At Career Guru we take the question of career choice and selection very seriously. After extensive research our experts have created a tool – Career Quotient to accurately match your ‘person’ with the right career. We regularly find students want to pursue a career because they have a role model, either in school, home or in the neighbourhood. But it’s very difficult for students to realise what’s in the career from a distance, and after sometime get disillusioned and suddenly want to pursue something entirely different. It happens with most. Career Guru has researched this extensively and we have created a repository of over 12,000 careers with details about what it involves in terms of skills, abilities, knowledge, and education to be successful in those careers. We can present specific case studies to students to expose them to what it takes to do what they think they want to do. We provide interaction with working professionals in industry at different stages of career to develop an in-depth understanding and orientation of the industry – who have been there, done that. This gives a platform to understand a profession directly from an expert professional and experience that profession before finally choosing a particular career. This also develops an understanding of long term prospects for different careers and potential peak points.

Scientific Grounding Theories

Assessments and tests we conduct are very scientific and have strong theoretical and research groundings. Here is a brief discussion about the theories on which these tests and assessments are based. This will enable you to understand that Career Counselling is as much a Science as it is Art, and we have mastered the science behind our art at Career Guru.

Theory of Multiple Intelligences

The theory of multiple intelligences was developed by Dr. Howard Gardner, professor of education at Harvard University in 1983. It suggests human intelligence is not just one general ability but a set of eight (earlier 7 were identified, but new research has expanded it to 8) different abilities which occur in children and adults. The traditional notion of intelligence, based on I.Q. testing, is far too narrow and outdated which suggested intelligence is: relatively fixed, easily tested and limited to areas such as verbal and reasoning skills. The 8 intelligences currently identified by new cutting edge research are:

1. Linguistic Intelligence (word smart/ good with words and language)
2. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence (number smart/ good with numbers/reasoning)
3. Spatial Intelligence (picture smart or good at visualising concepts)
4. Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (body smart or good at body actions and physical control)
5. Musical Intelligence (music smart, good musical skills)
6. Interpersonal Intelligence (people smart, good at understanding and relating to people)
7. Intrapersonal Intelligence (self smart, aware of personal emotions, feelings and motivation)
8. Naturalist Intelligence (nature smart, well in tune with nature and the natural environment)

Learning Styles

Research has identified and developed multiple models to understand different ways of learning. One such widely researched and accepted model around the world is the VARK Model that identifies four primary types of learners: Visual, Auditory, Reading/ Writing, and Kinesthetic. Each learning type responds best to a different method of teaching. In fact, certain research has identified that the cohort of students that achieves maximum performance changes significantly if an alternate style of teaching and learning is introduced. It is of critical importance as students, parents, teachers, schools, and policy makers that we identify the Learning Styles of our students and model our content delivery to a style that works best for them.

Auditory Learners learn through oral practice, they remember information best after reciting it back. They learn best when information is heard or spoken and benefit from lectures and group discussion. If your child likes to speak out loud to learn don’t get irritated thinking that for you learning worked best when you recited in your own mind and not out loud – its just that learning styles for you and your child are very different. Just understanding this can make a huge difference to your approach of teaching and learning for your child. Or your child might like to read with soft or very loud music in the background – that’s their learning style. Remember this and you will not try to superimpose your style on his nature. This is where science helps.

Kinesthetic Learners are good in expressing their feeling/ thought through body language and prefer to learn/ memorise through operation and movement. So your child might want to walk around in the room while trying to learn Shakespeare or the Periodic Table – don’t fret over it – that’s his/her natural style of learning. Or your child may excel as a dancer but maybe a poor pianist – comes from their nature, being, and soul.

Visual Learners have very sharp observation/ visual differentiation and prefer to absorb information using charts, maps, graphs, diagrams, and more. Using images to explain concepts and ideas is the best way to teach a visual learner. For example, your child might want to draw everything and put it on a white board or chart paper and stick it all around in their room – that’s what works best for them. Let them be. In fact, support and promote visualisation of data and information – remember more senses are involved, thus better the retention.

Reading and writing Learners learn best by interacting with text and enjoy reading and writing assignments. They love to read and perform well on written assignments such as stories or book reports. For example, your child might want to write everything that they want to learn and remember. We are sure you remember the old age saying – writing makes a man perfect. This is the scientific and theoretical grounding for why that saying worked for the author. Writing (maybe many times) made them remember and learn.

You see, there is method to the craft. We at Career Guru will help you identify the learning style of your child or your own learning style, or for your school or employees, so that you can be consciously aware of what style and approach to learning will work best for you. This will enable you to select and pursue your learning style rather than trying something that your teacher or your father or elder brother or someone on the Internet is trying to tell you – that’s what works for them, it will not work for you – because you are not them, you are you!

Jean Piaget, 1952 was a Swiss Psychologist who worked extensively of child development. He developed the Theory on Cognitive Development after extensive research and a lifetime of work in the field. This theory identified four cognitive stages of childhood development. The Information Processing Model (IPM) further expands the development of cognition in children and explains how and when a child’s core cognitive skills are developed. Cognitive skills are skills that the brain uses to think, learn, read, remember, pay attention, and solve problems. They include attention, short term memory, long term memory, logic & reasoning, auditory processing, visual processing, and processing speed. The four stages identified by Piaget are as follows:

1. Sensorimotor Stage: Birth to about 2 years. Children learn about the world through their senses and the manipulation of objects.

2. Pre-operational Stage (Ages 2-7 years) Children develop memory and imagination. They understand things symbolically and understand ideas of past and future.

3. Concrete Operational Stage (Ages 7-11 years) Children become more aware of external events, as well as feelings other than their own. They become less egocentric and begin to understand that not everyone shares their thoughts, beliefs, or feelings.

4. Formal Operational Stage (Ages 11 and older) Children are able to use logic to solve problems, view the world around them, and plan for the future.

Attention, short-term memory, and long-term memory develop between the ages of 2 and 5. Auditory processing, very important for good reading skills develops between the ages of 5 and 7 years. Logic and reasoning becomes more established during and after 5 years of age as a child becomes better able to make connections between ideas and concepts.

Theoretical contextualisation and scientific basis of career counselling right through the ages has attracted global attention and resources, and has been developed and enhanced through multiple theories which we utilise at Career Guru while counselling and guiding which include, though not limited to:

1. Dermatoglyphics Multiple Intelligence Test (DMIT);
2. The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI);
3. Theories of Carl Jung on 16 Typologies of Personality;
4. Dominance (D), Influence (I), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C) (DISC Theory and DISC Personality Types);
5. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Analysis (SWOT);
6. Human personality characteristics in terms of six dimensions, or factors: Honesty-Humility (H), Emotionality (E), Extraversion (X), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C), and Openness to Experience (O) – HEXACO Model;
7. Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism when trying to remember the big five traits (OCEAN);
8. Big 5 Personality/ Factor Theory;
9. Dr. Guildford’s Cognitive Skills and intelligence – American psychologist best remembered for his psychometric study of human intelligence, including his work on the distinction between convergent and divergent production;
10. Holland Codes or the Holland Occupational Themes (RIASEC) refers to the theory of careers and vocational choice (based on personality types) developed by American psychologist John L. Holland;
11. RIASEC – made of 48 tasks that you rate by how much you would enjoy performing; and many many more.