Career Guidance-The Missing Link

Written by: 
Fosca Tumushabe

In high school, where I first heard the word career, it was accompanied by the word guidance making it career guidance. I have attended two career guidance workshops in my whole life.
For most people, there are still unanswered questions like; What is a career? What is career guidance? Why is career guidance important? Who gives career guidance? The dictionary meaning of the word ‘career’ is a job or profession that someone does for a long period of their life.
For most people however, it is that job that pays highly and makes them successful. While talking to a friend over the weekend, Ms Amina Wegulo a telecom engineer revealed to me that; “I have not failed to find a job in my profession, I am not even looking for one. I love business which is what I i I am doing currently. I simply wanted to be an engineer so I spend four years doing a course that was never going to make me happy.”
At this, I was so surprised and I asked her; “Do you think you would have done a business course if you had been given career guidance?” To this, she answered in the affirmative.
Meanwhile, I had talked to Mr James Okello, the Deputy Academic Registrar, Makerere University, about careers.
“First and foremost, it is important to know that careers are based on four things. The interests of a person, which are mostly based on dreams, driven by role models. Career jobs are influenced by availability of the job and employers’ demands which mean that one either gets the job or does not. Then there is the question of affordability to do the course of one's dream at the university. Most students only do the courses their parents can afford to pay for. Those who are lucky to get their dream courses as government sponsored are few.”
“Affordability goes hand in hand with the points a student scores. While the parent may afford to pay for an expensive course, the student may fail to score the required points and the reverse is true. It is therefore important for parents and students to assess themselves and do that which will sustain them in the economy.” Mr James Okello advised.
However, going back to high school career guidance workshops as organised by career masters, it is completely different. All the facilitators at these workshops tell students is to read hard without explaining how it is relevant to read so hard on undesirable subjects.
“I wish I had been taught to have a flexible mind so as to adjust to anything that comes my way. It is unfortunate that I was only told to read hard. By the time I realized it was about flexibility, I was rebounding senior six. I made the best of it then,” Albert Barigye, told me during a phone conversation.
It is therefore important to assess one-self before we start working towards that job that we want to do for most of our lives. It is never too late to find a career if all four considerations are at pieced together, if interest matches career job, yet it is affordable to attain all requirements for this job and the academic points are supportive of the job.