Focus: Career guidance

Many students find a problem in choosing the careers they ought to pursue in life. This is not only in the infant stages of education like primary and secondary school but also in higher levels of learning at the university either in pursuing the undergraduate degree or the postgraduate degrees. Is it due to lack of enough adequate information or experience by the career guidance officers? Currently many believe in the saying “Technical know who” rather than “Technical know how” which has greatly demolished the zeal and desire to pursue the dream careers of many. One pursues a Law course because an uncle owns or has shares in some Law firm in town ignoring the dream of being an Airhostess or anything else that he or she has always aimed at. This is why am challenging you to choose wisely and make that critical decision today that is going to affect your or your children’s tomorrow. Here is a simple lecture with some of the similar and common questions that have always been asked with their formal answers. What is it?Career: Is simply a job, an occupation or a profession, a useful regular work an individual does in order to earn a living or because one has a strong feeling that doing it is the purpose of one’s life. Examples of careers: Teaching, Law, Engineering, Medical, Banking etc. Today, new lucrative careers have come up from activities which were not initially taken as occupations for instance boxing, football, athletics, modeling etc. Career Guidance and Counseling.Is the assistance/help/service given to an individual to enable him/her choose a profession, prepare for it, maintain it and be successful in it. Why Career Guidance now?Today life is becoming more complex day by day with drastic change and advancement in science and technology which brings with it thousands of jobs/occupations, many of which require specialized training, interests and many times a good background. The world is a small place now- a Global village Rwandese may have to work in other parts of the world with various agencies like United Nations (UN), FAO, and UNICEF etc. Who does Career Guidance and Counseling?The process of choosing a career begins with childhood, usually at this stage it is all fantasy. Children imagine and dream what they ought to become when they grow up. At school especially high school, the choice of career is so much pegged to the subjects one chooses. So if one does not perform well in examinations in those subjects it becomes very difficult to train for and get that job. For instance, for one to become a Doctor, passing science subjects becomes a necessity than a need. What are some of the problems faced in making Career Choices?Lack of clear visionInterest and ability conflicting with their expressed careers.Personality Ability and potentialUnrealistic aspirationsStudents’ aspirations conflicting with those of the parents/teachers as well as well wishers’.Peer group pressureRole modelsGender stereotypingThe social economic class/ status of the familyLack of occupational information. Early unbiased career guidance is more likely to bring about more successful individuals than those left to feel their ways along the wall. Lady Happie Kampala Uganda ladyhappie@yahoo.com.