Career Smart

Career Smart

Students are now being encouraged to think about careers from a relatively early age,

GONE are the days when students thought about choosing careers after reaching class XII. Today, they are serious about careers at an earlier age and start ‘exploring’ various options.
   A resource centre was recently launched to this end at Delhi Public School (DPS), Ghaziabad. The centre will provide knowledge about new careers, courses and institutions to students, teachers and parents ranging from actuarial science, avionics to bioinformatics, to name a few. It will also enable access to neutral career information and career planning aids help in selecting the right course and institute.
   Elaborating on the need for such a centre, Jitin Chawla, career counsellor and managing director, JUMP and also the brain behind the concept, said: “Career awareness among students is a major problem, and thus we aim to build that right from class IX onwards to help students make informed career decisions.”
   Speaking about the activities planned for the resource centre, he said: “We will ensure regular visits by our career counsellors to tackle queries and conduct workshops. In addition, we have a display board showcasing new programmes and institutions, charts showing career routes, a career books library, a compilation of online resources and mock tests for different exams.”

THE RIGHT AGE

Most teachers feel that students should start thinking seriously about their careers from class VIII onwards. As Sunita Roy, counsellor, Apeejay School, Sheikh Sarai, put it: “Ideally, class VIII onwards, students should at least know about the career options available.” She added: “In fact, young children who are at impressionable age, start imitating doctors or policemen, so depending on their interest, they should be made to interact with people from different professions so that they can know more about it.”
   On the other hand, P Anjali Mehta, counsellor, Amity School, Noida, said: “The right age for career counselling is when a child reaches class IX and the exploration phase must start at this age.” She added: “Students also need to be made aware about various lifestyles that each profession holds and they must pursue it only if it suits their temperament.”
   One can’t deny that children are turning materialistic today, opined Mehta. She said: “What students usually want today is money, power, status and job satisfaction. Hence, they prefer to chose careers that are lucrative.” Similarly, Roy stated: “Today’s generation wants to pursue lucrative careers with lesser working hours, so they are especially interested in learning about the career options available in this regard.”

COUNSELLING PARENTS

Most counsellors agree to the fact that parents need counselling more than students, as they are usually the final decision-makers. Talking about one of their focussed programmes specially for parents, Roy said: “We have a class-wise programme wherein we encourage regular interactions of parents and children so that both can understand each other’s perceptions. This greatly helps in motivating both participants.”
   Mehta's advice for students, on pursuing ‘new millennium careers’ is that that they should only pursue them depending on their abilities and sheer passion for it. She added: “Students should be exposed to career fairs and be encouraged to explore as much as possible to gain insights.”

TIPS FOR CHOOSING A CAREER


• Understand yourself completely. Understand your strengths, which you can build on, and your weaknesses as well

• Know which subjects/hobbies/activities interest you the most and you can choose your career accordingly

• Always evaluate all the career options available and then select the career that attracts you the most

• You should not only know about traditional career options such as engineering or medicine but also about off-beat careers that are very successful these days, including stand up comedians, wedding choreographers etc

• Don’t select careers by talking to your friends and parents. Try and interact with people working in varied fields/industries

• Even if a job looks very interesting, try working part-time at first

• Never choose any career under pressure or by getting influenced by others