Gone are the days when career options post any stream were few and limited. The past few years have seen a spate of a variety of professors flourishing in the job market. Indeed, at the university or pre-university level, choosing a career does seem like an insurmountable task especially when one is bombarded by the forces of one's capabilities and desires, parents' expectations and pressure, peer competition, etc. Amidst all these complications, career selection is by no means a cakewalk but a herculean task requiring considerable research and time.
Personality assessment and job evaluation are deemed indispensable before bouncing at any career. For this, one must know or do the following:
Know your values
This is the process of uncovering what you value the most. For example, whether you prefer power over money? or vice versa. One must be clear about one's most cherished values.
Know your talents and skills:
A skill is a capability one acquires over time and talent is an inborn aptitude or excellence at something. It is important to differentiate between the two. One may be skilled at something and still not enjoy it and on the other hand, one may enjoy a trade that one can do naturally than simply one has been trained in.
Set your preferences straight
This step involves listing down the number of career alternatives that you like, you want to know more about, you can do well or you are skilled at doing, and what you have a natural knack for. However, at the same time, this step involves doing away with all the prejudices or biases against or for any particular profession or professions. Thus, this step requires a broad vision and a free mind. For example, you might want to know more about web designing or be inclined towards journalism despite being a top scorer in science.
Interact with insiders :
This step involves getting in touch with insiders of various professionals listed in the above step. This step is the most crucial step as what may seem good from far may be far from good for you. For example, you might be good with numbers and might find a career in stock broking very appealing but the real pressures and face of the job might be contrary to your expectations.
Narrow down your options :
The last step is to narrow down your list and do away with the alternatives that got rejected in the above four steps. Rank the shortlisted options in order of preferences and feasibility and choose the one that tops your list and train yourself for it by choosing the stream or subject accordingly and inculcating the skills required for the job.
Hence, listed above are the ideal pre-requisites before embarking on a specific career. If any of the loops of this process is tied loose then the chances of one's settling for a profession or job that fails to fulfill one's professional ambitions or purpose are high.
One can also seek guidance from career counselors who are experts at making the task of career selection easy for the students. Your career is the tree you are going to plant and reap the fruits as well, hence nourish it well, with care. Mark Twain once said, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do than by the things you did". So, select your career carefully.
.jpg)
