CAREER CHOICES AND CHANGING PRIORITIES: A

SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY

SUBJECT: SOCIOLOGY

CHANKAYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

SUBMITTED TO
Dr. Shakil Ahmad
Faculty of Sociology
SUBMITTED BY
Satyam Kumar Ojha
Roll No - 2153
1st Year, Semester - 2
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ………………………………………………………..3

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ………………………………………………………4

HYPOTHESIS ………………………………………………………………………5

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ………………………………………………..6

INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………..7

CAREER OPTIONS IN INDIA: A BACKGROUND STUDY …………..9

CAREER AVENUES: CURRENT SCENARIO …………………………….11

CAREER CHOICES: A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE ……………..14

CAREER SHIFT: IMPACT ANALYSIS ……………………………………..15

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS ……………………………………….18

BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………………..19

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank my faculty Dr. Shakil Ahmad, whose assignment of such a relevant and
current topic made me work towards knowing the subject with a greater interest and enthusiasm
and moreover he guided me throughout the project.

I owe the present accomplishment of my project to my friends, who helped me immensely with
sources of research materials throughout the project and without whom I couldn’t have
completed it in the present way.

I would also like to extend my gratitude to my parents and all those unseen hands who helped me
out at every stage of my project.

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 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of the project was to -

1. Study various career options available in the past and today

2. Do a comparative study between different career choices in Western and Indian
Universities
3. Study the changing career priorities among undergrad and school students
4. Take account of the reasons of the shifts in priorities
5. Find out the impact analysis of changing careers

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 HYPOTHESIS

The Researcher had thought that --

1. Career options in today’s times are far more than earlier

2. Students are not stuck to only a particular field but want to explore new avenues

3. The priorities and stereotypes related to career and jobs is changing

4. Students are ready to take the risks and face the consequences

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this project Doctrinal Method as well as Non-Doctrinal methods are used. Doctrinal Methods
refer to Library research, research or processes done upon some texts writings or Documents,
legal propositions and Doctrines, Articles, Books as well as Online Research and Journals
relating to the subject. Non-Doctrinal Method refers to non - conservative ways of research i.e.
field work, interviews, questionnaire, interacting with people and getting answers etc. This
project is an intensive one so only doctrinal method is needed to arrive at concrete conclusions.

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 INTRODUCTION
In everyday usage, the term Career often seems to be associated with upward mobility,
advancement or getting on via a series of related jobs. Traditional views of career, often
associate the term with the professions where a clear series of steps can usually be identified. A
career is seen as including the sequences of preoccupation, occupational and post occupational
and post occupational positions that a person has during the course of life time. Hence, career is
“the lifelong sequence of work, education and leisure experience” -Joslin, Leeman C.1

Of all the judgments one makes in life, none is more important than the one made while seeking,
and selecting a career. One’s choice of vocation has to be based on good and realistic decisions
and if one does not make a proper decision, it results in individual as well as national loss. From
this viewpoint, the planning in the field of education and vocation are of paramount importance.
The educational decisions pave the way for the future decisions taken by an individual in the
field of work. Hence, education must be related to the needs and aspirations of people. The
educational decisions taken by adolescents at the right time i.e. at the high school stage help in
achieving this goal and also checks the loss of resources available, thus helping the society and
the country.

In Indian context, the choice of occupation is a greater problem than in the Western world, where
the traditional work ethics have undergone a big change. With increasing affluence and reduced
fear of economic insecurity, youth can look for a job that promises personal satisfaction. On the
other hand, their Indian counterparts work primarily for economic prosperity. The personal
fulfillment in job is limited to a handful only.2

The Government of India also realized the importance of career education in 1968 and accepted
10+2+3 system of education as national objective. In the present education system of 10+2+3,
career decision starts taking shape at the pre 10th stage and it is expected that by the end of 10th
class, clear and distant picture of career decision would emerge. Research evidence suggests that
at 10+2 level, although students have made a choice of Academic (Arts/Science/Commerce) or
1
Supreet Kaur, Career decision-making of undergraduates in relation to their locus of control self-esteem career
choice anxiety and academic achievement, SHODHGANGA (28 Sept, 2016, 3:28 PM),
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/79715.
2
ibid.

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Vocational steam, still a large number are tentative and undecided about their respective choices.
They continue to pursue their studies but in the hindsight, sometimes kill their dreams. The
reason can be anything; pressure of parents, societal influence, low self-esteem in one’s
decisions, anxiety and past academic achievements.

A lot of individuals take up either a basic vocational course that does not even suit them and then
lead to their whole degradation as a valuable member of the society. What needs to be done is
mature vocational decisions at undergraduate level because graduation is the foundation stone for
building every successful careers be it civil services, army, teaching profession, law, banking etc.

What changes can be seen although in the recent times is the growth of knowledge and the
broadening of the outlook of the individuals with respect to career choices. A gradual change can
be seen among the students as they are making bold career choices, not sticking to a particular
avenue but being adventurous enough to explore the others. The priorities and stereotypes related
to career and jobs is changing.

This research report attempts to study all those little changes happening in the society leading to
its betterment.

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 CAREER OPTIONS IN INDIA: A BACKGROUND STUDY

Making the ‘right’ career choice requires effort and thought. Some individuals seem to make this
choice easily, at least apparently, while others experience problems and difficulties in it. The
problems and difficulties experienced by adolescents in making educational and career decisions
include both internal' and external factors. The internal factors can be broadly grouped as issues
regarding the self, perception of occupations and decision making skills. The external factors
include family influences, socio-economic status, impact of school, job opportunities, political
climate, and financial resources.3

These problems and difficulties are common among adolescents around the world. Indian
students too are no exception. However, two difficulties stand out for them. One is the dominant
but often hindering, role played by parents in their career decision making, and second is the lack
of adequate career guidance and counseling services in schools and society. There is a dearth of
professionally qualified career counselors in India. Also there is no certifying agency to evaluate
and/or prevent the work done by unqualified people currently working as career counselors. This
has caused widespread misconceptions about the process of career counseling. There is a need
for qualified counselors and proper career counseling programs to guide adolescents in the
crucial stage of career decision-making.4

In the earlier times, the career options were particularly limited to the traditional courses of Law,
Engineering or Medical. The individuals trying different avenues were out casted by the society
and were not given much attention. This led to the developing of negative feelings and
discouraged a lot of individuals from taking up their passion and making their hobbies, their
career.

What can be said about such perspectives is that Indian society didn’t have a broad outlook.
Looking at my teachers, parents and relatives, one thing I could figure out was that they were

3
Surte Vishakha Shashikant, Effect of career intervention on career choice problems of adolescents,
SHODHGANGA, http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/79730/1/01_title%20page.pdf.
4
see Shrivastava, Times of India report, 11/7/2006.

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subjects to such mentality and societal views. Their parents probably chose a career for them and
told them to settle for a safe career and focus on job security before anything else.

In earlier times, there were limited career options available. One of the many reasons was also
little or no knowledge about the courses, options available. People didn’t care at first and even if
they tried to, they were held back by the society and then killed their dreams. Only a few brave
enough and privileged people got to follow their heart and take up the career of their choice.

All this led to a state where there was a plethora of engineers and doctors in India, as is in the
current scenario. The past has only carried it up front and still we see a lot of traces of that same
old mentality among the people about career options available to them. They are not aware and
don’t want to be aware. That is in a sense, the real tragedy.

But yes, a lot of people are becoming more and more aware with each passing day, discovering
new fields, exploring new avenues and trying to live their dreams and follow their passions,
taking risks and not thinking about the outcomes. How will this affect them in the near or far
future is yet to see.

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 CAREER AVENUES: CURRENT SCENARIO

One can feel relieved about this section as the future looks bright. The present scenario is that the
people are becoming more and more aware of what they need and what they actually think about
themselves. It is a societal change overall which is reflected upon the individuals. Thanks to the
internet and the overall upliftment of the society, people now know about various career avenues
available across the world and they are not fearful in taking risk.

This can also be credited to the various opportunities available now that were not there in the
present. Even though the career options were limited in the earlier times, there were a few
unexplored areas left, but people were not aware regarding it and the counsellors were rare and
incompetent. These flaws have been rectified to an extent by the society and everyday various
new doors are opened to explore and discover.

Some of the fresh avenues of employment that have emerged in recent times have been medical
transcription, call centers based on business process outsourcing, insurance claim processing,
back office operations, etc.5

Many companies are employing graduates fresh from colleges or universities, training and
orienting them to meet the demands of the jobs that they are required to perform. The
universities must change according to the changing demands of the times, the needs of industry
and needs of employment potential. Let the syllabus be modified to help the students find jobs of
the 'new wave'.

Compared to a mere 75,000 software engineers emerging in the US, a top high 1.2 lakh software
professional enter the employment field in India every year. The number of low-end software
technicians has already crossed a million. The software industry is growing at the rate of 50
percent per annum and IT exports account for 30 percent of the total exports. And there is a rush
for IT-MBAs.

5
Atul Joshi, Short essay on expanding Career opportunities in India, PRESERVE ARTICLES,
http://www.preservearticles.com/201106027426/short-essay-on-expanding-career-opportunities-in-india.html.

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We no longer talk of just hospitals, but talk only in terms of multi- specialty hospitals and such
hospitals that pay hefty salary to the specialists are mushrooming in big and small cities. With
tourism of different brands like ecotourism, pilgrimage tourism and heritage tourism, we have
added one more brand-health tourism.

Foreigners are coming to the multi- specialty hospitals in India for better treatment and high-risk
operations that cost one fifth of what they pay for in their countries.

In the two small cities. Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi in Kerala alone, there are more than 30
multi-specialty hospitals. There is a special wing in the Amritanandmayi Multi-Specialty
Hospital in Kochi dealing with diabetic foot alone.

New fields like biotechnology and nanotechnology are fast emerging. More comforts mean more
misery. You sit for hours together in your air conditioned room in the office and back home you
pursue the same persistent sedentary style watching TV. And if you are not a victim of
hypertension, diabetes or spondylitis, then something has gone wrong with your doctor's
diagnosis.

These ailments have opened avenues for dieticians and nutritionists who will tell you what to eat
and when.

Poaching of pilots as more aircraft of new companies take to the skies in the wake of our "open
skies policy" shows the dearth of pilots in our country. Many of our ace pilots of the IAF find
lucrative jobs in private airlines after their retirement. With the opening of insurance sector to
private players, our new against have to be tech-savvy wielding laptop and get going the
aggressive way.

The boom in the credit and business has opened yet another field for those young adept in
aggressive marketing.

Not every household gets all TV channels. But the number of channels is ever on the increase,
providing scope for thousands of technician’s video graphs, sound recordists, make-up men,
talented anchors, talk show hosts and artistes for the serials.

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The banking and finance fields have seen traumatic changes in the form of mergers, acquisitions
and the like, providing room for experts in finance. Financial managers are being hired to
manage assets and investments, handle mergers and acquisitions, raise capital and assess global
financial transactions.

The mobile revolution-the extensive use of mobile phones has opened up career opportunities for
lacs of professionals and non-professionals there is cutthroat competition in the field with each
player offering more scopes for the potential clientele. Only the dynamic among the youth can
boost the sales and complement the aggressive ads.

Marketing is the byword today. Business managers would decide what news would go and what
needs to be "killed". Economic writer; are paid much more than those who write or edit news
stories Advertisements in the print media and audiovisual media are the base or. Which the
success of a periodical, a radio channel, a TV channel or a TV serial is built.

Sometimes it is seen more time is given for commercial break than for the serial. Ads in
newspapers and magazines and visual ads have opened the floodgates of opportunities for
hundreds of thousands of youngsters for different chores in the vast expanding ad business.

As India is poised to become an economic and knowledge superpower propelled by a leadership

of great vision, the responsibility for carrying out the vision would largely depend upon our
youth for whom the nation provides a vast and varied field. Here, they can perform their best in
any field they choose. More opportunities would emerge for them with the passage of time.

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 CAREER CHOICES: A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
It has been a known fact that the career options in West are far more than the career options in
India. Fields such as a Wine taster6, Coffee taster7, Chefs8 and YouTubers9 are some of the
emerging careers that are not so prominent in India. The reasons could be many including the
indifference of people towards these options, low self-esteem, the tendency to play it safe.

On one hand, the booming careers in the West includes Gaming, Animation, YouTube, Chefs,
Singers; in India, people are more likely to choose, Management, Medical, Engineering or Law
fields.

This difference could also be owed to the Universities and courses provided by them in Europe
or USA in comparison to India. The variety of Vocational Courses provided by the Western
Universities attempts to lead a student in his desired direction and make a solid ground for his
beginning. Whereas in Indian Universities, the courses provided are still mundane and non-
harvesting.

There have been some positive changes coming in with the advent of Private Universities and the
Government run Universities are starting to follow them, but all these changes will take time. It
cannot be expected of them to be quick to change this vast Indian population’s mindset.

6
COURT OF MASTER SOMMELIERS, https://www.mastersommeliers.org/courses/introductory-course-
examination.
7
Coffee Taster Pathway, EDUCATIONAL PATHWAYS, http://scaaeducation.org/pathways/coffee-taster/.
8
Chefs and Head Cooks, COLLEGEGARD, https://collegegrad.com/careers/chefs-and-head-cooks.
9
see https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/youtuber.

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 CAREER SHIFT: IMPACT ANALYSIS

Years back when the students were asked what they will become when they grew up, the
answer would be a Doctor, Engineer, Teacher or Lawyer. These traditional careers were
considered respectable and more acceptable by the society. But today though these
conventional careers mentioned, are still in vogue, students have much more
challenging and lucrative choices ahead of them.

Youngsters today are more open to take up alternate careers or thrilling jobs. The
reason could be that the traditional careers have become so expensive, and competitive
as more and more people opt for them, and finding jobs is not as easy as before. Earlier
though they may be interested in other fields, they are forced to take up traditional
careers because of pressure from the family. 10

There may be less competition when one takes up a field they are interested in and a
greater chance of getting recognized and being able to make a difference. Though
Offbeat, these careers may give you great satisfaction, flexibility of work, opportunity
to prove oneself and handsome pay package. The most important aspect being able to do
what you really love and at the same time make money out of it. In most cases, you
don't have to spend years to be qualified in the area, what you need is 10+2 and a
certification in the respective field along with your own innate talent.

The problems in the yester years were not one but many:

a) Lack of knowledge about the steps involved in the process of career decision making. It
reflects a lack of knowledge about how to reach a decision wisely.

b) Lack of information about the self. This reflects a situation where an individual feel that he
does not have enough information about himself, about what he wants or what factors to take
into account during the decision process.

10
Education and Career, WEBINDIA123, http://career.webindia123.com/career/options/offbeat-careers-for-
youngsters.htm.

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c) Lack of information about the various occupations. This reflects a lack of information
regarding the existing array of career options, what alternatives exist and/or what are the
characteristics of each alternative.

d) Lack of information about the ways of obtaining additional information. This reflects a
lack of information about help that may facilitate decision making. The major category of
Inconsistent Information includes the following three difficulty sub-categories:

a) Unreliable information, which consists of difficulties related to unreliable or contradictory

information. It indicates that the individual 17 feels that the information has about him or the
considered occupations contain contradictions.

b) Internal conflicts, which refer to conflicts within the individual, such as contradictory
preferences. This indicates a state of internal confusion. Such conflict may stem from difficulties
in compromising in the many factors the individual views as important, when some of these
factors contradict each other.

c) External conflicts, which refers to conflicts involving the influence of significant others. This
indicates a gap between an individual’s preferences and between the preferences voiced by
others who are significant to him.11

Today some people also take up offbeat/unconventional careers such as Sommelier, Chocolatier,
Bartending, Event Management, Fitness Trainer, Video/Radio Jockey, Game Designer, etc. This
shows that people are more prone to taking risks now and seem ready to explore the
unexplored and find new grounds to sow seeds of their success.

This shift in career-choosing looks like a positive development for the society. Now, the
counsellors are more adept at informing the individuals about their probable choices as per their
interest, passion. The students are more aware, the schools are taking initiative to inform more
and more people about different career avenues available in the real world. The priorities have
changed, the stereotypes altered and there has been an absolute roundabout in the perspective of
people.

11
Surte Vishakha Shashikant, Effect of career intervention on career choice problems of adolescents,
SHODHGANGA, http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/79730/1/01_title%20page.pdf.

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Even the people with government jobs and high paying salaries are now taking interest in
startups, low-paying but satisfying jobs. Individuals are trying to connect to the society, not on a
superficial level but a deeper level. Gaming, Acting, Dancing, Culinary, etc. are all booming
career options that contain a great scope and require in-depth exploration. It is like that fresh
field that has not been used yet and thus offers greater adventures and venues to look up to.

This societal development has been one of the most instrumental in changing facets of the
society and definitely helps in the total upliftment of it.

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 CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

The Researcher’s hypothesis at the beginning of this research report:

1) The career options in today’s times are far more than earlier

2) Students are not stuck to only a particular field but want to explore new avenues

3) The priorities and stereotypes related to career and jobs is changing

4) Students are ready to take the risks and face the consequences,

Has been substantially proved to be true as is evident from the above research. The people in
settled, government jobs have even started to quit their jobs and look away from the mundane
resources offered by the college. Students are having more knowledge now about the various
career options available and they are also blessed with Experts who know about the various
choices available in the modern times.

Now it’s time for the Universities and Colleges to step into this and take up the Career and future
of their students seriously enough so as to provide them with what they deserve and like. Thanks
to the new committees set up by the government and also curiosity of the kids of today, these
developments have been taking place gradually.

In her book Career Choices: A guide for teens and Young Adults 12, Mindy Bingham states that
students today already have a lot of pressure from peers, parents, studies and giving them another
burden, i.e. to choose a career for themselves when they don’t even know what they like is very
harmful. These options should be made easier for them, like a game of Mario, easy to learn and
play and equally fun. The students should not be made to realise that Career choosing is a tedious
process or that they were wrong in making a career choice, rather their choices should be
celebrated no matter how unsettling. The process of career choosing should be made into an
interactive session. Only then will the students come to attend to it and get courage to voice their
thoughts in this matter.

12
MINDY BINGHAM & SANDY STRYKER, CAREER CHOICES (1ST ed., Academic Innovations 1999).

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following books, newspapers and websites have been referred to by the researcher and the
researcher would like to mention them:

BOOKS -

Career Choices: A guide for Teens and Young Adults by Mindy Bingham

The Pathfinder by Nicholas Lore

NEWSPAPERS -

The Times Of India

The Hindu

WEBSITES -

www.researchgate.net

http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/

http://psychnet.apa.org/

www.preservearticles.com/

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