Career Choice – a problem of plenty now –
Career – this six letter word has become an integral part of the vocabulary of every youth throughout the world in general and third world countries in particular. From a time when this particular word had no meaning for most of the people, till now it has gained enormous importance in every section of the society. There was a time when education was available to very few upper class gentry of the society with some exception for other, say some half a century ago, at that time virtually every new born was suppose to follow the footsteps of his ancestors i.e. father, forefather in every aspect of life including the profession he has to adopt, then a time came when it started spreading to the masses and the various work groups of the different societies all over the world started spreading its wings in different direction. Young people started thinking beyond the horizons of their families’ profession; of course education played an important role in bringing this change in the thinking of the masses. Increasing awareness about various professions lured the younger generation towards new career options other than already adopted by their parents. Even at that time say sometime in early eighties there were few options like Medicine, Engineering, Civil Services and Legal Services etc. to name a few. Even at that time decision of adopting a particular profession was usually taken by the parent’s right at the time of the birth of the child and forced on the children to fulfill the wishes of their parents thereby making the career selection in a way an easy task for the children. This was not a big deal at that particular point of time when there were very few options available for the youths to decide from. But now in the twenty first century with the globalization of the world the conditions have changed drastically. Last couple of decade has seen wide spreading of the mass media and commercial development thereby opening the flood gates of hundreds of different kinds of profession to choose from. In fact the conditions has taken a kind of U turn from a position of scarcity and lack of choice to the problem of plenty and difficulty of choice. Present day youth has become so knowledgeable and enterprising that he is no longer ready to follow the path trodden by their parents or ancestors. He want to do something different or at least in different way. He no longer wants to be spoon fed in fact he wants to use his creativity and that too in the field he himself feels comfortable. It does not mean that he is or he should not listen to what the parents’ wishes to share with them about the career he should adopt, after all they are the ones who have an experience of life time to share with, they are the ones who can guide you and make you aware about the challenges to be faced while adopting various profession and guide you in the best possible way, but parents should also be unbiased and share their experiences without being authoritative. They should understand the feeling of their children and give them a free hand to take the final decision regarding the career to be adopted among the various profession according to their own aptitude and liking.
Now the big questions that arise before the today’s youth are when? Why? and How to choose a career path for himself.
There are varied and contradictory view points of different people about this, some are of the view that this decision should be taken as early as possible in the life infect they are of the view that it should be taken right at the time of the birth of the child. They are of the thinking that early decision about the career to be adopted will make the parents as well as children focused towards its goal from the very beginning. This view may sounds good some half a century ago when there were very few career options available to the youths. They have to select from Civil Services like IAS, IPS or IFS etc or opt from some conventional career in Engineering or Medicine of Legal services at higher level and can go for clerical or secretarial services at lower level in the Government sector likewise there was little scope in the private sector too.
But in today scenario when there is no dearth of career option in Private as well as public sector it seems more appropriate that the career decision should be postponed at least till the time one is able to understand and explore his own interest and aptitude. One should at least be able to analyses himself the inputs to be given into and output from the profession one is going to choose. Objectively saying the youth should at least be given a free hand till he completes his Metric level basic education before taking his path towards a particular destination.
Why to choose a particular career or in another sense what are the factors that should be taken care of before taking this all important once for all decision of the life. Although there cannot be a perfect for all answer to this question yet one can take a few into consideration before selection from enormous opportunities available in both public and private sector. All these factors like Job security and high esteem attached to public sector high profile professions like Civil Services (IAS officers, IPS officers, IFS officers etc.) Defense Services (Army, Airforce, Naval Officers), Banking sector (PO, Development Officers etc), Legal Sector (Solicitors, Advocate, Judges to name a few), high pay packages of privates sector, glamour in the tinsel (cinema) world, respect of education sector-lecturer, professors, scientists or whatever other factors that leads to the goal of Job satisfaction of a particular person should be considered before taking up any profession.
Now the task is how to choose the best option for youself and what is the way to the destination selected. This task has become very easy with the advent of Information technology in general and Internet in particular. There is very vast and elaborate information available on net through various career related websites they can help you out to achieve your goal by letting you know which course of action you are supposed to take to fulfill your desired goal. There you will find information and resources on different job industries, specific careers, and even individual occupations that may be of interest to you.
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Parental advices 