Choose your career wisely

Octavia Tsibes
Learners who successfully completed their secondary education last year now have the potential to become students. This kind of growth comes with a lot of new responsibilities because students are faced with making decisions that will shape their future.

School-leavers that are still deciding on what career path to follow have plenty of options to consider. They can search for a job, take a gap year and travel the world, volunteer to assist the needy, or study further.

“Some are excited about the prospect of making their own decisions regarding their future. Others are not sure of what direction to take and do not have a clear vision of their preferred destination. Career guidance plays a significant role at this stage,” said Bank Windhoek's manager of people development, Fillimon Ngairo.



What is career guidance?

Career guidance can be defined as services and activities intended to assist individuals of any age and at any point throughout their lives, to make educational, training and occupational choices, to manage their career.

Below are a few career guidance tips that students can consider:

· Motivate yourself and read a lot about current affairs, and various topics and research studies that interest you

· Consider the things that you are good at or interested in as potential areas on which you could build a successful career. For instance, if you are naturally inclined toward fashion, why not consider fashion design? If you've always been good at fixing things around the home, could plumbing or becoming an electrician be the next logical career move? Loved flying? How about becoming a pilot? Consider how these interests and natural abilities could become a career and go for it and always contribute to the profession

· Always think positively in any situation

· Conduct research on the advantages and disadvantages of the career path you want to follow by asking professionals in the industry.



Have a passion for the profession

Ngairo added that Bank Windhoek, and the financial sector in general, has a need for highly skilled and qualified professionals specialising in the field of Risk and Compliance Management, Forensics and Internal Auditing, and Information Technology - especially in the IT Security and Information Systems space.

This does not mean that students should choose a course or a profession simply based on its employment opportunities. Other factors need to be considered, such as the passion for the profession.

For those that want to pursue a career in banking, there are many different courses offered at universities and tertiary institutions, both local and international, that they can enrol in.

Bank Windhoek also offers the Candidate Bankers Training Programme (CBT). Any student can apply for this Programme. CBT is free of charge and forms part of Bank Windhoek's social development and empowerment programmes. “On successful completion of the course, candidates have a chance to become full-time employees of Bank Windhoek,” concluded Ngairo.

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