Choosing a Career
Choice of a career is now a days, quite a mind boggling process in which young men and women can set the ball rolling but, how far success touches them is not difficult to see. In times gone by, there were very limited choices for the young to pursue as, avenues and openings were very limited. There were, basically just three avenues of education and they were obviously followed by just same three avenues of service. The three avenues were, engineering in two or three main streams, medicine, and arts. Thus, after completion of education the youth were just bogged down to these job avenues available within the ambit of their course of studies. At that point of time it was felt that, the degrees had been earned after much labour but, the careers offered were not to their satisfaction. At times, it was even felt that, the individual’s potential was not being fully tapped by the jobs offered. This led to a great amount of dissatisfaction among the promising young. However, this could not be helped because there were no other offers coming their way. With such a planning for a career where one just had to accept any offer as there was nothing else to come, often turned out to be disastrous. No matter what happened, there was, at that time, no way of changing the career, for, one, there was little scope and, secondly, the degree had tied the individual to a very specific job.
This was very often very frustrating. This situation has now changed quite a bit as, there are numerous avenues for careers. No matter what the individual’s personal taste, there are avenues of service for every taste and every capacity. For instance, if an individual has no liking for studies, and, instead loves to dance or sing, there are a huge number of options he/she has, to carve a career for himself/herself. Today, no matter what an individual likes to do, he/she has an avenue open for a sound career. There are choices for the children to channelise their attention wholesale to the subject of their choice for a career. With this, the attitudes of people have also changed, to make it easier for the young to adjust to the career of their choice. This is because, every career has now attained the dignity and financial growth for equal capacity. This was also a hurdle in earlier times. In the days gone by example, dancing, singing, and acting were all taboo for children of good respectable families. Now, with this attitudinal change in the society, children even from the most respectable families can enter these avenues. This has also contributed to the expansion of the career horizon for the young.
So much so good, but, has this tremendous change made the career option or career choosing any easier? In reality, even this situation of multitudes of avenues to choose from, the children are still finding it a very difficult moment – to choose a career. In fact, just as, previously children had very limited choice, today, they have too much of a variety that, they get lost in the labyrinth of choices, and often land up in the wrong place. This is because, at the time and age at which children pass out of XIIth, they themselves do not know what they really want to become. Very few children at this age are correctly focussed that, they know just exactly what they want for their career. These children know what they want to become and where they will excel, given their aptitude and their liking and their personal circumstances. Thus, in the matter of a choice of a career I’d say the position has no doubt changed but, it cannot be called completely fool proof.
Except for the very few children who are very clear and focussed, the majority who are the average, keep hobnobbing with different choices as, the attraction in each case seems to be great enough to attract attention, and it is here that they fail to gauge their real slot where they could fit and be successful.
Besides this, average class of children at times even the very clear headed and focussed children get to face their limitations due to external circumstances. The competition is so much that, very often even the very good students fail to get the career of their choice, and are thus forced to fit themselves in a career of their second or even third choice. Thus, in the choice of a career several phenomena play a part, and, even if the children know exactly what they want they fail to get it as a career.
Thus, even though several avenues of service have opened, attitudes have changed there are umpteen children who do not want what they get and do not get what they want, they just have to follow a career to earn a living. This is the situation of the average child even today with so much development in the employment segment. This is because for one, the average child is not sufficiently focussed to make the correct choice, and while options have increased competition has also sky rocketed.
