Choose A Career You Love

When I was asked by some younger relatives about what course to take up in college, I would always say that you should take up something you're really interested in, not something that seems to offer more job opportunities. That's because the demand for jobs fluctuates. You never know if your chosen career will still be in demand by the time you finish with your course. If you love it, though, you'd stick with it.

Unfortunately, many parents here in the Philippines direct their kids to take up what seem to fields that seem to have a lot of openings at the moment. There have been waves of sharp rises in IT professionals because jobs in programming were very much (and fortunately, still is) very much in demand. Demands for nurses abroad have waxed and waned through the years, but parents still push their kids in that direction because of the current demand.

However, if you all have the same idea and we end up with an oversupply of one sort of professional, the demand will start to peter off and some people will still end up unemployed or underemployed. And if the career was not the individual's choice to begin with, it will only make him or her miserable.

Choose a career for love, not for money.