Career planning  

   - A significant aspect for success in professional life.

                                             - By  Martin Fredrick Raj

Unique idealistic career pathways when not executed planly sometimes have lifelong dangerous consequences but when gets fitted at right place gives immense prosperous satisfying results. Here I am talking about career planning, most of us all youngsters during 10s to 20s don’t realize our dreams our career. We think we are not mature enough to think about our future or career and let those self to make crucial decisions of our life on our parents who get a chance to fulfill their wishes that they were unable to fulfill for their parents naturally. Often parents chose those careers which are endorsed by societal career cyclone, which here I tend to mean global traditional courses like Eng. med etc. But it’s not the matter of maturity or immaturity in us, but it is actually the fact that we don’t give time or realize that how crucial these matters are, we solely depend on what our parents opinion might be. But I wanna ask just one thing that are your parents gonna live your life, your career…….of course not ……….then why are we letting such crucial decisions in our parents hands.

We should of course think about it….it’s the first step,of course it is, think and think again about it, have discussion about it with elderly persons including your parents. One thing that i would like to describe is that our country’s education system is so worst that it do not let students to know themselves, what career they want to pursue in their own future. Most or almost every students ends up taking science stream after 10 classes under societies, parents, peer pressure etc… these days. There are important creations of govt's schools like K Vs,N Vs etc…all lack in many ways, consists of blunder loop holes. Although they are only those schools whose purpose was just to serve the educational means of huge population of India.Their mission is to serve quantitatively rather than qualitatively.

So coming back on the topic we find that system lacks in giving valuable career education aka counselling to its future buds also neither parents so much concerned about this issue nor we ourselves are concerned about it. So conclusion here is we can’t expect anything from system or parents or anybody else at this time. So we ourselves have to make some choices that do we want our crucial decisions to be made by them or entirely depend on them or the system or should we take the right career decision for a self-prosperous future. Of course the 4th option suits very well.so for that student themselves have to do some research analysis and then come to some conclusions. Making a permanent career map for future with slight changes done time by time is a good way of doing this. 

This is very important as if you want to end up with your dream career. Now a days studying a particular subject is not a problem but job satisfaction in that particular subject career field is becoming an issue.As we know facing stress by the working class   has become common these days. This is because they might have appropriate degrees qualifications but very very less job satisfaction which is because, they also ended up taking so unrelated courses, streams, made wrong career choices due to lack of information which lead them to unsatisfying jobs causing inescapable stress, whether the job may be high or low paying it doesn't matters.We have to overcome all these issues for all excellent possible expected outcomes this nation deserves.

FOR that career planning from childhood itself is very important I know childhood sounds little...bit funny but it’s the need of 21^st century that we can’t deny.

Following these steps may ensure students to easily get a way through the confusing jantar mantar of diff.career choices nowadays:-

                                       STEPS TO FOLLOW

1. CAREER RESEARCHES

2. CAREER ANALYSIS

3. CAREER MATCHES - with personal traits

4. CAREER CONCLUSIONS

5. CAREER SKETCHES - roughly

6. CAREER CONSULTATIONS

7. CAREER MAP FINAL

8. CAREER MAP CHANGES with time to time

Now I would like to elaborate each crucial step one by one:-

1.     CAREER RESEARCHES

    It involves heavy researching in the immense pool of career choices available in the present global scenario. Search as much as you can about every known career fields. Basic studies, requirements etc……to pursue those careers. Although roughly it requires heck a lot of time. So you have to separate some time for this purpose without affecting your present study time or play time. Most exactly these plethora of steps have to be executed well in-between 10 to 14 yrs. of age.

2.     CAREER ANALYSIS

This part constitutes the critical analyses of all careers options searched by you. Every loop holes existing in that field, its scope in present continuous and future at least for next 30 to 40 years. A student for whom money matters the most has to rewind all kind of salaries that can be achievable in that field. He or she should have the knowledge of all kinds of jobs ,its current and future unemployment rates etc. existing in all particular fields searched, should know the highest success one could achieve in that field as well as the lowest place one could reach in that field. Students for whom money don’t matters don’t need to follow these steps. They should just care that whether their personality matches with field requirements. You should also search the lifestyle, job environment one has to lead if they chose that field. These steps has to be executed in between 14 to 16 yrs. of age.

3.     CAREER MATCHES

Whether the career matches with your personal traits is a significant consideration to be made. Yes to be a successful person in the reporting world you must have the initial skills required by that particular career field.So you yourself have to sort out these matches by becoming true to yourself.

4.     CAREER CONCLUSIONS

At last you have to come up with a few sorted out set of career options that you think are perfect for your future objectives. Then you have to reach final conclusions about that field and be an expert who can talk diverse sections of the career fields you have chosen.

5. CAREER SKETCHES

These are need not to be done by everybody, but can be used as a parameter to be used to confirm whether your decisions made about particular fields are right or wrong. By roughly using these sketches you can easily find whether you fit in those career avenues. While making those sketches you have to assess the long-time prospects you can reach, the time you will consume to reach the desired positions etc. in that field. You have to get confirmed whether you have the commitment to reach desired places by passing huge timings studying the field courses for long periods. If yes then you are right in career options you have chosen.

6.     CAREER CONSULTATIONS

Important section, where you are to consult a little bit with your parents where you will sort out that whether you are financial in a perfect position to further think about some career options you have chosen. In this section you have to eliminate those courses which you can’t afford respectively with prior consultations with your parents. Unlikely you will reach a stage where you will be left out with few career options which is of course a good signal. Now you have to approach of summing up all you know about the left out career options, prioritize them one after another. Also if you failed in your career planning steps ,its necessary to keep some backup career options which you may approach without being distressed in those depressed moments if you may reach. 

7.  CAREER MAP

At last you have to make separate career maps for each career fields you prioritized .It must include from the courses, stream you will choose to kick-start your career line, exams you will give, jobs you will approach in your initial career, masters courses you will do etc., to settle in a stress less job who ever dream t about in your chosen career.

8.CAREER MAP WITH SLIGHT CHANGES

The career maps you created by your own expertise should be permanently get pasted in your brain. Slight changes or curves have to be made in those maps as time passes by.

TIPS:-

●  As much as possible you must concentrate in nurturing or making your hobbies, talent your career. You must look into converting your talents into your dream career. Because by doing so you will of course reach great heights in your career as you will work harder and will never get bored while working in your job arena leading to zero stress.

●  One thing you should be damn sure that the plan must be well executed in time.AS it’s my thinking that, we Indians are great policymakers but worst implementer's. So be sure in that.                                                                        

                                                                                     

                                                    – By  Martin Fredrick Raj

                                        BSc Psychology (University of Madras)
                             BSc Politics & Int.Relations(University of London)
                                                                

 YOU ARE THE SCRIPTWRITER OF YOUR OWN LIFE

THE END…….....................