Career Guidance for Nigerian Students

WHY CAREER CHOICE IS BECOMING MORE DIFFICULT

One of the most important decisions a young person has to make in life has to do with a future occupation. The choice of an occupation is regarded as second most important decision, next to the choice of future partner in marriage. The choice of an occupation becomes important because it could determine the prospect of our success in life, our group of friends, business associates, recreational activities, opportunities, salary status and general life style seemed to be determined or influenced by our career.

The choice of a career has become more complex in this modern time for the following reasons:

1. Nigeria is a developing country with serious economic problem resulting to unemployment in various categories of occupation.
2. The development in science and technology has led to new careers of which most people are not aware.
3. Many people lack competence to assess themselves for a realistic choice of career.
4. Information about various occupations does not readily get to those who are contemplating the choice of career.
5. Lack of job satisfaction is another issue that has thrown many people out of job.
6. Parents, sometimes out of ignorance force careers on their children which become a problem or serves as a temporary setback for the children.
7. The peer group has a great deal of influence on youth career choice. Many youth choose occupation simply because their friends have chosen such and they do not want to do anything different from their friends.
8. Many youth set high vocational aspirations for themselves without possessing the necessary personal qualities to pursue such an occupation, and
9. Inability of some youth to keep their career choice flexible has led to delays in getting admission and frustrations in meeting the requirements for the career of their choice.

THINGS TO CONSIDER IN CHOOSING A CAREER

There are two issues involved in choosing a career. The first is the Career while the other is ‘self’ or the person choosing the career.

We must look at our personal attributes and know them very well. We do not stop there alone. What are the requirements for the career we hope to go into? We should then attempt to answer some pertinent personal questions, such as: do I have the personal attributes to make a success of that career? Is it a job I will enjoy when I enter into it?
Many of these things will be discussed below step by step as the factors we need to consider before finally making up our mind to choose a particular career.

1. Interest

This is the expression of our desire to know or learn something. It could be something in which we concern ourselves. It could also be something that arouses our attention, curiosity or concern. Student’s interests vary in various subject areas. Students pursue more vigorously subjects that interest them. Knowing our interest area will aid a realistic choice of occupation. Interest also refers to what we like to do or what one enjoys doing. If you have interest in traveling, you will enjoy doing the kind of work that involves traveling.

2. Intelligence

This refers to the power of perceiving, learning, understanding and knowing. People differ in the gift of intelligence. We have people of high, average and low intelligence. Intelligence aids learning and it is a major requirement to make success in certain occupations. We measure intelligence with the IQ test (Intelligence Quotient).

The formula is MA x 100 (Mental Age x 100)

1. CA              Chronological Age

3. Aptitude

It is the ability for one to be successful in a given programme when trained. Some people have verbal aptitude. That is they are really gifted in manipulation of words. They can speak eloquently and convince others to agree with them. People who have numerical aptitude are very good in manipulation of figures. They include great mathematicians and computer scientists. Other people have aptitude for remembering numbers, dates, etc. there is the aptitude for mechanic work, musical and Artistic aptitude etc. Talents are very close to aptitude. They are special gifts from God and quite natural. They need no training.

4. Ability

It is a special power to do something well. It could be either physical or mental. People with physical ability are strong and enjoy doing physical activities such as sports etc. those with high mental ability enjoy working with ideas and figures.

5. Attitude

Attitude is simply our way of thinking, feeling or behaving. Our attitude to life can greatly affect our choice of career. Some people are care free and they can take anything that comes their way. Some others are very careful, choicy and will always look and hope for the best.

6. Personality

Personality could be described as those qualities that make up a person’s character. They include cheerfulness, flexibility, intelligence and shyness, interest and ability.

A psychologist, Holland, (1959) identified six personality types. These are Intellectual, Realistic, Social, Artistic, Conventional and Enterprising persons. Each of the above personality types matches certain occupations. We need to know our personality type in order to choose an occupation that will match it.

7. Realities Of Our Situation (Family Background)

Some students possess high intellectual ability but due to poverty in the family they may not be able to get formal education at all or may only receive to a minimum level that will not satisfy them if given opportunities, unless such students get scholarship or sponsorship they cannot aspire for careers that require higher education.

8. Academic Performance

Academic performance has a bearing on career choice. Some students are not doing well in some subjects yet the career they want to pursue, require a credit pass in such subjects. Some others do not take their school work serious. Unseriousness about school work can jeopardize high career aspirations.

1. One’s Working Environment

Many people have preferences for where they can work. Some do not mind where their job can take them to. An accountant once opted to teach because he did not want to leave his environment. Some fear to work in the city because of urban problems evident in cities yet they cannot get a satisfying employment for their career unless thy go to the city. One’s career may also not be in demand in environments where we hope to work. This and other things have to be considered before choosing a career.

10. Needs

We have various needs in life. The needs may be social, physical or material. Many people choose occupations to meet their needs in pressing areas of life such as social, economic, religion, material and physical.

Abraham Maslow (1963) identified six levels of needs (hierarchy of needs) ranging from physiological (basic needs) to safety & security; love and belongings; wholeness and integration, self-esteem and self-actualization.

11. Prestige

Many students choose subject combinations that would lead to some particular career purely for prestigious reasons. They want people to give them high regard and respect attached to specific careers, such as medicine, law and engineering. Hence some students who are rather weak in physics and math’s for example would still insist on taking the subjects in order to be able to announce their subject combination proudly as follows: (Phy-Chem-Bio) that is: Physics, Chemistry, Biology. Of course such students erroneously waste precious time where they do not belong.

• Peer Influence

Some other students want to identify with their friends in the class. Hence, they choose subject combinations which would lead to certain careers simply because a friend belongs to that particular group. Some young people in this category choose careers because they have seen others succeeding in them. Such young ones get easily carried away forgetting that there are individual differences existing in human beings. No two individuals are exactly alike, not even the identical twins. It is good to have models but not being copy cats with no initiative.


Rather than considering their own personality makeup young people tend to yield more to peer pressure, which more often than not yield negative result.

13. Parental Influence

Some parents in our society dictate to their children the type of career to choose.  Many students have wasted several years battling with subjects they could not cope with in order to satisfy their parental desires. Parents want to be identified as successful through their children without any consideration of the children’s interest. These days parents are proud to be referred to as the lawyer’s mother/father, the doctor’s mother/father (Mama lawyer, or Mama doctor). They want to live their own lives through the children even when such children could not cope. Frustration and failure eventually result from such pressure. Parents could guide their children and assist them in making a career choice but NOT enforcing their own wish without considering the interest and personal ability of the child involved.

• Special Attractions

There are some special attractions in some jobs today which get our young ones carried away quite easily. Such attractions include fat salary and allowances, uniforms and other fringe benefits. No consideration is given to job satisfaction or the demands of such job! (Like being a banker and having to work till 8.00pm some days).

The above reasons are some of the common factors that influence young ones these days in their career choice. This is why many people are dissatisfied, unhappy and frustrated with their jobs – because they did not receive any guidance.

About the authors

PROF (MRS) MOPELOLA OMOEGUN is a Professor in Guidance & Counseling at the Faculty of Education, University of Lagos.

MR. BENJAMIN BURAIMOH is a professional guidance counselor, with a Bachelor’s degree in Guidance and Counseling from the University of Lagos and a Master’s degree from the University of Ilorin.