Kalvimalar

Pradeep a catering graduate and who had chosen this line to follow the footsteps of his father a renowned executive in the hotel line for the last 25 years. He enjoyed the Catering course but problems started when he started work. That is when the mismatch showed. It was a dream turned into a nightmare for him. Depression and absenteeism from work where haunting him. Again a case of right person at the wrong place.

The case of Rajagopal is still worse. He is 35, married, his qualification is BA in Cooperative management. As a first generation graduate in his family, there was nobody to advise him. A distant uncle advised him to take up the course. But govt policies had changed and there were no jobs available in the cooperative management sector. His parents had sold their lands to finance his college education, so to keep the family together, he had to do a lot of odd jobs. His English proficiency was low and good jobs were hard to come by. All he has been able to manage is a clerical job in a lawyers office which does not pay enough to sustain his family.

Are these people exceptions, is something wrong with them. Good academic performers, they had made their own career choices, very clear of what they wanted. But somewhere down the line, their confidence had given way to self doubt, frustration, and in Pradeeps case even depression. What went wrong and where?

What are the reasons behind this phenomenon? Can this be avoided? Who is responsible, Parents, Students, School, Society? What ails the system? Can something be done about this?

If one sits to analyze and look deeper, the plain truth would be-"That their career choice was wrong". It is easy to retrospect and talk now, but is it possible for anybody to look into the future and predict correctly.

We all realize that we make choices influenced by various factors around us which seems right at that point of time. The anomaly that I would like to draw from is- looking at a seed and predicting which tree it can grow into. Osho puts it beautifully when he says "What is a seed? A compressed tree, compressed so much that you cannot see it. But give this seed an opportunity, a situation, the right soil, and the seed will sprout and the whole tree will be there. The seed carries the blueprint; a small seed carries the blueprint of the whole tree. If you can read the seed, you can make a picture of how the whole tree is going to be and give it the right environment to flower. Every individual is unique; everyone has some latent potential. Identifying the indiviudals potential and putting him or her on the right career track is what Career Planning is all about. When this alignment happens, the energy flows, performance is achieved effortlessly and then what Confucius said happens- "When you love the job you are doing it is no more work" . Success is but a natural outcome of this synergy of individuals aspirations and the jobs requirements. Then as the Tamil poet said even a thousand hands cannot hide the glowing SUN or the roaring waves.

It is every parents dream and lifetime wish to see their child succeed but in trying to help them, they themselves struggle for lack of information, one about the child and secondly about the various job options available and which would be the best for their child.

It is important that every parent and student understand the different factors which contribute to the success of an individual in a career. For this one should be empowered with information about the individual and as well as each job. Through these columns you will learn and be empowered with an in-depth understanding about each job profile.