5 Traps in Career Planning

    1.  Lack of Clarity (Confusion) :

This is a major issue in Career planning, as Students have limited awareness on Career options and their Potential, many a time they are in self-doubt about their capability & strength. Therefore they remain in this state for longer duration even at higher education level and finally end up choosing something seen and heard in their circle of family & friends. 

Also sometimes, Students switch their Education stream in the process of self discovery and finally due to financial & social pressure, end up in Job by default which is by chance rather by choice.

To avoid this situation, proper Career planning is needed at 13+ years stage- when Students are in 10th grade, so that they don’t have to take a U-turn and switch Education & Jobs, save time and achieve much desired goals faster.

2. Comparison:

This is again a main cause of Career planning pitfall, since unconsciously Students/Patents compare the Success stories, achievements from their circle & surrounding and end up making a decision, which may not be a good fit for Child’s interest, strength and personality. Like if we notice a Doctor in our friends, family and circle, who is earning a decent money & is successful, we tend to model it in our Career planning decision. Sometimes this comparison happens due to Social, Peer & Family competition in achievements & status masks.

In order to avoid this, Students and Parents need to solely focus on unique strengths, Individual interest & aspiration.

3. Local Influence 

 

In our day-to-day life, our Family members, Friends and Relatives give advice from their own knowledge, past experiences, success, setbacks and their biases. This may be a good/better/best from their perspective and mental map, but may not be 100 % relevant in the current scenario.

There is nothing wrong with hearing these information, but we need to process and filter it out from our own conscience and logical mind.

This can be very much avoided if we plan our Career much early and be 100% clear 

and remain focused, as with more delays and in desperation, there will be more Inputs & recommendations from our circle and we might end up choosing something which is not a good option.

4. Lack of clear intention

This is arises when there is lack of self discovery, normally we plan our Career based on some obvious factors like amount of Money, Prospects, Job security, Quality of life and Social recognition etc, but these are superficial and extrinsic motivation and does not long last, soon we start pursuing our Job/Career. It has its own challenges and we start losing interest and motivation. Of Course the above factors are important for a decent life, but in order to persist and achieve extraordinary things in life, our purpose should be much bigger than ourselves, so then we are highly motivated with unlimited power & energy to pursue and persist against all odds and challenges in life.

5. Social Agenda 

Finally, this is very prevalent in rural & lesser developed areas, where still Jobs/Careers are seen as a measure of Individual & Social Identity, for Money & Influential Power. We inherited this from East India and Britain Empire period in the 18th century. At that time Jobs & nature of work directly linked to their social status, regards & recognition.

Still, In many Societies, only Government Jobs are regarded as an achievement due to own vested interest to get benefited with Power and Influence, there Jobs/Career is not for service rather to attain Money, Power and Influence.

In order to avoid this trap, we need to overcome the barrier of belief system which is not easy but can be achieved with external intervention of Career guide and influence the Society.

Overall, in order to become a strong & developed economy, the above Career planning pitfalls need to be avoided, so that we can produce great Professionals and Entrepreneurs and move our country towards becoming a Socially and Economically developed nation.