Where to get career guidance?

На вопрос отвечает Эльмира Давыдова, кандидат психологических наук, консультант по карьере и профориентации, директор центра профориентации «ПрофГид», автор теста на профориентацию ПрофГид.

The question is answered by Elmira Davydova, the director of the career guidance center ProfGuide, a candidate of psychological sciences, a career and vocational guidance consultant.

Career guidance can be understood both as the study of different professions and as a brief, decisive act of choosing a profession for yourself.

Where can a student get career guidance?

You can do it right at home: read about professions on websites, read books about professions, watch interviews with professionals on YouTube, and watch films about professionals. However, this is not enough to choose a profession for yourself. Students receive career guidance at their school, where tests are conducted and professionals are invited to talk about their work.

It's best to get career guidance at a career guidance center, and here's why: a professional career counselor knows all the professions and educational institutions. In this crucial matter, it's not advisable to rely on "self-diagnosis": 70% of people randomly choose a profession and waste years. The oldest career guidance center where a student can get career guidance is located in Moscow - ProfGid. For residents of St. Petersburg and other cities and countries, ProfGid offers online consultations.

Where to take a career guidance test?

There are many websites where you can take career guidance tests for students and adults. And even complete 7 steps in choosing a profession. There are many career guidance tests, but free tests leave the question of what your future profession should be unresolved. Therefore, to make the task of choosing a profession easier, we have created several tests for specific professions. After taking them, you will clearly understand whether they are suitable for you or not. For some professions, you'll definitely realize they're not for you, which is already significant. After all, you need to narrow down the options. But to choose an exact profession and hear solid reasoning, you need to undergo targeted career guidance for 2 hours.

Where to get career guidance for adults?

Changing professions as an adult is not embarrassing, it's exciting, although a bit scary, of course. But an adult can't afford to make a mistake. This career change must be extremely justified. It should not be based solely on tests. A test does not take into account your life circumstances, your age, physical qualities. Career guidance should be provided by a wise adult - an experienced career counselor, a psychologist who thinks broadly and sees not only office professions but also professions in the arts, sciences, sports, and all other fields.

By the way, recently the ProfGuide career guidance center has developed a precise career orientation test, which will tell you which professions are suitable for you, provide a conclusion about your personality type and intelligence.