Career Counselor – How to become a Career Counselor

Career Counselor also know as Career Consultants are the professional who helps people from almost all walks of life, of all age groups and with different education and experience levels to make up their mind to choose a career best suited to their caliber and liking irrespective of the fact that they are just entering in the working environment or they’ve already spent a lot of time in it.
The main objective of a Career Consultant is to help his clients in the right direction when it comes to choosing careers that they will excel at and be happy with.
Career Counselor Eligibility  
Educational Qualification
There is no specific educational qualification or experience necessary to become a Career Counselor. However, someone having related certification or field experience in areas like public relations, Human Resource Management, Human Psychology and Career Counseling etc. will have edge over the others and his chances of getting work at the initial stage will increase many folds.
Career Counselor Required Skills
The foremost requirement for a Career Counselor is an interest in working with different kind of people or organizations and an ability to connect with them with jest to make a difference in their lives.
Excellent communication skills and knowledge of more than one language is a must for handling people from all walks of life. It may be corporate students or already working professionals.
Besides a good Career Counselor must have knowledge of various career options for different kind of people.
A Career Counsellor must have the ability to convince his clients with his logical reasoning rationalism.
Ability to put his prospective clients at ease will work wonders for a Career Counselor to work efficiently and satisfactorily.
Not last but least he should have skills and expertise to run his own Career Counseling business.
How to become a Career Counselor?  
One has to follow the below-given steps for becoming a Career Counselor.
Step 1
The first step towards becoming a qualified Career Counselor Consultant is to complete Senior Secondary i.e +2 in any stream. However, +2 with related subjects will help in the long run.
Step 2
After completing +2 the aspiring Career Counselor can go for Certificate, Diploma or Under Graduate Course in the related subjects like that of Career Counseling, Human Resource Development, Public Relation etc. For some courses, the students may also take an entrance test. Some of the related courses are:
Diploma in Guidance and Counseling
B.A. (Human Resource Development)
Step 3
After getting UG degree or diploma the candidates can go for higher studies in the related field or can join with some Career Counseling firms to have firsthand experience before establishing his own organization.
Career Counselors Job Description 
Career Counselors help their prospective client to make up their mind for a career best suited to their liking and ability.
They may offer them guidance and advice about some particular career that they want to know about.
Career Counselors take various kind of aptitude and skill test to know his/her clients’ strengths liking etc. for a particular career.
Career Counselors play a role in determining the best career for their clients by getting to know his educational and other qualifications.
The career counsellors job description also include to take a number of tests and surveys like IQ and aptitude tests, as well as fill out questionnaires on their interests and skills.
Besides they help their clients with writing resumes and cover letters to get their jobs.
Career Counselors Job Prospects
With the globalization of the world economy and opening of so many fields to make once career the job prospects of career consultant have increased many folds in the recent past. In such a wide range of options, every other person is little confused to select a career path for him/her self. So to help them out from this mess a career consultant has almost become an indispensable professional in today scenario.  Today a career consultant can find works in high schools and colleges to help students get ready for their chosen careers. They can also find jobs in social services organizations and staffing agencies. Someone have entrepreneurial skills can go for private practices and make a name for themselves in this field.
Career Counselors Salary
There is no limit for Career Counselors who work independently. They can earn according to their expertise and counselling skills which can be as low as Rs.1,000 per case to as high as Rs.20,000 depending upon their clients. Once an Image Consultant established his credentials in the market there is no upper limit for him in this every growing field.
Those who are working with educational or career counselling institutes can expect to get anything from Rs.5,00,000 per year to Rs. 8,00,000 per year.