A wide array of options have opened up. This could land students in confusion. To tackle this, students need career counseling by professionals who could guide them in the right direction, says Ayush Bansal
The problem of choosing a suitable career is more acute in India as the concept of career counselling is still not very commonly accepted. Students today have a wide array of career options to choose from. However, with the rise in the number of options, we are also noticing increased confusion.
A world economic forum report says that 44 per cent of students in India need career counseling and define it as the most important factor in demand-supply mismatch. Contrary 93 per cent of Indian schools do not have counselors. The recent skilling report by Michael & Susan Dell Foundation states that only one out of 10 students in India receive career guidance. The result is that India sees 77 per cent drop-out among students at secondary education. The 250 million young population of India need career guidance, but the current schooling system does not provide it. There is an absolute gap in providing career guidance to students at early stage of education in schools.
As defined by UNICEF, Career guidance is a comprehensive, right-based development approach, designed to assist individuals in making and implementing informed educational and occupational choices that in turn lead to their social, financial and emotional well-being.
It is a process by which an adolescent makes a successful transition from school to higher education and workforce. The process involves exploring different careers, knowing the different pathways to careers, opportunity, earning levels, time period required. Further it involves knowing one’s strengths and interest, matchmaking one’s own potential to the world of careers and then selecting the right courses and colleges, the process to apply and finally the ways to finance his/her education.
With globalisation, liberalisation and use of technology across different industries, a wave of new careers has opened up in the world. It is no more limited to four-five options like doctor, engineer, and lawyer. Every day over 10-15 new careers track emerge, from artificial intelligence to growth hacker to bionics engineer and neuroscientist, there is a wave of emerging careers opening for students. Additionally, the pathways to enter such careers are very diverse. For example — one can become neuroscientist by pursuing MBBS or psychology or a core biology course as well. Universities have become flexible and the courses are now multidisciplinary. To survive in the corporate, one need to have multiple skills from different disciplines. Hence courses like Liberal Arts are on uptake which gives one the flexibility to combine two very different disciplines. One can do majors in Computer Science and minor in language which can lead to a career in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). HCI is now the fundamental technology in various voice-based products like Alexa, google assistant, Siri and it requires a combination of skill that involves two different discipline.
The career opportunity in the world is dynamic now and moving at a very fast pace. To tackle this effectively, students need career counseling by professionals who could guide them in the right direction. Talking to a career counselor, going through psychometric assessments and accessing online platforms for gathering information is important to identify the right career.
The writer is Founder & CEO at iDreamCareer
