LINK YOUR CAREER TO YOUR TALENTS.

“What do you want to be when you finish school?” I’m sure that everyone is familiar with this kind of question, because each of us has been asked or asked someone this question before and i believe it is still being tossed around. The question has been doing the rounds for decades and the answers continue to be varied and vaguer. What is the right answer to give when confronted with it? Why should it continue to be answered when so many young people are clueless and unable to give positive answers?

Many young people today are bombarded with so many career opportunities that choosing the right one for each individual has become a difficult task to execute. So what could be the solution to eliminate this confusion that continues to overshadow our young people? The answer is simple, according to recently released statistics by Foundation for education, on the right career choice, it was discovered that those who succeeded and excelled in their chosen careers are people who normally had the opportunity to first tap into their talents. It doesn’t help much to expose young people to career exhibitions if those careers do not link with their individual talents. Its important that we link our education system with the talents of our children, so that when time come for them to pursue a certain career path it won’t be a taunting task.

Talent is a gift that everyone is born with and to find yourself in an environment that encourages you to showcase that talent will lead to a right career choice. For example, many successful musicians and Actors tell us that, they discovered their gifts either in church or in school plays. They were mostly encouraged by their teachers or pastors, creating environment in which they can continue to flourish through showcasing that talent. With their passion and dedication, and the support from their teachers and pastors, today they are pursuing successful careers. Many young people, particularly in rural areas continue to make flopping career choices because their environments don’t encourage talents to flourish. Our young people find themselves in careers that bore them to death and this lead to unproductiveness. We have a lot of students dropping out of University because of wrong career choices.

Our education system needs to be fashioned in such a way that it leaves space for talent to play a role. In the talents of our young people lies the best and interesting career. Young people must not be fooled by money and toy around with their career life. You can’t choose to be an engineer when you are a talented writer or a Doctor when you are a talented cooker. No ways! Young people must be channelled to careers that resonate with their individual talents. This is where Educators, Pastors, Parents and Career Coaches should play a pivotal role to ensure that young people are exposed to their talents before exposing them to career exhibitions. This will help a lot with reducing university drop outs, unproductive workplace behaviour and the rate of unemployment.

I believe that talent powered by the right education will breed a successful career. A talent is a young person’s ticket to a healthy, happier, productive and long life.