Deciding on a career

Making a decision about your career is no conjuring or sleight of hand; and it cannot be brought about in haste. Other than you, no one else can do it for you and therefore, you have to participate dynamically in the entire exercise. This will always appear to be petrifying at first thought and sight; and hence calls for a deliberate and uninhibited contemplation to facilitate simplifying and refining your own beliefs and judgement. And the earlier you get cracking on it, the better it will be.

There is no career that can be said to be a perfect profession for you. The contentment that you seek from and at work can well be provided by more than a few occupations. People make a blunder when they try to get into a job that, in their perception offers contentment from all directions. Most people expect this from their jobs and often derive lot of satisfaction from leisure activities, including playing games and domestic affiliations.

There is every possibility that you too will have numerous occupations in your career span. Given the economic conditions that prevail today, having job flexibility is very essential. Compared to the past when you took up a job and retired from it, the mobility that is available provides you the desired freedom. The career decision that you make today will definitely not be a lifetime one. However, it should be a good beginning and based on planning to take you as much ahead as possible in the fields of training and academic pursuits. So, if you defer your education plans, it is not going to serve your interests.

You need to ask yourself the following questions:

· Are you inclined to pursue your studies further? If yes, then to what point?

· Do you seek to do internship training?

· Are you keen to continue in your family work and if yes, will you like to plunge into it immediately?

· Do you have no plans to study further and want to take up an employment as early as possible?

Based on the answers to the above questions, you need to get into a research mode. You have to start collecting information that will have to be evaluated before you make any decision on your further plans. It is necessary that you remain open-minded and refrain from any impulsive approach. You must have other options at hand which also need to be well delved into because should your only plan fail, you will have nothing else to take recourse to. Once you arrive at a decision to take a plunge into work or not, the reflection on what to do should be very serious. It is essential that you do not have any terms of reference with regard to time for the research. This maiden step that you take in your career journey is very important and therefore, the research that you do should be detailed and not left to be undertaken as a last priority.  The foregoing notwithstanding, you need to guard against the following:

· Having ambiguous objectives: You need to concentrate on discerning what precisely you are aspiring and planning for in the initial phases.

· Relying excessively on others: Too many cooks spoil the broth. If you depend on others to make your decision, you are bound to run into hitches and glitches. A person may mean good to you. This intention by itself will not serve to assist you in any way if you discover that you embarked on to a path by external coaxing and not on your own accord.

· Acting on cast-off or indirect information: This is perilous in every facet of your life and all the more while going for a career. It is your life and you are responsible for its future. Therefore, you must ascertain the veracity of every bit of information that you gather.

· Getting weighted down by unnecessary information: You research will may entail internet surfing, visiting career fairs, liaison and interactions. During the course of these, collecting significantly excessive information – unread and non-perused but otherwise possibly utilitarian – cannot be discounted. The collection process per se should be unhurried and gradual so that you have time available to read and consider the information that you have acquired. In case you find some information not relevant, you should have no qualms in discarding it.

· Thinking restrictively on account of previous botches: It is essential that you pay attention to your makings – abilities, capacities and capabilities - and forget any adverse occurrences of bygone days. Failures are stepping stones to success and nothing needs to be constrained by them.

When you decide on a career, you need to learn from the past but realize that it is no longer the key to the future. Remember that it does not take much muscle and power to do things, but they are definitely required to decide on what to do