Making a Right Choice of Career

MAKING A RIGHT CHOICE OF CAREER: PRE-REQUISITE FOR CAREER CHOICE

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hoosing a career is not like choosing an orange from the basket. According to Weiler 1997 “successful career seldom happens by chance with very few exceptions, people who really get what they want in a career do so because they define their objective, plans and schedule for achieving their objectives and assume personal responsibility for implementing and following these plans.”

          The dictionary meaning of career is a way of making a living profession amongst career of opportunities.

Career can also be defined as the sequence and variety of occupation (paid or unpaid) which one undertakes through a life time e.g. Are you going to be a doctor, lawyer, an accountant etc.

          There is nothing as challenging as considering which career path to take in fulfilling your career destiny. To some people such decision are embedded in their heart and desire from birth, while to some it’s an uphill task which they think that the process is full of steep edges of uncertainty.

          Now what are the essential pre-requisites for vocational choice?

1.   Taking Advantage of vocational guidance - Career guidance helps you to find the kind of work in which you may be happy and successful with. This is done by providing you;

     i.        Vocational advice

   ii.        Vocational test

  iii.        Vocational information

2.   Make a self assessment – This means gathering information about yourself in order to make an informed career decision by appraising your values, interests, personality and skills.

3.   Choosing a vocation that you will enjoy – The first pre-requisite of success in business is having a good time at your work. You may work long hours, but it will seem like play.

4.   Having essential skills in the key subject – One should choose an occupation for which he does not possess the essential skills in the key subject e.g. a boy who is weak in science may not choose engineering as a career.

5.   Require physical strength and endurance – A student must not choose an occupation for which he lacks the required physical fit, he should not seek to become a traveling salesman.

6.   Considering the routine and unpleasant aspects of the prestigious vocations – Young people see certain occupations through rose colored glasses, ignoring completely the routine and less pleasant aspects of the work e.g. a person who selects the medical profession as a career, believes that it is prestigious and he will earn a good income in it. But he may have little or no idea of the training skills, and patience required in this profession.

7.   Financial limitations – A youth may rightly select a career because he has outstanding aptitude in that occupational field