harshly and with full force and that’s the major reason behind the success of Yuvraj Singh. He made a gym at his home and also destroyed their beautiful garden to transform it into a pitch. He once mentioned in an interview that he used to break his son’s skates and tennis racquets because Yuvraj loved playing with them and didn’t use to practice cricket. Yograj Singh once said, "Yuvraj was six when I took him to Sector 16 Stadium, where I used to train. There used to a pace academy and I would tell Yuvraj to practice without helmet. Yuvi hated cricket and I made him love cricket, which is also his life now. The whole world knows what he has achieved”.

His father used to train ruthlessly him all day but all that paid off well. He used to wake his son up early in the morning for practice and made him play till the evening, sometimes when he couldn’t wake up, his father used to pour a bucket of cold water on him. Yograj Singh once mentioned, “I always felt that something different had to be done. Yes, Yuvi was pushed hard for fitness, running twenty rounds at the age of eight. But I still believe that what I did was right and it has been proven as well”. The whole world now knows of the name Yuvraj Singh and it’s true that parenting and parental coaching can be very harsh and strict but it is what builds us and help us grow.

Parental support and guidance are the most vital elements of our future and they also get reflected in our upbringing and what we are. Our parents never want us to fall down in life. They are our well-wishers, our teachers, our mentors, etc. Their ways might be ruthless but that is only because they want us to be sturdy, mature and self-reliant.

The first thought that hits our brain when we hear the word ‘career coaching’ is “Oh! Now someone else will tell me about my career”. We wish the process of career coaching was this easy but this can’t happen because a good career coach needs to be very skilled and patient. Career coaching is not just about informing the best career options, it is about Identifying Personality, Recognizing Skills, Setting Goals, Analyzing and Determining Potential, Performing Assessments, Implementing the Goals, Ensuring Proper Feedback and so on.

It has also been proved that after approaching a career coach 80% of clients improved their self-confidence, 73% of clients improved their relationships, 72% of clients improved their communication skills and 67% of clients improved their work-life balance.

Career coaching typically consists of a series of one-on-one sessions between you and your coach, a career coach acquires information about your career goals and life ambitions. Based on the information acquired, he conducts a skill test or strength determining assessment consisting of questionnaires, surveys, and other tools to help you identify your values and the things that give you meaning and purpose.

At the end of each session, the coach gives challenges which helps you to move closer to your career objectives. The challenges might involve stepping out of your comfort zone. This ultimately helps to build confidence in an individual. From week to week, your coach holds you accountable to make sure you’re constantly taking action. Commitment, accountability, and follow-through are some of the most valuable components of the coaching process, and they are a big reason why people who work with a career coach experience progress and career growth.

The next step is to find a job and a career coach guides you in finding the right job by helping you put together the job searching documents like resume, cover letter, and online profiles that accurately reflect who you are, what you want and the value you bring to employers. He also prepares you for the interview by sharing his personal experiences and taking mock interviews.

In the middle of the process, the coach keeps taking feedback, keeps a check on your mental health, helps you to cope up with anxiety and stress. One Nielsen survey found that 80% of employed adults experience job-related stress. Being unemployed or dissatisfied at work might result in self-degrading emotions like self-doubt, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, etc.

Sometimes you get confused and it shakes the level of conviction you’ve built. In such times, a career coach will continue to motivate you, ensure your work/life balance. Finding contentment in your work is an emotional process. It involves channelling your inner-self in a healthy way that doesn’t sabotage your mental health and progress in life. The career coach empowers you to take action, overcome setbacks, and maintain your focus.

Edgenus brings the industry acknowledged and certified professional career coaches to you, who assure success and provide guidance in the fields you wish to prosper. We offer you the opportunity to grow in your desired field. Let's accomplish your goals under the best guidance.