Counseling and Guidance Tips for Youngsters

For vocational success, the student must lean not only what kind of jobs he can do well, but also those, he will be happy in. And planning often needs to be realistic about lack of abilities.

For example, a talent project may find a high percentage of school seniors scoring too low to qualify for law school. But this does not tell the whole story. True, there is certain minimum ability requirements are to be met for success in any field. Beyond a given level, however, factors other than objective scores become influential; personality and motivation being the most important.

The same may hold true for success in college. In a study, it was found that a freshman who scored average on College Boards rated high in certain other qualities. These extra qualities include factors such as energy, drive, judgment and general spirit. Such a student is likely to rank just as high as the one who was admitted with top entrance exam scores. One study indicated that job dissatisfaction among college graduates is fairly high, a good percentage of them wishing they had specialized in something else. From these, it is becoming clear that more emphasis should be given to counseling and guidance early in the career-planning process. The student should be made aware that vocational guidance is usually a long drawn-out process.

In counseling, the student can be given helpful hints for getting the most out of the process. First, however, he should be given indications as to what he himself brings into the counseling situation, including an awareness of how vague his knowledge really is about his abilities, aptitudes, skills, habits and problems. He should know something about what other people perceive of him, and it will be helpful if he can learn something about the background of the counselor in order to have effective communication. Knowing about his own wants, his frustrations and conflicts and how he likes to spend his time may be important to career guidance.

Testing is often very helpful in counseling. In some college situations tests are given on entrance, providing a ready reference for the counselor as to the student's general mental capability, achievement and attitude. Though College scores are useful, general data on interests are more important.

The student responds to the tests by indicating "like," "indifferent," or "dislike." Ranking of certain other activities are made in order of preference and by giving self-rankings of abilities and personal characteristics. Two basic facts emerge from these results; first, successful members of any given occupation have similar patterns of interest, and second, interest patterns point the direction for vocational planning. They have been shown to be valuable in counseling when used alongside other measures.