It is common to ask five-year olds what they would like to be when they are grown-up. Some know already what they want to be and 20 or even 30 years later, they achieve their ambitions. Others will be influenced by their environment or what is trendy for their generation. Yet many will settle happily in the first job that comes their way and will never question that option.

In the past, a few people thought they had to follow a certain career line, irrespective of money, status or personal aspiration or ambition. It often implied taking over the family trade, business or profession. This applied to clergy, sometimes to farmers, doctors or nurses and occasionally to teachers and social workers.

Today, even if not all schools have career guidance teachers, there are basic considerations that should guide the choice of a profession. The first concerns the interests and competencies developed in school. To some, science comes more easily than the arts and vice versa. As from Form III, some students already know what they like and that the career they want means hard work and sacrifices.

However, sometimes peer pressure influences their choice and they take up subjects that seem easier to study or where jobs look more available. This has been the case over the past two decades. Most students rushed to do Economics and Accounts, deserting literature as well as science and technical subjects, which demanded harder work. This has been confirmed by the recent report of the Mauritius Research Council.

Any worthwhile career requires academic qualifications that imply at least four years? study. To become a practising legal professional (lawyer, solicitor) takes at least five years and a doctor more than seven. This in turn raises the question of cost. Even studying in the local universities or training institutions has a cost, which the family must be able to sustain. Going abroad now involves very high costs that only families who can afford or who have invested to that effect can face. In view of this, the student should be fairly certain if he/she really wants to go on that path.

Getting a qualification is one step and finding the dream job another. This means that it is good to study job opportunities and try to get a job placement before making a decision. The young person, who wants to study astrophysics, should know that job opportunities here will be nearly nil. There are other careers where numbers are limited (notaries for example). In others again, if the studies done are too general, one may have to take the first job available or get still further training to be employable.

Any choice of career raises personal issues. What is your commitment to home and family? Is the choice yours or has it been influenced by peer or parental pressure? How do you match success with happiness? A successful career could mean working odd hours and having to sacrifice family and friends. You must also know what your priorities are: money, status, power, people? Even when all these questions have been answered, the likelihood of staying in one job for a lifetime, as it was the case for previous generations, is quite unpredictable.