Careers: Think beyond engineering and medicine

My friend, Ms S.K. Manimekalai, an English teacher sent me the following report on a seminar that she attended. I thought it deserves to be brought to more readers. I’m reproducing below the report as it was sent to me.

Ms Pervin Malhotra, Director of Career Guidance India (CARING), New Delhi, is India's top career counsellor. As a columnist in Times of India, her Query Columns reach an audience of 300 million people. Her Career - i - Opener test (www.careerguidanceindia.com) has been helping the youth across the nation to discover the career that is just right for them. A highly informative Career Counselling Session for the Students of Class X and their Parents was conducted by Ms. Pervin on December 29^th, 2018 in the KG Hall of DPS Mathura Road. The session was also attended by the teachers teaching in classes IX and X. The following are the highlights of her keynote address: 

Robots are replacing not only mechanical jobs like serving coffee etc., but are also performing activities of an intelligent career like that of playing chess. Human knowledge is constantly evolving. Information is bombarding through internet. Life has no syllabus and careers have no curriculum. So what should be done? 

Both parents and students should change their conventional mindset of choosing careers like engineering, IAS, etc. IITs alone cannot guarantee you all success. 85% of Engineering students are unemployable or unemployed today. So no need to be obsessed with MBBS  or IIT. Even a Bachelor's degree done neatly well can take them to great levels in their career. For instance, a boy who had done his graduation in journalism was picked up by IBM and he went on to work with Oracle.

Hence, students should be given a chance to explore careers today, because there are about 3550+ careers available today and they are still increasing. We are living in an interconnected world of careers. For example, now there has emerged a new career called Mechatronics from Mechanical Engineering and Electronics. How should we prepare students then?

The process of exploring careers and choosing the right career should be started at a very early stage. Not at the last moment around their exams. They should be made aware about the fact that the knowledge level takes a quantum jump from class X to class XI. Learning should become a continuous habit and it shouldn't be done only for one time success, because an 85% scorer in class X may become a 65% scorer in class XII. Love for learning should be inculcated in the young minds. They should not stop learning only for exams, but also for their life and career after formal education. The habit of Reading Around should be cultivated by them. Reading Around is learning the topics learnt in class further by exploring and studying them through net or other resources, say newspaper, etc. and other things happening in their surroundings. 

Students today cannot complain about paucity of time to update themselves on current affairs. The three hours spent on gadgets like mobile phones can easily used otherwise. Mobile phones can be used as a learning tool to update themselves with current affairs. It is a phenomenal learning tool. For example, Quora is a site of experts and experienced people. One can make best use of the information available on this site and become well informed about various issues related to careers and other requirements.

Parents and teachers should make students realise that success can be a trap. Students who score highly in class X may not be as successful in higher classes. They can seek help of tests like 'Career-i-Opener' which might cost them less than a pizza, i.e., Rs. 495. They are certainly not sure of their future career though they announce one to the world. They should be given a chance to explore careers. Besides, we should also help them develop their communication and social skills. Because a career is not just about studies. It is also their ability to socialise and communicate. Communication skill doesn't mean that they should be able to speak in English fluently. They should also be able to listen to what the other person says and understand what they expect.  So we should let them develop their social skills as well and become successful in their career.

However, all these skills can only be nurtured by students through hard work. Young people tend to look for a career that doesn't involve so much hard work. But there is no such career that doesn't involve hard work. This should be reiterated and they should be trained to work hard. Then success is all theirs.