By Debasish Dutta; Managing Partner & CEO; Orange Corp, Global

 

 

In the fast-paced dynamics of the professional world, young students often find themselves jumping on the course that seems to be offering the maximum job security, only to regret later about not pursuing their dreams. Is it too late to change the track after graduation? In reality, there’s no single answer to this.

 

Many people successfully pursue two careers at once. It depends on how much in control you are of your first career. If not, people still can follow their dreams after graduation if the field chosen does not depend on another degree. For instance, you may have completed engineering and now want to pursue law. There’s no shortcut to it, you have to pursue a degree in law in order to be a lawyer. Whereas if photography is your area of interest, you can successfully continue developing your skills while doing a job.

 

Need to start fresh

 

Choosing a creative field is often not impossible after a degree in technology. But while choosing one intensely technical field over another, you will definitely need to start fresh. What is important to remember is that you must not waste a year in-between. Pursuing two degrees is very time consuming as it is. You must be working or studying at any point of time, in order to strengthen your CV at the end.

 

Another way to go about it would be to get into a field that adds to your interest while also being somehow related to the degree you’ve already completed. For instance, many English Literature graduates easily move to marketing, advertising or public relations without much difficulty. An engineer can move to industrial design as a change to a creative career. So a close evaluation is required about the new area you’re going to select. The following are pointers that you need to clarify to yourself in order to pursue a different direction:

 

What field are you really interested to pursue?

 

If you have multiple areas of interest, it helps in giving you a more flexible plan. Therefore, don’t shy away from pointing out to yourself exactly what are the fields and positions that you would love to fill. For instance, someone might want to make films. But if that opportunity doesn’t come to your door, you may also be equally happy to do the job of a creative producer.

 

Do you need a degree to get into the new direction that you are choosing?

 

If you must do a degree in another subject altogether, it is best advised not to get into something where age matters. Your lost years will prove to be counterproductive and you’ll be left in a soup. So, check carefully to see if there’s an age limit to whatever you’re planning to pursue. You want to be Miss World? Well, you have to be under 26!

 

Could you possibly choose a course that would add value to your existing degree while also steering your career in a different direction?

 

For instance, a very common path taken by students these days is to pursue MBA after a BTech. Most of us forget to keep in mind that the two are very different fields, but they work well together because they complement each other.