Matrics must be sure of the career path they set out on

An educational psychologist, Tebogo Tsebe, who specialises in career guidance, advises matrics to research and be knowledgeable about the career they choose.

According to him, it is also important for matrics who want to follow a career to embark on a job shadowing process first. Also, ask their school or someone they know to arrange a career guidance talk for them.

“I live in Pretoria East but offer my services to all the schools in Gauteng. Firstly, when it comes to choosing a career, matrics should look at areas in which they have a genuine interest.

“Secondly, they must also check their aptitude or potential for what they can achieve, then assess the intellectual demand of the course, or their ability to do the course.

“Matrics should also access information released by the government about careers that are in demand or areas where there is a skills gap. In this way, they can choose a good career they can benefit from.

“Some of this information needs to be updated, but it remains a guiding document that matrics can refer to for clarity about which careers are in demand,” said Tsebe.

He added from a research perspective, character doesn’t influence a person’s career choice, as has been said in the past.

“However, character plays a role in the relationships they have with colleagues. But, for people to do well in their career paths they need to have various qualities like being persistent, self-motivated and interested in their careers.

“Even as a professional, my interest led me to be an educational psychologist.

“I was always interested in working with the youth and wanted to pursue child psychology, which I saw on the internet, only to find out that in South Africa there isn’t a profession like this. Alternatively, there is a career in psychology.”

Tsebe added that when he was doing his psychology course, his interest was more in career psychology because he witnessed that most matrics find it difficult to choose a good career path by themselves.

“They go to university confused without knowing which career path they want to pursue. And when the university chooses a career path for them, they end up failing the course and changing it. This has damaging consequences because they will stay at the university for longer or simply quit the course.

“This affects their lives drastically because some are the only family member with an opportunity to go to university and are expected to change the impoverished conditions of their families through education.

Unfortunately, many of them drop out because of choosing the wrong line of studies,” said Tsebe.

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