Abstract:

Traditional career guidance in secondary education is often delivered through general classroom sessions addressed to entire groups of twenty to thirty students. In the described context, students received five hours of career guidance lessons at the beginning and at the end of their educational cycle. While formally compliant with curriculum requirements, this model proved insufficient in responding to increasingly diverse student expectations, prior work experiences and individual career aspirations.

The growing individualisation of career pathways, combined with the influence of digital culture and unrealistic online success narratives, has significantly changed students’ perceptions of professional development. Many students either lacked realistic planning strategies or set goals without understanding the educational and competence requirements necessary to achieve them. The traditional lecture-based model did not provide space for personal reflection or tailored feedback.

In response, a structured individual consultation model was implemented within a European WIN4SMEs project framework. The new approach replaced general sessions with voluntary one-to-one consultations conducted by professional career advisors. The process consisted of three stages:
(1) completion of a structured diagnostic questionnaire,
(2) expert preparation based on the student’s responses, and
(3) an individual consultation focused on clarifying goals, identifying competence gaps and outlining realistic development pathways. After the consultation, students received personalised materials and guidance documents to support further planning.

Thirty-five students voluntarily participated in the programme, working with two professional advisors. Initial observations indicate higher engagement, clearer understanding of career options and more realistic educational planning among participants. Students reported greater awareness of required qualifications and concrete next steps in their professional development.

The poster presents the structure of the consultation model, the diagnostic tool, the consultation workflow and preliminary implementation outcomes. The case demonstrates that structured individualised career guidance may significantly enhance the effectiveness of career education in secondary schools and can be transferred to other educational contexts facing similar challenges of personalisation and labour market alignment.

Keywords:

career guidance, individualised consultation, career planning, personalised support.