As soon as a young child comes out of school he is confronted with the problem of choosing which is the most
appropriate stream of studies for him to study further i.e. Humanities, Non-Medical, Medical, Commerce, Arts,
Agriculture, Vocational trades etc. This decision will set limit for his future choice of career. Leaving aside
some common overlapping fields of occupations he is left with the option to make a choice of his career from the fields of
occupations covered under that stream of education only. Therefore, such choice of stream must be right one so that he will
not have to regret for a wrong choice later on. Thus, this exercise of choice has assumed very great significance in his life.
Of course, you as a parent will pool your all resources to best guide your child in an effort
to make most suitable choice for him. You will also elicit the help of his teachers as well as
known persons and your relatives. Your combined efforts may lead to a realistic choice of course
which will ultimately take him to enter an occupation of that field but it is also possible that
in absence of most reliable scientific psychological data about your child, your child may make a
decision which may turn out to be an unrealistic one. If your child is very bright and his targeted
career is below his potentials it is termed as an unrealistic choice. Similarly, if your child has middle
level abilities but his choice of career needs higher level of abilities such a choice will also be considered
an unrealistic one. Hence, your child needs assistance of an expert to steer him out of such problematic situations
in order to make a right choice. In case, such help is not forthcoming readily you may follow some of the suggestions
listed below to arrive at an appropriate choice of
courses of further studies in order to make him an efficient employable person in life.
Are you aware about the correct usage of the term career which is being discussed here? If you already know,
it is fine, but some of you may still desire to know it.
Let it be defined first of all as this term is interchanged with terms like job, occupation,
calling and vocation. Let us start with clear understanding of the term “CAREER”.
Occupational psychology defines career as a ladder of occupations showing your upward mobility (in certain cases downward mobility).
After completion of targeted education you will join an initial occupation and will go on further through out your working life passing
through one occupation to another. This process is termed as your ‘career’.