Parents should let children express their aspirations through career choices

I vividly recall the yesteryears when career planning was deceptively simple- if you got good marks then you went into the science stream, if you got average marks then you did commerce, and if you didn't qualify for both, then you were left with arts- the last choice. Thankfully, over the past three decades, the scene has drastically changed for the better; at times, getting into a good arts college is more difficult than getting into a science college.

So my first bit of advice for parents is, they should make it a point to discuss the aspirations of their children with them. This is best done after they complete their Std IX or during Std X. Caution should be exercised by parents, who should not force careers of their choice, such as medicine or law, upon their children. It is here that a vocational or a career choice test could be of great use to determine the future plan of studies. The advantage of going to counsellors is that they give a dispassionate opinion based on the facts of the case and the best possible options.

There is an ongoing debate whether the child should continue studies in the CBSE or ICSE pattern or join a junior college under the HSC domain. While there is no correct answer to this question, I believe that going to a junior college is very conducive to the overall personality development of the student. Further many parents scramble to enroll their wards into coaching classes even before the results and allotment of the college; this is perhaps because of the acute peer pressure that both the students and parents go through. But I would recommend that enrollment into classes should be done judiciously so that it can help the student to perform better in the competitive exams to follow. Caution must also be exercised in choosing the college; many students prefer to go to the college that all their friends would be joining, notwithstanding other factors that deserve more emphasis.

While the rat race for seats in engineering, medicine & law continues, outlined below are some of the current courses that are in great demand:

Hospitality management, which involves various areas of work in the management of hospitals, hotels & airlines.

Creative courses such as fashion management, interior design, interior decoration, gem & jewellery design, architecture & design (focusing on design of structures), product innovation, animation & graphics and suchlike.

Mass communication, which focuses on advertising, all forms of media coverage and event management.

Careers in psychology with specialisation in counselling, psychiatry, professional social work.

Careers in English, which open the door to jobs such as interpreter, translator or embassy staff.

To conclude, parents must also make sure that their child is doing a full-time degree and also ensure the college of choice is recognised by the UGC or the respective university.

Besides, the person who succeeds in today's competitive world is one who has multiple skills under his belt. It is useful to inculcate inter-personal skills, teamwork skills, public speaking skills and internet skills in all youngsters. These go a long way in boosting their confidence and enhance their personality development, besides also allowing them to leave a better impression on people around them.

Prof R S S Mani is an eminent career counsellor & currently is the Vice President - Institutional Development with ITM Group of Institutions (www.itm.edu)