Prevent a wrong career decision

In this day and age, making an informed and correct career choice is more difficult than ever. During earlier times there were only a few main-stream professions from which young people could choose. Today, however, the range of careers consists of countless new specialities stemming from modern technology. There are also far more tertiary educational institutions available. School learners often do not have enough time and resources available to research all the available options.

Equilibria’s solution:
Thorough career research and exposure to a wide variety of career options are made possible through structured career research assignments that are completed in the industry or at tertiary institutions. Students also have ample time to do research, using the school’s Career Mentor Programme, a comprehensive career and study database which is updated each year to make sure the information is up-to-date and correct.

Many school leavers are still rather immature in their thinking when they decide about career options. Career decisions are often based on unrealistic fantasies or influenced by friends, the media and misinformed perceptions of careers. In order to make a correct career decision it is essential that a person has sufficient life experience, a more mature mindset and an understanding of the responsibility involved in making a career decision.

Equilibria’s solution:
Our gap year programme is the ideal way to raise a young person’s level of maturity. It provides the necessary time and training to help a person develop the character traits needed for making a correct career decision.

Young people’s self-knowledge is often formed by idealistic views of what they would like to be instead of what they truly are. Their opinions of themselves are often influenced by peer pressure. To obtain self-knowledge, many rely mainly on a few psychometric tests to decide on a career. This is, however, not always sufficient. It is important to lead the young adults - preferably by means of a structured process - to determine what they really want from life, what their dreams are and what makes them unique. Proper understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses, mental thinking patterns, personality traits, work style preferences, values and interests is the key to successful career decisions. Lack of sufficient self-knowledge in any one of these areas increases a student’s risk to make a wrong career decision.

Equilibria’s solution:
Self-knowledge does not happen overnight. It is the result of a dedicated, specialised process that deliberately addresses a variety of human facets. At Equilibria, self-knowledge is facilitated according to a systematic, step-by-step introspective process combined with objective evaluation, individual consultations and a range of psychometric tests. The process is spread over several months to allow for the development of in-depth self-knowledge in a variety of different spheres of life.

Young people who feel confused and unsure about which career to choose, often rely on the well-meant advice of career counsellors. This advice is sometimes valuable, however, if a career decision is not made by the student him- or herself as a result of a personal conviction, they often lack the type of motivation needed to persevere when the study pressure increases or when the study material becomes boring. Being truly self-motivated for a career path is imperative in order to make a success of it.

Equilibria’s solution:
Great care is taken during Equilibria’s career guidance process to make sure that students ‘unpack’ all the facts and factors that need to be taken into consideration when making career decisions, helping them to arrive at a self-defined and self-motivated vision for their future.

To make a career decision, one needs an optimistic mind-set and a healthy self-esteem. Young people who lack faith in their own abilities lack the boldness and self-confidence necessary to make a self-initiated career decision. It is vital to ensure that school leavers feel self-assured enough to initiate their own career decision. If not, they may rely too heavily on other people’s advice, which may lead to inappropriate career decisions.

Equilibria’s solution:
Since self-esteem plays such an important role in career planning, Equilibria’s programme is designed to facilitate a process that focuses extensively on the development of self-confidence in each individual, helping them to feel secure enough to initiate their own career decision.

Many school leavers are inclined to succumb to lifestyles that were previously taboo at school and restrained by parents, once they leave their parental homes for the first time to study. Students will often eat mostly junk food and take in too much sugar and caffeine. They often lapse into the habit of late nights and little sleep. Then they do very little exercise because they are too tired. Young adults at university are, for the first time, old enough to use alcohol. It is then often used excessively and injudiciously. During the third year of study the students’ bodies often experience the effects of the bad lifestyle of the previous two years and a number of problems start, such as headaches, fatigue, depression and more. Health problems can lead to poor class attendance which, in turn, can influence academic performance. Poor lifestyle choices are one of the primary reasons why so many students drop out of tertiary study programmes.

Equilibria’s solution:
One of Equilibria’s main aims is to teach young people to take control of their lifestyle decisions and cultivate a way of life that will ensure vibrant health and high energy levels. We believe it is important to help young people establish healthy lifestyle habits before they officially spread their wings into adult life.

The gap between the protective world of the parental home or school and tertiary education is often larger than many realise. At university, classes are sometimes as large as 300 students per class. University lecturers often do not have time to give individual attention to students if they missed a class or fell behind. Students frequently have to cope with heavy workloads, study bottlenecks or large volumes of study material. Study methods that were effective at school do not always work for tertiary studies. Many students drop out due to a lack of the ability to cope with these study conditions.

Equilibria’s solution:
Equilibria places a high priority on the teaching of effective coping skills such as emotional intelligence, time management, positive thinking and study methods that are effective for tertiary study. Students are also prepared for post-school studies by teaching them what to expect from the tertiary environment, how to cope with large workloads, how to do effective note-taking and how to manage their stress levels.

Equilibria’s gap year course is the sensible way to make sure you make the correct career decision. Apart from substantial financial losses that result from terminating a study programme, the cost to those who drop-out, in terms of moral and psychological damage associated with failure is often incalculable.

Prevent this from happening!

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Do Equilibria’s exciting gap year programme and make a correct career decision