Career counselling in practice at EKS

What was the impulse that led to the creation of a career counselling program? Why do we have this course in our offer and what can participants learn? Helena Košťálová, supervisor of the career counselling program, describes the path and explains the background to the courses.

What is the significance of career counselling according to me?
My biggest satisfaction is when I see our participants grow. Each one of us is unique, which means we cannot compare achievements. Everyone comes to us at a different stage of development, each one in a slightly different situation. Some come to us while unemployed and leave as they are starting a new job. Others come after they have realized they want to further educate themselves or establish a business. For some, clarifying what it is they want to do in their professional life and what they will have to do to reach it is an enormous achievement. For others, a crucial turning-point is when they shift their way of thinking. Being able to look at their life in a different perspective enables them to pinpoint their strengths, or it leads them to understand that they alone are accountable for their life.

Why do we organize career counselling courses?
Further education possibilities in the field of career counselling is relatively limited in the Czech Republic, so is the available professional literature in Czech language. In order to create a mentoring program for our clients, we had to research foreign literature and gained knowledge and experience through study trips in EU countries. Talking to colleagues – career counsellors – made me realize that they too have to deal with the lack of information in this rapidly developing field. This was the starting point to our endeavor to support the training of experts. First and foremost, we wanted to create an open space for experts in career counselling. We offer the opportunity to share ideas and experiences, we organize expert discussions and create networking opportunities. Courses focus on the practical, participants try all the activities personally.

What do people gain from the program?
First and foremost, they acquire knowledge and skills necessary to practice counselling. Especially by training work methods – conducting interviews, training communication skills, strengthening motivation, managing critical situations, etc. Equally important to me is also the development of “career skills” (which includes eg. the whole area of self-awareness, the ability to work with change, evaluate opportunities and balance personal and professional life). If counsellors want to assist clients in developing these skills, they should primarily develop them in themselves. I am a strong advocate of the idea that everything that counsellors do with clients, they must first test on themselves, so that they understand what effect the activities they do will have on clients.

I believe that we are going the right way and that we are successful, mainly judging from the feedback from our satisfied clients. People come back even after several years to attend more courses or for counselling. I am also proud about EKS receiving awards from the expert community. In 2012 we won a prestigious award – the National Award for career counselling for the project “Work is open for everybody”, and in 2013 we received an award for our teaching activities in the field of counselling.