You will soon be out of school and are looking forward to college life. There are many colleges in India and the word college brings many thoughts to mind. While for some it is about reaching the corridors of the Top engineering colleges, or Top Medical colleges on the other hand there are many who are not sure about what course to do and which college to join.So while one is readying oneself for life after 12th, but the dilemma about which college to choose and which course to choose from the wide array of courses after 12th only increases.  Career Guidance after 12th is extremely help full here and you can take help of our  career experts / expert counsellors

 

There are many options in front of you

 

1. Remain in the chosen stream and choose a higher education

If you have science with PCM you can go for higher education in many professional and educational courses like Engineering, Architecture, Planning, Design, Information Technology, and pure sciences degrees in physics, chemistry, mathematics, statistics etc. If you have science with PCB you can go for MBBS, allied medical fields like dentistry, Ayurveda, veterinary etc. Lot of interesting options are available in bio chemistry, microbiology, biotechnology, bioinformatics and pure sciences like botany, zoology, and research in biological sciences. B Com, BBA, B Com LLB , Eco Hons are some of the courses that you can do after class 12th in commerce  or you can hone your skills in the financial sector. If you took humanities you can go for BA in your chosen subject or can move to professional courses after 12th.

2. Appear in an Entrance exam 

Depending on the stream you have you can sit for an entrance-exams-after-12th. Since most of the courses are sought after. most of the reputed colleges take admissions through entrance exams. This is the trend not only for courses like engineering, medicine, law, design etc Many universities use entrance tests because the number of applicants is generally very large. If you are interested in joining the Armed forces then you can also sit for exams like NDA.

One needs to plan for these entrance exams as these are held at different times in the year and one has to fill the application and follow the process to appear in the exam. While some entrance exams are also available in an online format like JEE for engineering there are still many which are offered in online and offline mode both, so you need to plan the test centre and travel etc.

3. Change the stream and choose a higher education

Many a times we take a particular stream just to keep the options open after 12th. This is the time to make that choice and choose from various career options available. Depending upon your aptitudes and interest you can make a switch to other course and career options. Colleges in India do allow some switches but there are some restrictions also. Like from science to commerce in possible but from commerce to science is not possible. So ideally one should explore the college and course and carefully look for the eligibility criteria to make the right decision in right time.

4. Choose a professional course

There are many professional courses that one can opt for after 12th and most of the times the admissions are through entrance-exams-after-12th. Since these are sought after courses and there are many takers one should prepare for the entrances. For some courses like engineering and medicine the preparation starts right after you have given exams after 10th. Other than engineering, medicine there are many professional courses like Law, Management, Hotel Management, Design, Mass communication and Journalism etc which one can opt for to make a successful career. Most of these courses offer good career opportunity so one should choose the course that matches best with one’s strengths ( read: Aptitude and Personality).

5. Choose a vocational course

Vocational courses like Travel and Tourism and Office administration also offer good choice for many.

So by now, you know of four different things that you can do to decide about what to do after 12th.Actually there are many students who think that they know what to do after 12^th but sadly they are mistaken. You see as per a recent study, almost 80% or more people at work place feel stressed out because they are career misfits. The genesis of his problem is because of the wrong choices they make after 12th

6. Plan ..in case you do not get the course/ college of your choice

Admissions are competitive whether it is professional courses or others, there are limited seats and many takers. So even if you are the best and suited for that course admissions are not guranteed. In that case the role of a good career counsellor comes into picture, who will help you explore other Career Options that suit your talent profile or will tell you alternative ways to reach your career goals. For example you want to become a journalist and are not able to make it to BA journalism course...you can still go for a related graduation and in your PG take up journalism course. Like that you need to set your goals and reach your career goal.

So by now, you know of four different things that you can do to decide about what to do after 12th.Actually there are many students who think that they know what to do after 12^th but sadly they are mistaken. You see as per a recent study, almost 80% or more people at work place feel stressed out because they are career misfits. The genesis of his problem is because of the wrong choices they make after 12th

So what is the right method to decide what to do after 12th

 

Importance of Career Counseling

Choosing the right career can be very rewarding with the right career guidance. The professional life of a student depends on the career choice and the course choice made by them during the transition years of their life.

Career guidance is very important at this transition phase because it helps in making their decisions with much more ease and after being well informed. Besides, students are often at crossroads when it comes to making a decision about what course to pursue or what career to get into. With a plethora of options in front of them, and a lack of proper knowledge about the requirement for these options often leads to incorrect career decisions.

Not just this, more often than not, students get easily influenced by what their parents advise them, or what their friends are doing. Most of them even get influenced by the glamour and look-and-feel offered by a particular career, and they jump into the pursuit of a make-believe “perfect” career. What parents and students fail to understand is that a career decision should never be based on what it looks like on the surface or how “popular”, “successful” or “safe” it seems to be. The “RIGHT CAREER” for each person varies, based on their own aptitude, personality and interests.

That is why, an understanding of one’s aptitude, personality and interest is very crucial from the perspective of choosing a career.

A career assessment done after weighing in the aptitude, personality and interests of the student, along with an understanding of the economic background of the student, and then relating it to the market reality leads to a more informed and correct career decision. This is precisely why the role of a career counselor is extremely important in this modern age.

1st Steps for Career Planning

• Check what your present status is. What you are doing right now.
• Figure out what you are interested in. Keep in mind how you derive the process what you are really interested in.
• Know your strengths.
• Whatever you are planning, you need to be aware about what is needed to be done (educational qualification / experience etc).
• Utilize your strengths - how you relate to your present educational qualifications and work force.
• Whenever there is a doubt, you need to get back to your strengths and match your strengths to market reality. Rather, learn some skills to adjust to the market reality.

Many a times, young adults choose a career / course thinking what is available in the job market. This might lead to a difficult situation as market reality is never constant; it keeps on changing with economic situation, introduction of new technology and need of the people or system. If you follow the above process, then you can adjust to the market reality if needed and reach success within a certain time frame.