How to choose the right course
Published on: Monday, May 10, 2021
By: K Krishnan
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“Sheela wants to join the Police Force. The mother is against it because it is not suitable for girls. It is a risky job to choose and you will get transferred very often.”
“James wants to be a journalist. His relatives are all discouraging him because newspapers are going out of date. People are more into social media now.”
“Cindy’s teacher is encouraging all her students to take up accountancy. It is the only job which is in demand and you can get a job easily. But Cindy hates Maths!”
“Ramon’s friend wants to be a “Fortnight” game player. He says he can easily earn thousands of dollars playing on-line games. Ramon is confused.”
How to choose the right course
THERE is no such thing as a right course and a wrong course. One man’s food is another man’s poison. It is not necessary to follow other people. Remember that “You” want to choose a course for yourself. First of all, you must like the course. If you don’t like the course, the career you will enter is of no use to you. You are not going to work in a career for 30 years, hating every day of your life. You must enjoy what you do. How do you choose a course or career that you like.
School curriculum
You have been introduced to many subjects in school from Primary to Secondary school.
Sometimes you would have wondered why you are learning Art, why you are learning History or why you are learning Moral in school.
All these subjects are provided so that you will have an all-round education. You will be exposed to many subjects.
You would have also taken part in co-curricular activities in school such as Sports, Games, Uniformed Units, Drama Club, Interact Club, Cultural Club, International Club, etc.
You would have joined your school trips to visit exhibitions, places and events. All these would have exposed you to many subjects around you.
Activities outside the school
You may be a member of a local church group, support group or cultural group outside your school.
You may have followed your family members, relatives and friends to take part in activities outside school.
These would have given you more experience. You would have met people from all walks of life and would have listened to their experiences too. This is informal learning.
Take an inventory of yourself
There are many ways to learn about yourself.
You can take some aptitude tests, you can talk to your counsellor or find out what you like yourself.
When you were involved with activities in school or outside school, many people would have praised your skills and abilities.
This is an indication that you have your own strength.
While you are doing all kinds of activities, there would have been moments when you liked doing something and enjoyed it.
At the same time there were activities that you preferred to stay away from.
DIY
You can take a paper and pencil and list down all the activities that you enjoyed doing.
This is an indication that you had a passion for some work.
Next look at all the careers where you can use this skill.
For instance, if you like experiments, lab work, research or science, then you should explore careers such as Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Biomedical, etc.
If you enjoy teaching children, listening to children, helping them or training them, then you should look at careers such as Teaching, Training, Child Development, Pediatrics, Psychology, etc.
On the other hand, if you like art and design look at careers such as graphic design, architecture, web designing, fashion designing, interior designing, illustration, photography, etc.
Career Tips
Once you know your passion, explore all the careers and courses that matches your passion.
When you read about something, it may lead you to other related careers and courses too. This is one way of exploring more new careers.
While you are exploring the careers, you will come across what courses you need to study to enter these career pathways.
It is difficult to choose a career overnight. You need to do some research on your own.
It may take a month, six months or even six years – but you will get there. You will learn about your passion.
