When you take admission in a college, you choose a field for yourself. It may be science, management, language, medicine, engineering and so on. What makes you select that field of education? You are normally influenced by the people around you, your peers, and the people whom you seek guidance from. Many times we depend on our parents to take the decision for us. There are students who move to the area where there is a maximum influx (we call it sheep movement or “Bher chaal” in Hindi). Do you want to be like that or want to take charge of your life?
Decide your path: It is easier said than done. You can make broad categorizations like business, research, medical, science etc. when you are at this stage. A lot depends on the family background and the atmosphere in which you have been groomed in. The doctor’s offspring is interested in medical science and similarly, a businessman’s son would like to go into business. There are breakouts at this stage when the child takes a resolve to take up a different field. Let me give an example here. We were studying in school and each one of us had the aspiration to follow the footsteps of our father. One of our fellow students decided to be different. While we wanted to become doctors, engineers, businessmen, and lawyers as per our father’s profession he decided to take a breakout. He chose the Chartered Accountant’s profession and became one. He leads a successful life and is a satisfied practitioner who runs his own company today.
Take informed decisions: In the older times, people went by the information available in the newspapers, magazines and through intellectuals. Today, a lot more is available on the internet and social media. It is an information explosion of sorts but you need to figure out the authentic sources. Let us take a look at the job market to decide the right professional path. Naukri.com publishes an update on the hiring trends in the industry on a monthly basis. For the past few months, IT has been on the top. The hiring in IT is up by 51% when we compare Apr’16 to Apr’15. Other sectors that have grown are Insurance 31% and Pharmaceuticals by 15%. On the other hand, Banking has dropped by 9% while Telecom is down by 13%.
Sector wise analysis: The trend shows that there is a job growth in the IT field, but it is a wide area. Find the sectors within the IT field which are showing a progression. For example, the Apr’16 comparison with Apr’15 shows that the hiring in IT-enabled services (ITES) and Business process outsourcing (BPO) is up by 40%. Besides it, the IT software has also pulled more candidates to the tune of 18%. However, in the IT field alone there is de-growth in the IT hardware sector where the hiring is down by 11%. You can easily link the Naukri.com data with the happenings in the country by an easy analysis. There is a boom in the ITES and software sectors because tremendous impetus has been given by the government to the start-ups.
Use the statistics: Many similar trends specific to your area of interest are available through the internet. You can watch the fields and sectors that have been performing well and consistently over the years. The demand and supply situation play an important role. The spikes and spurts in the sectors will come down as the supply of candidates in the area increases. What is good now may not be so when you graduate after say 4 years.
The sectors which are consistent over the years will be better option for landing a job. It is the art of putting the statistics to use in your favour when you make the informed career choices.
Good article. We have been seeing the statistics appearing in the emails and on websites but never took them seriously. Though, I am already in a job but I can see the growth of jobs happening in different sectors. I definitely will like to use the statistics as I find that there is a de-growth in my sector. I hope to use this information to navigate my career into the right direction.
Yes, I also see an upsurge in the IT jobs in the country. It is eclipsing almost all other areas. But there is a likelihood of the infrastructure sector sector opening as very soon. Besides that the consistent performing sectors are already there. This is a good article and can help people in navigating their careers in the right direction.
I was under the impression that IT was no longer a preferred option and was under pressure when the dot com bubble had burst. However the statistics were an eye opener to me. I agree with the author that we must keep a track of the facts and figures.
Good information
Excellent article as a guidance for career choice. I had a talk with my father who explained that they never had access to such information in their times. It is a boon for us to be able to see and compare the available careers and make an informed choice.
There is so much of misinformation prevailing when you start listening to the people. Half of it is cooked up and the balance half is twisted to suit their liking. The statistics from authentic sources give you the true picture about the job market. With the facts and figures in front of you nobody can question your statement. Thanks for bringing out this article on the subject.