Career guidance refers to services and activities intended to assist individuals, of any age and at any point throughout their lives, to make educational, training and occupational choices and to manage their careers.
Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions a person will ever make. Unfortunately, many people make career choices without much career guidance.
In a country like Pakistan where literacy rate is quiet low, only 26% of students make their way to the higher education so, 74 percent of the students drop out due to many reasons; a wrong career can cause serious harm not only to the individual’s life but also to the economy.
The major drawback of our society is here decisions are the result of collectivism not individualism. This culture can be beneficial for other petty matters of life but for choosing career it can prove to be disastrous. Due to low literacy rate people have less information about variety of careers. Parents know only two domains of study: medical and engineering.
First thing required to choose the right career is to know your interest. Students should ask their parents only about their interests not about their careers. Once they are clear about their interests they should begin planning and obtaining information on it.
Schools should play their role; teachers should educate students with different kind of career options they could avail according to their interests and resources. The students who drop out of school could actively take part in economy if they are guided in schools at the right time towards their right career.
Students should also be assisted in presenting their abilities to the world. It is very important for the students to know about job searching strategies, such as writing a resume and cover letter, learning interview skills.
Career counselling is an issue which is not highlighted in Pakistan although it could be very helpful in producing professionals with highly specialised knowledge and expertise in variety of fields.
QURAT-UL-AIN KHALIL
Lahore
Hello Qurat-ul-Ain,
You hit the nail on the head! This is what's happening in our country and we are seeing a very lame or unorganized response to this issue.
We certainly need to start addressing this issue as soon as possible.
I'll be more than happy to assist or talk to any individual or organization who is interested in taking any initiative in the field of career guidance in Pakistan.
Imran M. Ismail
[email protected] http://ca.linkedin.com/in/imranismail
i am a Pakistani student in U.K for Msc Career guidance and education.happy to help
Plz provide your email or contact to this email:
[email protected]
"Zindagi ke Raastey" is an important book on career guidance for secondary school students and their parents & teachers. It was first published in 1990 and last edition was launched in 2000. May be you can get it from Urdu Bazar, Karachi.
The publisher is Qalam Dost, P.O. Box 11002, Karachi-75230.
sham
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