Prof. Deepti Ganapathy

The World Economic Forum recently noted that Critical thinking and Problem-solving top the list of skills employers believe will grow in prominence in the next five years. These two competencies happen to be irreplaceable and non-negotiable. What this means, is that technology cannot replace these nor can the crucial human interference needed to make a decision be circumvented.  

The onset of the pandemic and the forecasting of much more deadlier pandemics in the near future raise alarm bells for young people to choose career paths wisely. The tried and tested avenues are always present, but the uncertainty around can push young people to walk paths that are less explored and bring with them passion and invigorating motivation which is necessary to build traits and practices necessary to succeed in any field.

After this initial barrier has been crossed, the factors that one can broadly map the chosen career path against, is discussed below:

Context

Given that we are in a world that is in the throes of dealing with a pandemic, many career paths will be fraught with uncertainty. For example, a role that involves travelling and meeting people to understand consumer behaviour and their needs. If travelling and meeting people from different and unique cultures was on your wish list, you may as well keep this on hold. With the world adapting and re-orienting itself to remote working and learning, your career choices will get re-mapped to suit this demand. This is owing not only to keeping in line with protocols in place for the pandemic, but to bring down unnecessary expenditure and travel while running a business. Career choices around event management, services-related avenues will have to be re-assessed. Keep a close watch on the National Educational Policy. In a matter of few years, you might be facing competition from your juniors who have been through the change in curriculum with NEP in place and having much better hands-on skills that may offset your career track, forcing you to re-skill.

Look for the government’s policies to make India self-sufficient and become a job creator rather than a seeker, by making use of the start-up ecosystem and other initiatives to become an entrepreneur. The Government of India through the National Productivity Council, DPIIT has regularly been conducting webinars and workshops for free throughout the last 9 months. By keeping one’s eyes open to eclectic avenues while keeping the context relating to current ecosystem, state of economy and a demand for jobs in certain sectors – the main factor for choosing a course becomes narrower and more focused as the search for that perfect course continues.

Scope

The scope of your choice of career encompasses its ability to be of relevance in the present context. If you choose a medical degree and want to specialize in an area where most of the demographic profile is witnessing a lifestyle change owing to the pandemic, then you have an opportunity to invest further into that career path. The scope of your course and the career you choose is quantitative with respect to the pay package, demand for that skillset, etc. It is also qualitative in terms of the passion and drive you can have to keep the momentum going for a longer haul. For example, the last few months have resulted in many job profiles being redundant, while those who have been able to broaden or deepen the scope of their profile have been resilient to overcome these obstacles. The scope is also determined by the organization you choose to work with and how quickly it can adapt and expand.  

Multidisciplinary setting

In social science research, one cannot afford to stick to a particular discipline and proclaim that a phenomenon that has been observed is a significant one. Similarly, while choosing a course, it is better to dabble in as much multidisciplinary subjects as possible to give you a depth of the matter without becoming myopic. Opting for career and choices in courses that celebrate diversity in subject matter, that are multidisciplinary and offer you a basket of electives to give you multiple hats to don while you graduate and enter the job market will give you that extra leverage to take the plunge.