Career Guidance and Choices!

The first mental preoccupation of any serious youth or adults of sound mind is the kind of job he/she would be doing as profession for the rest of their life.
Work is man, and man is work.

Work is an embodiment of man because, the preliminary instructions God gave to mankind was to be FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY. Being fruitful and becoming multiplied is solely alluded to work and working. Work is also alluded to an occupation or what one does for a living.
Whatever one does for a living, when mastered becomes a profession.

And whatever one is able to master proficiently to become an avowed profession is substantially alluded to the natural talent bestowed on him from on high. In this part of the world, the normal clichés and tantrum on the lips of non-innovative minds is, “there’s no work! There’s no work”.
Where was the available work when God created the first man?

The available work for man at creation was the raw natural ecology, arable lands, the greens around us. He told man, “I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food” (Gen 1:29).

From deep down the belly of the earth and the ocean, the rocks and mineral resources, the soil, the ground surface, plants and trees, God fundamentally provided everything that could enhance human comfort, then asked man to take dominion of them as the source of food.

Prior to that, God pronounced what looked like a CREATIVE SPIRIT onto the realms of man to enable him create from where he (God) left off (Gen 1:28). The fundamental statement or command, asking man to be fruitful and multiply, figuratively endowed man with innovative spirit otherwise known as TALENTS that enable him transmogrify raw materials at his disposal into a finished product.

The statement “BEING FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLYING” connotes two things.
Replication of HUMAN BEINGS and NATURE. Replication of human beings is the art of procreation whilst replication of nature strictly involved working, subject to the application of our brains and hands.

From the original state of natural ecology, man was innovative as expected by the maker, to transmogrify raw natural resources, whilst taking advantage of the value chain.
With the advent of technology, man became more relieved of strenuous effort of transforming ecology into beneficial end products.

What does that mean to man?
Prior to technological advancement, the issue of value chain wasn’t exploited enough until the 13th and 14th century. The attempt for man to be more innovative, using the brains as the main source of incubation, brought out vast opportunities in all working endeavors (from the belly of the soil to the consumer) to be known as the VALUE CHAIN.

Subsequently, the identification of career opportunities and exploitation of the value chain positively attest to God’s loving kindnesses to man whereby, no single soul was left out without been endowed with a TALENT or more (Gen 2:15/Deut 8:18/1 Cor 12:6/ 2 Cor 9:10).

Careful observation of the above quotes revealed the tactfulness of God in equipping every single soul with no exception. God gave everybody gift and talent to enable him or her come out with economic ventures of a sort, to their benefit.

Apparently, the serious thing most of our youths had been grappling with is their inability to identify the specific gift or talent that has been bestowed on them to be exploited as a profession. As I reiterated somewhere, it is a true saying that, “talent developed becomes a skill, and skills developed becomes a profession”.

But first, the talent must be identified, appreciated, mastered, and then applied as a profession.
Talent is a natural ability or skill that enabled someone to do something exceptionally without formal training to it. A lot of people (by divine Providence) had been gifted with multiple talents that enabled them do a lot of things amazingly.

An example is yours truly, be it vocational modules or academics, I can do a lot due to exceptional favor of the Almighty (Matt 25:14-15).
As a result of all mankind haven been endowed with talents, what one is left with is to explore them by what we enjoy doing most. What everyone enjoys doing is mostly transformed into a mastered profession with possible lucrative earnings accruing.

In other words, identifying problems of fellow man, and endeavoring to solve them for a fee, is all one needs to use our brains for the choice of careers for our youths are sometimes not properly attended to, making them rely on jobs that don’t match with their talents.
What parents must know is that, talent is a talent, whereby it is God given and therefore cannot be compromised with any other choice of job based upon its lucrativeness.

When something is God given, it is uniquely performed than anyone who is mentored or role modeled. Carefully observe the mentored 12 disciples, their performance, against the spiritually mentored Paul and his performance. Whoever enjoy talking is best suitable for the electronic media or linguistics. When one enjoys tampling with gadgets, ICT is the best option. The child that enjoy writing could be equipped as a journalist or an author, sports comes to mind. Undoubtedly, there is something for everybody.

One significant example that can be used as a case study is Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Computers. Steve Jobs dropped out of college when he realized that the garage was suitable for him than the classroom. Steve Paul Jobs was adopted by his forster parents during infancy. His biological parents Abdulfattah Jandalli and Joanne Simpson gave him out due to matrimonial uncontrollable.
Adopted by Paul Jobs, a coast guard veteran mechanics and Clara Jobs, an accountant at California Silicon valley, Steve Jobs haven realized his innovativeness in electronics (notwithstanding his parents preferred choice of academics) which was largely ignited by his being beside the old boy incessantly, opted for the garages instead.

At age 27 before Steve Jobs knew that the “Jobs” were his step parents. The father being a mechanic, help brought out the real talent in him as an I T guru. Steve Paul Jobs subsequently vacated the classroom to pursue his cherished dream with his co-founder Steve Wozniak who together invented the Apple Computers 1976. The almighty Bill Gates, born William Henry Gates came from a wealthy family just like Steve Jobs.

Bill Gates was enrolled to pursue law at Harvard University to the preferred choice of his parents. He, at the basic level was introduced to computers by Seattle Computer Company which involved all students’ fraternity, and the magic was to begin from there.
Bill Gates, unexpectedly, dashed the hopes of his parents when he dropped out of Harvard, relinquished the idea of becoming a legal luminary to the stead of ICT.He partnered with his school mate Paul Allen to co-found Microsoft Computers (micro-computer software) in 1975.

From the proposed bench with gowns to the bench with computer chips, to become a renowned world acclaimed ICT engineer, is the choice of his heart, a TALENT well harnessed.
Parental pressure and preferences toward choosing or continuing job legacies must be thoroughly examined because, it is one thing for parents being a lawyer, medical practitioner, a teacher, a pastor and so on, and another, asking a ward to follow suit, when one isn’t enthused about the kind of job.

Occupational dynasty mustn’t be forced on our adult youths if their soul isn’t tuned to that job.
The enthusiasm and passion that must be associated with a person liking or opting for a job must be identified firstly, and secondly, the certainty or surety that the person isn’t opting for that job as the alternative, must also be exposed.
Occupational dynasty doesn’t necessarily guarantee a “well paid profession or job” when a person is not in turned to it. If occupational dynasty is anything to rally on as remedy to joblessness, the recipients (the candidates) must be adequately trained to the bone to avoid being lackadaisical on the job.

If becoming a fashion designer is an avowed choice that is in accordance with one’s talent, it shouldn’t be shunned. Let it be mastered judiciously rather than to be peer pressured for jobs than one cannot excel in them.

Career choices and the discrepancy associated with the youths indecisiveness is the result of nurses inadvertently issuing wrong doses of drugs to patients, whilst inappropriate wolves in sheep’s skin are also serving as teachers and preying on our kids vulnerability.
Career guidance mustn’t be left in the hands of the youth alone. It is a collective responsibility.

By Sammy Ladzekpo