Preparation strategy for your career path
It’s absolutely normal if you as a student aren’t in a position to decide on any specific career path post your high school years; for example, whether you intend to pursue a career in academics or if you intend to join a specific profession like engineering or law or accountancy. Be that as it may, the way you may prepare yourself in order to join a specific profession and the required method of preparation in case you aren’t focussed on any specific profession are supposed to be largely different.
A girl studying Chemistry Honours and intending to become an Assistant Professor of Chemistry would be entirely focussed on mastering the subject as much as she could. She would be eyeing a good berth at a Post-Graduation institution and be ready subsequently to clear the UGC NET barrier and try to join a doctoral programme of her own choice.
Writing research papers and presenting them at seminars and applying for the post of Assistant Professor against available vacancies wherever they may occur can be expectedly a predictable path for such a student. Knowledge of Chemistry and some rudimentary knowledge of non-Chemistry domain should be able to see her through provided she is otherwise capable of clearing lectureship interviews. Someone desirous of becoming an engineer or a medical doctor or a lawyer is likewise required to be focused on a certain set of subjects and try to excel in them as much as possible.
But what about the vast majority of students who aren’t as determined as their academic minded counterparts? Or what about students who intended to be medical doctors or lawyers but could not crack the entrance tests and ended up studying Botany or History? How do they go about their career paths? How should they prepare for any career whatsoever? Can they commence any meaningful preparation at all in absence of any specific goal?
Well, I don’t think they are completely devoid of any goal. In broad terms, their goal is to be gainfully employed in any sector. And there’s actually no dearth of employment opportunities in present-day India! This by itself should be enough for you to activate yourselves for a broad preparation strategy.
5 Points to remember – preparation strategy
First, you may develop a fairly good understanding of your own subject. It’s not that you need to know your subject only if you want to be a teacher or a doctor! Of course, a would-be doctor even in his/her Plus-2 years is expected to know much more Chemistry or Biology than an ordinary counterpart of his; but anyone seeking a gainful employment should have at least a broad understanding of what she has been through for a few years following the completion of her Plus-2 stage.
Second, you may be fairly aware of your surroundings. No employer—private or public—is interested in hiring someone who has no clue about what is happening around her. An organization is expected to function properly, thanks to a few individuals who know why they exist and also strive for improving their own standing as well as that of their organization. Thus, you need to take note of the important affairs of the time, be they political, economic or diplomatic in nature.
It’s advisable that you read at least one daily regularly and go through the critical essays on multiple developments taking place around the world including those in your own backyard. It’s equally important that you form a balanced opinion of your own and be able to engage in a debate in case you are confronted with a conflicting standpoint.
Third, you should be able to communicate well; not just while you speak but also while writing. Effective communication couched in grammatically correct expressions is what’s badly needed in a number of domains like journalism, content writing, corporate communications, public relations, etc. Moreover, who knows you wouldn’t ever sit for any competitive examinations to bag any of those civil service jobs? Your writing and speaking skills can actually take you places.
Fourth, it’s also important that you develop at least one hobby. That can be anything ranging from singing to acting to reading to film watching to cricket to swimming. No specific hobby is actually superior or inferior to another. A hobby gives you a veritable opportunity to explore a specific area of knowledge in greater depth and you end up gaining an edge over others in a common competition. After all, it arms you with a novel competency which definitely value-adds your economic potential.
Fifth and no less important, do consciously develop your soft skills. We are all aware how our hard skills are important. But in a group setting which an organization essentially is all about, it’s your soft skills that should see you through. You must know how to disagree without being disagreeable, you must know how to sell a “No” from your end, you must know how to sell your standpoint in a group and ensure at the same time that the group owns it collectively! It’s however easier said than done in reality and thus, it’s advisable that you may sign up for any credible course in soft skills and behavioural communication during your UG years
In short, you should take small steps right from your early college years—if not even from before—so that you may develop a rounded personality which can spell the critical difference between someone who just knows and someone who can also inspire. The world needs more of those who can also inspire and you should be equipped for that.
The readiness is all.
Cheers!
Subrata Biswas
Subrata Biswas works at present as Special Excise Commissioner (Enforcement) under Government of West Bengal. He worked earlier as Zonal Director at Narcotics Control Bureau under Department of Internal Security within Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. An MA in English Literature from University of Calcutta, Subrata subsequently did a Masters in Public Affairs at the prestigious Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po, Paris) on a French Govt. scholarship and earned a Magna Cum Laude.
He also holds an LLM in Criminal Law and is currently pursuing his PhD at the National University of Juridical Sciences at Kolkata. He has been an invited speaker at a number of State Judicial Academies in India and a three-time elected Committee Member with the World Federation Against Drugs, headquartered in Sweden, which remains the world’s largest network of anti-drug NGOs and individuals.
