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17 new career counsellors: Drivers of change for those dissatisfied with their status quo
Encouraged by the provision of support to women in their career development at every step of their journey, CEI Nahla is creating a new model of career counselling. Therefore, in May and June 2024 we held the first two modules of training for career counsellors under the project “Engage. Inspire. Empower – Women in Business in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, which is supported by the Government of Switzerland. Seventeen new career counsellors will in the next 4 years conduct group career counselling for hundreds of women in Sarajevo, Tuzla and Bihać, starting from September this year.
Prepared by: Amina Džaferović
How to stop being an obstacle to yourself?
The process of career information, counselling and guidance is extremely complex and responsible. On that path — whose ultimate goal is to raise awareness of one’s competencies, knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and understanding — women are encouraged to become proactive in advancing in their career or to change it. Career counsellors play a crucial role in leading the mapping and discovery of potentials and strengths. Considering that being unemployed represents a risk factor for social exclusion, the role of a career counsellor becomes even more serious, and accordingly, more significant for these groups. For the employed, on the other hand, career counselling most often serves as a wind in the back and an additional crystallization in the awareness of goals and capacities.
Career counsellors will help women at all stages of career dilemmas to clarify their own aspirations, potentials and steps, and regain self-confidence. All 17, among whom are entrepreneurs, psychologists, recruiters, university professors, business management experts, project managers and marketing specialists; during this training started with awareness of their own capacities so that it would be easier for them to step into the shoes of the counselees during the process.
“The training is methodologically well conceived, content-rich, and — what’s most important — widely applicable, and through it one acquires knowledge that can truly help others and contribute to them realizing their own qualities, competencies and raising their self-esteem and self-confidence. I look forward to tomorrow when I will help our women take the first step as they learn about themselves and discover how much they are worth,” said Amra Bjelinčević, one of the participants in the training for career counsellors, who works as a freelance recruiter
Through self-reflection to guiding others toward success
Our experience and motivation to attend this training was also shared by Dr. Amina Smajović, a senior teaching assistant at the Department of Pedagogy at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo, who is particularly motivated to help young people at the start of their careers:
“Guided by the idea that creating preconditions for more successful integration into the labor market actually means achieving greater social inclusion of women, I decided to apply for the Training for Career Counsellors organized by CEI Nahla. The trainers were able to turn every situation into an opportunity for learning and offered us many concrete/practical guidelines for immediate work. The special value of the training lies in personal professional growth through reflection on one’s life experiences and thinking about what shaped me, where I am now and what my life goals are.”
The aim is that through this approach, in the long run, unemployed women — besides concrete tools for employment — also gain renewed faith in their own capabilities and future, which is crucial for their success on the labor market in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
