Capacity development through Career Guidance and Counselling (CGC)

What do I do when I face financial difficulties in the pursuit of my career? Asked a student of Community Secondary School Nkpolu, Port Harcourt, Rivers state during the Career Guidance and Counselling fair that held on Thursday 28th of February 2019 at the school premises.

In answer to the question above, Victoria Chinda the Accountancy facilitator said `do anything legitimate that you can to fund your passion until your passion can fund you’.

Recent research has shown that there can be a big discrepancy between the career one thinks is suitable and the right career for that person. So, how does one tell what he or she should be doing?

To this end, KIR Foundation, in line with our objective to inspire change through learning birthed the CGC in 2014.

The Fair is designed to provide students with a dynamic and tangible experience that enables a connection between their academic pursuits and professional endeavours in the future. In addition, it provides a platform for the students to listen and meet with professionals in different fields that they aspire to study and educating them on the possible career paths for different personality types.

The event commenced with a SWOT analysis session on how personality types affect career choices. After which there were counselling sessions handled by facilitators from different career paths who delivered an in-depth and clear description of their careers and the academic requirements to pursue the career. Individuals such as, Victoria Chinda an Accountant | Founder of NILDI Africa, Theodora Isola is the Founder/Team Lead Tiva Creatives | IT Support Strategist, Innocent Ikhide Ekpen, Esq. a member of the dispute resolution team at Aluko & Oyebode, Dr. Dumoateli Iboroma a medical officer in Prof. Nimi Briggs Hospital, and Mr. Ikechukwu Anaba the CEO of BitMagnet International Limited and the founder of “ThinkBigDoBigger Initiative”.

Dr Dumo counselled the students who prior to the fair saw the field of medicine as a very difficult one. He said that medicine is all about passion for humanity and a sincere sacrifice to save a life. In addition, Barrister Innocent corrected the notion that the students had that lawyers were liars. Mr Ikechukwu emphasized that engineers have to be good team players and Mrs Theodora taught on the importance of IT, saying that IT is at the core of every industry today.

The students gave feedback of transformation after the fair and they were enthusiastic about the newfound knowledge about different career paths. There was an opportunity for one on one interaction between the students and facilitators after the fair.

Through this Fair, KIR Foundation is providing young people with the choice of venturing into the right career and providing solutions to problems in their communities. We believe the Fair plays a large role in counselling young Nigerians particularly disadvantaged youths.