Questions you must ask yourself before picking a career option

Picking a suitable career option is no child’s play. Now, is it? Students start their career-planning even before the “Boards” season starts. They fix their goals and start studying for the Boards examinations with a determined purpose.

Some of us get helps from our parents and elder siblings while others learn it the hard way. Some are fortunate enough to get professional help while the others are forced to dive into an academic line that they don’t even like.

It is a major area of concern that many students don’t even get a chance to express what they would like to pursue.

Comments like, “Mera beta Engineer banega.” Or “Meri beti CA banegi.” totally messes up with a child’s brain. Sure there are many students who are happy to pursue a line suggested by their parents and who believe that a parent just wants what’s best for their child. And that is, in fact, true to a great extent, considering the fact that our parents are much older and experienced than us. Thus, it’s only natural that their suggestion brings out the best of opportunities for us.

However, the only time it becomes a problem is when the parents don’t even care to ask their child even once about their desire.

A student could be interested and well-versed in the details about the alignment of stars or movement of planets or recent activities of the Black Hole or a possibility of finding life on Mars. They might have even done extensive research on the subject out of curiosity. And even read all the books and watched all the movies and TV series there is, related to the mentioned topics. But that won’t do them any good if their parents have already decided that their child will pursue the Chartered Accountancy course.

This student has a genuine interest in gaining all the knowledge about the gigantic outer space, so much so that they are even willing to do long researches on it. Such an excellent asset that could be helpful to the whole world! But they would be forced to attend classes where they would sit and worry about why isn’t their Balance Sheet tallying.

Some students might still accommodate themselves to this field but the others might find a hard time making sense out of the subjects of this course. This would start a series of events like the Butterfly Effect and they would start with finding it hard to understand the topics in classes leading to an inability to solve questions which in turn would gradually shred them of any remaining self-confidence thereby finally making them question themselves. A talented student starts questioning themself feeling helpless and resorting to suicidal thoughts at last.

PEOPLE DON’T RANDOMLY DECIDE TO TAKE THEIR LIVES. It’s caused by a series of events that lead them up to a very particular moment of their lives – to be or not to be.

Having a career that pays off well for survival is important. Sure. But nothing is ever more important than a person’s mental peace or even life for that matter. So your daughter can’t clear CA exams but look how efficient she is with the provisions of Law! There’s no point stopping her from following her path just because “Nobody does this course!” Well, then why does this course exist? Whom does it exist for? Zombies?

In order to avoid all the chaos, we all ought to pick a career that stands perfect for us. And to do that, there are certain questions we must ask ourselves before picking a career option. So what are those questions?

1. What do I want to do?

It’s only obvious that the first and foremost question we ask ourselves is what WE actually want to do. Once we are clear about our idea of an idle career, we are good to move on to the next step.

2. Will my parents agree to it?

Despite all the big talks about not caring about what others think, it is important that we seek our parents’ approval. Our parents know more than us. They will know what’s best for us.

3. Can we afford this?

With the cost of education rising every day, it is very important that we also think about the financial condition of our family.

For example, Miss A wants to pursue CA and CS but her parents can only afford costs of CS. In that case, Miss A would be considered wise if she utilises her parents’ money to study CS, qualifies the exams, earns, and then pay for her own CA education. She would be at a loss if she forces out the money and does CA CS at the same time. She would also be at a loss if she decides to choose neither of them.

Thus, it’s all about having a strategy.

4. Will this course get me a job that can pay all my bills?

Even if we somehow arrange money for our education and even qualify all the exams, the real question that remains is – Can I get a job that can pay all my bills? The whole purpose of a career is to wake up every day and go to a job that we actually enjoy along with being able to pay all the bills. If a job doesn’t even cover our conveyance cost, then what is the point of spending all that money in educating ourselves?

5. Am I genuinely interested in this course?

Now that we know what we want to do, along with the fact that our parents approve it, and we have money that can be earned back with our qualification certificate, we need to know if we are genuinely interested in this field.

There could be a number of reasons to go for a particular field of education, maybe even to live our parents’ dream. But we need to ask ourselves if we are honestly willing to do this.

If we are ready to wake up every single day with the same excitement for our job without the feeling of, “Is it not Friday yet?” then we know that it is the right career path for us.

6. Am I contributing to society in any way?

Humans are fascinating because we have the power to be exhaustingly selfless just to see a hint of a smile on people’s face. If our job contributes even a little bit to the society, we know that we are going the right way.

7. Will this path feed my soul?

If you know, you just know. What I mean to say here is suppose you want to be a doctor. And the moment you start to imagine your future of healing wounded people, you will automatically be filled with warmth and happiness. That will be the moment when you will just know that becoming a doctor WILL make you happy.

8. What does my SWOT analysis say?

What better way to diagnose all the pros and cons than doing a SWOT analysis, right? We put together out Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Then we do sensible research and analyse which career works best for us.

There are a number of questions that we can ask ourselves if we want to. But the real question is – Are YOU ready to ask yourselves those questions? We can only find something once we start looking for it. Similarly, in this chaotic environment, it is our duty to THINK properly before taking any further steps. Never hesitate to ask for help. Talk to your parents about how you really feel.

Life is short but a career is not. The decisions we make today will be the stepping stones of our future. This is the part where we do that adulting thing. Take your time. Talk to everyone. Listen to all but do what YOU want. Make no mistake. And for God’s sake, DO NOT FOLLOW THE CROWD!!!“Mera best friend CA kar raha hai toh main bhi karunga.”

Nooooo!

Just remember. This is YOUR life. Do what’s best for you. When you make a decision, stick to it and take full responsibility for it. Drink water. Breathe. Stay healthy. And please stay alive. YOU ARE IMPORTANT TO US AND YOU MATTER.

Whoever you are, wherever you are, you matter. You are perfect. You are beautiful just the way you are.

Just remember, even if not even a single person loves you, I do. Reach out to me or to anyone. You will see that IF you ask for help, you WILL always get it.

Think properly before making a decision. This is going to be with you for your whole life. Make a good one. Happy career-hunting. Toodles.