Interview with Raza Abbas – Pioneer of Institutional Career Counseling in Pakistan

I've recently got an opportunity to interview Mr. Raza Abbas, Global Career Practitioner who has the honor of being the pioneer of professionalizing career counseling and career guidance in Pakistan. He consistently presents diverse research papers at premier international career counseling and career guidance conferences in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. He has acquired more than a decade of experiences in career guidance, career counseling, career development, human resources and leadership development.

Mr. Raza Abbas completed dual degrees from The University of Arizona, USA and earned certifications in leadership and personal development from the United States of America. He was also professionally trained in career counseling and career guidance from the Internationally Renowned Career Services Department at The University of Arizona, USA.

Following is a script of my interview with Mr. Raza Abbas (RA):

Career Pro: Please tell us about your recent visit to an international career conference in Italy.

RA: First of all thank you for the opportunity to share my humble experiences to a global and national audience. I submitted my research paper which was peer reviewed by two independent members of the Scientific Committee comprising of PhD global scholars in the field of career counseling and they unanimously accepted my paper: “Institutionalized Career Counseling Model: Creating Hope” at the International Conference “Life Design and Career Counseling Building Hope & Resilience”, held in Padova, Italy in June 20-22, 2013.

The theme of the International Conference was "Building Hope and Resilience". Research Professionals and Career Practitioners from all parts of the world congregated at the world renowned University of Padova in Italy to share their thoughts and ideas on the subject.

Career Pro: Could you summarize the paper you've presented there for us.

RA: Pakistan currently has a population bonus in which more than 60% of the population comprises of the youth. Therefore, Career Counseling and Career Guidance should be institutionalized in the country at all educational institutions as it is the need of the hour to guide our youth.

I emphasized that due to the acute shortage of skilled career practitioners in the country it is imperative to train the distinguish faculty at educational institutions in career counseling. Similarly, career counseling should be implemented as a policy at educational institutions in the country which will lead to a win/win situation for the students, educators, parents and employers. I further mentioned that our organization has developed a researched based institutionalized teacher training program for schools, colleges and universities in Pakistan and the region.

Career Pro: Why did you select this topic for your paper?

RA: Great question, I noticed that career counseling is no longer a luxury in the country it has now become an acute need for the youth to have productive and sustainable careers. Currently we do not have a concrete system of executing professional career counseling so I felt it will be fruitful to write a research paper on institutionalizing career counseling. Through this pioneering research we are providing a system to educational institutions to implement for the betterment of their valuable students and further increase the reputation of their respective institute.

Career Pro: What response you've acquired from international career professionals regarding your efforts for institutional career counseling in Pakistan?

RA: Well it was a humble experience to be acknowledged and appreciated by Global Scholars and experts in the field of career counseling and career guidance who have published significantly. They endorsed and appreciated the teacher training program and wished the best for this institutionalized career counseling program.

Career Pro: In an international and regional (south-east Asian) context where do you think Pakistan stands in a career development field?

RA: Well it will not be fair to compare Pakistan with the international arena as career professionals in the west and South Asia have practiced professional career counseling for decades. The promising factor is we have entered the international arena and have been endorsed and acknowledged for our pioneering professional efforts in the field of career development, counseling and guidance relatively soon while other emerging countries take longer time to materialize and achieve.

With respect to South-Asia we need to increase the professional advocacy of the career counselling and guidance profession in Pakistan. Internationally and in South Asia, Career Counseling and Career Guidance is already part of youth public policy and the youth in their respective countries receives career counseling as a civic right. There are legislatures for promoting career counseling and career guidance.

In our country we must appreciate and acknowledge the Government, Education & Literacy Department and Youth Affairs Department for initiating career counseling and career guidance projects for the youth for which I am grateful in being the part of that pioneering program.

After seeing the Government’s interest and support the International Donor organizations have also contributed in Career Counseling and Career Guidance projects in Pakistan. However there are numerous diverse opportunities to be accomplished to sustain career counseling and career guidance in the country.

Career Pro: Tell us more about your Institutional Career Guidance program and its scope in 
Pakistan?

RA: The Institutional Career Guidance program is holistic and involves all the relevant stakeholders in its teacher training program i.e students, educators, parents and employers. As there is acute awareness of career counseling and career guidance training in the country I have conceptualized a pilot program. The teacher training content addresses issues and challenges the youth have experienced in the past and is institutionalized and solution based program for the respective institute staff and youth.

Career Pro: What would be your take home message, after attending this conference, for career professionals in Pakistan?

RA: It is always wonderful to represent the country at such prestigious international conferences. It reflects the positive side of our country. Career Professionals my message to all of you: “Have hope and believe in yourself and believe in the nation because we have incredible talent. We have done wonders in the past and have the ability to do it again after all we are known to be a resilient nation.

Professional Career Counseling and Career Guidance is now a reality in Pakistan. Now it is the responsibility of educational institution stakeholders, distinguished teachers and the corporate sector through its corporate social responsibility to take advantage of this pioneering teacher training program and play their important part in this inspirational and meaningful program in the country’s history”.

Raza Abbas, Global Career Practitioner - he can be contacted at: ra@pathwayglobal.org.

Drop-Out - Opt-In Theory of Career Development

Drop-out theory of career development
In a career development process if a student does not get admission in a program of his interest because of low marks, or lack of financial resources, then s(he) drop-out of competition and rely on the remaining educational options on a career ladder. Occupations on these career ladders are defined by actual or perceived demand of particular occupation.
Every students aims for the highest paying and reputable professions. To get into those occupations students either need to have a degree from a reputable university or program of studies. But no one ever did a statistics of how many people are in those profession and how many of them are earning highest salaries.
This drop down effect happens only when students does not look inside and ask what they really want, instead they look outside and ask what others are doing. In this process they lost the opportunity to define themselves, their career and success in life.

Opt-in theory of career development
On the other hand opt-in theory define thing inside out. In this situation student ask the right question i.e. who am I, what I want to do, where I want to go, how I could reach there? Additionally what is important for me, what interests me, does it matches to my personality. They does not follow other VIP's (Value, Interests and Personality) rather they define and follow their own VIP's Value, Interests and Personality. They opt in for occupations for which they find themselves suitable, capable and passionate. They does not follow the gold rather goal, which is well defined, refined for career success.

Presenting decent employment for youth through career development.

An inability to find employment create sense of uncertainty, uselessness and idleness in young people. One way of addressing this issue is to prepare students/youths for the changing need of market and economic trends. This preparation process can be achieved one, by continuously updating curriculum and two, by identifying students interests and informing/guiding them toward possible career options available to them.

We briefly review second strategy for preparing students to ever changing labour market trends.

There are different strategies available to identify interest and guide students to growing and developing occupational/career options. Interest of students could be identified by looking at academic performance in different subjects, non-academic interests and extracurricular activities, exposing them to different occupational fields and lastly using different interest assessment instruments. Occupational and Labour Market Information can be collected by surveying and analyzing economic trends and presenting that information to students so they could see what each occupation looks like, what is its outlook, earning potential and qualification required. And at the end could make an informed career decision.

By harnessing internal potential and external trends would increase employment prospect and leads to stable labour behaviour among young people.

Create a professional career brand using social media

How career practitioner or any professional can use social media to brand/market themselves

In today’s fast paced and interactive world of work branding and marketing yourself is the key to career success. In the past branding was limited to products and corporate sectors and it was a domain of marketing companies with large budgets (and it was an expensive exercise.) In today's present information and digital age branding moves from products to persons and every citizen of the world can benefit from it - thanks to the Internet and the World Wide Web. With a little bit of indigenous touch any individual can define, create and promote their brand without paying a cent to marketers.

For the marketer, word of mouth is world of mouth and therefore any person can brand themselves through word of mouth using social media on the Internet. It provides them an opportunity to tell the world who they are and what difference they can make in the world. This applies to all career development practitioners as well. Every career practitioner has unique talents, skills and experience, which they can promote through their unique brand to the right audience. "What makes you unique, makes you successful" - William Arruda. To tap the power of social media you need a very simple and well thought out strategy.

There are four steps to this strategy, which any career professional can use to define, design, communicate and refine their online and offline brand.
In the first step you need to define your unique offerings, talents, skills and experiences, and how you can create value in people's lives. This is your unique promise of value that you have to offer to others. For this you need to define your vision - ideally what value you can offer to people; your purpose - how you can add value to yourself; your goals - how you can reach your vision and purpose by asking what, where, when, who and how questions; your values - what is important for you; and your passion - what makes you jump out of bed in the morning.

In the second step you design your brand by working on social networking tools that will help you in creating a positive and desirable image of yourself in people's mind. This includes developing your online bio, resume, portfolio, professional presentations, videos; writing blog, posting comments, photos and news about/by you. For off-line branding you can join professional associations and attend conferences. Be mindful of consistency and clarity in your message and image. Once you develop and establish all the necessary social media tools in the next step you need to communicate them to the world.

In the third step you are going to communicate your brand to the world using social media, one of the most powerful and effective tools of networking. This does not mean that you underestimate the power of in-person networking but compliment it by building your on-line brand. The third step includes developing, writing, updating and maintaining good relations and reinforcing and communicating your unique image to the world by using different social media tools. At this step you need lots of energy and motivation to establish your presence. It is similar to an airplane, which needs extra energy and thrust to take off from the ground, once it is in the air it flies with less energy and help.

In the fourth step you refine your brand by continuously improving your brand on the basis of the feedback you get from your audience/customers. This step includes regular refining, aligning, adding and changing your purpose and goals and communication strategies to keep your brand in-line with who you are and what value you offer to others that makes a difference to all the people you serve.

"Building your personal brand online gets you noticed in the real world". Kirsten Dixson

By following these simple four step you will begin your marketing strategy of branding yourself by who you are and what you can offer, which allows you to deliver your unique promise of value.

Remember your brand creates your demand, and commands your success in career and life.

For additional help on branding refer to:
www.paulcopcutt.typepad.com
www.thepersonalbrandingblog.com
www.personalbrandingblog.com

ABCDE and F of Social Media

Are you new to social media? Learn the ABCDE and F with us and the rest will follow.

Add value to conversation, talk something new and relevant, don't talk about yourself only. Every person has unique, therefore talk from your unique perspective, experience and knowledge.

Build relations, networking is a two way street, not only thing of what I can get also think of what I can give. build relations with a genuine attitude of 'how can I help you'

Communicate, that's how people know you, don't thing that adding your profile on social networking site will bring results (whatever your goals are) Communicate your presence by sharing ideas, knowledge and best practices in your field.

Differentiate yourself from other by communicating your unique value in the form of your accomplishments, contributions and what other people say about you. Your personal brand is not what you say about yourself, it is how others perceive you.

Engage people in a meaningful conversation ask relevant questions, answer right questions. Be consistent, be present and be engaging.

Failure in social media is caused by the absence of personal brand. People fail to promote their personal brand by

• Not promoting themselves even with a simple use of business cards, email signatures, and personal websites.
• Incomplete LinkedIn and other social media profiles
• Lack of consistency in communicating
• Fail to engage their audience or reader
• Attitude of getting in and not giving out
• Following marketer rather then subject experts