Career counselling: Students meet professionals to get a taste of what life is going to be like after school

Emails were circulated among professionals, the word spread and people showed up.

KARACHI:

Sagheer Abdul Sattar wants to be an engineer. He has it all sorted out: he will get into a government-run college, get good grades and earn a scholarship and then enrol at the NED University’s automotive engineering department.

Failing is not an option for the 17-year-old who has just sat in his matriculation examinations. It does not matter that he is from the impoverished Lyari area and that the odds are against him becoming the first engineer in his family.

Over 500 students of The Citizens Foundation (TCF) met professionals on Saturday to get a taste of what life is going to be like after they leave school. It was the second year of counselling for students who are mostly unsure about what career they want to pick.

“I was really surprised at the intellect of these students. After secondary school I had no clue of what I was doing,” said Saba Hameed, a volunteer counsellor. “The girls I met knew what they wanted.”

Students enrolled at TCF are usually from low-income families and often end up taking up low-paid jobs early in life without a college degree. And so the school has come up with a list of its students who have joined some of the city’s prestigious universities.

“Our students might not be working for multinational companies yet,” said Shazia Kamal, the manager at alumni and volunteer desk. “But one of our girls has gotten into Dow Medical College, a student is at IBA, three are enrolled at Aga Khan University and the list goes on. We are on the right track.”

Career counselling for students who have just taken secondary school exams makes sense, she said. “That is the time when students start to think about professions they will take up.”

There were blank faces in the crowd, but some interesting exceptions.

What stood out at the event was that none of the volunteers – who work with companies like IBM, Barclays and Engro – were there in an official capacity. TCF circulated an email among professionals, the word spread and people just showed up.

Faraz Usmani works for public relations firm. He couldn’t stop pondering over one case. “There was this young boy who wants to be an assistant sub-inspector in the police. His conviction was so unflinching that it even confused me.”

Usmani said the student was convinced that all he needed was a Rs110,000 bribe to be a policeman. “I asked him so many times if there was a contingency plan and his response was the same: that he can’t fail.”

Almost all the students had one thing in common - financial woes. “They have large families,” he said. “Male students have to work and that makes them so unique. They see the financial hardships of life up close and are far more practical than middle-class kids.”

Sajid Mahmood, an engineer and a technical manager, recalled the financial strain all too well. A resident of Kharadar, he paid for college and university by giving tuitions.

“I am the first engineer in my family just like my sister who is the first doctor,” he said. “I know what it feels like when you want admission in a university and you don’t have the money.”

So Mahmood slowly worked on the two students he was counselling. He asked them what they wanted to do and showed them a list of universities and their fees.

“It hurts to see the fee structure, especially at such a young age. But it’s a dragon they have to face anyway. Its better we prepare them now and show them the alternatives.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2012.