Career counselling: questions and answers

Q1: Sir, I am studying BS-IT and currently I am in 6th semester. After studying all these semesters, I feel that my interest is still not developed in this field. One of my relatives advised me to do CSS because he thinks that my general knowledge is good. I am also interested in doing CSS but my English is not very good so kindly suggest subjects for CSS and let me know how to improve my English. (Ribaal Farooq - Islamabad)

Ans: Dear Ribaal please if you want to do CSS you need to have a minimum of bachelor’s degree recognized by HEC. I understand you would finish your BS-IT in the coming year from a recognised university following which you can attempt CSS. The key subject areas that you need in-depth information would be international relations, politics, current affairs, general knowledge and English literature. Yes, you need to enhance your English proficiency particularly in reading and writing and this means that you should take extra classes for English wherever you can find these and regular reading material while watching English news channels could also be helpful.

Q2: Dear sir, my qualification is MSc Mathematics. I am in a bit of a problem as I am confused which career/department should I opt for further as now I feel that I have lost interest in Mathematics. I request you to please advise as I see no scope/future for myself. (Faaris Memon - Karachi)

Ans: Dear Faaris, it is quite strange to see that while you have completed 16 years of qualification in mathematics and how all of a sudden you have lost interest in this subject at this point of time. The closest subject area I can suggest would be Finance since you are good at numbers and statistics. I believe you could do well if pursuing a degree in Finance or Financial Management. This will open up career opportunities in financial institutions for you.

Q3: Sir, I am studying in the 2nd year of FSc Pre-Medical and I got 67% in the first year. I am confused between Law, D-Pharm or BS English. Could you please help me out in this regard?

(Alaa ud Din Bosan - Multan)

Ans: Dear Bosan, it is a difficult answer for me until/unless I have seen your transcripts and heard your reasons for choosing Law, Pharmacy or English. Each one of them is widely apart in terms of their relevancy and therefore your level of interest in each subject will be the key decision factor. I would suggest a third option based on your FSc Pre-Medical to do a degree in Biological Sciences or Biomedical Sciences which has wider career opportunities.

Q4: Dear Abidi Sb, my son has done a Bachelor of Business Administration which is an honors degree with majors in Finance and ACCA. Do you advise doing an MBA (Finance) or something else? (Ghayaas Warraich - Gujrat)

Ans: Dear Mr Warraich, in my opinion, the first thing which your son should do is to gain some experience whether through paid employment or an unpaid internship to get a hold of real time hands-on experience. My suggestion would be to look/choose chartered accountants or companies engaged in making financial feasibilities and budgets that also involves risk assessment and evaluation. Having worked for a few years in the field he can then look towards doing an MBA.

(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).