Choosing the right career
Choosing the right career is one of the most important decisions in a student’s life. This profession characterizes the following couple of decades for you, what work are you going to take, what work will you do in the long run choosing what sort of life are you going to live. In this blog, we will attempt to see by what method should somebody pick the correct profession for herself/himself.
Career Selection process takes place in different stages:
- Which stream to pick after grade 10?
- What course to pick in the University?
- Which University/College to choose and what to look in it?
If we base this article on Researches and Theories, it says that Human Development happens in stages. Each stage has its own particular attributes and it brings along an arrangement of Developmental Tasks.
As Donald Super’s Theory of Life Cycles states — The age amass 15–24 is named as the “Exploration Stage” as this is the place a kid tries out different options. This additionally is the period of instructive decisions. Children in this age need to pick among a number of career alternatives for them. This legitimizes hereafter, the imperativeness of the age in this phase of Human Development.
Now that we know the importance of Educational Choices in this stage, the next question is: how to choose the right career? A lot of students and even parents get confused while choosing a career. This could happen mainly because of a constant fear in the minds of the parents to choose the right career in order to gain financial and career security in the future or for the kid, he wants to choose the right career to strike a balance between being happy and keeping her/his parents happy.
Accordingly, they either pick a course that their companions/others in their nature have picked which has made them stable in life or they go for what individuals or guides say “Has scope in”. Is this the correct approach to pick the profession?
No!
To understand this further, let us look at a few concepts in order to gain more clarity.
Interest
Interest is any activity that catches your attention. These are things/activities that you like and of given free time you are highly likely to pick these up. For instance painting, portraying or doing crosswords.
Interests fill in as the steam to the train. These are factors of any individual’s personality that drives her/him. As a person moves ahead in the stages of career development, personal and external influences can play a vital role in either strengthening their interests or diminishing the interests and shifting it to a totally different domain. Henceforth it can be inferred that Interests of a man can change after some time.
It is also to be noted that high interest does not mean high ability. This means that a career cannot be pursued based on interests alone. In order to understand this, we must go a step further.
Aptitudes
Another extremely basic feature of Self-comprehension is the distinguishing proof of Aptitudes. Aptitude can be characterized as something in which the child has the capacity to accomplish something or in which they have ability and they’re actually great at. For instance you might find solving math problems easy as compared to your classmates. This might indicate your high potential in the subject Math.
If Interest is the steam to the locomotive then Aptitude perhaps represents the Engine. These are your abilities and capacities, which can for the most part be measured or tried through various tests and assessments in the market.
A fascinating thing to note here is that Aptitudes reflect potential. Let us take an example here. 17 year old Rahul finds through an aptitude test that he has a high Musical Aptitude and a nearly low Spatial Aptitude. This implies if Rahul is given legitimate training, odds are that he would ace the Musical Ability Skills more easily than Spatial Aptitude skills (Color, shapes and sizes).
Aptitudes don’t change as effortlessly as Interests. Infact it is very far-fetched that an individual will experience drastic changes for the duration of his life. So does that mean you select your career based on Aptitude? Should Rahul seek after a course in music considering just his high inclination in it?
No. Career choice goes above and beyond.
Potential: The Interest — Aptitude Overlap
Potential = Interest + Aptitude
In order to choose the right career for yourself, both the aspects (i.e. Interest and Aptitude) are necessary. A lot of tests and assessments these days are either based on Interests or Aptitudes however, an ideal career assessment should have a blend of both. Which means you should choose a career in which you are interested and are curious to know more and in which you are also naturally good at.
In this manner Rahul, who has got high Musical Aptitude in his report if likewise has an enthusiasm for interest in seeking after Music ahead, at that point that is presumably his correct profession decision.
Presently, what is your potential?
Are you choosing the right career for yourself?
Stay tuned to find out about various sorts of potential each individual has.
Reference: Training Manual of Basic Skills for Career Counseling.
