At the end of each school year, the same scene repeats itself: young people faced with deciding what to study and adults who usually insist on keeping the family inheritance or who cut back on support to “look for something with job opportunities”.
And although family mandates marked a time when certain occupations guaranteed stability, prestige, and social mobility, they no longer guarantee this; although my father and grandfather are recognized in this profession.
In return, the data is the World Economic Forum are clear: 44% of the skills required for work will change in the next five years and 23% of current jobs will change or disappear. So, Choosing a career because there is work in that field today is like looking at a photograph while the world functions in video mode: dynamic, fast and deeply uncertain..
Then career opportunities no longer depend on a career, but on the ability of each subject to learn, unlearn and reinvent itself, i.e. on the ability to adapt. That’s why I believe we need to make a cultural shift and guide them from a young age to ask themselves what problems they are passionate about solving, how they learn, and what impact they want to leave.
It’s about helping young people become aware of what they like: explaining, designing, researching, caring for, organizing, accompanying, designing, analyzing, healing? The answer will be important to avoid bad decisions. The idea is that they think about the future task and feel if it is there. Behind every verb there is a meaning area. And behind this field, a possible career… or several.
It is also important to recognize how each person processes and acquires knowledge. If the environment does not adapt to one’s learning style, this leads to demotivation and lower performance. If you can answer how you like to learn, you’ll be one step ahead. Do you like learning by doing? Or read? Or debate? Alone or with others? This should be discovered in the School through the different subjects and their way of producing and disseminating knowledge.
When choosing a career, it is also necessary to think about the impact you want to make when you have a goal – big or small – but a goal nonetheless.
It is not about looking at vocation as we understood it decades ago, as an inner voice or an inner call God that it was for life; It’s about choosing a profession that you enjoy studying and a profession that you enjoy working in, knowing that in the not distant future some repetitive tasks will be automated and human value will lie in sensitivity, creativity, critical thinking and the ability to build good relationships.
The Career advice It cannot be limited to an examination at the end of secondary school. Although they are useful and necessary, it must be a process of self-knowledge, accompanied from an early age, reflected, anchored and respectful of diversity. That they can recognize what they like to do, which subject they enjoy most and how they imagine a happy future..
In short, we in no way encourage people to choose a career because it offers job opportunities or because it guarantees employability today. The market will change a thousand times, but a professional with critical skills and creativity will be able to adapt. Because how the sentence is attributed Confucius: “Work at what you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”.
About The Author
