atfirstpage-a technology enabled start-up working in the career coaching space
Start-up India recognised enterprise
1) HOLD : PROVIDING RELEVANT AND UPDATED CAREER EXPOSURE
Career exposure - Why it is important in today’s era
● Our lives are defined by the decisions we make and the choices we make when presented with opportunities. Life is a series of decisions that determine our course, goals, and destiny. Education is a powerful instrument that empowers us with the ability to define our futures.
● All children have dreams, and as they grow into young adults, they strive to actualize these dreams. However, not all of them are successful in reaching those goals .As students enter high school or secondary education, they have to make decisions at every juncture, such as choosing the proper subjects and selecting their majors. These decisions have an impact on their life trajectory, opportunities, skills, and career goals. Many students are unable to assess their own aptitudes and opt for ‘easy’ or ‘popular’ subjects. At this stage, it is essential for them to outline their goals and explore the career prospects that align with their academic and/or extracurricular interests. Unfortunately, countless students do not have the support, guidance, and advice they need to make the right decisions. This is where career exposure can play a transformative role.
Role of Career exposure
By laying out the abundance of opportunities for all those who wish to learn and build satisfying futures, career exposure serves several purposes :
Facilitating well-informed decisions:
Students entering the last phase of school exposure often struggle to perform well in subjects they excelled in previously. Interests change with time, and as children develop, their minds are piqued and expanded in all directions. Career exposure helps students understand their capabilities, aspirations, and academic interests. Schools that prioritize career exposure encourage their students to choose their interests and pathways actively.
A psychometric assessment is vital part of the career exposure process which provides a scientific framework for realistic self-assessment . This is an effective tool because it draws out likes and dislikes, and helps students narrow their focus toward their best-fit jobs
Career exposure helps students enjoy smooth and favorable transitions from high school to college and onward into their professional lives.
Encouragement & Motivation :
Students need all the encouragement they can get to build their confidence and sharpen their inherent talents. Mere encouragement goes a long way in setting ideals, reinforcing beliefs, and silencing fears that deter us from success. Highly motivated students are generally all-round achievers, while students who lack support ,struggle with and career-related choices.
Continuing role of Career exposure
The role of Career exposure does not stop with high school. Career educators help people identify the right skills to explore lucrative opportunities for career advancement and financial stability. There is no age or time limit for educating oneself, building skills, and chasing one’s dreams. Students and adults who couldn’t complete their exposure can pick right back up from where they left. They can also start afresh by pursuing skill-oriented courses and training programs to equip themselves with practical knowledge. Today , online courses are a boon for any one wanting to pick up in-demand, marketable skills.
atfirstpage- Value PropositionThe backbone of our attempt is a highly reputed Career Assessment Test which makes use of AI and Machine Learning to analyse a child’s responses and create a comprehensive picture of the child’s orientation style, personality traits, interests, aptitude and emotional quotient, together leading to an understanding of the most suitable stream or career for the child. These insights are further developed through one-to-one counselling sessions handled by the core members as a team, so that every child gets the benefit of their rich experience.
2) LEAD : GUIDING STUDENTS TO EXPLORE SELECTED CAREER DOMAINS
Why Career Exploration matters
How do we expect young students to dream if they don’t know what they can dream about? Once the psychometric assessment has thrown up the most likely matches, it is time to kick-start the next part of the process – career exploration of those selected career domains. Career exploration involves researching different professions in order to gain a better understanding of what they entail. Opportunities for career exploration give young students broader exposure to the working world they will one day enter. It helps them “connect the dots” between school and career in ways that keep them motivated to graduate with the skills they will need for the future.
There are a multitude of reasons why career exploration is significant.
Career exploration experiences and opportunities can improve academic performance. They also increase the likelihood that these students will complete high school and pursue post-secondary exposure.
Career exploration opportunities improve the attitudes of young students about their career possibilities, motivating them to persevere.
Career exploration improves students’ knowledge of career options, encouraging them to develop and work toward goals during the critical years when they are also beginning to venture beyond the orbit of their parents.
This kind of focused investigation allows students to get a sense of what tasks and responsibilities certain jobs include. With a better understanding of the working world, young students can more easily envision how they fit successfully into that world. Knowing the preparation they will need for specific careers, participants also become better able to set realistic goals for themselves and pursue them.
Through this process, students will be able to assess whether they are good candidates for the jobs they are considering. By being knowledgeable on the career options available to them, students will be able to make more informed career decisions, and make choices that are realistic based on their personal skills, traits and aptitude.
Students who are involved in career exploration are more likely to plan their high school courses of study carefully to gain the skills they will need.
Career exploration is thus a vital key in making the final informed decision regarding one's professional pursuits.
atfirstpage- Value PropositionOne common insight that we got through our interactions is that students are hungry for reliable information on career opportunities, particularly regarding new age career domains. In response to this , we have our Cognizance Webinar series with eminent educationists from highly reputed institutions addressing students on emerging areas for their education and subsequent career path. A special feature of the webinar is that ,in addition to hearing from an eminent expert in the area,students also get the opportunity to interact with a young professional working in that particular domain.
3) NURTURE :MAKING STUDENTS CAREER READY
What is Career Readiness?
Picture a brilliant, talented student who has just graduated from high school—with no idea what kind of career she should pursue. Now picture the same student, but instead of being clueless about her career, she is graduating high school with a clear sense of what job she wants in the future, and what criteria, training, or studying is required for her to land it.
That’s the power of career readiness, the process of preparing students with the essential skills they will need to be successful in the workplace and foster a lifelong fulfilling career.
Why do students need to be career-ready?
To be “career-ready” means to possess a number of skills needed to succeed in the workplace specifically and in the professional world in general. Career readiness skills can include :
confidence
resilience
communication
critical thinking
emotional intelligence
financial literacy
stress management
What are the benefits of career readiness?
Career readiness produces a multitude of benefits. It is essential to minimize the skills gap-the disparity that currently exists between the skills employers are looking for and the skills that emerging members of the workforce actually possess.
The more career readiness is woven into high school experience , the better-equipped students will be to mould fulfilling careers for themselves.
Career readiness is also important because it ensures that students complete their secondary exposure with essential real-world skills.
They will be able to think critically, deliver and receive constructive criticism, solve problems, form and nurture positive relationships, and understand their role in an organization’s bigger picture.
atfirstpage- Value PropositionThrough our different modules on topics ranging from Managing Emotions to Effective Communication , we aspire to develop in our students the most in-demand 21st century skills- critical thinking, communication skills and emotional intelligence and thus make them career ready.