I recently came across a 25-year-old woman struggling with her career choices. Despite earning a law degree from a premier institution, she finds herself deeply dissatisfied with where her professional journey has led. The degree has not opened the doors she had hoped for. Her work has been neither intellectually fulfilling nor financially rewarding.
What makes the situation even more complex is the growing conflict between her and her parents. Coming from a family with two generations of successful lawyers, her parents expected her to join the family law firm. Given their conservative small-town background, encouraging their daughter to become part of the family practice was, in itself, a progressive and courageous decision. They believed they were offering her a secure future and a platform to build upon the family's legacy.
She, however, sees things very differently. She has no desire to join the family firm and resents what she perceives as her parents' failure to guide her at a critical stage of her life. In her view, they allowed her to pursue a path without helping her understand what the profession truly demanded or whether it aligned with her interests and aspirations.
This situation raises an important question: who bears the responsibility when a young adult is unhappy with their career — the parents who advised, or the individual who made the final choice?
Career decisions are rarely simple. They are shaped by family expectations, social norms, financial realities, personal ambitions, and, often, incomplete information. While parents naturally draw upon their own experiences to guide their children, the world of work is evolving faster than ever before. Professions that were once considered secure and prestigious no longer guarantee satisfaction, financial success, or even stability.
At the same time, it is unrealistic to expect parents to foresee every change in the job market or to know with certainty what career will bring happiness to their child. Guidance is invaluable, but ultimately every individual must take ownership of the choices they make and, when necessary, have the courage to change direction.
And therein lies the real challenge. The career decision was made without the benefit of a structured assessment of the young woman's aptitudes, interests, personality, and values. Had she undergone a well-designed psychometric career assessment while still in school — or even before committing to a professional degree — she might have gained valuable insights into whether law truly aligned with her strengths and aspirations.
Perhaps the real lesson is that career planning should never be a one-time decision made at the age of 17 or 18. It is an ongoing process of self-discovery, learning, adaptation, and reinvention. In a world where people may have several careers over a lifetime, the ability to reassess, upskill, and pivot may prove far more valuable than choosing the "perfect" profession at the outset.
Of course, no psychometric test can predict the future or guarantee career success. But a scientifically validated assessment can help young people make more informed choices by bringing together self-awareness and objective data. It encourages them to ask the right questions before investing years of time, effort, and money in a profession that may not suit them.
Far too often, career decisions are driven by family tradition, social prestige, peer influence, or incomplete information. What is often missing is a deeper understanding of the individual making the choice.
"For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: 'It might have been.'"John Greenleaf Whittier
Those words are particularly poignant when they describe unrealized potential — not because opportunities were absent, but because informed choices were never made.
Career counselling is not about telling a young person what to become. It is about helping them discover who they are, so they can choose a path that is both meaningful and sustainable. The earlier that journey of self-discovery begins, the greater the likelihood that "it might have been" will be replaced by "I'm glad I chose this path."
— CMA (Dr.) Charu N Thakur