7 Best Online Career Counselling Courses in India 2020–21
Looking for the comparative analysis of top online career counsellor courses and certifications in India? We have listed down analysis of 7 best career counsellor programs in India.
Career counselling Industry in India projecting an enormous growth potential. Many professionals across the industry and psychology students looking for career counselling courses to excel their career in this field. According to research conducted by edumilestones, India needs 1.4 million career counsellors for 350+ million students. Currently, we have less than 10,000 professionally trained career counsellors.
There sure is a demand for career counsellors today. But where there is demand, there is a line of people waiting to enter to avail the “opportunity”. With so many people entering the field and advertising themselves as career counsellors, it is absolutely necessary to have the right credentials to stand out and make sure the public notices you. These certifications and credentials will help you establish your brand identity and make sure that the students and professionals get access to well trained and qualified career counsellors.
Below is a list of top 7 online counsellor certification courses that one can pursue in order to practice as professional career counsellors.
- Certified Career Analyst (CCA) program
- Jiva | The Promise Foundation
- IGNOU Course
- Feeling Minds
- NCDA Career Counseling Credentials
- ISCHS Certifications
- PsyUni India
Now, let’s dive right into each course analysis.
1. Certified Career Analyst (CCA) program
Certified Career Analyst is an online career counselling course offered by Edumilestones. It is a comprehensive and most popular career counsellor certification course in India. It helps individuals get trained as a career counsellor, while also getting tools to set up their own counselling business. Designed based on 10 years of experience, this program has trained over 2600+ successful counsellors across India. The program is the work effort of 50 leading counsellors from across the globe that have come together to form its comprehensive curriculum. It is due to this comprehensiveness that this program has been deemed an industry standard for years.
According to google reviews this program has got highest rating 4.9/5 for career counselling course.
Certified career analyst program is the only program in India recognized by Bhartiya counselling Psychology Association ( BCPA), ACCPH-UK, APCDA and IAAP. Career assessment is recognized by Onet online USA.
Certified career analyst certification is conducted every Saturday and pass percentage if 75%. To appear in this exam certified career analyst course credits are required.
CCA program offered by Edumilestones has been lauded by counsellors and educational leaders as one of the best certification courses.
Offerings:
Here are a few highlights of the program:
● 30+ Hrs of Career Counselling and Career analysis Training course
● Live Instructor-Led Online and Offline Training Program
● Conceptual & Practical knowledge through case studies, Scenarios analysis & counselling delivery
● Overview of Career Assessment tool and Counselling Platform
● Career Counsellor Certification.
● Post-course lifelong knowledge updating through learning management system.
● Initial 5 handholding.
● Branded psychometric and career counselling website/microsite to start a business as a counsellor.
● Business and lead generation support.
● Basic to Advanced training to accommodate people from different educational/professional backgrounds to pursue a course in career counselling.
● Round the clock technical and marketing support to ensure smooth business as a counsellor
● Only a one-time setup cost, with no annual, no renewal or maintenance fee
● 10 complimentary access codes to help you kick-start your practice
2. Jiva | The Promise Foundation
The Jiva model of career counselling has been developed for India by the Promise Foundation and the Consultant Psychologists Group in partnership with leading career psychologists from around the world. The Jiva Basic Skills in Career Counseling certification developed the participant’s capability to deliver career guidance using the Jiva approach.
Offerings:
The key features of this method of counselling which is imparted to the counsellors undergoing training for the Jiva certification are:
● A values-based approach to career choice.
● A mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods approach to assess the student’s interests and aptitudes.
● Strong focus on career chooser’s skills to take responsibility for career development.
In addition to training in implementing these key features, participants also receive a Jiva Kit which includes a Facilitator Training manual, flip charts to conduct sessions, student worksheets, learning cards, and a career dictionary. These resources are a key feature of this program allowing sessions with minimum resources too. In addition, the Jiva certified counsellors also get an easy-to-use software that offers a database of career information and addresses of colleges/universities.
Limitations:
While counsellors get resources and world-class training, resources to set up a business platform may be missing here. Additionally, the certification for Jiva requires annual renewal, implying a regular recurring cost.
3. IGNOU Course
IGNOU offers part-time professional and short term courses through distance learning mode to allow people to enter the field of career counselling through the formal education channel. There are two main courses that aspiring career counsellors can look at.
Offerings:
The Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling and Family Therapy (PGDCFT) and the Certificate in Guidance (CIG). Both these programs look at holistic training to prepare individuals in all-round counselling along with equipping them to deal with career-related counselling.
Limitations:
The biggest limitation would be the lack of resources to continue into the career counselling field. While IGNOU does impart the counselling knowledge an additional investment will have to be made to create websites, gather testing resources and reference material or activity handouts that are used in career sessions. Additionally, while there are in-person sessions for the course, most of the education is Do It Yourself which may lead to challenges.
4. Feeling Minds
Feeling minds career counsellor course is conducted by Dr Chinu. Feeling Minds is an ISO 9000:2015 certified company that offers a career testing platform along with resources to conduct customized career counselling for students and their parents. This is a full-day career counselling workshop.
Offerings:
The Feeling Minds career counselling workshop is conducted by trained psychologists and psychotherapists and covers training to conduct full-day career guidance workshops. Course includes career counselling for students from 9th to 12th grade, the process of administering, scoring and interpreting career counselling tests, and post-testing counselling for students and their parents. Counsellors who complete the workshop go home with a Certificate by Feeling Minds and ppts and handouts to conduct career counselling sessions.
Limitations:
While the counselling session may help you use Feeling Minds Career Counseling Software actual utilisation of the software will require additional investment. Since the central point of the training may be this software, using the skills developed with other platforms may be difficult. Also, the presentations and handouts provided in the training are only for the full day career guidance sessions and may require upgrading from the counsellor’s end from time to time.
5. NCDA Career Counseling Credentials
The National Career Development Association or the NCDA is an organisation that provides professional development, publications, standards and advocacy to practitioners and educators who inspire and empower individuals to achieve their career goals. It has a credentialing system which allows individuals to showcase to the public at large their depth of knowledge in the career development field.
Offerings:
While the NCDA offers various credentials, the most relevant to professionals entering the career counsellor field are:
● Certified Career Services Provider (CCSP) — for individuals from an array of backgrounds, who deliver services and demonstrate core competency in the field of career services.
● Certified Master of Career Services (CMCS) — recognizes the contributions of professionals who have mastered a variety of coaching, advising, consulting roles in the field of career services.
● Certified Career Counselor (CCC) — the new standard of professional excellence for individuals trained as counsellors, who specialize in the delivery of career counselling services.
● Certified Career Counselor Educator (CCCE) — recognizes the contributions of individuals whose primary focus is on the training of new counsellors who will specialize in the field of career counselling.
Apart from these credentials, NCDA also holds online training sessions called Facilitating Career Development (FCD).
Limitations:
While this credential is a mark of your superior understanding and provision of services in the career development field, NCDA does not provide any extra resources to start up a business. Additionally, India has only one alternative pathway to getting the CCSP credential which is offered by Mindler via their ICCC program. For other credentials and continuous education, a foreign visit may be required to clear testing. The FCD is the only NCDA program that may be offered online.
6. ISCHS Certifications
The International School of Counselling and Holistic Studies (Previously known as Indian School of Counselling and Healing Studies) is an ISO 9001:2005 certified autonomous institute that provides certifications in career counselling, career coaching, guidance and counselling skills, mindfulness, NLP, psychometrics, life coaching and the like to students in over 25 countries.
Offerings:
The two main programs up for offer are Certified Career Counsellor Cum Career Coach ( C5 Licensed Career Counsellor Certification) and the Certified Career Coach (C3 Licensed Career Coach). Both these programs cover 14 dimensions of career counselling professions and give holistic tools to enrolling participants to flourish as counsellors. The C5 licensing program goes into much depth of counselling, coaching, psychometric testing, case studies and much more. It also gives a holistic package to counsellors to set up their online testing platforms and provides counsellor kits to facilitate testing. The C3 course, on the other hand, gives only counsellor kits and business consultation in addition to the in-depth training on career counselling.
Limitations:
Depending on your budgets, the tools offered in every program are different. To get an exclusive benefit of the offerings of ISCHS including their CRM platform and microsite a C5 licensing is a must. But this level of licensing can get expensive. This could mean that those coming from not to strong economic backgrounds may have to enrol in lower levels of certification and make do with limited resources.
7. PsyUni India
PsyUni India is headed by Dr. Ashutosh Shrivastava who is a Behaviour Change Consultant with over 10 years of hands-on experience in the sphere of Psychotherapy & Counselling, Behaviour Analysis and Training.
He has worked with over 10000 professionals on a variety of attitude and behaviour change protocol.
Dr. Ashutiosh Shrivastava is currently the President of Bharatiya Counselling Psychology Association(BCPA).
PsyUni India offers career assessment and career counselling services in Lucknow. They offer multiple programs for schools, colleges, students and professionals
There are 2 main courses that aspiring career counsellors can look for
1. CCA — Certified Career Analyst Program is an added extension of CCA program of Edumilestones. It is an integrated program which helps individual become a successful career counsellor.
2. CCM — Certified Career Mentor program by PsyUni India has 2 variants
- With Complimentary Access Codes
- Without Access Codes
Limitations
- Their Program Certified Career Analyst (CCA) is the extension of CCA program of Edumilestones
- They are the authorized training partner of Edumilestones.
Conclusion
These are the best online career counsellor courses and certifications in India. If you wish to make a change in a student’s career life and contribute to society, then the career counselling course will help you to become a successful career counsellor.
