Proactive Career Planning

In today’s challenging academic environment, there is becoming a greater & greater need for hard work & dedication. Competition has grown increasingly stiff. Due to this, the need for proper planning for the future has become necessary. The students need a clear view of the future prospects about the fields they should choose for higher studies.

Stephen R. Covay in describing effective people in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” describes their very first habit as being “proactive”.  Proactive career planning is likewise very essential in order to be successful in ones academic and professional life. Teachers have a great role to play to help the students in this regard.

In developed countries, the teachers are trained such that they are able to notice the interests of young students. The schools also have qualified career counselors who study students’ school reports and try to assess their liking and inclinations for different fields on the basis of their aptitude for different subjects.

Unfortunately, in Pakistan the importance of career counseling has not been realized till now. Students usually select the field which has more “scope”. By “scope” it usually means the field which seems to provide more financial benefits at the time. Because of this, it frequently happens that they end up in fields for which either they don’t have the aptitude or as they find out later, it is not of their liking and interest. This results in their not properly utilizing their potential and talent. It may also happen that along the way the field which they choose becomes saturated. If that happens, then these students start thinking of changing their major subject. They lose their enthusiasm which ends up affecting their studies and later, their careers. Some students do end up changing their fields later on, but some very precious time is lost in the process. Therefore, it is very important that they are given proper career counseling from the very beginning. They should be helped in planning for their future careers right from school level. There should be proper guidance and support from teachers as well as their parents. Students should be encouraged to pursue their interests and they should be provided with chances to use their imagination and talent. This process should continue throughout their academic life.