Author: Mr PK Jose, Founder Director, CareerSpotters Global Pvt Ltd “If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” Albert Einstein Introduction Many parents today face several challenges and have intriguing questions, when it comes to enabling their children make a suitable career choice. “What are the critical roles that we should play in the career choice of our wards? What we should do and what we should not? Where do we draw the line?. These are unanswered questions to many parents. At the same time, the children too are often confused or diffused on the approach and the factors to be considered when it is time to select a stream, course and suitable career. While spearheading a pan India “Talent Nurturing Programme”, a flagship corporate educational initiative, I had the opportunity to interact with thousands of parents and students over a decade and learn many lessons in the domain of ‘Psychometric Career Testing and Career Planning’. I consider it imperative to share some of the knowledge gained, during a 10 years-long journey, while nurturing the talents of over 4000 gifted students enrolled in classes VI-XII as well as university students. Career Testing and Action Planning The execution of various career development programmes revealed that many parents are not informed enough about the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), advancement in psychology and technological innovation that can empower them to scientifically discover their children’s career personality, career interests, aptitude, and career motivators at an early age. Further, many parents are not aware that, with the introduction of National Education Policy (NEP 2020), there exists a dire need for their wards to re-align themselves in new ways in their academic choices and pursuits. Begin Career Search with Self-Discovery Many parents are uninformed of the fact that psychometric factors contribute immensely towards the selection of a student’s subjects, stream, course, career path and ultimately, career success. One of the biggest challenges of majority of parents consists in acknowledging the truth that each child is uniquely gifted and different from other children. A personalised and targeted career search, based on who s/he can become and what s/he aspires to become is essential for a successful life. While working directly with numerous parents, a commonly observed tendency lies in imposing upon their wards a dream career, that they have in mind for their wards. There is another set of parents, who urge their wards to follow a select career the children of their relatives or friends pursue. They ignore the unique talent their ward actually retains and fail to provide the space to excel in those competencies and skills that can drive the best from their career point of view. Seek Career Tools and Specialised Guidance from Expert Organisations To ensure that this self-discovery and career choice happens scientifically, today there are artificial intelligence (AI) enabled and technology-driven career tools and solutions that have been widely used nationally and internationally. The Parents, Students and the School Management could seek the collaboration and services of expert organisations to undertake the following for the benefit of school students and college students: 1) Get an online Psychometric Career Assessment from the comfort of your home. 2) Seek online or offline Career Counselling to get the analysis and interpretation of the Psychometric Career Test Report for self-discovery and short-list the most suitable career paths. 3) Use career tools for the exploration of the short-listed career paths using Virtual Internships and online Career Library. 4) Access the ‘Career Information Portal’ to get real-time information on Courses, Entrance Tests, Colleges/Universities, (India and Abroad) and scholarships through personalised online ‘Student Dashboard”. 5) Obtain guidance on the selection of the right Subjects/Streams as per NEP 2020 in Class X, XI & XII. 6) Seek Career Mentoring to choose the right courses, college majors, colleges and location of study for UG/PG. 7) Begin ‘Student Profile Building” to complement college admission and entry into job market by enrolling in purposeful Co-Curricular Programmes, Extra-Curricular Programmes, Super-Curricular Programmes, Academic Honours, Career Focused Courses and Universal Programs. 8) Enrol for Career Booster Programmes such as Summer Internships, online Certificate Programmes, short courses to supplement chosen courses. 9) Register for Life Skills/Social Skills Training Sessions provided online and offline from time to time. Let me sum up by stating that students need targeted career testing, career guidance and technology-driven career tools that they could access from the comfort of their homes, to explore and plan for their future career endeavours. This approach needs to be founded on their individual personality, interests, skills, abilities, and values. Seeking career guidance from experts enhances suitable academic pursuit coupled with career path exploration; and thus, improves career preparation and ultimate career success. The author is the Founder of CareerSpotters Global Pvt Ltd & A Career Guidance Expert Website: https://www.careerspotters.in; Email: info@careerspotters.in; Mobile: 9810406573 www.linkedin.com/in/pkjoseph402