Doing my MA in English these days, I am working really hard to decide what course of action I need to follow to achieve my dreams. Every now and then I am searching the net to find the trends of the markets and every other day I am at one seminar or the other to find out the prospects in Indian markets. What I write here is whatever I have found out in my intensive hardwork to battle the hurdles of life myself. Openions may differ and facts may not be what I see them as... so I would advice everyone not to blindly follow this... u must confirm it yourself.
Choosing a career is a big deal for us..Indians...because unlike the western countries, we do not have the oppertunity to switch careers as and when we want.If we enter one kind of profession...we r to stay there no matter what, and a change would mean to begin from the scratch and work up... which may not be a great idea.
So the basic idea behind choosing a career according to me would be to decide if This is the thing I want to do even after 20 years from now. Though it may sound a bit strange but yes t is very important to prepare for long term at the same time while u plan ur short term goals. The way market trends in India are taking turns, many of the people of our generation are forced into taking up very difficult careers. We get attracted by the money and perks, and since we are young and single, we feel very enchanted by the glamorous jobs. We work in night shifts, we do jobs which involve lots and lots of traveling, we work 15-18 hours a day, etc. etc. But then we have to remember that this cannot go on forever !!! Later in life only people who have a very strong zeal and vigour for such jobs can survive in such professions. For people like me, who may work so hard for the initial years but see themselves a little easy and laid back in the future, such proffessions may result in alot of frustration.
Secondly, in today’s world where India is going places and the intellegence of Indians is being recogonised by the world, We must never believe that we are inferior to anyone in any sense... Often many people loose confidence for they believe that the cannot make it or they are not worthy enough. For all such people I just have one thing to say, Keep your feet on the ground, but look at the stars. This is a policy I follow, for u get what u aspire to...so Dream Big. No goal is impossible to achieve. Many a times we curb our basic desires because we believe that we will never be able to make it happen. But this is a myth, infact if we have a basic flair and liking for something, we are more easy to achieve success in that. Infact this is For the parents, its always great not to try too much to influence your child’s choices. To a certain extent u can sell him your ideas but at the end of it all, he is the one who is actually going to live it, so its best if u minimize your interference, specially in higher educations, when the child is gron up enough.
Thirdly, choosing a career involves an Intense knowladge about the markets. There are still very strong myths in minds of people who believe that there are only 5-7 carreers to choose from. My Dad suffers this syndrom, he believes that a person can be successfull only if he is either a Docter, an Engineer or an IAS officer.And I have taken years to make him understand how things have changed, but he still wouldnt believe!!! But the truth infact is that there is much more to be done now-a-days. From a CEO, to a COO, to a HR Head and a Marketing manager, to a PR Manager to an Event manager...these jobs actually exist and people are in demand for them. There are new courses specialized for much profiles, and these jobs are very safe, well paying and very exciting.
Well I guess thats all I have got out of my personaly experience to help u take a dicsion. But then every individual has their own calling in life...all I can say is Follow your dreams
cheers..
PS -Will wait for ur comments!!!