5 Laws of Career Planning
I am a Xaverian Class of 2006 -Went on to do my CA with All India Ranks and a 1 year MBA from IIM Ahmadabad. Have a decade of corporate experience.
When we make a career choice during our youth, there is a probability attached to your turning out to be successful. So what really determines how the life of a youngsters eventually pans out to be?
What factors determine the end outcome? One’s past grades, random strokes of luck, attitude, street smartness, location mobility? Is there a role of probability, which can also be termed as destiny?
I have been blessed with my interaction with my YouTube followers that keeps asking me about how to choose your career wisely.
This video will help you think in a structured manner about your career choice.
The following are the 5 rules in this framework for Career Choice
1) Mistakes
My taking up Science in Class XI, lured by an IIT+IIM combination leading me to an Investment Banking Job.
So, I violated the rule of Passion and took up the course, only to spend the next 2 years of my life, realising that Vernier Callipers and testing chemicals in test-tube in laboratories wasn’t my cup of tea
Would I get a second chance to restart? Yes fortunately. I restarted with Commerce in Xaviers, completed by CA and MBA and am here standing in front of you and speaking.
90% of professionals surveyed said they are doing something materially different from that they had envisaged at a young age. A lot of course correction is often required. There is no shame in that. Apply stop-loss and move on
2) Passion & Competitive Advantage
If you are a Marwari, have a well-established shop that sells motors parts. I can take it to the next level. But I am not so good in academics. Should I play to my strengths or weaknesses? Is there any stigma attached with joining your family business.
If I am a school topper and start a career in Network Marketing, urging momo-sellers to become part of the chain by paying 10k and then expand the chain at their end. Is that something which best utilises your academic talent
You are your best judge here. What would you like to do for 50% of time you are awake for the next 35 years of your life.
All of us have been given a specific skillset by God. It’s often a natural outcome of your environment.
Would Sachin Tendulkar have been an amazing software programmer, if he so decided?
I was never very comfortable with numbers. Not that I was bad at them. But really not so good. So post my CA, I really should have taken up a career that involved more of verbal and less of Maths, say taxation. But I got swayed by the glamour of a career in Corporate Finance. Result — quite a challenge
3) Risk Reward & Financial Viability
Every career comes along with a baggage of risk-reward
What is the probability of someone wanting to be an astronaut? Or how high are the chances of cracking UPSC Prelims, Mains and Interviews.
If you not a 2nd/3rd generation lawyer in the family and the college that you studied from does not offer campus placements; you will really need to struggle a lot. Intern with an advocate for 2–3 years with negligible stipends. Are you mentally prepared?
4) Stakeholder Expectations
Should I become a doctor because my father wants me to be one, although I want to be a journalist?
If I am from a middle-class and there is an expectation from my family that I support them financially, do I show them a path where I will do my graduation, post-graduation and then a PhD and then would possibly become a Professor. Am I not belying expectations? Is that fair
Post my CA, I had got an INR 10 lac+ job in the year 2008. But the company posted me in North India. I went there for 2 months; realised my parents weren’t very happy staying alone. Neither was I staying away. Came back at half the salary in another company.
So sometimes, in your career, you don’t end up making rational choices but emotional ones. And I think that’s quite ok. You can opt out of the rat race and replace FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) with JOMO (Joy of Missing Out)
5) Luck
No matter how safe and fool-proof the choice is e.g. CA /MBA, you might still end up in a state of jeopardy. You might get a bad first boss, get stuck in the vortex of corporate politics, the industry where you work gets into recession e.g. telecom. Less talented batch mates get into places because they are nephews & nieces of someone. The Global Financial Crisis — Lehmann Brothers Crisis erupted just when I wanted to get into the job market. Suddenly post Sep’08 — hiring was on freeze everywhere. But that’s life. We will all have our share of their random events so heavily determining our success path. Life is not fair. And maybe it could be a worthwhile idea to get used to it.
So friends, I would urge you to experience this magical journey of a Career with an open mind. One fine day in life, when you bid Adieu to Mother Earth, this journey will flash in front of your eyes in a matter of seconds. Make sure, it’s worth writing a book on.
