Right Career Choice
Bored with the work you’re doing at the office? Or, have you started having second thoughts about the career you chose, for all the wrong reasons? Sangita Thakur, clinical psychologist provides an insight into the importance of choosing the right job. Ravi is a 35 year old computer engineer.

He returns from the office by 7:00 p.m. The moment he steps into the house he tries to find some fault in his wife’s behavior and cooking. Even the children are beaten for no reason.

His wife complains that he gets angry and irritable very fast and has started smoking and drinking heavily. He was never like this before. Ravi’s problem is that he has become frustrated and tired with his profession. He says, “I have made a wrong choice and should have become an interior designer instead, which I would have really enjoyed”. Questions like: Should I do a course in interior decoration? Could something be done at this age? Like Ravi, there are many men and women who face similar problems, as they are not satisfied with their jobs and occupations. There are also a number of teenagers who make mistakes by choosing a wrong course and soon fall into the psychological trap like Ravi.

It is necessary for working people to choose a career which makes them happy. Found below are some reasons for which an individual should be satisfied with his job and change his occupation if he is not happy with it. Generally a working woman spends eight to nine hours of the day on the job. If she does not enjoy these nine hours sufficiently i.e. there is no interest, and lacks initiative in working for months, or even merely thinking of those nine hours makes her angry, then what is the use of working in that manner? Is she doing justice to her physical and psychological health? How long will money he more important than job satisfaction? If one knows that he does not enjoy the job, then why should he continue working in the first place?

Rita Roy says: “Getting up in the morning is very tiring for me. I have to literally push myself towards getting dressed and go to the office which I find boring”. Thirty–year–old Anita Khurana says: “I keep on looking at my watch continuously. I just wait for the watch to strike 5 o’ clock. I hate working here”. It is very important for every working person to take up an occupation which he likes, enjoys doing and feels satisfied with it.

If you are not satisfied with your job, then it is for sure going to cause you to become frustrated and depressed, and would soon start affecting your personal and a family life. So, change your job and take up what you like doing rather than doing something just for the sake of doing it. Mridula Bapat at the age of 40 has realized this. She feels: “I have earned enough money but my job has not given me enough satisfaction. I have decided to start doing business which I’ve always wanted to”.
Many make the mistake of choosing a career on the basis of the following reasons:

• Parents force you to take up a particular occupation.
• You are assured of hefty pay packets which tempts you to choose it. (Like the Merchant Navy)
• Your best friend or your clique have all opted for it, so, you follow suit.
• Family members are in the same profession, so, you are forced or you feel that you can take their help to rise up in the same profession.
• The profession has prestige associated with it and is some kind of a status symbol. (e.g. being a doctor.)
• It is the ‘In thing’–e.g. being a masters degree in business management.
• The profession appeals to you and you enter it without finding out whether you have the aptitude for it or not .

Choose a Right Career
To choose a right career and to be satisfied with it the following things are important:

• Interest in the career you are choosing.
• Aptitude–which is the innate potential to do well in that field. For example everybody cannot paint and sing well. A successful painter has to have the inborn talent to do painting without which he can never succeed in his profession. Aptitude comes first, then followed by training in that field.
• Intelligence to grasp the art of working quickly.
• The type of personality to do well in the job, for example, to succeed as a good marketing executive, the individual needs to have the knack of convincing people as well as the ability to communicate well.
• Money to pursue the course.

As such, to succeed in any profession, having an interest and an aptitude for that profession is the most important thing followed by intelligence and personality. For some professions like psychology, marketing–oriented jobs, advertising etc that call for a knack of understanding and communicating effectively with people, it is very important.
Found below are some fears that a person has which may stop him/her from changing his/her job or occupation:

• It is so odd to change my line of work at 37.
• What will my friends say? I will be considered a failure.
• What will society say?
• Am I doing the right thing by changing my occupation?
• Will I be happy with my new profession?
• Just the thought of going and studying with people younger than me makes me feel like an idiot.
• Will I succeed in my new profession?
• Even though, you are scared to change your work, remember the saying ‘Where there is a will, there is a way’. So, put your fears aside and charge like a bull towards your goal.

If you have found out that you are not satisfied with your present job/profession then the tips given below can guide you to know your occupational interest and type of job desired:
In order to get your facts about your occupation clear, ask yourself the following questions:

• What kind of job gives me more satisfaction. Painting or a clerical job?
• Working in what area of interest would make me feel more contented with life?
• Is it easy for me to work under someone, or I feel I can manage as well as possess the qualities to run an organization or start a business.
• Do I like a job which involves me to move from place to place or do I prefer a desk job?
• Do I have the personality for it? For example: If I have to work as a Public Relations Officer, would I be able to communicate with people of different personalities without any difficulty. Do I feel confident enough to start a business.

If you can find out the aptitude for the occupation of your interest.
Once these things are found you should then see if she requires to take any specific training or education to fulfill her goal. If so one should do it without any hesitation. If required, you can take the help of a Psychologist, who would help you to understand your career interests. The Psychologist would administer an interest, aptitude test and take a thorough interview to check out the adolescent personality and intelligence and other details.