Career Choices After COVID-19

Dr. Chaddha enlightened the participants with his invaluable thoughts on career choices that a student can make and how one can approach the decisions related to career choices.

Ms. Vrinda began the session by sharing her views. In today’s time of this pandemic, the way If the working has of most of the companies has changed, most of them going completely remote and some industries such as hospitality have seen huge layoffs and it seems that particular industry may undergo deep depression.

The facilitator then asked a question related to the decision that one has to make now and the skill set that one requires. The speaker began by giving a mantra which is very important to be successful. The biggest question which comes to the mind of students which he personally feels should be removed is – Can I do it? Can I make it? We should rather use – We can do it or I can do it. Shift yourself from Can I do it to I can do it. Then the parameter of success will come. Shift your negative mind to a positive mind and then you can do it. Covid-19 is an unexpected and unusual scenario where the enemy is invisible. The selection of the stream and selection of career will have the same criteria as earlier. But definitely, the nature of jobs will change, they will not remain the same anymore. So we have to prepare for the requirements of the next century now. In our country the career choices are mostly based on the percentage of marks. Students are choosing colleges over courses. Many choose a college because of peer pressure, even if they are getting a course they aren’t interested in doing. There are many people who are successful and are not from famous colleges. The important thing here is that go for the course which one is interested in. The skillset which students should develop is more important than college.

The Indian education system is very good in giving domain knowledge about any subject. The lacking aspect is the soft skills. He doesn’t mind taking a student with 50-60% marks in his company, provided the person can take his other people with him and can lead the team. So this is the thing MNCs have observed that our students are lacking. Our system needs to be developed after this pandemic gets over. There are 5 very important factors one must keep in mind to decide for the stream selection and career selection- your oration style, your interests, your personality, your aptitude and your emotional intelligence. So these are the five components which will decide the career path. Parents should realize the potential of their child and work upon it. Having said that, there are many fake counsellors too in the market who can misguide you. The parents and children are suggested to first assess the five aspects from reliable sources and instruments as it is very important. The ‘can I do it’ is a sign of low self-esteem and low confidence level. One has to build up one’s confidence level.

Next, she requested the speaker to share his views on the degrading nature of teacher training and problems related to it. To this, the speaker admitted that he himself thinks that around 60 percent of the teachers are not that well trained. He has seen many students going for internships in early stages of their careers. It shows that students nowadays want to learn practically too. There are many online courses and study materials which one can go through, online certification courses from good platforms. College degree is not the only thing now. The market value is now changed. What matters now is one’s domain knowledge as well as one’s soft skill knowledge. He would suggest that keep the college out of the mind and try to go for the course in which one is interested and where all the parameters are fulfilled.

The facilitator then went onto summarising the above discussion. Another question which came was related to internship programs for 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students, where quality of internship is also maintained. The speaker answered it by saying that they also had a 100-day internship program where the first 50 days will be completed in the summer break, and the other 50 days will be done along with studies while going to colleges. It will help in maintaining your continuity in the organisation. He is of the opinion that work in an organisation which makes one start working at 8 in the morning and makes one sit till 8 in the evening, should be chosen. It will help in enhancing the skill sets of the student.

Another question which popped up was related to the approach while learning through websites and to look for different courses? The speaker said that students should first get aware about various skills. Moreover, for college courses, what one can do is try to use Google Baba(as our speaker calls it). After getting the knowledge, try to get it verified as there might be some false information present. Prepare according to that only and try to develop your interests in some or the other fields. After developing the interests, then turn to the search for courses. Start learning some extra skills. The knowledge that one is getting in the classrooms is not enough to survive in the competitive world.

Ms. Vrinda then concludes by saying that, You can do whatever you want to do, just keep repeating to yourself that I can do it. Don’t think about the recession or for that matter, depression. Don’t think much of the economic cycle or the political cycle. There are sources and tools that can help one in understanding oneself psychologically, help one in finding one’s interests and will probably assist one in getting a good career.

Key highlights of the Session:

• The speaker started by giving a mantra of ‘I can do it
• The important thing is the course which you are interested in and not the college. The skillset which students should develop is more important than college.
• There are 5 very important factors one must keep in mind to decide for the stream selection and career selection- your oration style, your interests, your personality, your aptitude and your emotional intelligence.
• There are many online courses and study materials which one can go through, online certification courses from good platforms.
• The thing which nowadays matters is both your domain knowledge as well as your soft skill knowledge.
• If a student wants to decide his/her career, so firstly a psychometric test evaluation is very important which is made in context in Indian society students, and where you get some objectivity which helps you in a way that you don’t get bound to the traditional courses in pressure of parents or friends.
• You can do whatever you want to do, just keep repeating to yourself that I can do it.