Career guidance

Mariselle Stofberg
Senia Mwoonde

Far too many people are dissatisfied with what they are doing for a living. Why is that? They make mistakes when choosing a career and end up in an occupation that isn't a good fit. While making a random choice may be simpler, it is certainly not wise. Given the amount of time one spends at work, you should do everything possible to make a well- informed decision. Getting help from a professional who provides career guidance can be the difference between ending up in a satisfying career or one that makes you miserable.

The editorial team sat down with Mrs. Salom to discuss some of the issues around career guidance. In Life skills, the Namibian syllabus stipulates three domains and career guidance is one of those domains.

According to Mrs. Salom career guidance can be offered by anyone as along as the person is fully equipped with the right information. Many learners, especially the grade 11's and 12's have not completely made the choice of which career path they want to take and this can be very frustrating at times because learners that want to study abroad need to apply for admission after receiving the April results. This is where learners need to access themselves and find out where their weaknesses and strengths lie.

Another problem that is also very common is that learners choose certain careers not because they are passionate about it, but because of the handsome check that comes with it. People end up becoming miserable because although they have a fat check, they are not happy and this is where the saying comes in: "Money cannot buy happiness".

Everyone wants to care for their family and live a comfortable life, but it should not be at the cost of your passion or happiness. Money should never be a driving force when choosing a career because the decisions one makes now have consequences on one’’ future.

Learners know just how important career guidance is. However difficult it is deciding on a career, there are things that one can do in the meantime to help you make a well-informed decision on your career choice.

One of the ways that you can do this is by taking an aptitude test which is basically just an assessment that assesses human potential to do and acquire certain skills through training or experience. The test can be taken online or at the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Creation.

One can also do job shadowing to acquire information first-hand or simply make a list of the occupations that seem suitable and then weed out the ones that are not a good fit as others. Then create a career action plan that will allow you to choose the occupation that is most viable.

All in all, Mrs Salom says that life after school is not easy therefore when opportunities come, grab them because a great teacher once said that opportunity has a due date. However, those that are not academically gifted should not feel left out but rather strive to do their best. For those that have not yet made up their minds on the career paths they want to take, I suggest you think long and hard about it.