Those who are newcomers in the industry as career counselors may likely be asked several questions by potential job seekers. The way, a professional answers them or suggests them is all that determines the expertise level of the career coach. According to Harit Gaba, having an overall idea of those questions is crucial for the career guide to efficiently answer them and avoid the chances of being skipped by their potential clients. Following is a list of possible questions, and a guide on how to address them.
- How to Identify the Strengths of A Job Seeker?
Often interviewers ask candidates about their strengths and the way they clarify them helps them in getting the job. Career counselors must be aware that a candidate’s strengths refer to skills like analytical ability, communication, problem-solving skills, technical skills, etc.
Therefore, this can be a possible question that career coaches need to uncover and explain to them by proving their strengths.
For this, being a professional one needs to ask relevant questions and conduct different tests like aptitude tests, technical knowledge in their specific niche, etc. Harit Gaba considers that evaluation of all these test processes will help the professional to identify their strength areas and accordingly show them based on their test results.
- How to Identify Weaknesses of Candidates?
Similarly, employers also ask about the weaknesses of the job seeker.
Importantly, beyond simply identifying them, as a career coach, a professional should guide them on the ways to bolster those limitations of candidates. Because in the eyes of interviewers, if the weaknesses of the candidate are likely to affect their job performance, then they will be rejected.
As stated above, a professional needs to follow the same procedure to figure out their weaknesses and explain their limitation with solutions to overcome them.
- How to Know the Present Job Market Growth for Different Industry?
Evaluation of the job outlook for a specific industry increases the likelihood of candidates finding a job.
Thereby, it can be a possible question that job seekers may ask. A career counselor needs to stay updated about the job growth rate of different industries to answer the question promptly. Importantly, depending on the major that candidates pursue, there can be different types of job openings in the market. This will add to the expertise of the professional to suggest the candidates the type of job options for them and their growth rate.
For instance, if a candidate has a specialization in accounting or biology – some possible job options can be accounting assistant or accounting manager, financial analyst, and on the other hand, biologist, and research analyst respectively. Knowing about career choices will help the professional to make a choice in the areas that have a higher growth rate.
- How to Prepare Attractive Resumes And Cover Letters?
Noteworthy, writing an attention-grabbing resume and cover letter heightens the likelihood of getting a call for an interview or being shortlisted among the masses. So, often candidates on the lookout for jobs ask for special tips from career counselors about how to add value to their resume.
According to Harit Gaba, as a career guide, the professional should have in-depth knowledge of preparing the resume and cover letter. Importantly, the candidate may request the guide to review their current resume and ensure that it looks great and if not how to make necessary changes in it. Therefore, having a thorough knowledge of resume writing is important for the professional. For instance, they may suggest adding special skill levels, or achievements in academics, modifying the style of presenting career goals, etc.
To conclude, apart from the above, a candidate may ask many more questions. Professionals should search on the internet, to explore them and get them prepared.