Life is smooth from first to 10th standards because students are not required to make any choices. They are taught all subjects and even the curriculum and portions are pre-decided. Suddenly after 10th, they are expected to take important decisions regarding optional subjects, courses and colleges, when they do not have any proper guidance or awareness. Many students get confused and take impulsive decisions.
There is no such thing as a ‘right’ career, but there are right and wrong reasons to choose the most suitable career. You need to plan with a vision of at least 40-50 years that you will be working in your chosen career. Scope may go up and down many times in that duration, but if you are good and are enjoying your work, you will not have any major hurdles.
Everyone talks about increase in competition for getting admissions in good institutions or getting jobs after graduation. But few realise that opportunities have increased much more than competition. If you are obsessed with getting into long-established brand names like IIT or IIM, then indeed you face very high competition compared to earlier years. But if you are open to getting good education in engineering or management, then you have a wide variety of excellent colleges that did not exist earlier. And of course, if you are willing to explore beyond traditional courses like BTech or MBA, then you have innumerable alternatives when it comes to career choices.
As a person who has closely observed and guided young people through the maze of career selections for over 30 years, I am happy to tell you that today there is a “problem of plenty” and anyone selecting the right career for the right reasons can be assured not only of good earnings and status, but also of an enjoyable and fulfilling work life. Start right now and continuously keep an eye open to any and every career that is possible – and evaluate which could possibly be suitable to you. Slowly eliminate from your list those that are not very appealing.
When required to take a decision at the end of 10th or 12th standard, you need to first set your long term goals and then work backwards as to which courses or subjects will take you in that direction. Even if you are unable to narrow down to a specific career, you can at least select a range of careers. You can do this by evaluating the following: Subjects you enjoy the most, your personality traits, the lifestyle you prefer, your multiple intelligences, your skills and endurance, general knowledge, commercial acumen and of course, your interest. Never opt for a career that does not appeal to you, even if people try to convince you that there is a good ‘scope’ in it.
Once your exams get over, there will be free time before results and admissions. Use it to do further exploration into career selection so that you will be able to apply to the right colleges well within time. Keep ‘Option B’ ready i.e. if you do not get into the course or college of your choice, you should be ready to move into the second best alternative.
When the career selection is done well in advance, systematically (taking into account all the factors I have listed above), you cannot go wrong. Equally important is that this should be a team effort between the student and the parents. Take inputs only from knowledgeable people, list out the pros and cons and then go ahead confidently. Best of luck!
Dr Ali Khwaja
Chairman, Banjara Academy and
career counsellor