Rethinking your career in Bengaluru? I offer adult career counselling with plain talk and small experiments. We start with your week, money, energy. No tests or placement.
Short answer. Yes. I offer career counselling for working professionals and we keep it grounded in your real week. We talk work, energy, money, and choice like a good friend who stays for the hard bits, then try small experiments your calendar can carry.
In short:
Bring your real week. We put the hours you are paid for next to the ones that spill into nights, circle meetings that leave you wired, and notice when your body braces at a ping or a calendar colour. From that, one lever you can move this week, smaller than a grand vision.
Then we try tiny experiments. Change how you open a day, move one meeting, try a boundary script, pause a side project, or say no once, and we watch what your sleep, irritability, and time actually do in the real week that follows. Good intentions go quiet when the calendar disagrees.
Rafiq means the friend who walks with you. I bring plain questions, patience, and the habit of trying something small before we theorise, because your energy, money, and timing matter more than any impressive framework or test score. We keep it real. Your week is our lab.
I'm Satlaj Sachan, a counsellor in Bengaluru, practising since 2015. This room helps when you want straight talk about workload, politics, stalled pay, timing, and the trade-offs that sit under each choice, and you are ready to run small, boring experiments that your calendar can carry. If you need aptitude testing or placement, use a testing centre or coach, and treat their report as one input rather than a verdict.
I work with adults roughly 25 to 45. If you want in-person near your home or office and I am far, start with someone you can meet soon, and judge fit after two or four meetings you actually attend. For names to compare, try directories like Practo and TheMindClan, then choose based on language, availability, and whether you can imagine saying hard things to them.
Pace changes with weeks. Release cycles, travel, caregiving, and the season you are in at work all affect how often sessions help, and these thoughts on cadence may help you decide a start plan you can keep: How often do people go to therapy?. Book, try, review, and adjust.
We choose one place where friction is constant and expensive. Examples I see often: Monday stand-ups that spike dread, a weekly review that drains you for hours, a moving ceiling on pay or scope, or a manager who gives praise and impossible timelines in the same breath. We pick two small experiments and protect them on your calendar.
Here are scripts you can borrow and edit. To pull a boundary: "I can deliver by 4 pm; if that changes the plan, tell me now." To calm status theatre: "Here is what moved, what is blocked, and what I need from you today." To tame a meeting: "We need an agenda and a stop time". Try one this week, and measure with sleep, mood, and the clock.
Use plain words only. If promotion is the knot, list what would need to be true on scope, sponsorship, and timing, and then read this before a hard conversation: Am I getting a promotion?, because clarity on evidence helps you ask for what you actually want. Say it once, and stop.
Book what you can. We can meet over video or in person in Bengaluru, and your choice should be the one you will actually attend without acrobatics, because consistency beats novelty when your workday already eats attention. Bring one clear ask to start. Recent examples help most.
To get value fast, show your work as it is. Screenshots of a calendar week, the Slack or email thread that keeps circling, a one-page description of a meeting you dread, and your best guess at the first small boundary you want to try give us a clean starting point. Perfection wastes time here.
We steady the basics so you can think: food, water, a shower, one text to someone safe, and a plan for tonight that includes sleep. Panic bends decisions fast.
Shrink the day hard. If work still needs you, send one message to your manager that names capacity and a near-term plan: "I am at limited capacity today, so I will deliver X by 4 pm and push Y to tomorrow; if you need a different order, please tell me now". Then move only the essentials.
When the fire eases, we will return to the question that brought you here and sort next steps you can afford. Write what helped and what made things worse, because that log is data we can use next week when your energy is different.
Pick one small lever. Examples that tend to pay back quickly: protect your first ninety minutes twice this week, rewrite one status update to match what your manager actually reads, and move a recurring meeting you hate by fifteen minutes to test what shifts. Measure with sleep, irritability, and the clock.
If anxiety scatters your attention, read this and borrow what helps: How to focus when anxious?. For a manager conversation, start lean: "I want to deliver X well and on time; to do that I will pause Y this week and need Z unblocked; if that breaks something, tell me now and I will reorder". Then stop talking now.
Tonight, write one page about a single meeting you fear. Choose one action you will trial there this week and put it on your calendar with a time, not a wish, and tell one person who will nudge you kindly if you start to avoid it. Then close the laptop and sleep.
How do I choose between counselling and coaching for career questions?
Pick the room that matches your need today. If you want help with emotions, patterns, boundaries, and real-world experiments, choose counselling. If you want performance frameworks or specific skill drills, coaching can help. Shortlist two names, book what you can keep, and decide by how useful the first few meetings feel.
What should I say in the first message?
Keep it simple. Try: "I'm a working professional in Bengaluru. My main issue is Monday stand-up dread and a manager timeline clash. I want to try one boundary this week and see what changes." Add your preferred days and times. That gives us enough to start without drama.
Can I start while using my employer's EAP?
Yes. Many people use an employer's short-term support while also shortlisting someone for steadier work. Use the EAP for immediate relief and to test what helps. In parallel, book two or four sessions with a counsellor you can actually meet, then review what moved in your real week.
How do we talk about pay and money without awkwardness?
We put numbers on the table early: EMIs, rent, savings, commitments, and how much risk is bearable right now. Money shapes timing and boundaries. We will treat it as data, not a moral scorecard, and design experiments you can afford while we weigh internal moves, exits, or a steadying pause.
What if I live outside Bengaluru?
If you prefer in-person near you, pick someone you can meet soon and judge fit after a short trial. This page may help with the practical search steps: Looking for career counselling for working professionals near you?. Language, availability, and comfort saying hard things matter most.
Written by Satlaj Sachan, a counsellor in Bengaluru working Book a first conversation.