Non-Traditional Learners & Career Paths

?? This is is a very sensitive topic. Everyone who watches "3 Idiots" agrees and has tears in their eyes and also believes in the concept. But when it comes to reality, we still find that most of us are unable to take that decision of allowing our children to pursue the "non-traditional" career paths. The reason is "uncertainty", "fear of failure", "lack of awareness of opportunities" and so on.

??Well, when we embarked on this journey of starting this business of "mentoring" youth and parents @ JEEVAN PRAVAAS CONSULTANCY LLP , we asked ourselves: Who should be the right target audience for our work? As we started brainstorming and exploring the landscape, we were pleasantly surprised with some facts and figures.

??Coming to the #demand side, when we look at the number of children in a classroom, and did a survey as to how many were really truly inclined towards the "traditional" careers such as Engineering, Medical, Law, CA etc.. , it was just a measly 10-15% of the entire class, in most cases. It is a different point that most of them anyhow decide to start taking coaching for some entrance examination or the other, purely because of peer pressure. But we are talking about "true inclination", and not the peer pressure influenced takers of these streams of education.

??On the #Supply side, while we saw a lot of advertisements in the media, looking for "traditional" careers such as engineering graduates. However, when we did a practical survey around us and looked at the opportunities in the market, especially in the "#startup" environment, there seemed to be a huge demand for "sales and marketing" professionals, "designers", "artists", "event managers", "choreographers", "performers", "models", "sports coaches", "sports PR and Celebrity managers", "music composers- soundtracks of OTT etc..", "influencers", "content creators", "copywriters", "bloggers", "branding and advertising agencies" , "social media marketing", "NGO worker", "sculptors", and the list is endless. With AI coming in, newer roles are getting created and none of these jobs need a great "academic" qualification, other than a basic graduation or post graduation degree in the needed area of specialization, which was incidentally "Non-traditional".

??We realized that not every child has the "inner voice" to be a scientist or an "engineer" or a "doctor" or a "CA", and there are beautiful inner voices and #multipleintelligences that are much wider and need to be tapped into to unleash their true unlimited potential. Imagine a child who has the capability to be a great "Music Composer" studying for JEE from 10th grade onwards and even if he/ she makes it in IIT, they would always love to be in the field of Music rather than solve engineering numericals in the class or work in a manufacturing industry or the corporate world doing a traditional job, isn't it? The same goes for a "designer", "artist", "sportsman", "businessman" , "radio jockey", "journalist" and so on and so forth..

??The fear that "What if they are not able to survive?" is eating into the minds of most parents. The point is definitely valid, only that it is more valid nowadays for "traditional careers", especially for those not inclined towards academics, because the chances of them being lesser productive and unhappy at work is much greater. Getting a corporate job in the traditional areas is even more competitive nowadays, and with a person who is not so inclined towards that work, it is going to be a steep climb uphill, with adverse effect on mental health too. So what would we prefer as a future for our children: "a mediocre decently paid employee who is unhappy and frustrated", OR "an extremely happy person, who is extremely good and proficient and likely to do well in their field of interest and grow easily because of excellence at work" ?

??What we realized is that the mind-sets of the 1980's need to be changed to the current era, where every profession has the same dignity and respect and in-fact, the non-traditional careers are proving to be much more rewarding than the traditional ones. Children can start earning while in school itself in the non-traditional careers, giving them a clear headway in creating strong portfolios by the time they finish their graduation, thereby increasing their chances of landing a job or work in their own areas of passion and interest, because of their experience and testimonials of work done by them.

?? So, we decided to embark on this onerous task of working with the "#non-traditional" learners and their parents and help them to unleash their true potential and build themselves into great professionals, but more importantly, happy people including parents and families, who believe in holistic development and well being as a crucial parameter of "true success", while building great fame and recognition in their contributions at work.

??"Time" is however a premium factor and this process needs to start quite early, as soon as they reach adolescence, to ensure that they are early starters to build their portfolio and skills and acquire the necessary competence and pull factor by the time they are over with their education. Getting a headway is very important, and there are enough opportunities to be tapped into, in a very diverse and large market such as Bharat.

??Feeling excited to be a part of a venture that can play a huge role in creating high productivity, excellence, and happy lives in the world through meaningful interventions.

#nontraditionallearners #jeevanpravaas #careermentoring #mentoringmatters #mentoring #lifejourney #life #careerguidance #guidance #parenting #parentingadvice