Career Guidance for Students – The Ultimate Manual

We spend countless hours learning the theories of our academic curriculum and give our hundred per cent to achieve good grades. It is somehow made to believe that good marks are everything (though it is important.), but it is just a part and not everything that makes the career.

The world is quite complex, and career excellence does not depend only on academic mastery; you have to be good at problem-solving, soft skills, and communication. Also, at the end of the day, what matters is your liking and happiness.

Thus, the right guidance for a career is of utmost importance.

Hence, intending to help students and young professionals, we have compiled some important tips and guide points in this post to choose the right career path (part I). Also, we have added some actionable tips on improving soft skills for young professionals (part II).

Part 1: Choosing a career path  

If you do a simple search online or go through a dictionary, you will know that career is the activity for which you get trained and do most of the day to earn money. A career is a very integral part of any person. If you are spending most of your time on it, then it’s a no-brainer that you must be interested or feel happy about it. Yet, the reality is quite different.

As per a survey of 857 people, one in every five people think that they chose the wrong career path. Here are the most common reasons for choosing the wrong road of career:

• Choosing the career track that someone else chose and found success
• Peer and parental pressure
• Followed a certain track due to ongoing mass trends and lucrative job offers associated
• Lack of career coaching and guidance while studying

Also, many times people don’t know how to act in real working conditions. They spend most of their study years acquiring knowledge about the subject but forget to learn the skill set required to work in an organization. So, here are some guidance points to choose your career path.

1.1 Talk with people who are in your aspiring position

Most of the time, we focus on the perks that someone is enjoying. We intend to follow the same path, which is one of the disastrous mistakes to commit. Don’t rush things; the task here is to ponder not perks but the work that people do to get those perks.

If you want to navigate your career in the same direction that a person chose, have a conversation with them. Try to ask questions about the function that they do in the organization. Ask questions as follows:

• What is your daily routine in the office?
• How do your position and work stand in the value chain?
• What are some challenges that you face?
• What skills other than academic knowledge are required for this position?

Ask open-ended questions. Once you get the inputs, try to align them with your fields of interest and capabilities. This simple conversation will clear a lot of doubts and false perspectives that you have. This also helps in knowing the work of liking and extra-curricular stuff that you need to do.

But what if you don’t know someone…

There are many students, who don’t have anyone in their acquaintance to have this conversation in their career. Under such conditions, utilize the following tips to find suitable sources:

a. Alumni network:

It’s a very underrated channel to get the right guidance for your career development. Alumni are those who can give advice that is quite relevant to your background and academics. They have already gone through your stage and know mistakes to avoid or things to do once passed out of college.

If you are fresher or in your final years, try to connect with your alumni. Ask them about the real scenarios of the industry and job functions. Try to open up and tell them about your interests and strengths. Alumni can recommend your job roles and companies that can leverage your true potential and interest.

Remember, a person always has a soft corner for the school or college they attended. They feel good talking with someone from the same alma mater. Thus, they will help you with the best intentions.

b. Connect on Linkedin

LinkedIn is a true hub of professional and career growth. On LinkedIn, you will find people working in almost every sector and job function. Also, LinkedIn gives you the ability to connect with people based on their job role, company, and location.

Try connecting with people in your aspiring position and field. Don’t be hesitant or think that people will not help. Linkedin is a professional platform, and people are very kind to solve professional doubts and have conversations.

After connecting, have conversations on career growth, guidance, and doubts via direct messages. It’s a very effective approach if done right with an intention to learn.

c. Interact on other social platforms:

Apart from popular social channels like Linkedin, there are platforms like Reddit or Quora. Reddit has subreddits that have tons of information and the facility to ask questions about careers. Especially follow subreddits like r/careerguidance to ask questions or read threads that clear your queries. It’s a community of 400k+ people.

As a fresher, these career tips, if followed rightly, can help you a lot in shaping your decision. One thing to remember, it’s common not to know the right career path. So, don’t be afraid to seek help or advice from experienced people.

1.2 Look for internships

One thing that is overlooked by many students and young professionals is ‘internships’. Many do it for curriculum requirements, but it is very important for your career development. Internships are like giving the sense of water depth (real-world job environment) without actually getting wet.

Here are certain advantages of doing an internship.

• Gives you the first-hand experience of working in an organization.
• Helps you understand the current trends and demands of your sector.
• Know practical approaches to solving problems.
• Hands-on experience with tools, products, and software.
• Soft skills and communication skills.
• Know the reality of job roles, and one of your interests.
• Enriches your resume with practical experience.
• They are the foundation to success in the first job.

There are paid and unpaid internships; but if you are freshers, your intentions should be to learn as much as possible. Don’t hesitate to have long working hours. Hard work is the foundation of success.

Both good and bad experience is a part of learning that can help you decide your future course. Internships also help in knowing positions that align with your strengths and liking. It’s like a self career guidance.

Here are certain tips to find an internship with maximum learning.

a) Try to connect with alumni, as they can help you in getting one.

b) Look for startups over multi-national companies; as the learning curve in new companies is very steep.

c) Utilise social platforms like Linkedin. Post status with your need, many people will share this post with the right people.

d) Check career sections of your favourite companies from time to time. Also, send a mail to HR for future references.

e) Utilise the power of the internet, but with caution. There are many online job portals, but read everything carefully and verify companies’ requirements. Don’t share personal information anywhere. Also, avoid responding to emails that are not custom.

An internship is a wonderful opportunity for testing your abilities, and skills and knowing your field of interest. If your college doesn’t help with internship search, look for yourself; but don’t miss them.

1.3 Self-introspection for career guidance

After going through previous steps like talking with alumni, people on desired positions, or doing internships. It’s time to do some self-introspection. The whole experience needs to be analysed and structured to decide on your professional journey.

At this stage, you can ask yourself some questions to make the final decision. The questions can be,

• Which department gets me excited about doing work?
• How my personality will help in my chosen field?
• What has my practical experience taught me about the industry?
• What is the future scope in my field?
• Which false perception did my internship or talk with the alumni break?

You can also discuss with your parents and close friends the learnings that you had and the decision that you are making. But remember to discuss with people with optimistic attitudes, and not those who confuse more. The whole aim of introspection is to take time and not take decisions in the surge of emotions.

The learnings from the internship, conversations with industry people, and your introspection can clear the career path you want to take.

But, what if there comes a situation where you want to make a career change, and you are not happy with the current path. The following tip is for you.

1.4 Career change 

Before going further, it’s important to know that changing career paths have been quite common and more frequent in recent years. So, don’t feel guilty. Instead, you should feel proud of yourself to acknowledge the need to change.

Career change is a gradual process, and you don’t need to make an immediate change and get into a regretful situation.

First, analyze the reason for giving up on your previous career field. If the reason seems genuine and not an emotional surge, then you are good to move. But remember that every field has some drawbacks, and you definitely can’t change your career with the perception of a rosy situation in the other field.

You must stick to the present field till you don’t find a concrete future path. During this time, you must talk with people working in your desired field. You can also follow the previous steps mentioned for the same.

In this present time of easy digital access, there are tons of free courses in all fields. Try to leverage this opportunity, and complete these free courses. Once you find an interest and generate a liking, look for paid professional courses and post-graduation courses.

In this way, you can make a successful career change without falling into a dead end or a trap of confusion.

Part 2: Improving soft skills

Apart from choosing the right field to work in, many people face the problem of ineffective communication and a lack of presentation skills. So what is a soft skill?

Soft skills are interpersonal abilities and approaches to handling work, communications, and other workplace duty that doesn’t include your field knowledge. Your intelligence and knowledge are nothing without soft skills. They are the medium between your knowledge, thoughts, and the outer world.

Numerous surveys and research conducted by imminent institutions revealed that soft skills are in demand. One such study conducted by Udemy in 2021 concluded that the need for communication skills is on the rise.

Thus soft skills and effective communication are an integral part of career development. They are also called power skills; as they have a huge importance in the corporate world. Some of the important soft skills are:

• Written and oral communication
• Presentation skills
• Time management and Productivity
• Emotional intelligence

So here are some tips that you can find helpful to improve your soft skills and accelerate your career success.

2.1 Written and oral communication

It is a mandatory skill to become a successful professional. Communication mastery comes from practice, and you have to have a daily commitment to become better at it. What you should remember is that your communication depends on the audience, objective, and message. A message is always SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.

a) Written communication

Written communication has simplicity, clarity, and brevity. Use frameworks like opening-body-conclusion to write formal emails, reports, and proposals. Which means,

• Opening: Greeting with introduction
• Body: Actual message that is clear and SMART
• Conclusion: Summing your message and future course of action.

Work on your grammar, and use tools like Grammarly to avoid mistakes in writing. After writing, sleep over it, and read it after a while. This helps you in making corrections. Write short sentences, and avoid jargon and lengthy paragraphs.

Remember to read a lot about your topics and try to get in-depth knowledge. Reading and writing are synchronous,  and you can get better if you do it regularly.

b) Oral communication

Oral communication is an inseparable part of your job, and you must be better at it. Mastery over communication comes with initiative. You can’t keep quiet or sit in a corner in a meeting; you have to take initiative to become a better speaker.

One thing that is most overlooked in oral communication is listening. Listening is an art, and you have to not only listen to the words but understand the motive behind others’ speeches. Effective listening is the foundation of good communication.

If you are about to give a speech, try to write a small note sheet, and keep it in front of you to keep your talk in line. Have a straight posture; as confidence in speech comes through confident body language. Keep your shoulder, chest, and chin up. Maintain eye contact, and speak clearly.

In oral communication, your effectiveness depends 55% on body language, 38% on vocal and voice modulation, and 7% on verbal. Don’t consider communication as a burden, but as an opportunity to express your talent, and skills. Practice the above-mentioned steps, and you will feel more confident in your work.

2.2 Presentation skills

Presentation skills are most sought after in the corporate world. Your mastery and brilliance can’t be known to your colleague; if you don’t have good presentation skills. As most of your presentation will involve a slide show; here are certain actionable tips to remember:

• Make T/2 number of slides, where T is the allotted time.
• Create your script of the presentation by using frameworks like opening-body-conclusion, then move on to slide creation.
• Make two versions of your presentation. One with less text to use during the actual presentation; the other with description to distribute in the form of PDF to others.
• Write page numbers on each slide, and don’t forget to give credits to the images. 
• Utilise a visual-text combo, where half the slide is for an image/video, and another half for text. 
• Don’t forget to check spells at the end. Also, refrain from adding vibrant fonts and colours. Stick to brand colours and template. 

Presentation is all about expressing your thoughts, opinions, and learnings. So, try to gauge the audience’s attention with your talk, rather than simply reading from slides.

2.3 Time management and productivity 

Suppose you are working in your desired position where you can positively utilise your knowledge and passion. But what if the workload is high, and you are unable to tackle it? Time management and productivity are skills that are desired by every employer but not taught in schools.

Everyone has twenty-four hours, and the way to utilise is what time management is all about. Thus, if you are a master in it, you are a precious asset to any company.

a) Planning

One of the important aspects of time management is planning your tomorrow today. Every night try to plan and chalk down the tasks that need to be done tomorrow. But, seeing a huge list can be overwhelming. That’s why you have to micro-plan each hour of the day.

Suppose you have to write a report or create a presentation that has a deadline coming. You can break this activity into hours, and set the goal of writing 250 words in an hour or a certain number of slides. This breaks that big task into the small task and motivates you to take tiny steps to achieve that big goal.

b) Don’t mix two contrast tasks

One of the mistakes that many people commit is that they mix two contrasting tasks. Like, surfing on social media or talking over the phone while at work. This not only hampers productivity but also increases your working hours, which affects the work-life balance.

Try to build your work environment such that; time-wasting task becomes difficult. Like using focus apps that lock the phone or social sites for specific hours.

Assign each hour of your day to a specific task, and maintain discipline. You have to work on your habits and behaviour to become good at time management. It is also recommended to follow the teachings of people like James Clear to get actionable insight on time management, habits, and productivity.

2.4 Emotional intelligence

Let’s move on to the last skill and the most underrated one that is emotional intelligence. People will high emotional intelligence are better at leadership, teamwork, and handling real-life problems. A student or young professional must work on EQ. Here are certain aspects on which you must take action.

a) Impulse

There come situations where you will feel an upsurge of emotions, and want to make decisions instantly. These impulsive decisions can be regretful, and you must avoid them. Throughout evolution, our brain has mastered split-second decisions, as it helped in surviving in the wild. But, in modern it can be harmful.

To avoid impulse, try to understand the message behind constant thoughts. You might find that it’s just insecurity and not reality. Thus, it’s recommended to press pause on your activities when you feel impulsive. Let this anxiety go, and think calmly to take the right future action.

b) Empathy

Empathy is getting rare, which is an integral quality of a true leader. Due to our grading system in education, we get familiar with thinking only about our benefits and results. But, in an organization, success lies in caring for colleagues and team members.

Empathy comes when you get out of self-centeredness and put yourself in the position of others. If someone is not in a good mood, don’t blame them, instead let them have a free space, as they must be going through personal problems in life.

Due to constant target chasing, sometimes we focus on numbers and not the person behind them. Thus, it is far better to have a talk and understand the reason for their productivity. Empathy creates bonds of trust and care which makes a human or a group of people do great things.

c) Happiness

Happiness is the driving force behind most of the things that we do. But, there is an aspect of happiness that needs to be said. Sometimes, happiness can overestimate our potential to commit things that are far fetched.

Thus, in happy moments, don’t make decisions or commit to doing certain things for someone. These are small mistakes that can create future problems and image damage. Always take decisions when your mind is calm, and you are in the position to analyse the situation in front of you.

Emotional intelligence is a vast field, and we have covered a few aspects here to help you become more human and professional in the workplace. Apply some of the tips in your daily life; to see positive changes.

Summary

Here are some points to sum up the whole career guidance manual.

• Many people feel guilty about choosing the wrong career. Thus, career advice plays a crucial role for freshers and students.
• Talk with people in your aspiring positions, and alumni via face to face and social media to know the situation in the industry.
• Career change is a gradual process, and you must make a tiny transition rather than a big leap.
• Soft skills are in huge demand, now termed power skills.
• Communication mastery comes with practice. Align it with your audience, and use a framework like opening-body-conclusion.
• Presentation is a supplement to your knowledge showcasing. You are the real star of a presentation.
• Time management requires planning, focus, and discipline.
• Emotional intelligence requires you to understand your thoughts and the message behind them. Calmly take decisions, and have empathy for others. 

A career is a tool to fully utilise your potential. As a fresher, you might find the situation difficult but believe in yourself. Have the confidence to take action based on your intelligence, knowledge, inputs, and gut. Hope you find your true calling from this guide.