Professionals come together to help confused teens banish the career fear

Doctors, lawyers, architects and engineers speak about their professions at Bay View College.


Our Correspondent February 02, 2013
High school students question representatives from universities and companies at the career expo. PHOTO: EXPRESS

KARACHI:


It can be quite baffling and scary for a high school student to map out a cohesive career plan, especially when information about professions seems to be scant. Luckily, for students of Karachi, some help was at hand on Saturday.


Bay View College organised a career day expo at the institution’s premises so that confused teenagers would have a better picture of what awaits them should they pick a particular career. O’ and A’ Level students from different institutions of the city mingled with bankers, doctors and teachers, soaking as much information as they could.

Near the entrance, the college’s administration had pinned up a schedule of the lectures various professionals would be delivering during the course of the event. Just a few steps away, students were huddled around stalls set up by colleges and firms, hanging on carefully to the advice of the representatives.

It was the first time that the college had organised a career day in its 18-year history. “The aim of the event was to give the students an opportunity to meet with professionals from different fields and learn about practical life,” said Karen C Ahmed, the director of studies at Bay View College. She said a lot of students don’t have many ideas about what they can or should do.

Sajjad Syed, who heads University of London’s International Programme, told The Express Tribune, that the gap between traditional education and professional life is increasing. “During a job interview, students will be asked what value they can add to company. The people who give a good answer are the ones who have practical information about the particular field they wish to work in, he said.

During the lectures, the professionals candidly revealed what awaits the students once they step into the real world. Architect Samar Ali Khan told students that they will be the bridge between humans and the buildings they construct. “It’s a serious job and you need to completely immerse yourself in it when you are designing a structure. You have to keep the environment in mind as well as the purpose of the building.”

Daniyal Ali Khan, the dean of the South Asian Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Television, talked about opportunities in television and film industries, providing an overview of the problems plaguing both the fields. The most pressing, he said, are the “creative bankruptcy” and lack of people with technical skills. “You can easily notice the lack of technical skills and creativity in programmes aired on Pakistani TV channels,” he said.

“All programmes have the same formats that are copied from one another.” He added that film and media should be studied properly like other disciplines.

Amna Arfin, a speech therapist at Ziauddin Medical University shed light on her line of work and how it can be a viable career option. She said that though Pakistan has around 23 million people with some form of speech impairment, there are only a dozen therapists dealing with the problem.

The career day seems to have helped at least Zaheer Mirza, an A’ Level student at Bay View College, who was fretting out about becoming a medical professional. “I want to study medicine but I was very apprehensive - I thought that my life would be tough and that I wouldn’t have time for a social life,” he said. “But now I know about the charm of being in the field of medicine.”

Ayesha another A’ Level students shared the same fears, which were banished. “The life of a doctor is not that difficult and is quite different from what I had heard about them.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3rd, 2013.

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