Suchitra Surve identifies ten myths about career planning and their implications on long-term career success, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness and informed decision-making. The document outlines misconceptions such as the belief that only certain majors are employable or that one must remain in a chosen career indefinitely, arguing for the value of transferable skills, personal interests, and active engagement in career development. It highlights the influence of factors like personality traits, cultural background, and social conditions on career choices, encouraging individuals to seek guidance from career counselors.

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Persons and
Careers
(Career Basic
Concepts)

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TEN MYTHS ABOUT CAREER
PALANNING
 Suchitra Surve, Director, Growth
Centre identifies the 10 common
myths about choosing a career and
tells you why it will affect you in the
long run. (Illustrations by Uttam
Ghosh.)

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Myth 1: Arts/humanities majors usually are
unemployable after college
 Fact: Skills matter in every stream
 Humanities majors usually provide
training in basic areas called transferable
skills such as interpersonal communication,
writing, research, and critical thinking

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Myth 2: Selecting what's 'hot' at the
moment is safe
 Fact: What's hot today may not necessarily be 10/20 years
later
 Selecting a major or pursuing a career just because it's hot can
be dangerous. There are two things you must understand before
opting for this approach. First, what is 'hot' today may cool
down, or disappear completely, in the near future. Secondly,
such a choice fails to take into account the interests and
abilities of the student, or the kind of environment in which they
are most likely to succeed.

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Myth 3: Career assessments / counselors
will not be of any use for me
 Fact: You must know what your aptitude is before
choosing a career
 Psychometric Assessments (Aptitude Test can provide
additional information that may be helpful as a part of the
career planning process. Assessments would provide a clear
idea as to one’s aptitude, strengths and weakness and their
mental capabilities, which aids in selecting a career, but with
thorough brainstorming with the career counsellor, who can
chalk out various career options based on the match between
the student profile and the career.

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Myth 4: If X is happy in a particular field,
I will be happy too
 Fact: You are not X
 Everyone is different and what works for
one person won't necessarily work for
another, even if that other person is
someone with whom you have a lot in
common.

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Myth 5: If I wait long enough, luck will
eventually bring me to the right career
 Fact: Procrastination is no substitute for laziness
 It is unlikely that you will just "bump into" the occupation that
will perfectly match your skills and interests. The more
information you gather about yourself and the occupations you
are considering, the more likely it is you will make a wise career
decision. It is true that some things beyond your control will
influence your life, but you must take an active role to determine
your own fate. Look around you -- those people who are
unhappy in their careers most likely just "fell into" something
without careful planning.

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Myth 6: Making a lot of money will
make me happy
 Fact: The ingredients of fulfilling career
also includes passion and commitment to
growth
 While salary is important, it isn't the only
factor you should look at when choosing a
career. Countless surveys have shown that
money doesn't necessarily lead to job
satisfaction.

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Myth 7: Once I choose a career I'll be
stuck in it forever
 Fact: You are never too old to switch careers
 Not true. If you are unsatisfied in your career for any
reason, you can always change. Discussing your
interests with knowledgeable people who could guide
you towards another career could land you in a
satisfying job profile. Remember just being in a job
without a lack of interests would hamper your
performance. So it would be better if you make a wise
choice later.

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Myth 8: If I change careers my skills will
be wasted
 Fact: Being multi-skilled allows you to learn
and adapt accordingly
 It is true that certain jobs require some
specialized skill set. But note that mostly jobs
require a common type of skills which most of
the individuals possess. Your skills are yours to
keep. You may not use them in the exactly
same way, but they won't be wasted.

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Myth 9: I will decide after the results
are out
 Deciding after graduation sometimes leads to
impulsive decisions as, the earlier educational
qualification may not be applicable to the
area of work that you plan to pursue in later
life. Planning in advance prepares you better
to deal with the If-and-Or situations better.

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Myth 10: I love this hobby, but I don't
think I can make money out of it
 Fact: If you love what you do, you will not
feel like you are working
 An oft repeated line, it explains why part- time
hobbies like cooking, photography and design
that were once pursued during weekends are
now being pursued as full time careers. And
most of these hobby-turned vocations pay really
well if pursued professionally.

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CAREER CONCEPT
 A job is a position an individual holds
doing specific duties.
 An occupation is defined as the similar
work for which people have similar
responsibilities and for which they
develop a common set of skills and
knowledge.

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Trait and Factor model, believes that skills and
abilities need to fit the demands of a particular
career field. This being said, it is then important
that you take stock of the skills, knowledge and
abilities that you currently possess and those that
you still need to develop as these greatly impacts
that kind of career that could be a good match for
you.

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 John Holland, a popular career counselor
proposed a theory that strongly believe that
certain careers require certain personality
traits and must also fit our interests.

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One of the strongest considerations in
career decision making has a lot to do
with social and economic conditions.

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WHAT INFLUENCES YOUR CAREER
CHOICE?
 Skills and Abilities – Considering your skills and
abilities and how they may fit a particular occupation
comes out of one of the earliest career development
fields, Trait-Factor theories, and is still used today.
These theories recommend creating occupational
profiles for specific jobs as well as identifying individual
differences, matching individuals to occupations based
on these differences. You can identify activities you
enjoy and those in which you have a level of
competency though a formal assessment.

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Interest and Personality Type – Holland's
Career Typology is a widely used to connect
personality types and career fields. This
theory establishes a classification system that
matches personality characteristics and
personal preferences to job characteristics.
The Holland Codes are six personality/career
types that help describe a wide range of
occupations.

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Life Roles – Being a worker is just one of your life
roles, in addition to others such as, student,
parent, and child. Super's Lifespan theory
directly addresses the fact that we each play
multiple roles in our lives and that these roles
change over the course of our lives. How we
think about ourselves in these roles, their
requirements of them, and the external forces
that affect them, may influence how we look at
careers in general and how we make choices for

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Previous Experiences – Krumboltz's Social Learning and
Planned Happenstance theories address factors related
to our experiences with others and in previous work
situations. Having positive experiences and role models
working in specific careers may influence the set of
careers we consider as options for ourselves. One aspect
of Social Cognitive Career Theory addresses the fact that
we are likely to consider continuing a particular task if
we have had a positive experience doing it. In this way,
we focus on areas in which we have had proven success
and achieved positive self-esteem.

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Culture – Racial and ethnic background, as well as the culture of
an individual's regional area, local community, and extended
family, may impact career decisions. Our culture often shapes our
values and expectations as they relate to many parts of our lives,
including jobs and careers. Multicultural career counseling has
emerged as a specialized field to take these influences into
consideration when counseling clients and students. We can't
attribute the predominant characteristics of a culture to any one
of its individuals, but having an awareness of the values and
expectations of our culture may help us understand how we make
our career choices.

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Gender – Both men and women have experienced
career-related stereotypes. Gender is a factor included
in multiple career development theories and approaches
including, Social Learning and multicultural career
counseling. How we view ourselves as individuals may
influence both the opportunities and barriers we
perceive as we make career decisions. Studies of gender
and career development are on-going as roles of men
and women in the workforce, and in higher education,
evolve.

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Social and Economic Conditions – All of our
career choices take place within the context of
society and the economy. Several career theories,
such as Social Cognitive Career Theory and
Social Learning, address this context in addition
to other factors. Events that take place in our
lives may affect the choices available to us and
even dictate our choices to a certain degree.
Changes in the economy and resulting job
market may also affect how our careers develop.

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 Childhood Fantasies – What do you want to be when
you grow-up? You may remember this question from
your childhood, and it may have helped shape how
you thought about careers then, as well as later in life.
Career counseling theories are expanding as programs
related to career choice are developed for all ages,
including the very young. Ginzberg proposed a theory
that describes three life stages related to career
development. The first stage, fantasy, where early
ideas about careers are formed, takes place up to age
11.

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Work with your career
counselor!

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