u/Electrical-Heron7867

Hey everyone, wanted to share this with the community since it's directly relevant to anyone planning to study abroad

So I recently found out about HEST (Higher Education Scholarship Test) which is funded and supported by the Ministry of IT, Govt. of India under the Digital India initiative. This is the 9th edition and apparently over 10,000+ students applied in the last season alone

my_qualifications: Currently researching study abroad options and came across this while looking into scholarship opportunities for Indian students.

What's the deal

Total scholarship pool: ₹2 Crore

Each student can win up to ₹3 Lakhs

Registration is completely free

40-minute online aptitude test (Verbal ability + General aptitude, no subject-specific questions)

Who can apply:

Indian citizens planning to study abroad within the next 12 months

Bachelor's, Master's, MBA, Diploma programs eligible

Min. 55% in 10th and 12th required

MBBS, MD, PhD NOT eligible

Completely self-funded students are also not eligible

Has anyone here appeared for HEST before? Would love to know how the actual experience was disbursement timeline, process etc. Drop below

Genuinely been struggling with this.

Every time I need professional guidance the process is exhausting. Google gives too many options, asking friends limits you to their network, and pricing is never transparent.

Has anyone found a reliable way to find the right Coach, Counsellor or Consultant in India?

What worked for you?

Update your resume Network more Apply to more jobs.

All useful But if you don't know what you actually want none of it helps Most people aren't stuck because of their resume They are stuck because they have never asked themselves the honest uncomfortable questions What kind of work makes you lose track of time? What would you do if you weren't scared? The answers are already there Most people just never slow down enough to find them

Feeling stuck right now? Drop what's going on in comments. Happy to help

A founder came to us about eight months ago.

He had built a decent product, had some early customers, and was doing around 12 to 15 lakhs a month in revenue. On paper it looked good. But inside the business everything was falling apart. He was handling sales, operations, hiring, product and customer support alone No systems. No processes. No clarity on what to focus on next He was working 16 hours a day and still felt like he was going backwards The first thing we did was stop and audit everything. What we found was that 80 percent of his revenue was coming from just 2 types of customers. But he was spending most of his time and energy trying to serve everyone So we helped him do three things

1. Narrow the focus We helped him identify his most profitable customer segment and built his entire sales and marketing around just that one segment. Everything else was deprioritised.
2. Build basic systems Before scaling anything we helped him document his core processes onboarding, delivery, follow up and collections. Simple Google Sheets and SOPs Nothing fancy. Just clarity
3. Separate the founder from the business He was the bottleneck in every decision. We helped him identify his first two hires and what to delegate immediately so he could focus only on growth. Within four months his revenue went from 15 lakhs to 34 lakhs a month. More importantly he went from working 16 hours a day to 9 hours with a team that could function without him The lesson was not about working harder. It was about getting the right structure in place before pushing growth Most early stage founders we speak to are in the same position doing everything themselves, no systems, no focus, and wondering why growth feels so hard

If you are at that stage right now happy to share what has worked and what has not Drop your situation in the comments or DM me directly

Hey everyone,

I've spent the last few years working through career transitions, building businesses and figuring out what a balanced and purposeful life actually looks like learned a lot through real experience not just theory

I enjoy helping people with

Career clarity and finding direction when you feel stuck

Building or growing something of your own

- Life balance, mindset shifts, and getting out of your own

way

I've opened up a few mentee spots this month in career , life and business mentorship and counseling

If you're going in circles or just need someone to think things through send me a message

Out of curiosity I started asking around.

4 people said they just went with whoever their college recommended 3 said a friend referred someone and they just trusted it blindly 2 said they found someone on Instagram and hoped for the best 1 said they paid ₹8,000 for a session and felt robbed 1 person actually did proper research and found someone great but couldn't explain how to replicate it

Nobody had a system. Nobody could tell me: here's how you verify someone is actually good at this There's no Zomato for career coaches No rating system that means anything. No price transparency Just vibes and referrals If you've found someone genuinely good how What was your process This seems like a problem worth solving.

Every time I've needed professional career guidance, the process itself becomes the problem

Google floods you with hundreds of options, asking friends limits you to their network, and pricing is almost never transparent upfront. You don't know if someone is actually qualified or just running a side hustle

I'm based in India and genuinely trying to find a path to identify trustworthy Career Coaches, Counsellors, or Consultants people who actually help you think through career decisions not just sell you a course

Has anyone here successfully found a good coach or counsellor? What path did you take to find them What should I look for or avoid?

(Location: India)

Asking because I genuinely thought I was broken for years

Everyone around me seemed to have this clear thing they were meant to do I had nothing. Just a vague feeling that whatever I was doing wasn't quite right I tried everything to find it. Personality tests Career counselling books. Side hustles Asking friends what they thought I'd be good at Watching endless YouTube videos about "finding your purpose."

Nothing clicked Nothing felt like THE thing. What actually helped me was someone reframing the whole question completely Instead of 'what are you passionate about' the better question apparently is "what are you genuinely good at and what kind of problems do you actually enjoy solving."

That shift sounds simple but it completely changed how I approached things. Stopped chasing a feeling and started building towards something concrete based on actual strengths Ended up in a role that feels meaningful in a way I never found while chasing passion Curious if others here went through the same thing? And what actually helped you figure it out?

If anyone wants more details about how I worked through it feel free to DM me

I'll be honest.

When my rank came out I was more confused than relieved Everyone around me was celebrating but I was sitting in my room at 2am with 15 tabs open going absolutely insane CSE at a lower IIT or core branch at a better IIT? What about new age branches? Is core dead? Will CSE be saturated? The worst part was everyone had an opinion. Dad wanted CSE. Teacher said Electrical Random reddit guy said Math and Computing Neighbour uncle somehow also had very strong feelings about this I was drowning in opinions and had zero clarity Someone suggested I talk to a career counsellor before filling JoSAA I was skeptical honestly Felt like a waste of time. But that one conversation genuinely changed how I was thinking about everything He didn't tell me what to pick. He asked me questions I had never asked myself Are you choosing CSE because you want it or because everyone else is? What does a good day at work look like to you at 28? Those questions gave me more clarity than 3 weeks of googling Made my JoSAA choices with zero panic and zero regrets.If anyone here is in the same confused state before JoSAA, feel free to DM me. I can share the contact of the counsellor I used. Not pushing anything just genuinely helped me and might help you too

Okay so I'm posting this because I was in this exact situation a year ago and I see at least 5 posts a day here with the same panic.

3rd year. No internship and clarity. Everyone around me seemed to have a plan. I was just attending classes and hoping something would click.

The confusion was real:

→ Should I go for placements or higher studies

→ MBA or MTech

→ Core job or IT even though I'm not from CSE

→ UPSC feels safe but do I actually want it

I was making decisions based on what my friends were doing or what seemed like the safe option. Not based on what I actually wanted.

What changed things for me was one honest conversation with someone who asked me the right questions instead of giving generic advice.

Not "do what you're passionate about" type advice. Actual specific questions like:

→ What does your ideal Monday morning look like at 28?

→ Are you running towards something or just away from a bad option?

→ What have you done so far that you genuinely enjoyed?

Those questions made me realise I had never actually thought about MY life clearly. I was just reacting to pressure from family, friends and placements season.

Once I had clarity everything else became easier. The preparation felt focused instead of scattered.

A few things that genuinely helped me:

→ Stop comparing your timeline to others, everyone's path is different

→ Make decisions based on your strengths not just package or peer pressure

→ Talk to someone who has no personal agenda in your decision, not just family or friends

If anyone here is stuck in the same loop happy to discuss more in comments. What year are you in and what's the specific confusion?

Okay so I feel a bit weird posting this but maybe it helps someone here.

For almost 2 years I was stuck in this cycle. Keto for 3 weeks then gave up. Intermittent fasting for a month then a family function ruined it. Some random 7 day crash diet I found on YouTube. Repeat. I wasn't lazy. I was genuinely trying. But nothing was sticking and I had no idea why.

The frustrating part was I could see people around me losing weight and maintaining it and I just couldn't figure out what I was doing differently. Eventually someone suggested I stop googling and actually talk to a proper dietitian. I kept putting it off thinking I already knew enough from all my research

Finally went. And honestly the first session was a bit of a reality check She didn't give me another diet plan. She just asked me questions. What does a normal day of eating look like. What time do I wake up. How much water. What happens when I'm stressed. Stuff I never thought mattered

Turns out I was eating at completely wrong times for my lifestyle, my protein intake was way too low which was causing constant cravings, and I was undereating during the day and overeating at night without realising it Lost 15 kgs over the next few months without ever feeling like I was starving.

The thing that surprised me most was how sustainable it felt. Like I wasn't white knuckling it every day. I actually stopped feeling guilty about food which I didn't even realise was a problem until it went away Anyway just sharing because I wasted 2 years trying to figure it out alone when one proper conversation fixed what months of googling couldn't.

If anyone here is stuck in the same loop happy to share more about what worked in the comments.

Genuinely been thinking about this for a while.

Last year I was at a point where I really needed some direction — not just "update your resume" advice, but actual structured guidance on what I wanted from my career. Asked friends, got 3 different names, none of them had transparent pricing, one ghosted after the first call.

Googled it — got overwhelmed instantly. Too many options, zero way to compare them, and half the profiles looked outdated or unverified.

It honestly felt like the coaching/counselling space in India is still running on jugaad and word-of-mouth. Like we have Zomato for food, Practo for doctors… but nothing that actually organises this space properly.

Curious if others here have faced the same struggle. How did you all find coaches or counsellors that actually worked for you

Needed a marketing consultant for a project recently. Spent two weeks just trying to find someone credible.

No centralized place to compare. Pricing hidden everywhere. Credentials unverifiable. Ended up going with a referral I wasn't fully confident in.

For founders here who've hired consultants or coaches how did you actually find them? Did referrals work for you or did you use any platform?

And for founders who ARE consultants on the side how do you currently get clients?

Genuinely trying to understand if this is a universal pain point or just my experience.

Serious question for entrepreneurs and business owners here.

We have Practo for doctors. Justdial for local services. LinkedIn for jobs. But if I need a business consultant, a career coach, or even a mental health counselor today I'm basically back to asking friends and scrolling through Instagram bios.

I recently went through this myself trying to find a business consultant for a project. The experience was frustrating on every level:

Nobody displays their pricing upfront. You spend 3 calls just to get a quote.

There's no way to verify credentials or see real client outcomes.

90% of good consultants get work purely through referrals meaning if you're not in the right circle, you simply don't find them.

The market is huge. India has coaches for everything career, fitness, business, mental health, executive leadership, sales. But it's completely fragmented.

So my question to this community why do you think this space is still unsolved?Is it a trust problem? A willingness-to-pay problem? Or just that nobody's cracked the right model yet?

Would love to hear from both sides people who've hired consultants AND consultants/coaches themselves.

Genuinely been struggling with this.

Every time I need professional guidance the process is exhausting. Google gives too many options, asking friends limits you to their network, and pricing is never transparent.

Has anyone found a reliable way to find the right Coach, Counsellor or Consultant in India?

What worked for you?