“In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious and The Most Merciful “.

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD

REPORT TOPIC CAREER BY CHOICE OR BY CHANCE

SUBMITTED BY ZAIB SHEHZAD

SUBMITTED TO Ma’am LAIBA HAFEEZ KHAN

COURSE: ENGLISH -2

DEPARTMENT INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

CLASS BSIR-2A

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PREFACE

I always give thanks for the presence of God Almighty who has given me the gift of

the opportunity to learn.

The completion of this research report does not mean the end of my duties as

learner. In fact, this report is a first step towards consistently studying what I have

reviewed and written here.

This report is on very crucial topic of career selection, report defends the view of

career selection by choice. This report could not be completed without the guidance

of worthy Ms. LAIBA HAFEEZ KHAN , my course teacher. Report fully deserves a

right to be claimed in positive means .

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
PREFACE................................................................................................................................2
ABSTRACT..............................................................................................................................5
Introduction..............................................................................................................................6
Background:.............................................................................................................................6
Differentiating by Choice and by Chance:................................................................................6
Which One is Effective by Chance or by Choice?....................................................................7
Factors Effecting Career Choices:...........................................................................................7
Parents’ Desire/Parental Pressure:....................................................................................................7
Peer Persuasion:................................................................................................................................7
Past Performance:.............................................................................................................................7
Potential:...........................................................................................................................................8
Placements:.......................................................................................................................................8
Personality Driven:.............................................................................................................................8
Affordability (Paisa):..........................................................................................................................8
Effectivity of Career by Choice:................................................................................................8
Motivation to Remain Committed.....................................................................................................9
Enjoyment Meeting High Standards..................................................................................................9
Developing Innovation.......................................................................................................................9
Utilizing Your Best Strengths..............................................................................................................9
Use of Skills......................................................................................................................................10
Motivation:......................................................................................................................................10
Better Health:..................................................................................................................................10
Pleasure in the Work Environment..................................................................................................10
Fulfillment........................................................................................................................................10
How to choose desired career (career by choice) :...............................................................11
Examine yourself..............................................................................................................................11
Reflect on your motivations.............................................................................................................11
Think about your long-term goals....................................................................................................11
Take different self-assessment tests................................................................................................12
Findings:.................................................................................................................................12
Table.......................................................................................................................................13
Graphical Representation of Factors Effecting Career Choice:............................................14
Career by Choice: A Route to Success:.................................................................................14
Recommendation:..................................................................................................................15

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CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................16
SUMMARY.............................................................................................................................16
BIBLIOGRAPHY:....................................................................................................................18

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 ABSTRACT

Career is defined by the interest of students in a specific field. Some students pursue
their career just by other’s recommendations but a promising career demands
interest and dedication which can only be put in if the career selection is by the will of
students. Choosing career by choice is really beneficial as it is embedded with the
pearls of one’s hard work and motivation. Many methods are in use to raise inner
capabilities of students to help them in choosing right career. Specifically, mentioning
the developed state of Asia , Türkiye where percentage of students who willingly
choose their career is 84%. Selection of career by one’s own will and according to
one’s interest and preferences is pre- requisite for a glamorous future.

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Introduction

“A career is not just about earning an income. It is about pursuing the essence
of your life.”

A career is an individual’s ‘journey’ of lifelong learning, working, extensive training

and learning new skills. It can be described as employment or a vocation that
generally involves some specialized training or formal study. In simple terms, a
career is what you do for a living. As you gain more experience in life and in work,
you are building your career. This report will look at the adoption of career by the will
of one or by the will of his fate , milestones of successful career and factors that lack
one’s interest in his career . It’s also aiming to analyze one’s capability and certain
results of choosing a career by choice and by chance .

Background:

The career choice has become a complex science with the advent of information
technology, the emergence of post-industrial revolution and job competition.
Basically, the selection of career that combine an interest and ability, and also the
background of a person’s ability to that career. The decision of human to choose the
career is a complex thing and involves many rights in human’s life dimension. Many
things to consider in choosing the decisions the things that should be consider
because that human spend most of their time in activities that related to the work.
Choosing a career can be a cumbersome event; not knowing the correct path can be
stressful, and frustrating. The issue that frustrates us more is that when we finally
pick a career we find that the career chosen is not what we want. Then there’s the
chance we may have started in the right career but, either we lost interest or worst,
our career becomes outdated and we are back to the beginning.

Differentiating by Choice and by Chance:

Everyone has his choice and chance to leave the safety of home and let the road
decide where one would reach nor would to decide where one reach beforehand and
then leave home . There is a difference between these two instances . First one is

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reaching the destination by chance and second is reaching the predetermined
destination by choice .

Which One is Effective by Chance or by Choice?

Well, this is a pretty much clear question and most suitable answer is BY CHOICE.
Choosing a career by choice is what makes one to excel in the respective field.
Adopting your way of living by chance is something which makes you unhappy and
unsatisfied with your life and thus you lose your interest which in result, is a
wastage of a good mind. Infact, career is not to be a chance to choose , it should be
a choice because what we are going to become in future is dependent on our
interest.

Factors Effecting Career Choices:

Parents’ Desire/Parental Pressure:
Choosing a career just to live up to the parent’s expectation is the most common
decision taken by students at an early stage, which they tend to regret later. Most of
the students from business families are by default expected to choose commerce
and hence B.Com or BBA as their suited career course. Some who resist submit to
the parental pressure leading to an unsuccessful career graph. Such influences
under the garb of adhering to their guardian’s wish are considered unfruitful for the
students in long run and thus they choose their careers by chance.

Peer Persuasion:
This is the easiest way of getting away from taking self decision. Most of the
students want to follow the crowd to get to their destination. ‘Follow your friends’ is
the most trending exercise visible during the selection of a university/college.
Majority choice is considered the best choice. This mindset has increased the count
in the mediocre group where students fail to succeed in their career and just keep on
it with an average performance and thus lack of self awareness leads to a blind end
where students choose their careers by other’s choice.

Past Performance:
This is in fact the most unjustified and distorted basis of analyzing one’s performance
and interest area. In Pakistan , we are not only churned in an old education system
of rote learning but we believe in the numbers to prove our caliber. This practice of

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determining one’s interest field based on one time exam performance has often led
to a wrong career decision.

Potential:
Potential of a student can be legitimate criterion for choosing a career. Very few are
able to identify their potential and choose their subject of knowledge based on it. A
career selected on the basis of one’s potential has greater prospect of assuring
success.

Placements:
We wish to choose a profession that can provide for our bread and butter. Placement
opportunities in a particular university are thus considered most important factor for
the students when they harp about their career choice. Good placement options are
an important motivation driver for students in their Career Planning.

Personality Driven:
Most of the people choose their interest field on the basis of their personality and
character. It can be the other way around also, when a career chooses them based
on their personality. Here personality includes not only the outward presentation of a
student but the perception he/she holds about society. A good communicator, who
has good command on his/her language skills, is more inclined towards a mass
communication stream. Similarly, a good leader who has the capacity to influence
masses chooses a management field. Personality traits always help in deciding a
good career, for it is easy to hone the skills we already acquire.

Affordability (Paisa):
This is the basic and the most essential criterion for most of them who set out to
make their career. Affordability or Paisa in lay man’s language determines the
purchasing power of individuals who dares to dream. In Pakistan , when Right to
Education aims to ensure education for all, it fails to distribute the standard quality of
education. One, who can afford it, can only receive the ace quality training,
knowledge and plum opportunities. Most of the students neglect their interest and
choose a career that fits their pocket well.

Effectivity of Career by Choice:

Pursuing a career choice based on interests can lead to personal satisfaction and
professional success. Here are some of the advantages of choosing a right career :

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Motivation to Remain Committed
During the early phases of a career, you develop fundamental skills and complete
tasks that may seem divergent to your ultimate professional objective. Few people,
however, can dive right into the meat of the career they feel they were born to do.
So an in-depth understanding of what the career entails and the knowledge that
your life's work will ultimately be fulfilling, adds to your motivation to remain
committed, even when the rewards seem distant.

Enjoyment Meeting High Standards

Successful people are required to meet high performance standards. These
pressures come from employers, corporate culture and – when you're an
entrepreneur – the marketplace. The necessary time, energy and intellectual
capital is easier to expend when you love the work you do, according to Wanderlust
Worker. From the most basic gauge of job happiness, from getting up in the
morning to go to work because you love your job, to pushing yourself to go further
in your career, remaining engaged is key to continued success and is one of the
many benefits of doing what you love.

Developing Innovation

Institutions benefit when their people have a genuine interest in the field they work.
In addition to day-to-day motivation, employees are more likely to see their work
from a variety of perspectives and bring fresh ideas to the table, according to Life
Hack. This is how innovation occurs. You also benefit from this tendency toward
innovation in a career that you enjoy: You can strike out on your own or create a
niche in your place of employment.

Utilizing Your Best Strengths

Very often, career interests align closely with your strengths. Choosing a career
that uses your best skills prevents a situation where hard work only leads to
frustration. What you're required to do in a job is not always what you're best at,
even if you eventually succeed. Often, people know what they're good at but never
utilize the opportunity to apply those skills.With the importance of being passionate
about your work, it seems a lot easier to grow your passion by succeeding and
being good. Selecting a job that you will enjoy doing, ultimately lets you simply
follow your interests in pursuing a career path.

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Use of Skills

The opportunity to use your skills in a meaningful way is one of the most important
ingredients in job satisfaction, according to Indeed Career Guide. Ideally,
employees should enjoy performing all the essential skills listed in their job
description and look forward to coming to work each day. Discontent results when
the employee's skills are underutilized or the job turns out to be different from how
it was advertised.

Motivation:

Clearly, cherishing what you do gets motivation since it is initiated by your own
cravings, as opposed to material conditions. Generally , throughout everday life, we
can wind up without the inspiration to do anything , however in the event that
somebody presents us something we appreciate , it will perhaps cause us to get up
and get working .

Better Health:

The amount you make the most of your work fundamentally influences your mental
health , as accomplishing something you don’t care for everyday will ultimately
begin to burn through you . Then again, accomplishing something you appreciate
awakening for in the first part of the day can help you feel better as well as even
lose all sense of direction in the work in case you are having issue in different
aspects of your life

Pleasure in the Work Environment

It’s a well-known fact that a vocation you’re enthusiastic about will, much of the time,
furnish you with a more pleasurable workplace. The chances are that your
colleagues will be similar, and next to the working part, you’ll have a good time
during the hours went through connecting with them. Indeed, even without that, there
is comfort in investing energy in a place that has expectations that agree with yours.
This tip helps you to choose your best career.

Fulfillment
It’s implied that you feel satisfied when you work on something significant to you.
Also, particularly subsequent to accomplishing its ultimate objective. The obstacles

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you find on your way will not be as applicable, on the grounds that you will
consistently track down an imaginative path around them. We go through the
majority of our days working, and that by itself ought to be motivated to follow
something that leaves us with a sensation of satisfaction during the hours we put in.

How to choose desired career (career by choice) :

Choosing a career requires planning which is an ongoing process wherein one
needs to think about their aptitude, interests, personality, skills, values, preferences
and drastic technological changes in the surroundings before making any decision.

There are Internationally recognised scientific Psychometric test batteries available

for choosing the right career which interprets the best career options for that
particular individual.

Choosing a CAREER through Career Counselling gives you azel free perfect career
path of your own liking which you can pursue with love, happiness & contentment
and become a great contributor to society.

Here are some crucial steps to think of while choosing a beneficial career:

Examine yourself.

What you enjoy doing and what you value can be helpful indicators about how you’d
like to spend your working time. We’re not talking about finding and following your
passion—that approach tends to be misleading and confusing. But it’s common to
want to feel energized and even excited about what you do.
Reflect on your motivations.
Perhaps you want a career that will pay a higher entry-level salary than comparable
occupations, or one that promises more flexibility so you can work from anywhere.
Most careers won’t feature everything you’d like, so it’s important to understand your
priorities.

Think about your long-term goals.

What does your most perfect life look like? Make a list of your long-term goals, both
personal and professional, to help you understand what it might take to reach them.
For example: Do you want to rise past the managerial ranks and advance to the C-

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suite of a company? Do you want to own a house? Do you want to be able to travel—
and how often?

Take different self-assessment tests.

There are a number of tests you can take to evaluate everything from your personality
to your strengths—and even what career might be a good fit. But tests can be overly
prescriptive, meaning they tend to impose categories on you. Rather than rely on them
for a definitive answer, use them to continue learning more about yourself and your
underlying motivations. If they present helpful answers, fold that knowledge into the
larger picture you’re compiling.

Findings:

A research article was published by ANKARA UNIVERSITY , TURKEY Department of

Educational sciences , Turkish university comprised a sample of 47 students in
various faculties through the academic year 21-22 . The participants voluntarily
participated in the research by filling out the online form shared on social media. 594
participants began to fill out the form but 417 of those completed it. Accordingly, the
completion rate was 70.54%. They developed the form to obtain the participants'
information including gender, grade, university, and whether they chose the
department willingly. In addition, there is an open-ended question to examine how
they perceive chance events. Thus, secondary data were collected to support the
research.

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Table

Demographics Female Male Total

F(%) f(%) f(%)

GRADE 14(5%) 4(3%) 18(4%)

1st 108(41%) 53 (44%) 180 (43%)

2nd 73 (28%) 30 (24%) 108 (26%)

3rd 35 (13%) 18 (15%) 61 (15%)

4th 20 (8%) 9 ( 7%) 29 (7%)

Graduate 12 (5%) 9 (7%) 21 (5%)

Students who made career choice willingly:

214 (82%) 108 (88%) 352 (84%)

Students who made career choice unwillingly:

48 (18%) 15 (12%) 65 (16%)

Students who experience chance events in career choice:

79 (30%) 29 (24%) 117 (28%)

Students who do not experience chance events in career choice

183 (70%) 94 (76%) 300 (72%)

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Graphical Representation of Factors Effecting Career Choice:

Career by Choice: A Route to Success:

Success demands a pure dedication towards one’s career. Only if career is adopted
by one’s will ,then it will prove a good route towards a successful future.

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Recommendation:
As the career by chance leads to very disappointing results at the end and still there
are a lot of cases where career selection is by chance so there should be strategies
to deal with this curtained topic . Here are some requisites to select a career of one’s
own will.

1. Understanding one’s interests

2. Determining financial feasibility

3. Gauging future prospects

4. Introducing personality and SWOT analysis

5. Career counseling is also a useful tool in choosing a career

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 6. Internships can teach students more about what they do and what they
don’t want to do.

Pitfalls for students to avoid when deciding on a career:

 Choosing the same career as that of your parents or one that they
want you to choose
 Choosing the first job that you get
 Choosing a job that has the best title etc. .

CONCLUSION

Choosing a career not by one’s own will , definitely leads to a wrong destination. In
Pakistan, specifically there a lot of cases, where students keep their own interests at
a side and thus waste themselves in the fields in which they have zero
interest .Although , students face many hurdles in selecting a right and by choice
career, but there are many steps which should be taken to avoid the career selection
by chance. These steps require a lot of awareness and sense of self determination.
In a nutshell , only by choice selection of career is essential for a prospering future
and choosing the right career path is important for job satisfaction, financial stability,
and personal growth. By identifying interests, skills, values, personality, and goals,
and researching career options, individuals can make an informed decision about
their career path.

SUMMARY
To summarize the topic, I will mention that whole data and study falls in favor of
choosing a career by choice. This report summarizes the differences between both
the options of choosing a career. Career is an individual’s journey of exploring
himself. Career also makes the means of living for one’s life. Due to advancements
in information technology career choice has become a complex decision . One has

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to consider his /her potentials and abilities while deciding for a career. Career by
choice or by chance is like deciding your future with a great planning by keeping your
interest in `consideration and choosing a career by chance is like jumping into a
certain field ,without knowing its pits and falls. There are many reasons which
explain that why student choose career by chance. This may be due to peer
pressure, past performance and affordability. Moreover, choosing a career by choice
reflects many benefits as one utilizes his /her full potential , puts the best of his/her
capabilities and thus there is a lot of motivation which keeps the person really
committed to his/her work. There are many measures one should take in choosing a
career of good choice. There are many psychometric tests which help students
recognize the best choice for themselves, career is one of the effective tools in
choosing a right career. Turkish university collected the data from students to check
out the percentage of students who willingly pursue their studies of their own choice.
According to data obtained . there were84% of students who made their career
choice willingly and16% of the students made their choices unwillingly. In a nut shell
there are many steps one should take to make their career choices good for their
future because only right career choice is assurance of a good future .

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
 Phillips, S. D. (1992). Career counseling: Choice and implementation. In
S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Handbook of counseling
psychology (pp. 513–547). John Wiley & Sons.
 Fish, W. W., & Stephens, T. L. (2010). Special Education: A Career of
Choice. Remedial and Special Education, 31(5), 400-407.
 Al-Abri, Nasser and Kooli, Chokri, Factors Affecting the Career Path
Choice of Graduates: A Case of Omani (2018). Int. J. Youth Eco. 2, No.2,
105-117 (2018), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3358422
 About Us. careers.govt.nz. (n.d.). https://www.careers.govt.nz/about-
careers-nz/about-us/
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 Bright, J. E. H., Pryor, R. G. L., & Harpham, L. (2005). The role of chance
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561–576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2004.05.001
 ESKRIPSI UNIVERSITAS ANDALAS ARTICLE ON CAREER CHOICE
 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
344268688_CAREER_BY_CHOICE_OR_BY_CHANCE
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CURRENT RESEARCH BY SSCT
UNIVERSITY PHILLIPINES.
 Rupali Mohbe: Licensed Psychologist & Counselor BIRDY ME reviews
on choosing a career by choice or by chance.
 Gaurav Saini: Global HR & Business Transformation Leader/ Startups
Mentor/Academics Evangelist article on IMPORTANCE OF CHOOSING A
RIGHT CAREER.
 https://www.careerguide.com/career/motivation/benefits-of-choosing-a-
career-you-love
 https://work.chron.com/advantages-following-interests-career-
14641.html
 https://coursera.org/share/789275532de6b432f1d3fea2c2ca389d

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