Career Advisory postgraduate studies (2nd edition) – first impressions.
To be able to advise others in the field of developing and changing their career paths, you need to understand how people make career decisions. And you should start with yourself.
We asked our students, “When you were kids, who did you want to be when you grew up?” Their answers: translator, veterinarian, archaeologist, basketball player, teacher, newsagent salesperson, flight attendant, excavator operator, lawyer, or “someone who conducts interviews”… 85% of them “ended up” in either soft or “hard” HR in roles / positions like a coach, HR Manager, HR BP, HR Psychologist, recruitment coordinator. The others are involved in teaching, and shaping the customer experience. To sum up: it is a very varied, interesting, and mature group. The average work experience is 13 years – beginning from 3, through 16, up to 22 years of experience.
Why Career Advisory postgraduate studies?
You ask: why would somebody who has 16 or 22 years of experience “need” such studies? To “organize their knowledge” and to prepare for the last stage of their careers. Here are other reasons which helped the students decide to enroll in these studies (apart from the reputation of Kozminski University and Career Angels):
“I feel confident in HR and I want to develop my skills in this area”
“I want to organize my knowledge and learn the practical information I will use at my company”
“I have been looking for something like these studies for a long time – I found this program to be the most practical”
“I want to update my knowledge and exchange experiences with other participants”
“I wanted to practice the skills I had gained in my professional group and expand them as a coach – my goal is to organize the knowledge I already have”
“I researched and compared many different programs; I watched webinars of Career Angels which turned out to be very practical – I appreciate the value for money”
“I’m not from HR and I wanted to expand my knowledge to be able to find a better job”
“Career Advisory is close to my heart – I consider myself a career consultant. I would like to commercialize it”
“I am a non-practicing coach; these studies seemed interesting to me because I would be able to deepen my knowledge”
“First of all, I wanted to support HRBP more professionally after the reorganization in my company, and secondly – after the pandemic, I simply needed a refresher”
“I built internal HR by myself; I want to consolidate my knowledge so that I don’t have to work in the dark”
On November 5, we started with lots of energy and, to the surprise of our students, in a very practical manner! The topic of the first weekend was “The Methodology of a Career Consultant” and it covered:
• The competencies of an effective career consultant
• Client typology
• A catalog of questions necessary to diagnose client needs
• The initial interview with a “prospective client”
• The Code of Ethics
“The Code of Ethics” might not seem exciting, but by adding practical examples, it comes alive and it generates an opportunity to discuss constructively. One of the examples from the section “Scope and goal of the cooperation”:
“I am aware of my own career preferences and the potential bias that this entails as well as the fact that this can have a negative impact on my advice”. Why is it so important? A few examples overheard from career consultants:
• “Why are you working so much? Is it worth it to sacrifice for your career?”
• “Don’t risk it.”
• “It doesn’t pay off to change and earn less.”
Career Advisory postgraduate studies – first impressions
One of the most important impressions from the first session: we are not the ones to judge – especially because we are doing it on impulse!
Other reflections after three rounds of practical classes:
“After the first meeting, I felt like I was thrown into the deep end – it was my first opportunity to practice these kinds of tasks”
“I learnt how important assertiveness and the ability to set boundaries are when working with clients, and that it is always worth it to create a contract with the rules of mutual cooperation”
“The practicality of the sessions and how much I enjoyed them positively surprised me!”
“I learnt how important the role of a career consultant really is – it’s a great responsibility”
“Exchanging experiences and learning the importance of other people’s points of view were very beneficial to me”
“The sessions served as a reminder that it’s not wrong to not know everything and that it is important to always ask about everything instead of assuming that you know the answer”
“I paid special attention to not guide clients to their answers (e.g. by asking questions about professional preferences) and to always ask for specifics”
“The first session confirmed my belief that taking up these studies was a great idea!”
We will keep you informed about our students and the progress of our studies. In the meantime, you can read about The Code of Ethics of a Career Consultant.
Are you interested in this field and don’t want to wait until our next edition? Follow information about our courses – also in-house – on this site:
https://careerangels.eu/become-a-certified-career-consultant/
PS read more about the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh meeting.
