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Friday March 29, 2024

Career counselling: questions and answers

By Syed Azhar Husnain Abidi
January 16, 2023

Q1: Dear Mr Abidi, I am a BBA student and I have interest in Finance. Please guide me what I should do further. Any short course or something else?. After BBA what should I do? And I’m not interested in a bank job. My CGPA is around 3. (Zikrya Hassan, Lahore)

Ans: Dear Mr Zikrya, since you are doing a bachelors in business administration, you have many options to look at doing a specialty either in marketing, human resource or strategic/information management. If you are not interested in finance, you can look at other areas within the business domain when going for your postgraduate qualification. As I said, depending on your interest and aptitude you can choose a specialty from the above. Anyway doing finance does not mean that you are restricted to do a job in a bank.

Q2: Sir, I have done MA English about a year ago. Please suggest where I should apply for the job? (Najma Clifton, Karachi)

Ans: Dear Miss Najma, having done your masters in English you have plenty of options particularly in teaching English language. All you need to do is to pick up training material for competitive examinations such as IELTS/ TOEFL and then apply for teaching jobs at academies and schools.

Q3: Dear sir, I did my double masters in Social Anthropology and English Literature. Please guide me what opportunity I may have except opting for teaching and PhD. Are there some diplomas or further subjects to study at master’s level so I may avail as refresher and join some good earning job? (Palwasha Ajab Gul, Peshawar)

Ans: Dear Miss Palwasha, with your combination of English and Social Anthropology you can look at teaching jobs at school or college level and of course you can explore your PhD options in Anthropology which is a very progressive/emerging area, particularly for females. The areas that I recommend are research, including Gender Studies, Poverty Alleviation and Development Studies. These are in demand from organisations like UNO, UNESCO and UNDP etc.

Q4: Dear Mr Abidi, I have done ACCA recently and have also done BSc (Hons) in Applied Accounting. I have a chance to do MSc in Professional Accountancy from the University of London. I want to ask if it is the right choice or I should go for CFA because I also have an interest in CFA. I should do an internship in an audit firm or apply for a job in any company. (Tabrez Javaid Iqbal, Islamabad)

Ans: Dear Tabrez, you have achieved the necessary professional qualification in the accountancy field. Now my advice would be to gain some experience at least three to five years in the same area. During this time, you will get to know the areas within accountancy that are of more interest to you and close to your heart. This is the time that you can think about or explore the possibility of further education either as a professional accountant or consider a more academic route such as MPhil and PhD. However, right now working in trade or industry should be your first priority.

(Syed Azhar Husnain Abidi is a renowned educationist in Pakistan, with more than 20 years of experience as provider of education counselling services. He has represented Pakistan in over 100 national and international seminars, conferences and fora. He is a recipient of the most coveted civil award Tamgha-e-Imtiaz).