These days, choosing a career involves choosing from hundreds of rapidly changing jobs, as well as dealing with numerous competing factors like grades, parental expectations, and job availability. Because of this complexity, many students experience difficulty when it comes to making a decision regarding their future careers. The Career Counselling Programs by Inomi – Headstart (for Grades 8 – 10) and Pathfinder (Grade 10 and onwards), provide students with both structured guidance when it comes to evaluating the different careers available, as well as an opportunity to obtain a much deeper understanding of who they are as individuals and what kinds of careers may fit them best. The Pathfinder program is done through a 12-month process that includes career guidance counseling, developing a structured plan, and gaining first-hand experiences in various careers.

Navigating Career Crossroads

Why Career Decisions Are More Complex Than They Appear

Should a student who is good at art get into design?

Or, should someone good at Math enter computer science or data science?

What about the student who is great at connecting with people – should they do Psychology?

Over 20 years of working in career guidance, I have learnt that career decisions should not be made on instinct alone.

And god forbid that they be made based on a “test” alone, as is often the norm. Any good career aptitude test will throw up 15-30 suitable options for any student, not because they are confused, but because human beings are complex and versatile and capable of doing many different jobs. The same student may be highly suited to computer science, counseling, and art and design! 

So how do we figure out what’s the right fit?

I have learnt that it takes a combination of many of these perspectives to make the most robust decisions. My learning in working closely with over 2,000 students over the last 20 years and over 10,000 through schools suggests that 

Interest + career scope + strengths + personality type = a robust career choice

Great for a diagram! But in real life, how easy is it to get a good set of choices at the intersection of so many areas? 

The good news is that there are enough careers in the world to suit almost anybody! (link to the pragmatism blog). In this article, I will take you through how our counseling program, Pathfinder, systematically guides students to explore, filter, and choose careers from the growing options the world offers. 

A Robust Framework for Career Guidance Counselling: Mapping Interest, Strengths, Personality, and Career Scope

Step 1: Know your Options and then Make a Well-Informed Career Choice

Students are often restricted to options that their parents, uncles, aunts, and cousins have modeled for them. Parents who are engineers may be wary of non-science options, including Economics or Finance, and parents who are designers may find it difficult to understand the potential of options like aviation or biotechnology. 

The truth is that there are more than 80 highly viable options across engineering, research, design, fashion, animation, sports, law, psychology, academics, medicine, finance… and many others!

The Pathfinder session starts with a one-to-one session where the student is introduced to these options and encouraged to choose as many as a short initial inventory. I really love running this session because I find students who were stuck on any one passion (say music, astrophysics, or medicine) suddenly start building inventories of up to 25 careers – some high-interest, some simple curiosity, and some even to please the adult mentors in their life!

Having spent several years researching the changing career.

Step 2: Know yourself – Using Psychometric Tools the Right Way

You love drawing, but are your creative, aesthetic skills core to you? Or is it your love for research and argument that really brings out your best? 

You like to help and cure people, but is your scientific temperament conducive to many years of studying human anatomy, biology, and chemistry in depth?

You love theatre, script, and story, but are you suited to the risk and uncertainty of a career in media and filmmaking?

Psychometric Tools for Career Guidance Counselling

Psychometric tools like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Holland’s Career RIASEC test, or the Strong Interest Inventory give a person a clear view of who they are in terms of what are some dominant qualities that one can design career plans around. 

However, it is critical for the practitioner not use psychometric tools as “diagnostic” tests – “tumhara kya nikla” or “what does the tool say about you.” Luckily, human beings are delightfully complex, and no tool can provide a confident, accurate prediction like blood tests do – and should not be used to generate “answers”. At best, they provide insights for the student to think more clearly.

We use two highly reflective tools and run the student through in-depth self-discovery-based discussions beyond running the questionnaires. We help them understand the model, debate alternative profiles, patiently handle their confusions (am I really that organised? Am I good with people even though I am shy?), so that the student develops a “self-concept” or an understanding of the critical qualities that they would like to design their career journey around. 

Step 3: Career Guidance Counseling – Where Exploration Turns Into Clarity

Now comes the magic! 

If the previous two steps are well-conducted, the stage is set for a focused discussion between the student, parents, and counselor.

The discussion could range around pertinent questions like: I love the idea of designing skyscrapers, but do I have the patience and persistence to build my skills over 10-15 years of long apprenticeships before I get on the big projects? Or, I truly love researching and arguing cases, but perhaps I’ll be better off choosing the stability of corporate law over the risks of litigation? 

What is the work environment of clinical psychology like, and is therapy really expected to boom in the future? 

It would also allow the family and student to frame action plans, like perhaps I should do a short-term coding course to see if I really want to eliminate; perhaps I should do an internship with a law firm; it’s time to gear up for that robotics contest I entered half-heartedly last year!

Step 4: The Plan – Focused, Flexible, and Future-Ready

A focused yet flexible plan. This is the outcome of a successful career guidance counselling session. Focussed enough to indicate a primary career goal, the student can start exploring college courses and role models towards, and flexible enough for the student to have a contingency plan if something doesn’t quite fit down the primary path.

In my experience, this could be as momentous as AI putting a question mark on data analytics, or as ordinary as a chemistry teacher, the student’s chemistry fails with. Read Best Future-Proof Careers and How Students Can Choose Smart, Meaningful Paths.

I have met students from highly creative families who make the unlikely choice of becoming successful pilots, and students from families with generations of aviation professionals who build highly successful careers in art and design, guided largely by a systematic approach in understanding options, self-discovery, and structured career guidance counseling. 

Final Thoughts on Career Guidance Counselling

Career clarity doesn’t happen overnight or through a single test. It is a guided process of exploration, self-discovery, reflection, and planning. Inomi’s Pathfinder Program is designed for students and families who want a structured, thoughtful, and future-ready approach to career decision-making.

Have you got some doubts? Please feel free to contact us to understand how we support students through career counseling, exposure, and long-term planning, and help them build careers that truly fit who they are.

Acknowledgement: This article has been edited by Tanmoy Ray!

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