CareerNaksha delivers a customized, data-driven, psychometrics-based career advising and
development platform to school and college students, graduates, and early professionals. The company
was founded by Nimish Gopal.
Nimish Gopal discovered that his whole professional path had been determined by external pressures
around fifteen years ago. An unspoken rule seemed to exist: toppers selected science, and depending on
the combination, they chose jobs in medicine or engineering.
Nimish used this experience to resign his Silicon Valley job and launch CareerNaksha in 2018. Today, the
organization can offer customized, data-driven, psychometrics-based career counseling to everyone
who needs it. It has a specialized focus on tier III and above cities.
In the previous four years, has worked with over 5 lakh children, with over 95% of its customers residing
in non-metro regions and government schools in Gujarat.
Nimish, says, “As an organization, if we want to grow out and capture the market, we need to
collaborate with the appropriate sort of individuals that understand the industry, delivery, and career
advice.”
This is maybe what prompted CareerNaksha to hire Maulin Shah as a co-founder in 2020. From 2
employed counsellors in 2018, the firm now employs 3500 career counsellors who have been trained
and accredited by the Counsellors Council of India (CCI). The edtech firm now claims a 10% month-on-
month increase in user base.
Experimenting with different business models is part of CareerNaksha’s approach. Nimish discovered
that parents in metropolitan areas behave differently than those in rural areas. He argues that in big
cities, parents are more aware of and discriminating about counseling.
Nimish explains, “However, the opportunity is enormous when we go to government schools and tier III,
tier IV cities. So that’s how we’ve been segmenting our business models.”
To that end, CareerNaksha provides its tests in local languages. Its exam is based on the Occupational
Information Network (O*NET), a free database that offers hundreds of job definitions to assist students,
job seekers, companies, and workforce development experts in understanding the types of employment
available.
After receiving their findings, students can approach counsellors to explore prospective employment
prospects that match their skill set and interests.
Apart from that, CareerNaksha maintains connections with NGOs and government schools, and holds
seminars in these settings to create awareness about the many career alternatives available.
How does CareerNaksha work?
The exam assists students in identifying their aptitude, talents, and interests. “We designed the
psychometrics exam while keeping the O*NET framework and the Indian culture in mind, and then we
published our study and commercialized the psychometrics from school level to professionals,” Nimish
explains.
Upskilling and profile-building courses such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, UI-UX design,
digital marketing, communication skills, and social emotional learning are also available from the firm.
According to Nimish, once students have a clear idea of what they want to accomplish, they may plan
their careers and enroll in these upskilling courses. It also provides students with access to internship
programs to help them gain valuable industry experience.
For those interested in becoming career counsellors, the startup teaches persons in collaboration with
CCI and National Career Services. Career counseling is a disorganized field. According to an iDreamcareer research, India need career counseling to face, manage, and overcome the Great Indian Talent Conundrum (GITC) and construct the world’s most competitive knowledge-based economy and society.
Given the critical need for organization, various entrepreneurs in India are on the lookout for the best
answer. Expertrons, Career Guide, ProBano, and Mindler are among the organizations that compete
with CareerNaksha today.
Breaking into this space isn’t the most difficult nut to crack. According to the same survey, the low
barrier to entry is also the cause for the recent growth of businesses in this field. However, it looks that
CareerNaksha is concerned with keeping things on schedule.
Nimish adds, “In the immediate run, we intend to reach Rs 1 crore in income every month. We also want
to expand our counselling community and want to reach 35,000 members, which would represent a
tenfold increase. We also intend to boost our profitability by 20%.”
CareerNaksha boasts that their income has increased by 50% month over month during the last year.
Offline centers are also available in Jamnagar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Jaipur, Bangalore, Delhi (Rohini &
Dwarka), Faridabad, Panchkula, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Indore, and Bhopal. These are managed by
franchisees.
