Top 5 Tips to Choose the Right Course for a Better Career

Most people in India, choose a course to fulfill their parents’ wishes, which is again based on the course’s ability to land them a decent job. This approach however, often leads to a lot of stress for the candidates. A person who is naturally inclined towards arts, will not be able to excel at engineering and vice-versa. That is why it is important to understand what excites you. What is it that gives you a lot of joy when you do it? Is it painting a picture or creating a model for a war-ship? Well, if you look inside yourself, it wouldn’t be too difficult to find the right answer. The first step towards choosing a course to build a career is to ask yourself, what is your interest and what would you really excel at?

Once you have decided on your area of interest you must do you research on various course options and career opportunities available in your concerned area. In today’s information age, this should not be very difficult as almost all organizations have an internet present and mostly the information is updated online. It is also good to look at the overall trend and scenario in various sectors. The graphics below shows the current trend of popular career choices made in India. The popularity of these choices though are mostly based on traditional wisdom of choosing an Engineering or Medical profession; or the current trend of an MBA degree being considered a safe bet for landing a high paying job. You should research further into how you can make the most out of building a career in a field that you are passionate about.

Once you have explored your inner self and decided on the path you want to take, it’s important to find out the best institutions available that offer the course of your interest. Again, explore the websites of various universities and colleges to find out if your desired course is being offered there and what are you required to get an admission. Aim for the best college that you can get. Do not get discouraged if you cannot get the best one out there but make sure to be amongst the best students in the college or institution that you enroll to. If you think from “getting placed” perspective, many companies nowadays hire from B and C class cities and institutions, however, invariably the students in the top bracket in any particular institute will have a better chance of being selected.

It is important to know what you would get on the completion of a course. I can give an example, as a student I decided to pursue the DOEACC ‘A’ & ‘B’ level which are very comprehensive and equivalent to a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in computer application respectively. However, after the completion of the course I got a certification and not a degree. This was a major hassle for me as, when I tried to pursue higher studies abroad, I was supposed to have a Master’s degree to enroll. Fortunately for myself, I had simultaneously completed my degree programs. Many of my friends had just completed their certification and they had to do their graduation all over again in order to pursue a course like MBA in the future. In retrospect, even for me, it was a lot of hassle. I would have been better off if I had selected to do my bachelor’s and master’s in computer application from a recognized university which offered me a degree at the completion instead of a certification.