Career Planing What is a Career Planning? It is a multi-step process of choosing an occupation, getting a job, growing in job, possibly changing the career/s and eventually retiring. It requires systematic planning at every step. Myths about choosing a career: Choosing a career is very simple: It is a multi-step process and involves a lot efforts, time and expertise. A career counselor can tell you what occupation you should select: A career counselor only provides you guidance and help in decision making. But you are the only one who should take a final decision about career. I should choose a career from a Best Careers list: There are numerous articles, books and websites that list hot jobs. You shouldnt use this list to dictate your choice. Very often what is hot this year wont be hot a few years from now. Ultimately you should choose your career based on your interests, aptitude, values, qualification and skills. Making a lot of money will make me happy: Salary is important however, it isnt the only factor you should consider while choosing a career. Countless surveys have shown that money doesnt necessarily lead to a job satisfaction. Once I choose a career Ill be stuck in it forever: If you are unsatisfied in your present career for any reason you must change it. Many people change their careers several times. However job changing should not be an addiction but it should be based on some valid reasons. My skills will go waste if I change careers: Many skills are transferable skills. The skills acquired in one job can be applied in another job but with some modifications. If my friend/sister/uncle/neighbor is happy in a career, I will be too: Everyone is different and what works for one person will not necessarily fit for another even though many of the things are common. There is very little I can do to learn about an occupation without actually working in it: The first-hand experience isgreat however there are other ways to explore an occupation. You can get information from books, information interviews and online help. Why there is need for Career planning? It is one of the most crucial factors in your life. There is a fierce competition for getting a space in the world of jobs. Globalization of economy and advancement in science, technology and management practices has created many new avenues of careers. Availability of many career options results in confusion in the minds of students and parents. So to face competition and to weed out the confusion and to choose a right career option, the proper understanding of career planning process is essential. What is a proper age for career planning? The age that could be considered appropriate for starting a career planning is 14-15 years. This is because immediately after 10th standard (middle school) you have to choose one stream from the three viz., science, arts/humanities and commerce as well the appropriate combination of subjects. To a great extent, this choice would determine the course options available for you after 10 + 2 level. For example, if you want to do a career in Medical field, you should not only take science stream but the combination of subjects (Physics, Chemistry and Biology). What should be main considerations for career planning? Potentiality and capability. Aptitude. Interests, values, personality and acquired skills. Urgency of job (may be due adverse family circumstances or any other reason). Feasibility of career. Financial status of family (It is important for the courses which require high fees). Practicability and authenticity of training courses (never take the claims of flashy advertisements in newspapers and other media at their face value). Accessibility for proper career guidance at affordable cost. Availability of financial aid and scholarships. Which are the most important steps in career planning? Following six steps are crucial in career planning. Goal setting Self assessment and evaluation Exploration of career options Making a decision Plan of action Catch hold of opportunities 1. Goal setting: It depends on academic qualifications, experience, priorities and expectations in life. One can set knowledge based goals (Ph.D in four years) or hierarchical goals (Head a HR department within 5 years) or monetary goals (earn 1 million rupees per annum) or combination of goals. Once your goal is identified then you have to find out the feasible ways to achieve it. The goal should have a time frame otherwise goal dilutes into a wish and then diminishes into a distant dream. Goal setting is a continuous life long process. 2. Self-assessment and evaluation:Gaining knowledge about your-self (through value, interest, personality inventories and skill assessment) is crucial in a career planning. Your self assessment will help you to know which careers are suitable for you and which are inappropriate. It also helps in capitalizing your strengths and potentials. Value inventories: It is about your weightage to different values viz. autonomy, prestige, security, interpersonal relations, flexible work schedule, outdoor work, leisure time, high salary, etc. in career planning. These values have a significant role in ones job satisfaction. Interest inventories:It is about your likes and dislikes regarding various activities. The premise of this inventory is that the people who share similar interests will also enjoy the same type of work. The interests may be reading, running, playing golf, etc Personality inventories: It looks at ones individual traits, motivational drives, needs and attitudes Skills assessment: It determines what youre good at and helps you to figure out what you enjoy doing. You must acquire the specific skills that are needed for a particular career. 3. Exploration of career options:Gathering information about careers in a pains taking but very crucial aspect in career planning. For each career you must have in-depth information about job description, qualifications required (Certificates/diploma/degrees/special course/ licenses), skills essential, personal qualities necessary, job outlook, experience required, working conditions (working hours, physical efforts, stress level, etc), job location, opportunities of career advancement and salary range. Make a list of careers generated through self-assessment (it may lengthy). Short list five to six careers from the list based on your natural talent, qualifications you acquired, your passion and experience. Then narrow down your options (2-3) through job shadowing, part time work, internships/volunteering, informational interviews, etc. Ways to gather career information: Career binders: These represent a collection of occupational information for a multitude of careers. In the binders you will find job descriptions, information on training programs related to the job, relevant articles and recent job postings related to each occupation Career books: There are manybooks available on careers whichprovideadeeper insight in different careers Career related websites: These websites give latest information about different careers at ease, Information Interviewing: It is a meeting between you and a person working in the occupation you are interested in. The purpose of the information interview is to collect more in-depth and candid information on your occupation of interest. Professors/career consultants: Provide you with details about a particular career, educational and training requirements and current trends. Visit to Chamber of Commerce, organizations and clubs: Provide a wonderful resource for interacting professionals and business of your interest career field Visit to job fairs/Exhibition/Lectures/Workshops: This provides good information in short time. Volunteering and part-time work: One sure way to get the inside scoop on occupations is to actually work in that occupational environment either by volunteering, or doing part-time employmen 4. Making a decision:Once you have done self-assessment and collected all the needed information of job options then you have to select one career option. This decision making can be difficult since there may still be many unknowns. The uncertainty and fear of making a wrong choice always exists. But your decision making skill allows you take appropriate decision. Essentials of Careers: Fundamental studies (domain knowledge) Communication skills. Acquiring essential skills required for a particular career. Analytical thinking skills. Continous education Value added education International certificates Proficiency in foreign languages Personal contacts Problem solving ability 5. Plan of action:Develop a job search strategy immediately after the final decision on job selection. This involves a searching the availability of job, writing resume, gathering information about employer, training and acquiring skills (if required), preparing for job interview/s and finally accepting the job. The membership in various professional organizations (related to your job) gives you an instant access to high-ranking professionals in the field of your interest. Before attending interview you must make sure that your resume highlights your skills and strengths based on the employer’s needs. 6. Catch hold of opportunities: The opportunity comes but once. So, whenever you get any opportunity to prove yourself and get into your desired career make a full use of it. A successful professional is also an opportunist who takes right opportunity and turns it into a milestone of career advancement. “A selection of right career offers a lifelong economical and social stability as well helps to adopt high living standards”. Selecting a career path Careers after secondary education (10th std):Ideally this is the stage that sets the course of your future. You need to make one out of five choices at your disposal at this stage. Option Aptitude What to do Major fields open Science with maths Problem solving, quick understanding and application of knowledge. Thorough study of texts, prepare for IIT/JEE, BIT/SAT, MHCET/AIEE, PMT. Engineering, Science, Technology, IT, etc Science with biology Problem solving, good diagram drawing and good memorization Thorough study of texts, prepare for MHCET/PMT/ Medical field, science, agriculture, microbiology, biotechnology, bioinformatics, environmental sciences, clinical research, nano-biotechnology, etc Commerce stream Ability to work with numbers and good communication skill Thorough study of texts. Prepare for Bank exams, BBA/BCA Commerce field, CPT/CA/CS, industrial accounting Humanities Keen interests in human civilization, society, history, political and social sciences, economics, languages, etc. Thorough study of texts. Languages, performing arts, social and political sciences, etc. Professional courses Technical skills Short term courses of fitter, turner, electrician, computer repairing, mobile repairing, office assistant, Typing, computer courses, etc. Diploma in Polytechnique Don’t have a lot of choices. Moderate level of skills acquired but job thereafter is not very promising. Competitive examinations Problem solving ability, numerical tests, general knowledge, comprehension, etc. Preparation of NDA exam, bank clerical exam, railways apprentice etc. Banks, defense, computers, railways, etc. Careers after higher secondary (12th std): The main choices are academics, professional courses, competitive exams and entrepreneurship. Academics B.Sc/B.Com/B.A. Conventional courses. But can learn skills to support this. Professional courses BTech/BE/MBA/DPharm/BCA/BCS/BBA Engineering, medical, BBA, CPT, management, etc. Competitive Exams For most of competitive exams graduation is eligibility. Civil services (conducted by UPSC), banking, railways, insurance, defense, etc. You can also appear for state level examination. Entrepreneur Own business Careers after graduation and post graduation:There are number of post graduates courses viz. master of science (M.Sc), Master of commerce (M.Com.), Master of arts (M.A.), Post graduate diploma courses, M.Phil., Ph.D. etc are available. One can get specialized knowledge by perusing post-graduation. Science stream:There is a general assumption of most of parents, teachers and even students in our society that the best students opt for science. In fact, brilliance and intelligence is not the exclusive preserve of science. Not only stream but combination of subjects is also important. The students interested in engineering must have a combination of mathematics, physics and chemistry (MPC) subjects. Now a days students perusing BTech in biotechnology, nano-biotechnology, environmental sciences, etc requires biology. The students wish to take up medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, agricultural science, dairy science or biological sciences (biochemistry, biotechnology, bioinformatics, etc), the combination of subject should be biology, physics and chemistry (BiPC). If a student choose a science stream then he/she can shift to the other two streams viz., humanities and commerce after 10 + 2. It also opens up the gateway to a large number of career and course options such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, nursing, computer, business administration, hotel management, tourism management, hotel management, fashion technology, industrial design, packaging, aircraft maintenance engineering and many more. Arts/Humanities stream: This stream requires bent of artistic mind and profound interest in languages, culture, politics, sociology, human behavior, etc. After 10 + 2 students can take BA degree course. Many career options viz. travel & tourism, advertising, journalism, performing arts and many more, etc. are available to arts students. Humanity is also the favorite choice of many students who wish to appear for the various competitive examinations including public services examinations. Commerce stream:This stream opens up a variety of options after 10 + 2 stage. Commerce students must have good communication skill and should have interest in handling numerical data. Commerce students can take up Chartered accountancy, cost accountancy or company secretary-ship course after 10 + 2. However each year only a small percentage of those who take the examinations get through. It is wise to obtain the basic B.Com degree first. B.Com with Computer or management knowledge gives large base for jobs in different fields. inspirecommercestudies.webs/
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 11:43:32 +0000
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