Since my publication of my article “How to choose a profession” I have received several good suggestions from readers. As you know, I wrote it primarily for poor students who needed my financial help to complete their tertiary education. Since they are poor, my main objective was to help them choose a profession so that they can easily find employment and solve their immediate financial difficulty.
Of course, there are other considerations for choosing a profession.
The educational system in Malaysia is fundamentally flawed in the sense that the students are streamlined into Science or Arts basing on the students’ LCE results. That is how they are separated out the smart ones from the less smart.
The smarter ones go to Science and the not so smart ones go to Arts.
So the Science graduates become engineers, doctors, scientists while the Art’s students take up accountancy, business admin and so forth. However, at the end of the day when they graduate and take up their respective professions, you look up the corporation hierarchy and there are the Arts guys right at the top, overseeing and bossing the lower rung of engineers and technologists etc.
How is it that the less smart students are now calling the shots and running the show while the smart ones are the mere foot soldiers?
Shouldn’t the smart be ruling the less smart and not the other way round?
Ah, something for you to ponder.
How do you advice students today what their future profession should be when we are living in a dynamic world whereby new job functions are created daily. For instance 30 years ago we did not have web developers or data warehousing specialists and a myriad number of new careers.
With this new information I would advise students how to choose a very safe route to take.
I would ask the student to name the common denominator that is associated with successful people.
This answer would lay the foundation to lead everyone to their rightful profession.
The answer is: The ability to exploit one’s potential. For example, a singer recognizes his good voice and exploited it.
A business man, without an education can be successful because he exploited his business acumen.
A teacher can be successful because he exploited his ability to reach out and teach others and so forth. So in essence, ask the person what his natural inclinations are and what he is passionate about because these would provide the clues that would help him find the profession that harmonizes with his natural potentials, which he is more likely to pursue with unrelenting passion and determination.
My advice to all those failures who continue to moan and groan over their wrong choice of profession is to change and do something they like. Of course, there are a few who continue to complain that they have been misled and not prepared to make a change.
Success should not be equated entirely with wealth which should not be the only obsession in one’s life. True wealth is of the heart, not the size of the wallet.
We should not aspire for wealth and work not only to be rich. Strive instead for happiness, to be loved and to love and more importantly, to acquire peace of mind and serenity.