CAREER

The interaction of work roles and other life roles over a person’s life span including both paid and unpaid work in an individual's life. People create career patterns as they make decisions about education , work, family and other roles. (Handbook on counselling by UNESCO).  

The following definitions are important to an understanding of career as a concept.

A Job is a paid position requiring a group of specific attributes and skills that enable a person to perform tasks in an organization. either part-time or full-time for a short or long duration.

An Occupation is defined as a group of similar jobs found in different industries or organizations.

A career is the sequence and variety of occupations (paid and unpaid) which one undertakes throughout a lifetime. More broadly, career includes life roles, leisure activities, learning and work.

Career Development is the process of managing life, learning and work over the lifespan.

Career Guidance is an inclusive term that has been used to describe a range of interventions including career education and counseling that help people to move from a general understanding of life and work to a specific understanding of the realistic life, learning and work options that are open to them. Career guidance is often thought to incorporate career information, career education and career counselling.

Understanding of the term career

Career can be defined as the evolving sequence of a person's work experiences overtime each person has only one career. If one says that he had three different careers, then he probably means he has worked in three different occupations or industries. But their experiences in these three different situations are all part of the same career.

The phrase work experiences courses on employment but not confine careers to paid work. unclear activities outside employment involve experiences that are relevant to our careers therefore depends not only on individual preferences and choices but also on the opportunities structures that provide the work that people do.

Career is a form of self expression, the expression of one's feelings thoughts etc.

People are different with different characteristics. Therefore each person is suited to different occupations.Each occupation has its own profile characteristics that indicate what kind of people are suited to it.

With respect to individual people there is a set of variables labelled "abilities". These are people’s capacities and aptitudes relevant to specific skills that may be required to do a job.

There is also a set of variables labeled as "values" that express outcomes the individual might seek to obtain from the job. Commercial values may be achievement, comfort, safety, and autonomy.

Careers as a journey.It is not surprising that people think of careers in terms of progression and journey but they tend also to say what kind of journey as- a train journey, a hard road, a roller coaster side, an expedition, flying, stuck etc...
Thus people think of their careers as having movement as getting them from place to place .

Careers as inheritance from parents, or family.This refers to careers that continue the tradition of profession that their family members have been following for years together.

Careers have economic values.In organizations, employees are often seen as resources, that is, human resources to be used to achieve organizational goals.

A career story is a personal moving perspective on our working life including the objective facts and the subjective emotions, attitudes and goals of our career. This career notation can be used as a review for one's own self where a person from time to time can analyze the job satisfaction. To take careers as a story enables us to establish our identify and find meaning in what we do, make retrospective sense of our experience and reflect on the future as story telling is a universal, fundamental and often very productive human experience.

The context for career decision-making

When developing and presenting career education programs it is important to be aware of the context in which career development and career decision-making occur. Career decision-making is not simply matching a person to an occupation. There are many influences that impact on a person’s career decisions. The following table lists these influences.

Adapted from Patton, W. & McMahon, M. (2001). Career  development programs: Preparation for lifelong career decision-making. Melbourne: ACER, p. 13.

How to choose a career?

Selection of a suitable career needs meticulous care, thought and proper planning, keeping in mind one's goals, and a clear idea of the expectations from that career. Before deciding on the choice of a career, you should have a clear notion of your interest, aptitude, ambition, scope and qualifications. Before selecting a career, you have to consider your interest in it. You should ask yourself whether you really like it or whether you are going to like it or whether you would lose your interest in it after some time. Your aptitude for the career is equally important. So also is your ambition. 'Not failure, but low ambition is a crime.' However, ambition needs to be toned down in consonance with the scope in a particular field and your inherent qualities. Without ambition, you cannot climb the ladder of success and attain anything in your life. To find out the scope in a particular area of interest is also of very great importance. You should see whether it is a new field. If it is a new field, ask yourself whether it is growing. If it is a growing one, the corollary is that you will also grow with it as an employee. In a growing field, typically there is an exploitation to your advantage. Then you have to consider your qualifications for the career chosen. As you are aware, each career requires an amount of theoretical knowledge and skill which are gained through education and training

Things to keep in mind while choosing a Career

Personal Vision

In today’s competitive environment, confidence and hard work are an absolute necessity to get ahead. When you are strongly motivated through a personal vision, mission or purpose, you will have a lot of confidence and drive and the capacity and willingness to undertake large quantities of workload without complaint. Those without this strong internal drive have never been able to reach any level of prominence in any field.

Professional and Interpersonal Skills

Along with a sense of purpose, you should have a high degree of professional and interpersonal skills if you want to be successful in your chosen career. Success in any field comes only through a process of interaction and communication with others.

Information Handling Skills

The third imperative for a successful career is good information handling skills. In today’s world, one of the key abilities for survival and growth is your ability to collect, organizes, store, retrieve, and use information effectively. Your skill in using computers and electronic communication devices is a critical aspect, irrespective of the area of your work. With the majority of jobs increasingly shifting to the white-collar variety, those with poor information handling ability are doomed to failure.