While planning it is quite common to undergo a lot of stress and confusion, especially while you are about to invest your time, money, and hard work to deiced on your career. This is the point where most of them end up choosing a career that is on-demand/trend over their program of interest.
There are a lot of factors that influence career decisions such as current demand for a particular skill, demand for specific job profile, higher job opportunities in a certain domain, a recommendation from family or friends, lifestyle at the destination of choice and the list goes on. Also, there are temporary factors like the present situation which has widely impacted the decision making that is the pandemic situation and political factors.
How much should you consider the current trends while selecting the career is what you need to be aware. Trends are expected to change over the period, most of which are short-term and are expected to change within a few months or in a year or two. So, making a long-term decision like a career by completely depending on the current or short-term situation will harm your career. Altering the plan for a short term is required to tackle the current drawback and the most important question that you need to ask yourself before selecting the program of study which decides your career ‘Is this the career I aspire?’, answering this plays a major role in determining your success rate.
There are certainly other factors to be considered before deciding on the career, but some get ignored and some are considered as the only factor to worry about. One such aspect that needs to be reviewed once you decide your program of study and the career it offers; the investment and it’s returns for taking up the program, but most of them consider this to be an only aspect to decide their career but to be successful you need to have passion towards the career you choose. Success is not defined just by your financial growth achieved but by realizing your dream.
Quality of education is another major factor; you need to look out for universities that are recognized for your program of choice in the industry you are looking for a career. Quality of education is not just limited to getting admits from the university that is among top university ranking, there are universities that are known for a particular domain like for engineering program (or particular branch in engineering), management program, law, science, psychology or for any other domain. Graduating from a university whose degree is recognized worldwide will not only add weightage to your resume but the knowledge that you gain during your term not just by completing your curriculum but also while you get a chance assisting a professor in his teaching or research work.
Study destination is the next important factor, but while deciding the destination most tend to choose it based on the country they want to settle down, a country with a high standard of living, if their family member is living in the country/state and some lookout for lower cost of living at the destination. To choose a destination you need to consider more than these basic requirements, you need to look out for the opportunities; opportunities here is not just referred to job opportunities after the graduation but also to the practical exposure you can gain such as ongoing or upcoming researches in the college conducted but the professors can give you an opportunity to be their research assistant, study under their guidance and get more guidance on your specialization if you are an engineering/science students, If you are a law student an opportunity to work on a case which is currently at court by assisting the professor who is also an attorney, these are the two examples to understand the opportunity you can look for under your program of study.
Choosing the destination which is known for advancement in the industry you choose to begin your career as a study destination, which is recognized for its remarkable work worldwide; if you look for fashion capitals most prominent cities that are known are Paris, London, New York, Rome and Milan. So, if you are looking for a career in the fashion industry graduating from one of the prominent universities at these major fashion cities will give you more exposure to career and understand the market. Similarly, if you are looking for a career as Architect, cities like Chicago, Rome, Barcelona and Athens are the prominent cities know as best architecture cities which helps you enhance your skill and also recognition for your degree worldwide.
Wide options of specialization under your program of study is another factor to be considered which is offered only by certain universities, the courses offer a detailed study of the specialization which you choose. Also, the flexibility in completing the degree with the option to select the number of credits you want complete or the degree that has been designed to complete in a lesser duration. Before you decide on your career and degree you want to pursue, you need to brainstorm all these major factors. Don’t just let the current trend or the temporary situations push you to make a decision that decides your career and future along with the biggest investments of your life; financial investment and the time you invest in your studies.
