A Mindler survey revealed that 93% of Indian students (aged 14–21) were aware of only seven career options, despite over 250 distinct job types available in the country. Students and parents, especially in India, are still largely hooked to traditional or conventional career choices.
Moreover, a study by Forbes reveals that more than 60 percent of adults have career regrets. That’s why career counselling in as early as grade 9 is not just helpful, it’s essential.
Visualizing The Career Counselling Advantage
Understanding Career Counselling
Many might argue that there’s no real point in availing career counselling when so much information is available on the web. Well, this is exactly where parents or students miss the point.
Career counselling is much more than just handing a list of possible careers to a student and adding to their knowledge of career fields.
A career counsellor has a systematic, logical, personalized and research-based approach to guiding students towards the right career path. Career counsellors also help the student realize their skills, abilities, aptitude, interests and personalities to determine the most relevant career opportunities.
Moreover, they further help students work in the direction of not only gaining important knowledge but also honing the skills that are vital for career success. All this is done with a high degree of personalization and professionalism.
In fact, in contemporary times, when new careers are emerging rapidly and traditional careers are phasing out, career counselling becomes all the more important. Not to forget, there’s a plethora of unconventional careers across all fields that are transforming the career success landscape.
Why Class 9th Is the Right Time
Many people think class 9th is too early to discuss careers, but in reality, it is an ideal stage due to several reasons. Let’s figure out how.
Stream selection is right around the corner. In India, students select their streams (Commerce, Non-Medical, Medical, or Humanities) in class 11th. This choice affects what they’ll study for the next two years, it influences eligibility for certain colleges, and it can even affect future job prospects. But many students do not focus on this. Firstly, they choose the stream and then they think about their career. By 9th grade, students are mature enough to choose what future career path they want to pursue.
Career counselling in class 9th allows students to understand how each streams connect with different job prospects. For example
Sciences: Engineering, Data science, Defence services, Aviation
Medical: MBBS, Pharma, Biotechnology, Physiotherapy
Commerce: Entrepreneurship, Business Manager, Chartered Accountant, Banker
Arts/ Humanities: Civil services, Law, Journalism, Teaching, Literature
Besides, in the modern world, there are some interdisciplinary careers as well that students must know of. For instance, business analytics is an interdisciplinary career between business administration and data science. Similarly, other unconventional careers like financial analytics, sports psychology, and health informatics are emerging. The more careers students know about, the larger their pool to choose from.
Many students select a stream not out of personal interest, but because their friends chose it, their parents believe it’s better, or it appears to be a “safe” choice. This usually leads to dissatisfaction, anger, feeling stuck, and even career changes later in life.
Career counselling provides objective clarity and helps students choose based on their strengths, rather than external pressure.
Usually counsellors use a combination of tools, such as:-
Aptitude: Logical reasoning, Problem solving and Mathematics
Personality Type: Innovative, Goal-oriented, Detail-focused
Interests: Business, Politics, Human body, Technology
Learning style: Real-world examples, hands-on projects, experiments, group discussions
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When students wait until class 12th to think about their career, they often feel overwhelmed, regret earlier selections, and panic before college application deadlines. Early counselling creates a roadmap that helps students set short-term academic goals and long-term career objectives. This clarity reduces panic and helps them stay motivated.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects that 92 million roles will be displaced by global macro trends, but a larger wave of 170 million new jobs will be created, suggesting a net gain and the importance of early preparation.
Today’s workspace demands more than just academic knowledge. Students need to learn critical thinking skills to solve problems, communication skills to express ideas, and adaptability to handle change.
Career counselling in 9th often introduces students to these skills through workshops, mentorships, etc. The earlier these skills are developed, the better they perform in academics and life.
Role of Surroundings
Schools:- Schools should be the first place where structured guidance can happen, but most schools do not focus on that. An ideal school should organise career counselling sessions from class 9th onwards. They should also provide access to aptitude and interest tests, offer career fairs to showcase different professionals, and arrange guest lectures by professionals from various industries.
This ensures that students, irrespective of their family background, have access to equal career opportunities.
Parents:- Parents can either be the biggest supporters or biggest barriers in career decision-making. To support their child, parents should keep an open mind about emerging careers, focus on the child’s interests and strengths, not just market trends, encourage exploration through hobbies, internships and workshops, and avoid imposing their own unfulfilled career dreams.
A Step-by-Step Career Counselling Approach
This step-by-step guide, if followed correctly, will help you figure out the career path:-
Self-Assessment: This includes aptitude tests, personality tests, and interest inventories
Exploring Career Fields: Understanding Industries, learning about job roles
Subject Stream Alignment: Linking career interests to suitable academic streams
Skill Development: Communication, problem solving, time management, etc
Setting short and long-term goals: Creating a 3-5 year academic and extracurricular plan.
Final Thoughts
The world is changing fast; jobs that will be in demand in 2035 may not even exist yet. The best thing we can do for students is to prepare them with clarity, confidence, and adaptability. Your career path becomes clearer when your aptitude, personality, interests, and learning style align with your subject choices.
With Silver Fern Career Mentorship, you can get expert guidance, personalised assessments, and step-by-step career planning to make confident decisions for your future.
So, the next time someone says, “Class 9 is too early for career guidance”, you’ll know the truth: it’s not too early; it’s exactly the right time.
Author Bio : Silver Fern
silverfern@gmail.com
