ARE YOU PREPARED TO GRADUATE?

As semesters are coming to an end and shortly another batch of students will be certified as graduates, this question becomes important for the students to be asked, “Are you prepared to graduate?”

Well, graduation is a graduation because it has to happen in a gradual process. Normally, we equate graduation only to passing bachelor’s degree (B.A). In that way, just three years of studies should earn us graduation degree. But no, it is graduation because by the time we graduate we have already invested 17-18 years of continuous studies (i.e. from pre-KG to B.A). So by being a graduate it is expected of us to be able to define our own path to some extent making the best use of the years invested in educating oneself.

Of late, the tag ‘educated unemployed’ has been quite haunting for the students for sure.  It is quite shocking to see how education is not helping us to be employable. But with the right skill, preparation and guidance, the students should be ‘educated and employable’. As you prepare to graduate ask yourselves these few fundamental questions. What do I want to do? What skills do I have/ or should have? What are the necessary preparations I should do? What sort of guidance should I look for?

Being able to decide on what to do after graduation can be very helpful. It will serve like a light-house for a ship in the ocean. It will give direction to your future and help you save a lot of time when those without pre-plan for the future keeps wandering and wasting time. Knowing what we want to do depends on knowing who we are- our limitations and our strength. So, what do you want to do?

Skill can be defined as workmanship or the ability to be employed.  Basically, Skill comes from the will to fulfill. Skill is like sharpener that sharpens the tools in one’s hand. Skill is very important to distinguish oneself as the most employable in this competitive world. Skill is needed in all kinds of job, be it teaching, preaching, taxing, banking or administration. Even to clear competitive exams, it demands for skills like writing skill, communication skill etc. Skill is what drives one to be self-employed too. For instance, Entrepreneurial/business skills like making business plan, accounting, customer dealing, knowledge of business ethics, etc are needed to become an entrepreneur. So possessing professional skills will be an added advantage.  One can also develop many skills unprofessionally through hobbies and pass time activities. Skill also comes along the way but normally employers give more preference to people with skills in order to reduce the cost on training new unskilled employees. So, what is/are your skills?

Preparation is a must. Normally we graduate without a proper plan or clue about what career to choose. So we waste our valuable extra times of our college life wandering about, memorizing randomly selected notes as a way of preparation for exam (which ultimately gets auto-deleted from our brain in few years duration), making friendship unduly important than our future instead of training ourselves to be more skillful in different ways be it writing, communication, sports and other activities which will help us prove our point right in the future. We must not forget that our friends outside have already started their preparation for UPSC, SSC, IBPS, MBA etc. to become future administrators, income tax officers, bankers, businessman, so on and so forth, right from their college days. Preparation on the desired career or job beforehand can give oneself a cutting edge to cut through competitions. Nature of the preparation will depend on the kind of the career desired. Normally here, the choice after graduation being to sit for competitive examinations or go for higher studies. By studying hard and getting good result, you are already preparing for higher studies in the same subject. On the other hand, preparation for competitive exam can be started by getting to know the patterns of exams, getting hold of study materials, reading magazines and newspapers etc. For those who want to choose other career options may also start by first knowing what career to choose and finding the right kind of information through various sources available.  So, have you started your preparation?

Guidance is an important ingredient. Guidance from experts in the field you desire to venture will be a bonus. Guidance is a roadmap laid out beforehand. Seek for guidance on the subjects, institutions or career path you want to choose. It can come from personal interactions, institutional assistance like career guidance programmes or through global sources like internets. Good guidance will be like your list of ‘Dos and Don’ts’. When the ones without guidance stumble into the ‘Don’ts’, you will be easily avoiding them. So, are you guided in the right direction?

So, as you get you sails ready. Study the wind direction but set your own direction. Get ready for the storms as they will come crushing on you but as they say “a smooth sea never made a skillful sailor”, they will only make you stronger and skillful. Stay away from frustration as it breaks resolution, bring disillusion and leave us with no solution. Stay motivated by being dedicated.

As semesters are coming to an end and shortly some of you will be certified as graduates, this question becomes important for you to ask yourselves, “Am I prepared to graduate?"