In this day and age, there are more careers than there ever were in the past, and each one has a specific career path and educational requirement that must be met if you want to secure employment. So how are graduating high school students supposed to make the choice between becoming a counselor of anger management in Hamilton and becoming a scuba diver installing transatlantic telephone cables? The same way their parents did when they were young and things were less complicated: by going to the guidance counselor for advice.
Even with all the cutbacks on education that we've had to make here in Quebec and in the rest of Canada, all Gatineau high schools will have at least one dedicated guidance counselor. Part of their jobs is to mediate disputes between students and counsel them on their personal issues, but more importantly their job is to help you turn your love for box and pan brakes into a career. So as tempting as it may be to rely only on the internet or to just go your own way, at least make one appointment to talk to the guidance counselor before you graduate.
Guidance counselors don't know all the careers in the world, of course, but generally speaking careers can be divided into categories based on the paths you use to get there: university, community college, vocational school, apprenticeships, and direct applications. Your guidance counselor will be able to look at your school records: your marks, your activities, etc, and tell you which type of career you would best be suited for if you're unsure whether you want to manage inverse ETFs or teach primary school.
Where guidance counselors are most helpful, however, is in helping you apply to programs, schools, and scholarships. They'll get you the application, go over it with you, collect your marks and recommendation letters, and tell you where to send it. They also have extensive lists of monetary awards (scholarships, grants, bursaries) available to students of the school from local companies like Nema 4x or the Gatineau Credit Union and can enter your name if you qualify.
Guidance counselors are less helpful when it comes to creative careers, mostly because there tend not to be set paths for achieving success in a creative profession. You need three factors: talent, persistence, and luck, and counselors can't help you there. They can tell you about creative schools, however, which might be of more help to you in getting a job with Photography Ottawa and helping you develop your talent into marketable skills. The important thing to remember about seeing a guidance counselor is that they are there to guide, not direct, so anything they say is merely a suggestion. Final decision rests with you.
If you enjoyed reading this article about how a guidance counselor can help you plan for a career with an airline or in management, you may also be interested in reading this article entitled Using An Airline Management System.
| 