Young Minds, Wanna Shape Your Future?

“When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut/pilot/actor/Picasso/ F1 racer!!!”

Ask a second grader what he wants to do in life, and these would probably be the answers. However, ask the same to a tenth grader, and we will mostly be surprised if the answer goes beyond doctor, engineer or lawyer. Isn’t it quite strange how prospective careers seem to narrow down to a few cliched fields as a child progresses through his/her schooling years? This is where the need to make students aware of possible careers comes in. And thus enters Career Awareness!

So, What Is Career Awareness? But before that, how do we define “career”?

“An occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with opportunities for progress”

Yeah. The above statement sucks. In my defense, this is what you would get if you google “how do we define a career”. But maybe Confucius knew it better years before Google

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

— Confucius

That’s it. Find what you love doing. Find a way to make money doing it. Err..how much? that’s totally up to you. Keep working, keep hustling, keep enjoying and boom; you’ve made a career out of it. If this sounds easy to you, believe me, it isn’t. And that is exactly why you need to love what you do because to make a good career in any field, people usually have to work extremely hard, something which only those who love what they do can really do.

Career awareness is working towards developing a complete understanding of possible career fields and opportunities, factors that can influence a job’s outlook.

It involves being actually aware of your strengths and preferences, and the education necessary to be successful in the field of your choice. Unless a person gets the above things cleared…hear Arthur Golden —

“A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory.”

You might consider reading that again. After all, that one statement alone tells why career awareness is important.

How can we even expect teenagers to dream about their careers when they don’t even know what to dream of?

A virtuous career helps to transform an individual into an asset rather than a liability to our society.

Running behind highly paid jobs is not the motive of career awareness in the real sense, rather exploring your interests and skills. This will eventually lead to better standards of living. Stop following the crowd, chase your passion.

One thing everyone, especially in a country like India, must realize that career options after 10th are not just limited to engineering and medicine. If its business that turns something on in you, go for commerce, something that’s best suited for business. It opens the doors for various career options like chartered accountants, company secretaries, accountants, a career in investment banking or financial advisory. And above all, an option that provides you offbeat and exciting options, and is often degraded these days is Arts & Humanities, which can help you explore your interests and choose a career that is best for you.

Stop being slaves in MNC’s just because you lack a clear sense of direction, go ahead in journalism, literature and social work. It’s not always necessary to have a degree, because if you feel like you have a skill, go get a diploma course.

I personally don’t understand why people don’t consider diploma courses to be on par with degrees. Search on the web, the government provides various jobs on the basis of diploma courses you have done or the skills you are trained in.

And always remember there are just two paths; you must be clear with one,

• One has a clear goal, find various paths to achieve that
• One knows he’s on the right path which has high chances of leading to a successful destination.

Though uncertainties are obviously there in both cases, still being optimistic in these two cases is something positive.

What about a Plan B?

Success never comes easy. And never ever without a fair share of failures. So if you ever fall down on your chosen career path, don’t despise. Rise again and move ahead. However, how many failed attempts would make the next one just one too many to continue. It really depends on you. But still, preparing a contingency plan, or a “Plan B” while pursuing your ambitious career is surely a smart thing to do. What’s “Plan B” you ask? Well, something (a skill, knowledge..maybe contacts) you can bank on to get food and shelter (basically earn money) in case your flight simply doesn’t take off in the desired manner. For example, if you are planning to be the greatest cricketer ever, you should be prepared to work as a college/school coach if the need ever arose..forgive me if it’s too harsh, but it is real.

It is natural to feel overwhelmed as a 9th or 10th grader to think of such a vast range of career options available to you, and so, a career counseling session is always a good idea. Career counseling, also known as career guidance, is counseling designed to help with choosing, changing, or leaving a career and is available at any stage in life. A career counselor can help by outlining and discussing one’s potential career options. Believe me, there’s no shame in taking someone’s advice. Yes, the final call should always be yours, but it really helps in making your decision wisely and under the guidance of your well-wishers.

Don’t forget what Confucius (apparently) said and remember that there’s a world full of opportunities waiting for each and every one of you. Good luck for your future; now go find your passion and chase your dreams.

-Success is a journey, not a destination.

Stay on your toes for more blogs!!

Praneet Tiwari, Team Technothlon 2020

Sugandhi Gupta, Team Technothlon 2020