The current labor market requires a series of standards that must be met by anyone interested in achieving a specific job position; However, it is not always easy to get a realistic idea of what the available jobs and professional roles in which one can specialize are like. In fact, it is not even easy to be clear about what we want, what we expect from our professional career.
To bring together all the elements that must be taken into account when applying for a specific job, from the field of education and Human Resources management The term “career orientation” has been coined for several decades In this article we will see what it consists of.
What is career orientation
Career orientation is a concept that is little known in our country but widely used in many countries around us, especially in those with an Anglo-Saxon tradition. It is a broad concept used to define all those requirements that must be met by a person who is in the process of searching for employment, as well as to adapt their professional profile to apply for a specific job and to carry out an analysis of information on the job market. job.
It is a formal orientation process, that is, with which we acquire all those elements and equipment in an intentional, planned and regulated manner by professionals specialized in the subject, normally psychologists or professionals specialized in Human Resources in general.
More specifically, the main areas that career guidance deals with are: curricular adaptation aimed at a desired job; training in processes to overcome selection processes and the development of a specific professional training itinerary, that is, the training of applicants.
Career guidance helps us acquire professional skills which are all the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to be able to apply for a specific job at the desired time.
Some of the most important professional skills are: technical skills (knowing how things work), methodological skills (skills that allow us to successfully do any task) and participatory skills (related to the relationship with people and skills). social).
The 7 essential keys to career orientation
The fact that it is a complex subject that addresses so many areas, both theoretical and practical, makes some keys necessary to shed light on the concept.
Next we will review the main key ideas that help us better understand career guidance and its functions
1. It allows you to improve your professional profile
Some people who have a limited or poorly developed vision of career guidance may consider that it is simply a way to evaluate technical abilities in workers by implementing all types of tests.
The truth is that job or professional guidance is not simply based on doing intelligence tests to detect the sub-types of intelligence in which each person stands out the most and assigning them a specific job.
On the contrary, It serves to analyze the present capabilities of a person and provide them with all types of potentialities to give a radical change to your professional profile, with which you will be able to access any type of job you want.
These types of changes are achieved thanks to learning a wide variety of components, knowledge, strategies and skills of all kinds, which can be integrated into the daily work practice of any person with the correct guidance from quality professionals.
2. Allows you to make future plans
We can often find ourselves stuck in a non-dynamic work situation in which we find few professional opportunities at the present time. However, this can be changed if we take full advantage of career guidance.
Career guidance helps us make plans for the future taking into account the limitations of the present Which means that through continued training and the acquisition of certain new skills, knowledge or abilities we can achieve a new and promising professional horizon in which to achieve everything we set our minds to.
3. It allows you to know the risks and opportunities of each professional opportunity
For people who feel disoriented, lost and unable to achieve anything in their work life, there is a way for them to achieve a new perspective and deeply analyze each new outlet that professional guidance offers them.
Professional guidance offers us assistance in evaluating the risks and opportunities of each potential career development option l, so that we are the ones who choose, once we have all the knowledge, which option is best for our future.
4. Facilitates family conciliation
Career orientation takes into account very important aspects to achieve fulfillment in the personal and domestic sphere, such as family balance and other aspects of life that are not part of work.
Being able to integrate work and professional life with personal life is essential to have fulfilled, mentally healthy and happy workers, which is why more and more people are taking advantage of the benefits of this discipline.
5. Provides information about the world of work
Among young people who are starting to look for work, as well as people with little work experience, There are many doubts, concerns, fears, erroneous beliefs and other aspects related to ignorance and lack of global perspective; questions that are almost never answered satisfactorily.
Career guidance offers complete advice for all those people who are starting out in the world of work, with professionals specialized in answering all those doubts and uncertainties that sometimes overwhelm us.
6. Promote appropriate training for each case
One of the main areas of career guidance is the training of professionals and applicants for all types of jobs with the most useful, updated methods based on scientific evidence.
Training is essential for any worker, whether young or old, experienced or new , but you have to know how to manage it and understand what is worth investing the time and effort in. And it is the path that many professionals follow to improve their professional profile and be able to access all types of promotions and promotions in their jobs.
7. Helps manage emotions in the process
In addition to everything mentioned above, career guidance also includes techniques to work on emotional or mental health problems in general that the worker may present, such as anxiety, stress and discomfort or constant worries about their future.
Career guidance gives us a series of tools with which we can manage our state of mind, and helps us improve our attitude when looking for work by promoting motivation, self-confidence and the positive construction of work objectives.
Are you looking for assistance in the field of career guidance?
If you are interested in receiving support through career guidance, contact us.
In UPAD Psychology and Coaching We offer this service and help people develop the soft skills necessary to face demanding work projects.