Plan Ahead: Parents of Children in Class XII

Over the years, I have come across parents who fall into few categories. First ones are very serious about giving their kids the best education and they plan everything well. Second are parents who trust their kids’ choices and support them what ever it may be. Third are parents who believe that their kids will find a way for themselves. All of these parents have had immense success and few failures. But the one that I feel very sad about, fall in the fourth category; Parents who wake up too late to find the horse has already bolted from the stable and then try to latch it. I am addressing the fourth category, in particular.

As a Career Counselor speaking and interacting with hundreds of kids and double that number of parents, I still find there exists this fourth group of parents who wait till their kids complete their Class XII to decide their future. They do not realize by that time; a whole lot of options have already foreclosed for them because the applications and exams for many streams have already got over halfway through the Class XII.

The applications commence as early as July while your children have just entered Class XII. Yes, you heard that right. The first exam in Class XII for which a child is eligible is KVPY Exam for entry to the IISC. Application opens in July and exam is written in November. UPSC NDA & NAVAC Exam, application closes by September and the written exam is in November. The IIT JEE first exam is in December and all Design Exams like UCEED, NID, NIFT etc. get conducted in January for which the application closes by November of the previous year. Even The Film and Television Institute of India application closes in February, so is the case with the English & Foreign Language University entrance Exam. So, unless the parent and the child get the clarity of what they need to do, they may be trifle too late to decide and might even have to forego a year to get the career of their choice. Parents, please realize that the preparation for a good future starts with selecting the right Stream after Class X. That is the start point. It also gives children time to prepare for Competitive Exams in Class XII.

Many such cases are coming to me and it makes me feel sad. I wish they had come a few months before so that the child can usefully utilize the many options with them and get the time to prepare for the same. I still remember one child last year whose final counseling session was done on the day the Design exam UCEED application was closing. Obviously, the child did not make it in the exam because she hardly had any preparation time even though she would have done fantastically well in that, had she prepared. This year the numbers are higher, of the parents who came after Class XII results. What a wasted opportunity. Nevertheless they still found it helpful.

In my series of blogs, I have repeatedly insisted that you should take a call for the right career pathway immediately after Class X Exam or earlier so that the child can get clear 2 years to prepare for the competitive exams along with their Class XII exams. Otherwise taking a drop year is the only option left for the children and parents who do not plan well ahead.

Do get your child counseled early so that they have the clarity to pick and choose their best suited career paths. Please contact counselors near you or write to me at sajan (at) renergetics.com to find a career counselor who has been trained and certified by one of India’s leading psychologist, Dr. Chinu Agrawal, PhD, Director of Feeling Minds.

Thousands of kids have benefited, Why not yours?

Think, Plan, Act!

Are Career Counselling Assessment’s Scientific?

This is an oft asked question to me by many parents? What is the Validity of the counselling’s you do? Well, so far I had only the data of satisfaction of the parents of the kids whom I counselled, to prove that these counselling are scientific. Even though Dr. Chinu Agrawal, Director of Feeling Minds, confidently assures me about the Reliability and Validity of the Feeling Minds® protocol which has gone through stringent research process. She is an internationally certified and accredited Career Expert who has devoted her life to bringing Scientific Career Guidance and Counseling procedures to everyone.

Source: www. semanticscholar.org

One day an opportunity presented itself in front of me to actually test these claims. My very dear friend’s daughter had taken these sessions when she entered 9^th standard in Oct 2017. I discussed the options with the child but we never formally completed the counselling because of various reasons especially because she was busy with her sports activities and the parents were traveling with her across the country. Besides there was this feeling, that she has still got time to do it. However, time just flew by. The girl completed her Xth boards in May 2019 with flying colors where she scored nearly 96%. That was when the parents realized it is time to complete the assessments.

My friend called me and said, “I think she has changed over the last 18 months, so I would want you to reassess her”. I told him it is not required as the tests are valid over time, but he said that he found some changes in the daughter and would like the assessment done all over again as lot of time had passed. I had no option but to oblige. But in my heart I was happy as I saw an opportunity to test this system myself.

I re-administered the assessment. The child did the test patiently. I got the results of the assessment. To my utter surprise there was hardly any change over the past 18 months. The personality was exactly same. Her top two Career Interests were same. There were minor changes in the other interests. Over all her top choices had hardly changed. Design and Psychology still retained their top positions, except Architecture which had come strong earlier had now gone down in priority. This proved beyond doubt that Dr. Chinu’s claims were indeed based on solid research. The Validity and Reliability of these tests included in the Feeling Minds® protocol were indeed very high.

Psychometric tests are developed after a lot of research. I would strongly advise parents to check the validity and reliability of the Career Counselling tests that is being administered by professionals. There should be data available to show the scientific research of having been field tested. We are after all dealing with Careers of our Children and we need to be sure that the instruments are good and reliable.

A good counselling should be individual based, specific to the child. It should test the child’s Personality, Values, Career Interests, Dreams & Aspirations and Skills & Abilities. Correct assessment will lead to Focus and Clarity for the kids and they will perform well to the best of their potential. I have many parents writing to me about the excellent results their kids have got in board exams after having got such clarity.

Feeling Minds has trained several Career Counselors all over India. You can write to me at sajan (at) renergetics.com should you need assistance in finding suitable counselors near your place to help your kids.

Zig Ziglar said “Will you look back on life and say, ‘I wish I had,’ or ‘I’m glad I did?” I hope you will choose the later. All the very best.