#aptitudetesting

[drsapnasharma]

Don't let the virus delay your career planning. Beat the Quarantine. Plan your career while you wait at home. 

Take a CAREER APTITUDE TEST and CAREER COUNSELLING via video chat with me in the safety and comfort of your home. Ask your doubts and know all you need to know about your career. Wherever you are located in the world, connect to get scientific guidance on the best career path for you.

WHATSAPP on 8446229088 for details.

[drsapnasharma]

Though we believe that career is important, we do not realize it forms a whopping 50% of our life. If we are not happy 50% of the time how can life be happy and contented? We need to be more proactive while choosing a career and not just go by the marks scored in the school exams or by what others believe are the good careers. Ask for Aptitude testing with an experienced Counselor.

To book an appointment with Dr. Sapna Sharma, WhatsApp on 8446229088 from anywhere in the world.

[drsapnasharma]

Don't let the virus delay your career planning. Take the Aptitude test and face to face Counseling session via video chat with me. Wherever you are located in the world, connect to get authentic guidance on the best career path for you. 

WhatsApp on 8446229088 for details of online Career Aptitude test and Counseling via video chat.

[drsapnasharma]

Making Career Choice for Girls

While everyone is talking excitedly about the career choices available for students in general, I would like to caution the girl students and their parents to tread this path to final career choice even more carefully than ever before.

There were times when girls would opt for more traditional career choices like medicine, teaching and banking. The reason was obvious. With these careers, there was predictability about time devotion, flexibility and a safe and fixed work environment. This in turn was based on the very basic facts of our social and cultural expectations. There was no conflict then about the role of men and women and career rules for girls were clearly defined and accepted.

Near the end of the earlier century, the winds of change started flowing faster than we had time to adapt to. And amongst the chaos, there emerged new utterly confused role of the new woman.

The new parents were the forward looking generation of the last century and they were enthusiastic and positive about a girl child. Educating the girl child became equally important in all such families. Parents took a few steps forward and began training their daughters for the new world by supporting their extracurricular and confidence building activities and slowly emerged the today’s new age girl who is proudly introduced by her parents, especially by the doting father, as the “BOY” of the house. This girl, the young aspiring students of today is now dreaming of attacking the men’s world and thinks that if she works hard, she will never have to look back again!!!

And this generation X of girls is seeking out the latest and most challenging careers!!!

My first question is for the parents of these girls… “that you are supporting your daughter to select the career of her choice, would you let her pursue the career to its meaningful end even if it means extending the marriage age beyond the conventional?” and my second question is, “When the time comes, would you put a condition that the groom for your daughter and his family would let her pursue the career of her choice? OR would you say like many parents tell me, “hum to achcha ghar aur ladka dekhenge bad mein jaise unki marzi hogi waise he isko rehena padega” (We would seek a good family and groom and the rest would depend on them).

Again, a girl has to play many roles in life; she is the primary caretaker and the mother. These two roles require her to compromise on her career many times. In such a situation if the work conditions are inflexible, for a girl it may mean choosing between job and the family and can lead to frustrations, in the absence of any other convenient alternatives.

There is nothing wrong with these set of concepts and traditions, but my concern reaches out for your daughter. Especially with the current generation, when a girl looks ahead for being next to none and gazes at the sky, one fine morning you clip her wings and remind her that you are a girl and now your freedom to choose and think is over!!!

Here I quote an example. Biotechnology as a career is a rare choice amongst youngsters, especially girls. Many parents approach me to find out how their wards can make a career in this “in” career of today. But most are not aware that this is a research based career and to take this career to a logical conclusion, one has to follow the long route of PHD and the career path is essentially in research field and has scope only when the girl can reside in places where there are relevant industries!!!

And here is where the role of scientific career planning comes in. All these aspects form the most important parameters for choosing a career for the girls along with aptitude and personality testing.

My concept is straight…if you know your traditions, social and cultural limitations, let your daughter know them too and help her select a career that she can use under any circumstances. If we continue with the same example… knowing very well that the girl may not have a say in her place of residence or taking up employment, why not help her with a career that matches her aptitude and interest and has the flexibility of either taking up employment or getting productively engaged by working from home, or contributing to the family business as the case may be. There can be many options for each individual.

The times may change and so will the society, but nature will not reverse. Men and Women have to play certain roles that ensure the balance of nature. Girls have to feel proud of their roles as creators and caretakers rather than getting bogged down with frustrations and victimization. A timely scientific career planning can ensure to make the girl a strong individual and nurturer of the family while pursuing a career of her choice.

[drsapnasharma]

Making a Career Choice Based on Aptitude

Oxford Dictionary defines Aptitude as Natural talent. Every individual is born with an inherent personality. With the process of socialization many layers are added to this personality. But the inherent traits are the guiding lines on which we process the information provided to us in our growing years. When it comes to making choices in life often we make certain choices that we are not very sure we made, but it is our inner person that is guiding us to make the choices.  One of the major components of this inherent persona is the In-born natural talent -Aptitude.      

While choosing a career often a conflict is seen between what a student wishes for and what the society tempts it to choose. The student’s choice is often termed as immature and impractical. And often the process of career selection becomes a bone of contention within the family. The conflict is understandable given the plethora of options available and the inclination to opt for seemingly glamorous path. However if the chosen career and its demands are conflicting with the inner personality traits of the student, the choice creates a lot of problems. 

There is an inclination amongst the students and the parents to opt for the most popular and the seemingly secure career options. For example Studying Engineering appears to many parents to guarantee a sure shot job clinching and money earning option for the student. However, we have a multitude of example today to warn us. Many students, who opt for this study course for wrong reasons like its success rate and prestige parameter either, drop out mid way because they cannot cope up with the demands of the course, encounter repeated failure or barely pass out thus making it very difficult to secure a reasonable job. This same example is seen in all the other courses.   

This conflict is because every career option has its own demands like Engineering needs technical aptitude, Accountancy requires logical and number skills, Management demands logic, people and reasoning skills and so on.  

Popularly, while looking for a career option the parameters taken into consideration are-  

What subject the student is good at? If it is math he is forced for Engineering, If it is biology he is forced for Medicine and so on.        

What are most people opting for?

What are the popular colleges and Institutes?

What option is a sure-shot job clincher?        

Does the career offer a bright future?

All these questions are misleading. A student good at math may not have technical aptitude. Every individual is different and with different aptitude so what others choose and what others succeed at does not guarantee our success automatically. Every career has job options and if one is good at it every career offers a bright future. The right question should be- Do the demands of that career match the aptitude of the student?  

Many career aptitude tests are conducted by counselors all over the world.  These researched and standardized tests test the student on basic sets of inherent talents. Then based on the results the student is suggested career options that would utilize his/her maximum potential. When the aptitude and job requirements match the person naturally feels interested in the study and work. When that happens success is guaranteed in every field. 

It is thus strongly recommended that every student should have his/her aptitude testing done around class 10th to get the matching options at the right time toensure lasing satisfaction and success.

[drsapnasharma]

How to Choose Best Career?

It is important to understand that choosing a career does not simply mean deciding upon the ultimate career to success and fame; rather it means that a person should have the potential to grow with that career and achieve happiness along with success. That is why it is very important for every student and Parent to understand what is embodied within the word Aptitude and why an Aptitude Test for career selection is important when tracing your path towards success and growth. Every career option requires a particular aptitude combination that should match with the individual's potential ability to grow with that career. Aptitude is basically defined as an innate, on inborn ability of an individual to perform certain tasks. This can be explained well by understanding that there are many children who are very good at one or more of the performing arts from an early age and without any formal or informal training. Often we refer to these children as ‘gifted’ and their talents as ‘God’s Gift’. Each one of us is born with some or the other such ‘gift’ and as it is clear, if we base our career on something that we already have, we can progress much faster. This ‘inborn quality’ or ‘gift’ is scientifically referred to as ‘Aptitude’. It is very important for parents and students to understand that School curriculum and marks do not test us for our aptitude for all areas. For example, we believe that students who score good at math and science in school exams can definitely be good engineers. However, study reports by many Engineering colleges show that students who scored high in school because they were sincere and good at rote learning and hence at scoring, face great difficulty even in understanding the basics of engineering. Because to be a good Engineer one needs to have good technical Aptitude and not just the knowledge of math and science. Many Engineering degree holders are not even interested in changing a fused bulb or repairing a leaking faucet at home. This is because they do not have the technical bend of mind and they basically are ‘Engineering degree holders’ and not ‘Engineers’. This is the reason why taking career decisions based on school marks alone is usually a short cut to one of the most important decisions of life. And shortcuts certainly do not guarantee the desired outcome. It is strongly recommended that each student should be taking a scientific aptitude test around the age when careers are chosen. Ideally these tests along with detailed counseling should be provided to each student of class 9 or ten by the school. However, since most schools are still not very open to doing this scientifically, parents should seek out experienced counselors to work on the career planning with aptitude testing for their wards. Interest v/s Aptitude Many times people make a mistake while choosing their career according to their interest. It is very important to understand that interests are based on many factors- exposure, glamour factor, attraction, meeting or knowing some influential or impressive personality who happens to be in the said career in consideration. Children and youth are impressionable. They are strongly influenced by anything that attracts them even momentarily. Also, they are not really aware of many career opportunities available to them. In addition, the media and society is constantly bombarding them with ‘dream careers’ concepts and fearful parents are frequently asserting that if they do not get into a particular career, the children may not have a good life eventually. The result? Well they tend to choose what has made impression on them – a career, someone’s lifestyle, insecurities about their own future. Many a parents hang on to some career mentioned by their child while growing up or a doctor set their little princess had asked for or their child’s interest in watching a particular soap that is about business and money and take it as their child’s ‘Clear interest’. The next that the children know is that they are constantly reminded by the parents that this is what describes the interest of the child and that is ‘the’ career their child should choose. Confused, the children start talking about any of the above experiences as their ‘interest’. For many, soon the ‘interest’ wears off. In my practice as a counselor, I have met many grown-ups who regret their career decisions that were taken without actually understanding what they really meant. There is money but no happiness or enthusiasm for their work or life. Hence, it is very important for the parents to be aware that they have to ‘watch’ their children. As a child with strong aptitude for Dancing would ‘dance’ at every opportunity and non- opportunity. Similarly, a future engineering would be seen tinkering with stuff around the house and always willing to open and repair. But, all the career related aptitudes traits cannot be seen so visibly and hence, every child needs to undergo a thorough (Not a short version of ‘quick ‘ testing on the career websites) scientific Aptitude test with an experienced Counselor who can interpret the test results and integrate the interest, personality, family background and dreams of the child with his scientifically tested aptitude. Career is one of the most important aspects of life and hence, we need to understand that it cannot only be a source of money. Our career should inspire, motivate and activate us while bringing us joy and enthusiasm for life while making money. Look for a counselor with good references around you. If your city does not give you many options then you can look online. Do check the credentials and feedback on that counselor on various social media before you entrust them your future. With online Counseling options today you can get the services from the best counselors across the world. So if you are thinking career- think Aptitude testing.

[theswoonsociety]

(via Aptitude Adjustment)