Author: Rishi Jalan

Uncategorized | 3min Read

Career Counseling: How Student Mentorship Programs Help Unlock Potential

Published on May 10, 2021

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Career Counseling: How Student Mentorship Programs Help Unlock Potential

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Have you ever felt confused about what’s the best career choice for you? Be it deciding the stream to pick after high school or choosing the best summer school program. It’s always easier to rely on the conventional choices or taking the path that your parents want you to take but 5 year down the road it becomes your own to deal with.

In recent Times, there is this vast pool of information regarding career and there are various student mentorship programmes focused to help students gain the required guidance and map out a career route. In India, gradually the concept of career counselling is becoming more and more popular amongst students, as well as the parents. Effective Student counselling in India is the need of the hour to facilitate all rounded career preparation of students.

Lets see what that looks like and why it is important to seek mentorship for students.

What is Career Counselling?

It is a stepwise approach towards forming an effective career plan which suits your interests, fulfills your need, matches your aptitude and helps you improve an overall sense of personality. There are various tools like psychometric tests, aptitude tests and personalised student understanding that are used to measure a student’s caliber and understand his/her inclination towards a subject.

There are qualified professionals to do these tasks called career counsellors or education consultants. There are consultants solely focused on overseas education like Ivy league mentors, Abroad education consultants etc. These counselling sessions are highly personalised and guide you with the latest information on admission criteria, admission committee expectations and merit scale etc for various schools & colleges.

Need of career counselling & Student Mentorship Programs

  1. Reduces Confusion : With Career counsellors working in this field, it’s easier to rely on their methods and tools rather than getting caught up into the self made pros and cons list which only gets us so far. An experienced career counsellor can tap the potential of a student and effectively help them focus on their goal.

  2. Introduction to new courses: student counselling introduces you to new courses and student mentorship programs like Leadership development programmes and various business courses for high school students which you may or may not be aware of before starting your career counselling.

  3. Clarity of Path: With proper stepwise planning and career mapping , the path towards your choice of career becomes clearer and gives you assurance that you’re making an informed decision. Mapping a career path helps an individual to keep up with the changes happening in the field with consistent personal growth.

  4. Competitive Preparation: Now the market is bigger than ever, with growing job opportunities there is a definitive rise in competition and career counsellors help you prepare for it mentally as well as academically. They help you build the best versions of yourself by examining your weaknesses and providing a plan to polish to your strengths.

  5. Gain Confidence: With a help of a career counsellor a student can understand his/her shortcomings and strengths. This self awareness can be helpful for the student in the long term and equip them with confidence and charisma to make their way into the real world.

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How to Develop Leadership Skills As a Student

Published on May 6, 2021

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How to Develop Leadership Skills As a Student

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Barack Obama, Narendra Modi, Malala Yousafzai , Elon Musk and countless others who are known for their success in their respective domains have one thing in common, Leadership. These people did not follow the herd rather made a mark by their strong leadership qualities. And you know what? Take a good look at yourself. You, too, have the ability to be a leader. Continue reading to learn how to improve the leadership skills you need.

In today’s highly competitive environment, leadership has become an important 21’st century skill for anyone hoping to succeed. Leadership skills become the benchmark in every industry to seek growth opportunities and succeed.

Here are a few skills an effective leader must possess:

The first step of becoming a young leader starts with school. School or college can be one of the best places to gain the toolkit to bring out change in the world with your fresh perspective and new ideas. In today’s education model, we have multiple Leadership development programs that act as a stepping stone for young kids to get into the right direction and to create a whole new generation of achievers.

Ways to Improve leadership skills as a student:

You, as a student, must be flexible to learn and acquire skills to become the best versions of yourself. Students’ life plays a major role in chalking out what kind of person you will become. Here are a few ways to become the role models you’ve had for yourself.

  1. Join a club : Involvement & Effective communication is one of the key aspects of a leader. It helps you indulge with people and make your voice heard even in a group, what it takes to be a changemaker.

  2. Become a Learner : As John F. Kennedy once said, “ Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” One who is ready to learn always has more experience and can face any challenge with confidence and determination. Learn wherever you can may be from a teacher, education consultant or a fellow student.

  3. Start your passion Project : Your formative years are the perfect time to experiment with your ideas and passion. Leadership for you should start with making mistakes and learning from them. A passion project is something where you can explore your ideas and understand your strengths & weaknesses.

  4. Extracurricular Activities: Extracurricular activities give you the opportunity to lead and fuel your desire to stand out. Sports activity or group activities in the class can be a great place to take charge and be innovative.

  5. Enrolling in Leadership Development programs: There are various Leadership development programs in India which are great places to indulge with qualified professionals who can help you define a purpose and educate you to reach your full potential. A good education consultant or counsellor can tap into your potential and push you in the right direction.

All of the above pointers can help you learn and upscale your leadership skills. However, choosing the right one can be tricky. The best way to do so is to participate in and try as many activities as possible. That’s why, The Big Red Group has joined hands with World’s top universities like Harvard University, Ivy League, Cornell University, and many more, to design leadership programs. Our Youth Lead the Change Program is driven by Harvard Alumni along with 1- Year free mentorship. What are you waiting for then? Are you ready to begin your leadership journey as a leader?

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blog Entrepreneurship | 4min Read

10 Benefits of Immersive Entrepreneurship Workshops

Published on May 5, 2021

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10 Benefits of Immersive Entrepreneurship Workshops

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Early Entrepreneurship has emerged as an interesting subject amongst young students to learn in India. As job opportunities become more scarce as a consequence of Digital Transformation and population growth, entrepreneurship can be seen as a viable career choice among the current generation.

Google defines an entrepreneur as, “ a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit.” But they are so much more than that, they are the real risk takers and motivated to bring a change. An entrepreneur is also thought of as a creator of new concepts, products, services, and business/or procedures.

Are you wondering if you can be one? The answer is, YES!

There are various Early Entrepreneurship workshops in India set up for students to not just learn how to start a business but to inculcate the entrepreneurial mindset amongst the youth of this country. These workshops are a source of learning & experience from successful entrepreneurs and even alumni of Ivy League colleges who help you tap into your creative potential and build a strategic thinking mindset.

Here are a few benefits of an Entrepreneurship Development Programme :

  1. Sparks Creativity : Creative people often solve a problem in a unique way, and this is what can set you apart. Early Entrepreneurship Workshops shape you into a more capable individual equipped to face the realities of the outside world by promoting creative thinking, innovation, and collaboration.

  2. Promotes Effective communication: Effective public speaking skills can help you advance in your career by demonstrating creativity, strategic thinking, leadership abilities, poise, and integrity, all of which are highly respected in every industry. The Effective Communication workshop gives you the opportunity to observe how different people communicate. You’ll soon discover that everyone has their own unique style and interests.

  3. Inculcate Basic Life Skills: Entrepreneurship education teaches you critical life skills such as problem solving in a novel way, resolving real-world challenges, coordination and teamwork, and many others. All of these life skills that determine your personality are impossible to acquire from conventional book and classroom studies.

  4. Effective Leadership development: A good leader is always required to guide the world. If you are motivated to make a difference you will undoubtedly succeed in forging a new Path. These courses strive to incorporate leadership skills in you and help you to begin thinking like a leader while learning about entrepreneurship skills at a younger age.

  5. Helps you learn time management: Working smarter rather than harder is possible with good time management. It prevents procrastination by ensuring that you understand the things on your to-do list and when they must be done. Efficient time management can improve your productivity as well as your personal life.

  6. Opportunity Recognition : Opportunity recognition is a process of actively seeking and perceiving opportunities for new products and services. This is a very crucial aspect of an entrepreneur’s life and therefore learning this intellect process helps you grab onto new opportunities and realise the worth of them.

  7. Makes you a Risk-Taker: Taking chances in entrepreneurship generally requires meticulous preparation and dedication. Learning how to experiment with ideas and being brave enough to make mistakes is one of the best things you can learn at an early age. These workshops give you a platform to experiment, fail and retrospect so that you know how to overcome the challenges.

  8. Decision Making: Early Entrepreneurship programmes aids in the discovery and growth of managerial talent, which is one of the most important and valuable benefits. You learn how to make affirmative decisions for your career as well as for yourself in terms of personal and professional growth.

  9. Prepares you for the outside world: New innovations are advancing every day in the volatile and evolving economy, and your generation is progressing in an uncertain future. It may take years for you to master a specific trade or skill, but it may vanish from the market over time, wreaking havoc on your careers. Therefore, Learning about prospecting, planning and implementation processes will prepare you for your entrepreneurial journey.

  10. Opportunity to learn from professionals:There are few entrepreneurship development programmes that have very qualified Ivy League Mentors. These qualified mentors have vast experience in their domain because of which they can share valuable lessons, case studies, facts & figures from their experience along with providing opportunities for your future which may help you as a guiding path for lifetime.

Every child has a dream in his eyes, but only a few venture towards it. Some lack opportunity while a few lack right guidance and a good mentor. That’s why The Big Red Group brings you the Early Entrepreneurship workshop. As we understand the value of your first step into your big journey of owning a billion dollar company one day. These workshops are held under supervision of qualified professionals and provide the certifications to the students participating in it. There have been thousands of students and hundreds of schools participating in this reputed workshop. Do read the testimonials by our beloved students from previous batches. So, What are you waiting for? Why wait for tomorrow if you can do it today?!

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Reasons Why You Should Join Summer School During Holidays

Published on April 14, 2021

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Reasons Why You Should Join Summer School During Holidays

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If somebody tells you to spend your summer vacation doing a course, the knee-jerk reaction is one of horror and anger. To think that you spent an entire year going to school, and now somebody is telling you to go do a summer course. That just feels like a betrayal of your youth. The thought always comes to our minds that there is enough time in the future to do this kind of thing. Right now, you want to head out and meet your friends, go for movies, sit at cafes, and bounce from the city for the much-deserved vacation. You don’t want more of school and teachers.

And that is the issue. Summer program sounds like an extension of school or tuition. Or even like forced labor. ‘Summer school’ has that ring to it, that makes you think that you’ll have to wear your uniform and go learn maths or physics. But what about films? Or arts? Or going for a trek to the Himalayas to help build a shelter? Well, we never consider those as ‘summer programs’.

Basically, a summer program is something you do when you have the time. Which is generally in the summer, or sometimes even in the winters. So it means, you choose what you want to do in the time that you have. Nobody is forcing you to do a course to increase your multiplication and division skills. The choice is yours based on what you are interested in.

We always hear this when we’re in high school – ‘What do you want to do in the future?’ Well, how are you supposed to know? By reading an article? By hearing an uncle speak about something? By listening to your parents tell you what to do? Or maybe, just maybe, you could think about what you really want and then dip your toes in?

Say you always wanted to have your own business someday. Now that can remain a dream, or you could go for an entrepreneur-based summer program. What if you want to become a journalist? You obviously would like to speak to someone who will teach you about what a journalist does. What if you want to change the world, but don’t know how? You could do a summer program that teaches you about being a leader in social change.

A summer program isn’t a long course with exams. It’s generally short, interactive, and fun. Cause they understand you’re just high school students, so they don’t want to make anything boring. You get to meet new people from different high schools, learn something you want to learn, and take back some stories to your friends. Also, there is enough time to enjoy the rest of your vacation.

So why should you as a high schooler do a summer program?

  1. It lets you test out what you want to do in the future. Want to be a writer? Do a writing summer program.

  2. You meet new people, build friendships and expand your network. This includes the people who conduct the course. They will come in real handy when you want a job later.

  3. Colleges love this. Every high school student has a resume with grades. This will set you apart from the rest.

  4. You can experiment. This isn’t school, you can try new skills, new things, without any fear of failure.

  5. Get a sense of college culture. You are treated like an adult and will get a feel of what college has in store for you.

  6. Learn leadership and teamwork when you do group activities with people you don’t know.

  7. You are challenging yourself. It’s easy to do nothing, it takes guts to do something. And it’s something that you want to do.

A summer program shouldn’t be seen as something boring that you’re forced to do. Look at it as you being able to see into the future. A lot of pressure is put on a high-school student to make the right decision, for the rest of your life, when you’re still in your teens. But until you actually try something, you shouldn’t be forced to decide your future. Have a taste first, only then see if you want to buy it.

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Know The Importance Of Career Counselling For High School Students

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Know The Importance Of Career Counselling For High School Students

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‘What do you want to do when you grow up?’

Oh, that hangs heavy over the heads of every high school student. Such an important question thrown at you from every angle. It’ll come to you in different forms – What are you good at? Where do you see yourself in 20 years? What are you passionate about? What do you want from life? What kind of career do you want? Have you decided what you want to do?

This can feel overwhelming and rightfully so. How are you supposed to decide your career at 13, when you can’t even decide what you want to eat tonight? On top of that, you have a hundred different voices in your head trying to tell you ‘what is good for you’.

The noise isn’t music.

Our parents for example, they have spent years grooming you and have certain expectations from you and your future. And if they’re footing your university bill, you have to consider their expectations. Then you have uncles and aunties trying to be a vocational counsellor. Your friends are doing something different, so you feel you should follow them. Then you have leaders of industry. Elon Musk doesn’t care about college degrees, so you might feel that you should skip college. Kim Kardashian is now a billionaire by being an influencer, so maybe you feel being viral is all you want to do.

In all this noise, how are you going to find out what you really want to do? Well for starters, stop thinking about your passion and stop looking at your grades. Start exploring, by actually going to places of work and getting a taste of a profession. If you want to be a lawyer, find some family friend who is a lawyer and ask them if you can observe them work. People don’t mind high school students coming to their office as it makes them feel good about helping. Exploit this feeling as much as you can.

Also, find a career counsellor. A career can give you satisfaction in doing what you want to do. A place where your abilities shine through, to help you perform and get rewarded in return. And career counselling for students can help find that.

– Parental expectations – Let’s start with this, since we discussed it earlier. A career counsellor in India will always consider the thoughts of your folks, but will bat on your team. They want you to get where you want to go. And they present options, bridging any gap that might exist in yours and your parents’ communication.

– What choices exist? – Did you know that a career exists in training dogs how to surf? The world is huge, and we unfortunately live in a bubble when it comes to choices. A vocational counsellor informs you about careers that you might not have known existed. It could even be a hybrid of two interests that you have. Who knows?

– Building your profile – Say you know your dream job and your dream college. The importance of career counselling for students is that it can help you build your profile while still in high school, even adding some 21st century skills to your arsenal. This is for you to get into that dream college, and onto the career you see in your mind.

– Assessment – There are various tools at disposal which provide mentorship to high school students. The career counsellors assess and investigate as to where your aptitude lies. If you’re analytical, it doesn’t mean you necessarily have to go into the STEM fields. Even marketing executives need to be analytical. This is the key benefit of career guidance and counselling. They cut through the noise and help you widen your horizons.

– Back-up plans – It isn’t about creating an escape plan to keep your parents happy, in case things don’t work out. This is about finding alternative career paths within your realm of interest. As we grow, our interests change. It is always helpful to know that you have other possibilities.

– Dose of reality – We might have grandiose expectations from our lives, and we might just have people feeding those presumptions. Ivy league counselling doesn’t guarantee a spot in the Ivy league. A career counsellor worth their salt will always tell you what others might not be comfortable saying. They tell you what is within your reach and how to get it, and they definitely won’t sugar coat it.

Career counsellors in India are people with years of experience trying to help you gain some perspective. They are happiest when you are at your happiest. But always know that this is just one person’s point of view, career guidance counselling isn’t the gospel truth. You must learn to always make decisions on your own. Think of it as your own personal leadership workshop. And if it doesn’t work out, change your path. The halls of advertising agencies are packed with engineers. It might seem like everything has to be decided right this instant, but be flexible and find the right kind of career counselling for students. Share your journey with us below, in your hunt to realise your own careers.

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