Choosing A Career by Elaine Pillay

The biggest mistake most student’s make is to assume that they choose their careers at University. The truth of the matter is that many fate’s are sealed by the subjects they choose in Grade 9.

What is the purpose of choosing subjects?
Subject choices decide which job you will be able to study for at university. These subjects form the foundation for your job in that they prepare you for the job.

Example
If you want to be a doctor, then when you have completed Grade 12, you will have to go to university and study a MBchB Degree (Degree you have to study in order to qualify as a doctor). One of the courses in the MBchB degree is Chemistry. Chemistry in Grade 10, 11 and 12 is the foundation that will help you understand chemistry in university. Your chemistry and mathematics results will also decide if the university will accept for you to study Medicine. If you did not do Chemistry and Mathematics in Grade 10, 11 and 12, the university will not allow you to study to be a doctor.

Therefore, decide which career you would like to pursue. Once you have made your decision on a career, you will be ready to choose the subjects that will lead you to a degree which will allow you to pursue the career.

NB: The Department of Education has limitations on the number of subjects that can be changed after Grade 10, so careful consideration of subjects in Grade 9 is imperative.
What would happen if you make the wrong subject choices?
If you choose the wrong subjects, you might not get to study what you want to study at university and you will end up being in a job that you are unhappy in. You might not be able to go to university as your subject grouping will not allow you to write for a university exemption.

 

 

What are Subject Groupings?
This information is crucial as some subjects compliment others and need to be studied in conjunction with each other This information can be obtained from your Life Orientation Teacher. If he/she is unable to help you go to the Department of Education website.

Importance of choosing Mathematics and Science
Mathematics and Science are good to take as subjects as they allow you to keep your career options open. In Grade 9, most students are too young to decide on a career so having more options in Grade 12 is what is recommended.

Example:
If in Grade 9, you select Mathematics and Physical Science and in Grade 12 you decide to be a Physiotherapist, you have that option when you go to university. However, if you did not choose Mathematics and Physical Science in Grade 9 and you want to be a Physiotherapist in Grade 12, that option is closed to you.

What if you are not good at Mathematics and Science?
Every person in the world has a talent and course selection time, is a time to find out what your talent is. Maybe, you like art, music, dance, acting, but you can’t draw, sing, dance or act, find out what other jobs exist in these fields so that you can study and work in these fields.

Some of you will find that your parents are happy to support you, whatever your decision, some of you will find that they have their own ideas of what is good for you.

Remember:

Some parents had dreams for themselves and may now see you as an opportunity to fulfil those dreams.

Some parents have noticed that people in certain careers earn more money and can afford a better lifestyle. Your parents would like you to have a better lifestyle than they could afford and would therefore try to push you in the direction of that career.

 

Your decision of a career might scare your parents as technology has changed since they were young and they, may not  know about the field that you want to go into.

 

Whatever your parents reasons, know that their advice comes from a place of love and support and that they only ever, want the best for you.

When discussing your subject selection with your parents:

Be mature about your choice.

Give good reasons on why you want to pursue a career.

Do research on your career and give them this research so that they can see what it is about.

Keep an open mind and listen when they voice their opinions.

Understand their point of view but tell them that they need to understand your point of view.

Tell them that you need their support for you to be successful.

 

What if your parents have already decided what subjects you should choose and what career you should follow?
Some students may find themselves in a situation where their parents have already decided on a career and subjects that they should follow. If you are one of these students then you can do the following:

Talk to your parents (as above) with the research on what you want to do.

Ask them to take you to get an aptitude test done (this is discussed below).

If all your reasoning fails, do what they want you to do and keep your passion as a hobby.

You can pursue your passion as a hobby and when you have succeeded and established yourself in your passion, then you can change to your passion to a career.

Example:
Most parents don’t see Art, Writing or Acting as a viable career. They think that it is something that should be a hobby. So maybe they think that you should be a Teacher instead of a Writer, then study teaching, become a Teacher but use your holidays to write and to make writing contacts by going to Writing workshops and writing courses.

NB: Make your parents understand that you have to be in the job and you therefore have to love it.
Ways to find what you would like to do?

Follow your passion.

Ask somebody who already has a job that you are interested in.

Volunteer

Take an Aptitude Test

 

Follow your passion
Most people already know what they like, so the best advice would be to follow your passion.
If you are passionate about caring for people, look for a career that involves working with people and study to become successful in that career.

If you are passionate about music, find out about what jobs are available in the music industry and study to ensure that you work in that field.

Find out from somebody who already does the job that you are interested in
If there is a career that you think you would like to pursue ask somebody who does that job to take you to work with them. You will then get a chance to see what it would be like to work in that job.

Volunteer
Volunteer(work without pay) for a few hours in an institution that you would like to work at. If you like animals and would like to become a Veterinarian, volunteer at the SPCA and see what a vet does.
Some students may think that volunteering is a waste of time and a waste of energy but isn’t it better than studying a degree and finding yourself in a job you hate? How many more years would you have wasted?

Ask yourself:

If I don’t have money and don’t have anyone to show me how to have a better life, how can I do it myself?

What am I willing to do to live a better life?

 

You will find that volunteering involves less cost and more personal sacrifice but the reward is experience and people will notice you taking charge of your life. People are always more willing to help someone who is trying to help themselves.

Aptitude Test

What is an aptitude test?
An aptitude test is a test that helps you determine what would be best for you to study once you have completed school. The result of the test will tell you what your strengths and weaknesses are. The test will be analysed and you will be told which career your tests results are best suited to.
Aptitude tests are generally expensive to take but if you sacrifice the money to take it, you will probably save years of trying to find out what you are good at.

Where can you take an Aptitude Test?

An aptitude test is generally administered(given) by a Psychometrist or by a Psychologist.

Some schools give aptitude tests.

All major universities Career Counselling Centres

 

It is important for you to remember to:

Choose a job that you will enjoy.

It is important to enjoy your job as you will spend many hours of your day in your job.

Choose a job that fits your personality the closest.

If you love working with children then a Teacher will be a good fit for your personality.
If you love taking care of other people then maybe you should consider becoming a Nurse.

Don’t

Choose a job because you will earn a lot of money.

Imagine if you chose to be a Chartered Accountant but you did not enjoy working with numbers all day. You will find your work boring and at some point will find that you don’t want to go to work!

Choose a career because it looks fun and glamourous on tv.

Imagine if you wanted to become a singer or dancer because it looked like fun in the music videos. These jobs require a lot of sacrifice as it is difficult to get a “big contract”. Most singers and dancers take jobs as waiters to pay their bills and very few become successful.

Checklist

Have you done the following:

Decided on a career that you would like to pursue

Decided on whether you are going to take an Aptitude Test if you are not sure on what to do

Discussed your career with your parents

How and where you were going to  “Test” careers by volunteering

Checked that your subject choice would allow you to get into university to study the career that you have chosen.

NB:
Universities receive thousands of first year applications from students around South Africa. The universities can only choose a small number of students and therefore they select the best applications which are the applications with the best results. So make sure that you study. Also make sure that you apply to many universities, so if you are not accepted by one, you may be accepted by another.