10 November 2006
With traditional, time-tested career paths making way for new opportunities, students are faced with bewildering choices. Pratima Amonkar, director business, The Professional Aptitude Council, unravels the maze.
The
words 'global economy' are on everyone's lips today. From
aggressively successful entrepreneurs and steel magnates
to bio-techies and event management experts, everyone's
talking about expanding their businesses across continents.
Increasingly open economies and decreasing governmental controls are allowing companies to break geographical barriers. After the fall of the socialist economies, a new world order is emerging, which is a heady mixture of laissez-faire capitalism and controlled socialism. Countries are vying with each other for a slice of the economic pie, as old fears and knee-jerk protectionism disappears behind a haze of prosperity.
The lifting of governmental controls may have helped unleash the power of a global economic order, but the engine of prosperity has to be fuelled by the most important ingredient—human resources. Recognising the need for a well-qualified and highly talented workforce, countries across the world are investing in education and skill development. New engineering schools and large universities are being set up, and collaborative efforts across educational institutes are being encouraged. Increasing investments in higher education and greater emphasis on high-quality primary education will power the biggest success stories in the next decade or two.
As more and more well-educated and well-equipped talent emerges, the task of talent selection becomes even more complex. Companies find it increasingly difficult to identify and zero in on the right candidate for the right job. The onerous task of hiring the best will become more and more difficult; the situation will be exacerbated by the requirement of greater numbers of people 'on-the-job'.
Choices
before learners
Traditional, time-tested avenues of employment making
way for newer opportunities and career paths, and today,
most students are faced with a bewildering array of choices—of
colleges, study subjects, fields of specialisation and
methodologies. Students are faced with the unenviable
task of having to make choices based on popular opinions
or trends. Very few, if any, make choices based on potential
and real aptitude. This means that finally, most new entrants
in the professional field are there because they hope
that they are in the right place and not necessarily because
that is what they like and are good at doing. Identifying
one's own potential and true métier is, therefore,
based on experience as well as trial and error.
