Many students of BE approached me for career guidance this year and to my surprise most of them were preparing for either a bank exam or some govt. job entrance. I simply ask them one question as to 'what to do you find interesting to do?' or 'what is that you are enthusiastic about?' and among the innumerable replies you never find an answer that relates a profession with the interest, the answers that you get most of the time is music, cricket and adventure. They never understand this question in the context of their career. For them something that you find interesting to do is a 'hobby' a quick response to my question is 'are you asking about my hobbies?'. The situation is alarming, the youth of today are in absolute obscurity.
The very concept of learning has been distorted since the initial stages of schooling. I remember having no clue about being a doctor(I was in 5th standard), what exam to take? how to prepare? is that what I want in life? it used to be my pet dialogue that 'I want to become a doctor' as I was told so, though there was a strong feeling that my mother wants me to be a doctor and I will live up to her dream but thankfully there was no pressure from the family; it was just a wish expressed my mother.What is important is not what is expected from you but how do you plan and prepare to achieve that and most importantly to understand that it is your passion that makes you successful in life if you are passionate about music plan your career in music; what do you want to do in music? do you like composing? or is it the instruments which fascinate you or do you want to be a singer? what style? what course? which place? make an action plan, be specific and never forget to assign a date. There is no harm taking any exam at any point of time but what is important is the choices you make, remember one wrong choice can ruin your career and you could only be earning money rather than having a successful career.
If becoming an engineer was your dream, how can you end up in becoming a bank officer? A total mess initiated from your 12th standard, to take up an engineering career you might have opted Maths-Science stream, must have taken the entrance examination to get admission into BE, now, all of a sudden you planned a shift and moved into bank coaching?? The reply you get is an absolute misguidance '"bank PO will make me earn a good salary without any effort, it is too difficult to get a good job after BE as there is no campus placement in our college''. Poor students don't know where are they going? what is the correct path? there is no knowledge about the allied fields, the career options in the allied sciences. If not a good placement( where there is no quantification of 'good' as to what is a 'good placement'? what package? which company? what profile?) then the popular answer is GATE preparation, "will take a drop and prepare for GATE" after 6 months, "preparing for GATE and doing a part time job" after a year," preparing for CAT, BE is not enough, MBA fetches you a good salary" and the mess doesn't end here. After MBA, working as an HR manager (with a meagre package). "How come HR manager? you did your BE right? yeah! but I took HR as specialization in MBA".
Believe me when I hear those answers, I don't feel bad for the ones ruining their career rather have an absolute feeling of avert for the entire system where the education industry is manufacturing such products and the pressure from the family wherein what is expected is a hefty salary nothing else than that. Where the mind is not without fear of 'failure', where no school teaches you to listen to your soul, to be excellent in one thing rather than scoring good in all the subjects, where a child's intellect is judged by his score card in the subjects taught not by the talent he has.
And this is just not the case with fresh graduates, the situation is worst for those who have been graduated and still don't have a career plan. if you ask the question what would you do after graduation? the patent answer is "JOB". "What kind of a job? 'any', which industry?'any', what skill set you have? after a deliberate thought the outcome is 'Java, C++' if he/she is an engineering graduate and if someone is from the commerce background 'Internet, MS Office'. Even after Post graduation the picture remains hazy. All this is just because the lack of a focussed approach and proper planning.If becoming a lecturer is your aim and you are taking a PG programme in management start preparing for NET/SLET by the time you finish your final year exam you will be prepared to sit for the competitive exam, if you wish to enter into the corporate world don't just wait for the college to arrange a campus for you, search, enquire and learn about the specific industry you wish to join, is there any skill and expertise required? take some short term courses, get a thorough knowledge about the industry.
Make a career plan right form the choice of subject you make. Make sure whatever 'course' you are taking is not just a certification it must be a step toward your career. An action plan which will lead you to the position you want in a given time.
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