After Graduation, Puzzle For Professional Career

Graduation plays a critical role in shaping one’s professional career. This new phase in life can often bring along a mixed bag of emotions. After completing graduation, you are supposed to have superior knowledge in a particular stream of education.

Graduation provides a base that you can utilize to realize your dreams. Have you just completed graduation or about to complete graduation then you may be looking forward to a work environment or wondering perhaps how you will cope with performance pressures. Some of you probably might miss the carefree college life or perhaps be considering the possibility of courses after graduation, while there may be some of you who must be too bored to go through even one more college lecture! Well, each one to his/her own.

While many students find a right way to fulfill their dreams, a majority of them find it difficult to choose the right career option after graduation. The confusion in choosing right career option is natural. You have numerous career options after graduation like Management, Hospitality, Computer, Information Technology etc. Many of them didn’t even exist a few years ago. Therefore, you may need to seek guidance and support from experienced counselors in choosing the best career after graduation.

Professional Career After Graduation

Before you choose the best career option after graduation, you need to know growth prospects, competition, availability of jobs, work requirements, etc. of that field.  Communication skills make a remarkable difference in overall career development irrespective of nature of work. Additionally, if you are good in basic calculations and Mathematics, it will help in arriving at right decisions.

What to do After Graduation?

Some of  your friends might be enrolling for higher studies, some might be joining family businesses, some would be planning on taking a “break”,  and more many would have already begun job hunting.

But how to know that this is right career path for you?

The answer lies in your inherent strengths and your situation in life at that point of time. Here are the few commonly faced dilemma which puzzles the mind of aspirants for their bright career and the expert advice to get out of it and work towards to achieve your goal.

Puzzle 1: May be My Degree is NOT Enough for My Career Goal?

The first step is to understand what your graduation degree can do to enhance your career and how far. It may so be that the degree may fetch you a good job but a few years down the line, it may not be enough. At such times, you may want to consider doing professional post-graduate diplomas, certificate courses and the likes to boost career prospects.

But there are countless such courses guaranteeing jobs. Which ones to go for?

Having come so far in your academic life, you are bound to have some idea of your aptitudes and inclinations. The key is to choose such courses that complement your strengths or else there is no point in taking a course that has nothing to do with your interest and/or aptitude but promises a job. So for instance, if you are a B. Com graduate, it is logical to do a course in software like Tally, ERP to help enhance your prospects.

Puzzle 2: Confusion to Continue over the Field Chosen

A large number of us fall in this category – having chosen a course/career path due to peer pressure, family compulsions or plain lack of awareness. The first thing that you must do in this case is evaluate your strengths. You can take help from the experts here – career counselors like AfterGraduation. Counselors, with the help of scientifically designed aptitude tests and personality tests, will be able to help you to figure out what you are good at. After this, you may want to spend some time exploring work with organisations in your area of interest or directly go for a post-graduation in that area.

Puzzle 3: Want to Go for Higher Studies but Also Need to Supplement Family Income.

This situation too should be viewed positively. It may actually turn out that after having spent time working, you may want to do something completely different at the post-graduation level than you had initially thought.

While it is important in this scenario to find a job, one must try and strike a balance between finding a job that pays along with matching one’s aptitude and interests. Choosing a career that is completely out of league with the sole intent of earning money will result in disillusionment and you are likely to drop out early due to lack of interest.

Puzzle 4: Either Earn or Learn

Who said you will have to choose? In fact, it may well turn out to be a boon. The work environment will help you give clarity on what you see yourself doing a few years down the line and help you choose your further academic options wisely. Even as you work, you can start preparing for entrance exams to universities/courses that you want to take up ahead.

Puzzle 5: When to Take MBA? Should I even be Taking up MBA?

You most definitely should, if you want to. But MBA is not everyone’s cup of tea and not a mandatory requirement for success in life. If you are sure of it, you can immediately enroll after graduation.

It may, however, be wiser to begin working and simultaneously preparing for entrance exams to MBA colleges. Along with helping you save money for the course, it will also help you bring your experience to the table and contribute to enriching the MBA you will be pursuing.

If you want to do an MBA but the costs seem prohibitive, you can consider doing an Executive MBA. A number of companies even sponsor these programs and it will also help leverage your position in the job market.

Whatever you choose to do, remember that the key is to play to your strength and success is only a matter of time. Strengths are your communication skills, Knowledge, aptitude and interests. If you are not liking your subject, job or stream of education and want a change – Don’t get frustrated. Feel happy about the fact that you have realized your potential and looking to improve your life. Feel confident and read what all options exist after graduation. If you need expert assistance in deciding right career option for you, get in touch with us at AfterGraduation