Consequences and solutions when choosing the wrong career?

Posted date 24/03/2018

13.928 view

Posted date 24/03/2018

13.928 view

We have probably met someone who, after 4-5 years of studying at university and working, concluded: “I chose the wrong career!”. Why is that? What are the consequences and solutions to this problem?

Consequence

Waste of time : Mr. Le Trung (a Vietnamese Canadian who created the language-understanding robot Aiko) shared about his wrong career choice. Mr. Trung said that he wasted 11 years studying a major that his parents wanted, but was "out of sync" with his real abilities. In the end, he got three degrees related to pharmaceutical preparation and then... put them in the closet because he couldn't find a job. Le Trung wishes that if he could go back to the important career choice moment 16 years ago, he would definitely pursue engineering and robotics, which he has been passionate about since childhood. According to Le Trung, when you choose the wrong career, you will waste a lot of time, money, effort... which you may even regret for the rest of your life. Another story is equally heartbreaking: Going bankrupt because she couldn't find a place in the harsh business world, Ms. Lan returned to her hometown in Cu Chi to grow vegetables and raise dairy cows. Because she had no expertise, her cows died in large numbers, and she ran out of capital, she asked to return to her old school to teach and continued to work as a teacher. "Before quitting teaching, I thought I had chosen the wrong career. In the end, I did everything but could not make any progress. So I was content with my job, when I found passion and opportunities for success there," Lien concluded.

Waste of brainpower : "It is heartbreaking when a student who graduated with a major in oil and gas exploitation works as a general staff at the district People's Committee office," said Master Nguyen Kim Nuong, People's Council of An Giang province, indignantly.

Difficulty in finding a job : According to a separate survey by L&A (Le & Associates) , about 20% of students choose the wrong major , and after graduating, find that the job is not suitable, so they quit or work in a different field. Another survey by the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City shows that only about 30% of students and graduates intend to work long-term , while 30% want to find another job because it does not match their abilities and aspirations, and 40% have not yet determined their career goals. More notably, up to 40% of young workers choose a career that is not suitable for the job they are studying. Mr. Truong Chi Dung, Development Director of IT Company Solutoin , said: Students are still confused between choosing a major and actual work. Many do not clearly understand the requirements and jobs, so when they graduate, they are very confused and have difficulty finding a suitable job.

Numbers don't lie. Choosing the wrong career is always a burning issue for society and young people today. So what should we do when we "accidentally" choose the wrong career?

Read more: "Hot" majors on the threshold of ASEAN economic integration
Read more: Criteria for choosing the right career, in line with trends

Have to start over

Weak career guidance has led to many cases of choosing the wrong career. According to experts, if you find yourself in that situation, you should be determined to start over.

When realizing that they have chosen the wrong career, the next action of the employee is to immediately look for another job with more opportunities and challenges. Certainly, this change process will cost a lot of effort and money. Therefore, many people, due to age or financial conditions, do not accept the change but try to "live with" their current job. This has unintentionally hindered their development in many aspects. Mr. Le Quang - in charge of human resources at M & N Company - said: "If you find that you have chosen the wrong career, you should change your career immediately. Never think that changing your career at this time is not suitable or too late because there are always many opportunities for dynamic people in the labor market". Ms. Vo Sang Xuan Hoang - lecturer at CFVG (the leading Management Training Institution in Vietnam) - advised: "Changing jobs is very normal. When your current job does not bring you convenience, you should not continue to "desire" it". Mr. Nguyen Vinh Thuong advised: "No matter how difficult it is, you have to start over. At this point, you have passed the stage of "the profession chooses the person" and are starting the stage of "the person chooses the profession" again, requiring you to be able to adapt and develop your personal capacity."

Try to find the cause and solution

Ms. Nguyen Thu Giao - Human Resources Director of Kimberly-Clark Company - said: "There are three main reasons why employees realize they have chosen the wrong career:

Labor market trends
Current job does not really bring material and spiritual benefits
Want to "try" to find new opportunities".

According to Ms. Giao, the main cause of the above problem is that career guidance in Vietnam is still weak. Choosing the wrong career leads to failure at work, then being forced to choose a new, more suitable job for promotion is a positive thing, showing the dynamism and timeliness of the employee. However, in the case that the employee has not yet recognized the old job but wants to "adventure" with a new job, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. "You should consider carefully, whether you have chosen the wrong career or not, if so, then you should definitely change jobs, do not let the bait catch the shadow", Mr. Le Quang advised.

Three conditions needed to get back into the game

If you are not lucky enough to get a job opportunity, you will have to start over by sending your resume to many places. With your experience and career maturity at this point, you will be “valuable”.

A good company has a clear development plan and system.
Your expertise meets the job there.
How much you like your new job.

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Consequences and solutions when choosing the wrong career?

Read more: Choosing a career based on personal interests

Consequence

Have to start over

Try to find the cause and solution

Three conditions needed to get back into the game

Register for admission consultation 2025