Fountainhead School

IB-Continum1

Career Counselling

As part of our growing effort to prepare all our students for successful futures, Fountainhead School's policy on career counseling establishes an outline of key supports. Through this initiative, the department is working to expand opportunities for students to link their learning to future career options. The Career Counseling Center encourages students to meet with career counselors in one-on-one appointments to discuss career exploration, subject selection, etc. We assist students with career fairs, expert panel discussions, webinars, college visits in school, and various other sessions. Assessing personal preferences, skills, and interests is an important part of the career development process. Through this, we help students develop a better understanding of their skills, abilities, and career interests, and most importantly, how these relate to the workplace. We advise students to also explore experiential learning, which includes internships, summer school, student-led events, and other volunteering opportunities. Gaining experience in a field of interest will not only help students build the skills they will need in the future, but it will also allow them to meet professionals working in the same field and learn from their experience.
Mission Statement:
All our students will make successful transitions from their academic pursuits to their first-choice graduation destinations based on a clear understanding of the career development process, competitive credentials, and securing career options that reflect their unique interests, skills, passion, and aspirations.
Belief & Philosophy:
  • All students should have the ability to achieve and be successful based on their unique developmental needs.
  • All students have the right to be guided/assisted by our school career counseling program.
  • All students have access to school counselors.
  • All students have the right to make choices and should accept responsibility for the choices made.
  • Equip students with the skills necessary for them to achieve their career goals.
What will be the responsibility of the school?
The school is responsible for guiding and helping students regarding their career selection and university admission process. The student can take help from external agencies to facilitate this process. In this case, the final responsibility lies with the student/ parent.
What will be the role of the School Career Counselor?
Career Guidance: Responsibilities for the position include but are not limited to the following:
  • Develop, update and implement a career counseling program that will help students in exploring and planning career pathways
  • Help students recognize their talents and identify their goals while working toward careers
  • Work with students based on their needs for career development
  • Develop a general knowledge & understanding of different career pathways
  • Handle student counseling (course details briefing, career guidance, suitable courses)
  • Conduct sessions, presentations, and other events
  • Coordinate with teachers to help students in making the subject selection and career choices (based on their subject selection)
  • Arranging counseling sessions with students and parents to help them understand the whole process of identifying & choosing careers
  • Provide students and parents with updated information about educational opportunities and application procedures 
  • Organizing career exposure sessions with industry experts and universities
  • Establish relationships with the Admission Departments of colleges and universities
  • Liaison with university representatives and other counselors to get updates on current trends
  • Knowledge of Admission processes of the various universities,  following up with students on the pre-application and application process steps
  • Research and analyze universities selected by students for students
    • Help students in preparing a resume, statement of purpose, and essay
  • Assist students with the paperwork associated with the college admission process (India & Abroad)
  • Conduct career awareness events such as: 
    • University visits
    • Expert panel discussions
    • Skill enhancement sessions
    • Guest lectures (specific to subjects)
  • Maintain a database of students' subject selection, psychometric testing, transcript requests, university selection and offers, acceptance, alumni, etc.
  • Assist students in the university shortlisting process
  • Understand the application process of different countries including India. Managing university admission process for India and abroad with guidance on portfolio building for international universities starting in Grade 9
  • Help students in preparing a resume, statement of purpose, and essay
  • Assist with scholarships & financial aids
  • Undertake all requirements needed to have the highest quality application for every student, including the responsibility that any required documents are provided and completed promptly through the college guidance platform and other electronic means
Well being:  Our job as school counselors is complex and comprehensive. We need to spend as much time on social-emotional, motivation, and other issues facing teenagers and their families as we do with different explorations activities and college admissions. We have to share and describe to parents what is happening developmentally in teenagers and how they might view the world or any of the following points: 
  • What is going on with teenagers at this stage of their life?
  • What are the characteristics and behaviors of grounded and adaptable teenagers?
  • What can a growth mindset do for you?
  • What are the three forces of motivating people?
  • What is Grit, and why should every parent be discussing this more?
Career guidance has commonalities with well-being counseling suggesting analogous effects, and it promotes positive engagement in learning, which may be associated with health benefits.  So above and beyond career guidance, the career counselor needs to focus on the well-being of students as well, as it has a direct impact on their career choices. We also need to discuss with parents how we will help them with motivation and what can parents do to help their children with motivation.  How do we do it? By helping students:
  • develop a sense of self and personal identity
  • form strong relationships with other people
  • develop a growth mindset to help them reach ever higher levels of achievement which will eventually give them a greater sense of free will

Counseling Process:

  • Exposure and understanding of various careers through psychometric tests, regular talks, and visits from experts in various sectors & careers
  • To engage students and help them discover their learning style through assessments
  • Expose students to different career clusters and discuss which clusters and careers they are most interested in and the reasons for selecting those careers.
  • Assess students' talents, individual intelligence strengths, and challenges. Acknowledge every student's unique intellect and discover cross-intelligence strengthening strategies to build on current skills.
  • Finding out subject combinations required to pursue that course and review (if required)
  • Giving information about the courses/degrees that lead to that career
  • Pre-application requirements such as Resume, Statement of Purpose, Recommendation Letters, predicted grades, SATs, other entrance exams/tests, etc., and applying for the identified universities
For Scope & Sequence of Career Counseling - Visit Link
For a detailed Counseling Process - Visit Link
For a detailed Career Counseling Policy - Visit Link
School Profile 2022 -2023
About Cialfo - Its started in 2016 with one mission: to increase transparency and accessibility of college information. their team is made up of former college counselors, educators, and technology professionals working to change how the world approaches post-secondary education. And their platform emerges from the real world experiences of those we serve, whether they’re a devoted counselor or a steadfast principal.

All the features you need to get students to college:

School Research

Dig into a rich database of over 10,000 post-secondary schools worldwide. Explore the past acceptances, essay prompts, and statistics that make up a school on Cialfo, then shortlist or long-list them.

College Matching

Cialfo’s intelligent Reach/Target/Likely algorithm takes into account a student’s personal profile and the school’s historical data before creating a personalized recommendation.

Assessments

Different types of assessments for different groups of students. Students will receive a copy of the results for discussion.

Sending documents electronically to the universities

Counselors can send electronic documents like transcripts and letters of recommendation quickly with cDocs feature. Integrated with Parchment and The Common Application, cDocs is a simpler way to send and monitor documents.

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