The importance and value of career advice for a person can not be denied. But there is the question of when to take a career advice. This would depend on what exactly do you mean by career advice. The career advices can be about choosing a career line, a job profile, about building resume, preparing for interview and many other things. Let's look at different stages in a person's career life and see the kind of career advices that are appropriate to that stage.
- Early in Life
It's usually better to choose a career line early in life. But first you must know of the options available to you. In the early life, as in school, the career advice should be general and the objective should be to generate an awareness of what kinds of careers there are and what do they involve in general terms. It's better not to select a career line too early.
- When Choosing a Field
Choosing a career line or field is a major decision that can be greatly benefited from good professional career advice. Actual personalized, professional career advice can help you select a career line that matches your personal inclinations and has good future prospects for you.
- In Academic Life
Career advice can help you select the subjects that are appropriate to your chosen career line. It can also help you choose extra curricular activities and projects that can be of help to you later in the career.
- While Choosing a Job Profile
While a career line or field is quite general a job profile represents an actual job in the industry or market. The choice of ideal job profile for a person is affected by the conditions in the market as well as the inclination, qualification and the ability of that person. It is very unlikely that you would have enough knowledge and experience to make an informed decision about the job profile early in the career or during the academic life. Personalized professional career advice can greatly help you in choosing the right job profile by making you aware of your options and the pros and cons of each alternative.
- When Looking For a Job
Once you have selected a particular job profile the next part is actually finding a job. Career advice can help you in finding a job in several ways.
- Choosing a Company / Job
Different companies have somewhat different selection methods and criteria and their own advantages and disadvantages. Usually more established companies have a tougher selection and the pay scale is higher. In case of startup companies the selection process is easier and you'll likely get a broader experience but the pay scale and job security is lower. This is just the general trend and may vary from company to company. Career advice can help you find the companies to target which are the right options for you considering your qualifications and abilities.
- Building Resume
Your resume is the first thing most employers see about you and more often than not whether you are called for further interviews or not would depend on your resume. Career advices related to resume building can help you build a resume that is well organized, easy to understand and can help you make a good first impression.
- Preparing For Interview
Interviewing is a learned skill. Career advices related to interview can help you prepare for your job interview as well as provide you with important guidance about how to face the actual interview, what to do and what not to do etc.
- Negotiating Salary
Career advice can be helpful to you in negotiating salary but remember that the salary scales vary a lot with region, company and exact type of job. It can be a very bad idea to rely generic advices about negotiating salary which are available online. In general, it's not a bad idea to take the help of a consultancy service for job search, salary negotiation etc.
- When Working
While working on a job career advice can help a person by providing guide lines to improve both actual as well as apparent performance. If you are having some problems in your works place, career advice can help you find a solution. If you are unhappy at your job, not meeting your target or any other consistent problem perhaps it's time to take some career advice.
- Facing a Change
It is certain that you'll face one or more job or even career changes in your life. The change can be as simple as a vertical promotion in your company or department and as major as a changing to a different career path altogether. It can also be a shift to a different but related job or location in the same company or a job change to a different company. The change can be voluntary as when you are offered a better job or salary or involuntary as in when you are laid off or fired. Career advice can help you decide when to change or not change the job, how to deal with getting fired etc.
As we can see career advice can be helpful in all the stages in our career. The thing to keep in mind is career advices are just that, advice or guidelines. You should consider them but as to which advice to follow or how much attention you should pay to them; that is a decision that you have to make for yourself, as when all is said and done, you'll be the one facing the consequences and not the ones who gave you the advice. The career advices can be individual such as those given by a career consultant or generic like those available on the internet. In general you should seek professional career advice when you are about to make decision that would have major, long lasting impact on your career; such as when you are looking for a job or thinking of changing your job or career.
