Part 1
Dreams, school, specialization…
When we enter the career path (being high school graduates, students or graduates), we are faced with a dilemma – whom to become? On the one hand, at a young age, it is difficult to “know” what you want to do in life. The preferences and vision of the future are polishing over time and along with undertaking various activities. We develop some and reject others. We are victorious in some and losers in others. At the end of the equation there is a result that becomes the reference point for further decisions. We also talk with our parents, older siblings, we ask our friends, we listen to our teachers, we look for inspiration in movies and books. However, sometimes this is not enough. Not every child knows the labour market well and its trends, not every film is an exaggeration of reality and not everyone can keep their unfulfilled ambitions for themselves (most often parents). On the other hand, by making an effort to consciously plan your future, we make the start easier. We are talking here about the “effort” because it involves checking the credibility of information, digging in several sources (and not just relying on what is on the leaflet or the website advertising the school or course). We also mention a better start because in the future we want to avoid, e.g., a forced change of career – changing industries) because the market has “digitized” the profession and was forced out of manual work, which we have not been able to check on the Internet before (on the side we will mention that there are statistics online forecasting the gradual death of manual occupations).
a) course of study vs. dreamsa) kierunek studiów vs marzeniaWhen we enter/in a moment we will enter the job market, it is worth thinking about three basic things:
- are we guided by emptions and the temporary fashion?
- do we think “it will be fine”, which is not supported by verification?
- do we only have an idea of what we would like to do?
- do we choose it because of the subjects we want to avoid at the university?
- did we get information about future professions?
- do we know someone who does the work that we would like to do?
- has anyone initially assessed out basic skills?
- will a given direction give us a decent source of income?
- do we choose a profession that will give us satisfaction?
- do we know the realities of the planned profession?
It is worth asking similar questions when choosing a specialization at the university. Let us also think about:
- is our supervisor only a didactic employee or a business practitioner?
- is our specialization a narrow or a wide area of life?
- what is the market demand for such experts?
- how many ways can we make money based on this specialization?
- how quickly will the specialization help us with employment?
We all realize that these two areas are two different worlds. The education system does not fully prepare us for work. That is why it is worth trying to get student internships during your studies. Currently, the labour market is growing and we have a low unemployment rate. With a little initiative, you can find an interesting internship. When graduating only with a diploma, we are an unattractive partner for the employer (every year, thousands of people enter the labour market in this way – what makes us stand out from them then?). All other, additional professional activities during the studies are welcome, e.g. holiday work, individual order implementation or involvement in projects at the university). Currently, student career offices are active at universities, schools establish partnership programs with companies, there is a lot of training in the area of career guidance on the market.
Conclusion:
- Let us seek advice of business practitioners and people working in positions that interest us;
- Look at the surroundings and how the specialization we are interested in copes in the market changes;
- Let’s make an effort to verify information and actively decide what will happen to us in the future;
Optim Human team
