In Pakistan, millions of dreams are crushed and surrendered every day. Unluckily, it has become a culture that children have to follow what they are told, while choosing a career. Parents usually thwart their children’s dreams or ridicule them if they are eccentric. That being the case, students give up their own and start trailing other’s dreams. And this has become a culture. That’s truly a real bear for them. Isn’t it? The real problem starts when students are hindered to explore the passion that is naturally indulged in them. So, what happens is the evolution and the ability to do something new dies before it initiates. The student is given only a few options without making him/her even to utter a single word for him/herself. Some students get through the dictated goals while many of them who are quite sensitive eventually suffer from Melancholic dilemma and their whole life get ruined. So, what measures should adopt to take students out of this situation that is actually determining their futures? The answer is very simple. Let them be what they want! No ifs, ands and buts about it. But in Pakistan, there is a little contradiction in letting the children deciding the right career for them. This is because the environment of the schools and homes do not provide students a guide to explore what they want to do. Here, in this article, I would like to highlight how students can opt right career at the right time taking in account the problems and hindrances that come in the way of Pakistani students.

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Right Career at the Right Time

Well, if you plan to spend a highly satisfying work life, enjoying the work you are doing, you need to choose a career that suits you the best. Unfortunately, there are a number of people who end up choosing the wrong career for themselves and get frustrated in the long run. Being in the wrong line of work not only shambles your professional life, but it ruins your personal life as well. So, let’s come to choosing the right career, here we go:

Self-Awareness

The first and the basic step when you lay your eyes on choosing the right career is recognizing who you are. It never means knowing your caste, your family background but it means understanding yourself-your values, interests, abilities, tastes, goals and above all the thing that really motivates you and drives you. This becomes the most vital part of making career choices. Not a single person around can tell you what your interests are because nobody knows you better except your own self! We have read from the childhood that books has always been the best companion in every situation. So, here you can also get their benefit by reading a number of books related to self-awareness. One of such interesting book that I shall strongly recommend you to read is Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Some students who even have secured excellent marks are seen debating that they haven’t yet discovered what they are interested in. Actually such students haven’t built up confidence in themselves, they fear of doing something wrong. So, what should they do? It’s very simple, just take a long breathe, shed all of your worries and work burden for some time and know your values.

Know your strengths

The important thing especially for students is to explore their strengths. You should know which subjects are interesting for you. Different people have different tastes, so don’t follow others. If you are still unable to explore, just take out your academic result cards and check out your grades in all subjects one by one. Now, keep the highest scoring subject in your mind and move to all other certificates and degrees too. If the same subject is the highest scored one in comparison with all of the subjects, it’s surely your power and choose a career accordingly. If you are not still fully satisfied with it then try to recognize your values.

Know about your values

Values are something really, really important in your life and motivate you in all decisions. The effort, commitment and inspiration that a person brings to a job is usually in equal quantity to the values that he/she perceives in it. Some work related values from which you can easily opt according to your taste include:

Relevance

Majority students go with this value and demand a lot of focus. The career counsellors also carried out in-depth research about it. It engulfs those jobs where educational background, skills and experience are important. Let’s dig in one by one the relevant jobs for students:

Career Opportunities for Medical Students

Specifically describing the relevant jobs for a student who has Biology as a major subject is none other than Medicine. The first priority of such students is to become a Doctor. Not only MBBS or BDS make doctors but there are other such courses like, Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm-D), Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), Doctor of Physiotherapy. The Online MDCAT preparation enables students to get admission in medical colleges and universities around Pakistan as academies have gone outdated. But life not ends here. Students of pre-medical background have other options too. They can go for B.Sc. Nursing, B.Sc. Biotechnology, Biochemistry, and Bioinformatics etc.

Career Opportunities for Engineering Students

The relevant career for students having pre engineering study background includes Mechanical, Electrical and Civil engineering that occupies the top of engineering list. A number of other options such as Chemical Engineering, Petroleum and Gas engineering, Textile engineering, Electronics engineering and now Agriculture and Food engineering that is emerging as new field of studies offers a bright career for the students. Basically, students of engineering also need to undergo an entry test for admission in Engineering Universities. This test is a permit to get admitted into Engineering College due to which it also needs to be given much importance. The best way to prepare this test is through e-learning. The Online ECAT preparation paves the path towards engineering universities. On the off chance students can’t get admission in any engineering field, they can go for BS Mathematics, BS Physics and Chemistry and can find teaching as their career.

Career Opportunities for All Intermediate Student

Let’s now probe into some other relevant careers for intermediate student as a whole, not specifying any particular field. The students of intermediate can attempt CSS and PMS as to get a reputed job although it demands a focussed learning. In addition, students can go for Chartered Accountancy and Business Administration too. Our security forces, Army, Air force and Navy also recruit young students after intermediate through ISSB tests. They can also specialize in a certain subject to join teaching-an honourable profession. Now it’s time to distribute these professions in accordance with their other values.

Independence

This value counts for those individual who don’t want to work under the supervision of someone. These are the people who strive for a job or a business where a little or no interference of authorities is involved. If you also want your life not interrupted by any one just go for a business if you can invest or you can join jobs like software developer and entrepreneur etc.

Reputation

Some students want to gain a high level of respect and reputation in front of people. If you too are among them, here is a clear-cut path for you. Central Superior Services or CSS and other such competitive exams can lead you to an authoritative job where you can make your reputation touch the zenith.

Job security and Material Benefits

In Pakistan, acquiring a govt. job to secure future is another thinking of students and they give it much value. The individuals want to stick to a permanent job that offers them a handsome pay, bonuses and pension schemes. Individual with such thinking can adopt any govt. job through different service commission platforms around Pakistan or through NTS.

Collaboration

Some individuals feel comfortable in working with a team. They know how to collaborate different ideas and thoughts under single platform and get maximum benefit from the whole team. Such students can adopt Human Resource Management in any firm and can enjoy their work.

Achievements and Recognition

These values also fall under reputation and prestige. Some individuals want their work to be recognized on a wider horizon and bear fruit to them which they name as achievement. If you really want to work at such places where you get tangible results, a lot of jobs comes under these like joining army or any other force as an officer where you can find room to achieve prestige and recognised by the whole surroundings. In addition, you can adopt bureaucracy to be recognized publically.

Leadership

Some individuals have the ability to take responsibilities for supervising and managing others in a superior way. They possess some qualities to command, to attract the attention of the people and get work from them according to their capabilities. Such individuals would may have done great at their previous classes and in the management team of the schools and colleges. They know how to manage things in an expert way. An army officer, is likely to cite leadership and risk-taking as the main attractions of this career. But collaboration, job security, recognition and reputation also be vital factors of this job. Individuals can also join politics if they possess leadership values.

Creativity

Some students are born with an intellect to create new ideas and set up their minds to bring revolution in their work. Apple was just a fruit until Steve Jobs turned into an innovation and now it’s recognized as a brand. Same is the case with every single thing invented so far. They love challenges and have the ability to influence people through communication and sharing their unique ideas. Such people should prefer self-employment like photography, painting, and singing etc.

Know your skills and rate them

While your interest, values and personality influence the career choices, yours skills enable you to carry out your work effectively. Critical thinking, confidence, persuasive communication skills, teamwork and creativity are vital in order to reach the zenith of success. Many other skills such as genuineness, compassion, decision-making, public speaking, trustworthiness and management, fall under the skills formerly mentioned. Every individual should mark his/her own skills and then rate them one by one. Once you have evaluated the best skills in you, now you can put these skills in your curriculum vitae. Everyone should make every effort for professional and personal excellence by not only attaining new skills but fetching the inner skills out to the world as well. That being the case, self-motivation is a basic requirement. Moreover, teachers are required to teach via task-based teaching methods, team-work and assignments, so that the students may have a practical experience of learning. The emphasis must not be on memorising, but on practically applying the information. All of us need to re-evaluate ourselves for the skills we have and the skills we need to crop up.

Make a resolute decision and stick to it

The final stage in choosing the career is to bring everything that you have learned about yourself and your opportunities together. A career counsellor won’t tell you which career to adopt rather it’s only YOU who can explore using the aforementioned tools. So, keeping your interest, values and skills in front of you, make a resolute decision and then stick to it. Without knowing where to go how can you start a journey? But, to the heights of disappointment, it happens in our country. Parents, teachers and more notably the society needs to understand that chasing stereotypical vocations is not the epitome of life. There are other efficacious career prospects too. Rather than compelling children to pursue a particular career, medicine or engineering, parents should let them consider other choices as well. Only then we can produce top physicists, astronauts, musicians, photographers and other exemplary stars in our state. Moreover, it is also economically feasible to have assorted professionals in today’s renovating global world. For this purpose, students must realise what they want to do in their lives, and, at the same time the parents are required to acknowledge it and support them whole heartedly.