Preparing yourself for multiple careers

The one common piece of advice that every student gets during their school or college days is to follow a single career path. But in today’s changing job environment, we must ask ourselves the question, “Is it worth pursuing a single career option?” No would be the logical answer. Because as days pass by, many conventional jobs become obsolete or unattainable for the new generation of job seekers. There are many reasons for this, including the fast-paced development of modern technologies and artificial intelligence. So the job environment is becoming uncertain, and it is high time to think about different career options rather than sticking to a specific one.

New millennials and candidates from Generation Z must acquire skills demanded by the new job market. For example, if we take the case of a job seeker looking for a place in the academic sphere might get disappointed because the bottom part of the educational job pyramid is flooded with too many candidates with enough qualifications. Only a few will get tenure or, in the Indian scenario, the post of a professor. So the future of a person who had prepared himself for one job by acquiring only the specific skills required for that job will be bleak in the present situation.

So here, we need a multi-disciplinary approach that will lead to an inter-disciplinary thought. This is useful in many areas of life, including the job environment. Rather than joining a group of similarly trained experts in a specific subject, you can be an expert in multiple disciplines, and that will help you to stand out in the crowd. Besides this, the student who seeks expertise in multiple fields will have more flexible career choices. With their unique worldview and rich perspectives, these multi-disciplinary students will stand out to employers.

As parents and teachers, we need to ask ourselves the big question- how to enable our children future-ready to prepare for multiple careers? How to help them acquire new skills and empower them to ask different kinds of questions?
As the first step, you have to let them think out of the syllabus, which will help them explore different disciplines. Tell your children that soft skills are not to be dealt with softness anymore. Soft skills, including their personality, attitude, flexibility, motivation, and manners, might be the only thing that separates them from an equally qualified candidate. We must make them understand that there is no particular curriculum for multiple careers. The acquisition of necessary skills will help them sail across the rough waters that lie ahead of them.

To have different career options, one must be aware of the changing trends and novel opportunities in the present society. Earlier the advancements and innovations in every sector were made known to the public through newspapers, journals, and media. But now everything is at your fingertips, a search away, and also propagated through social media platforms. We must be updated about everything that’s happening within the areas of our passion for pursuing the same. Those who pursue multiple career choices would have a wider social circle which will eventually help them find new opportunities. This is very important in a scenario where there is a cloud of uncertainty over every available job.

Our previous generation lacked choice. But today, what we have at our hands are so many choices. Although we all consider reserving multiple options at hand, changing careers is not that easy as it sounds. The key lies in your ability to transfer and make use of the skills at hand, along with acquiring new skills as fast as you can. Ultimately it will be like selecting your clothes. It will all be about conscience and personal choice.