Unconventional Careers

Gone are the days when people used to hanker for careers like being doctors, engineers, administrators or professors. Times are changing. The youth nowadays are choosing unconventional careers more. In media alone, youths are earning as photojournalists, graphic designers, animators, radio jockeys to name a few. They want to build their career in the field they feel comfortable in and which can give them mental peace and satisfaction. And the latest of unconventional careers are emerging in social media. People now work full time as Youtubers or social influencers, earning a name and some fame for themselves. Then there are those going for startups in various sectors, tasting success and inspiring the young generation.

People are leaving their regular 9 to 5 jobs, either founding their own company or working for startups. In these organizations, they can utilize their skills and talents to the maximum. People who have entrepreneurial skills are now recognized as special, bearing risk to start their own company while giving employment to other talented people. The government is also helping startups by providing funds easily as a deliberate policy. With the economy growing and creating opportunities, there is market demand for a host of new knowledge and skill sets. Many enlightened guardians are now giving their wards freedom to choose their own career, despite deep-rooted misgivings about viability and scope of these emerging professions.

The question is — is our educational system geared towards helping meet the market demand for new-age jobs. After all, it is well known that educational institutions invariably lag behind market requirements. By the time new knowledge and skill sets find place in their curriculums, the market needs change. Dated and obsolete curricula cause enormous wastage of human resource. Despite all the talk about improving linkages between varsities and research labs with the markets, it is a long and painful effort for every youth to make himself or herself employable. The employers, educational institutions, government and guardians must all come together with students and teachers to improve the study-employment interface. The new human resource needs all support to carry individual passions into a chosen profession.

Mayurie Dutta,

Gauhati.