At ‘The Hindu’ EDGE Vetrikodi Career Counselling and Fair 2018 held on Thursday, the focus was on helping students make the right choice.
As L.S. Ganesh, professor, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, puts it, “If you choose a career that does not vibe with you or does not suit you but may pay you a lot, you cannot escape stress.”
Mr. Ganesh spoke on how the choice of career has to be done carefully. “Why is career choice important? One aspect is your earnings and money. But what happens beyond salary? Most people will give a simple answer. We need peace of mind in life. Career is a big context of your life. A minimum of eight hours of waking time is spent in your job,” he told students at the career counselling fair.
Nearly 1,000 students attended the programme.
He told students that it was important to understand who they are and understand their personality. “There is a need for a careful understanding of who you are and what you are good at. Take a basic psychometric test. If you respond honestly, it will give a report and could tell you who you are, what you are good at and what you could be good at,” he stated.
Every year, on an average, 1.2 million graduates with B.E. or B.Tech or an equivalent degree pass out of colleges in India, he said, adding, “When all degrees are combined, 12 million graduates pass out every year. To get employment equilibrium in India, we need 16 million jobs every year for the next 15 years,” he said.
He later observed that one of the serious issues facing the country was employment generation.
‘Look beyond engg.’
Mr. Ganesh asked students how they are going to tackle the tough situation. Another challenge ahead of them was downscaling of government jobs in India, he noted. He urged the students to be the best in whatever they did and to do what they are naturally good at.
Speaking at the inauguration of the fair, VIT’s vice-president G.V. Selvam urged students to have an aim in life, think of different courses without focussing only on engineering, and take courses that offer more options.
S. Babu, dean of School of Agriculture, ,VIT spoke on agriculture courses during the fair. A free mock NEET test and free psychometric test were conducted. Jemima Rebecca of class XII, Shrishti Vidhyashram Senior Secondary School won a desktop in a quiz contest.
The event is presented by VIT University. Speed Medical Centre is the NEET partner. State Bank of India is the official banking partner. Hotel Sai Suprabaatham is the hotel partner.
