Issues Faced in Choosing and During a Career and its Remedies Research Paper

Issues Faced in Choosing and During a Career and its Remedies - Research Paper Example It talks about the very prominent issue which bars the intelligentsia of the country from taking part in the employment in the education sector, i.e the low salaries of teachers and how this trend can be reversed and the teachers can be given their lost glory and respect. A convocation day is by far the proudest and the happiest moment in one’s life after spending four, long, arduous years in university. Wearing my best Marks & Spencer suit and my favourite maroon tie, I stood in front of the six foot long mirror in my room and took a sigh of relief. My four years in the Carnegie Melon University lived up to the stereotypes and the general idea formed about life in university. I could say with sheer confidence and veracity that it certainly was not the best time of my life but yet again it was the most important one. I learnt about the League of Nations, the Second World War, and the Cold War and most importantly, I knew each and every single clause of the Treaty of Versailles , by heart and I was proud about it. As I received my degree, I puffed up, widened my chest and filled it with air. After many sleepless nights of hard work, utter zeal, zest and dedication and back breaking studies, I held an undergraduate degree in World History, with honors. The ride back home was a rather unusual one. Never in my life, had I contemplated about anything, with such concentration. My father was of the view that by majoring in World History, I had wasted my life and I should pursue a degree in some other, practical field which could get me a decent job with recognition. My mother thought that I might end up procrastinating and doing nothing, hence wasting myself after getting the degree and I had no idea what to do, yet I pondered over and over. Choosing a career, in the society, where I grew up and come from, is as difficult as breaking a concrete wall with bare hands. And so was the case for me. Even though, I did have an undergraduate degree, I did not know where I wanted to go in life. This had made my life even more ambiguous, frustrating and often there were times when I felt purpose less and unwanted, though I totally knew that this attitude would end up making me suicidal. Such was the extent that by then end of the so called brainstorming process I started I did not know what my strengths were; I had forgotten what my weaknesses were. I also could not figure out what was important to me, job satisfaction or earning a handsome amount of salary, nor could I ascertain the living standards I wanted, despite dreaming of living as a prince and driving a Mercedes S320, after graduating from college. â€Å"Socio-cultural factors exert strong influences on individuals' career choices in Pakistan. There are powerful norms around what economic roles individuals can or cannot perform based on their wealth, education, caste and gender. By and large, Pakistani society is averse to manual work and jobs involving manual labor and hard work are consi dered undesirable. Such perceptions are particularly strong among the relatively wealthy and educated, who prefer ‘clean jobs’ (desk-based, clerical, supervisory or administrative positions). It has often been observed that