Pranav Vashishth is a second year BBA student at Manipal University, Jaipur. He is a confident young man with a passion for entrepreneurship, and a flair for business.

Background

Pranav studied the science stream in class 11th & 12th with the intent of pursuing Engineering for his undergraduation. His parents also believed it to be the most direct way to enter their family business, and hence encouraged him to apply to Engineering programs after his class 12th. Pranav wrote various competitive examinations, and got through to Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal.

However, he soon realized that Engineering wasn't right for him. With a dislike for the subjects and an inability to cope with the syllabus, his grades dropped drastically. Within two semesters, Pranav had developed an indifferent attitude towards his studies, had stopped working on his assignments, and even failed a couple of examinations.

His failing grades, quite contrary to his excellent academic record in the past, also dealt a strong blow to his confidence. Concerned about Pranav's career and his options ahead, his parents got in touch with us.

How We Helped

Since Pranav had already gone down a wrong career path, it was important to help him deal with the effects of his choices and find him a career he could be happy in. To do that, we followed a four-step process:

1. Precisely understanding his reasons for selecting the science stream and then consequently, Engineering.
2. Accurately identifying his career interests, personality traits, strengths and weaknesses, so as to make fitting career recommendations.
3. Making him aware about the career options available to him now, and choosing the best one out of them.
4. Planning the best course of action to help him build a successful career in the chosen path.

We began the process immediately, and took Pranav through our career assessment.

Career Assessment - Understanding Pranav's Interests & Abilities

The career assessment evaluated Pranav on 5 important elements: Aptitude, Personality, Interest, Emotional Intelligence and Orientation style to gain an in-depth understanding of his strengths and weaknesses.

Through the assessment it was revealed that:

1. Pranav responded well to tasks and situations where he had to manage, lead, and interact with people. He was able to cooperate with others and express himself easily.
2. He was good at organizing tasks systematically and understanding the practical aspects of a problem.
3. He was able to take quick decisions, and was resourceful and high on enthusiasm.
4. He had good verbal skills and displayed decent proficiency at maths and languages.
5. His motivation levels, however, had taken a hit because of his present situation.

The assessment, basis Pranav's response to the questions, gave the following 5 career recommendations:

• Management
• Entrepreneurship
• Marketing & Advertising
• Sales
• Actuarial Science

Following the career assessment, Pranav met our career experts face-to- face for his counselling sessions.

Understanding and Addressing Concerns

As the first step in guiding Pranav towards the right career path, we had to gain a deeper understanding of Pranav's situation, his dislike for Engineering, and the circumstances that led him to it. Over the course of the first session, we found out that the decision to pursue Engineering was not his. He was unaware of his options at the time, and thus agreed to go along with his father's suggestion to pursue Engineering. While he didn't feel particularly comfortable pursuing a field he didn't know a lot about, he also didn't make attempts to find out about the course before enrolling in it.

When the course started, he soon realized that he didn't enjoy his studies, and was thus unable to gather enough motivation to study and exert efforts. This began reflecting in his academic scores, further contributing to his loss of confidence and motivation.

With the context behind his decisions much clearer now, it was easier to guide him towards a better path and avoid the pitfalls from his past.

It was important that Pranav be open to the idea of exploring options now, and not remain in thought of the mistakes he had made. We thus assured him that his current circumstances were just a minor setback in his career path, and with the right steps he can be on the right track again. We gave him examples of people who went through a similar passage in their career, and still went on to have successful careers.

This helped him be more positive about his ability to build a successful career, in a field he can be happy in.

Suggesting and Exploring Options

As the second step, we utilised the insights gained from the assessment, to recommend career options for him.

We compared and evaluated all of his suggested career matches at length, including the scope and opportunities they offer, and the path required to pursue them. We also advised him on the pros and cons of each career, to help him gain a realistic picture of his options. Out of his 5 career matches, 4 were fields associated with the domain of Management (Management, Entrepreneurship, Sales, and Marketing & Advertising).

His assessment results had all displayed that he was a person who would be good at organizing and managing tasks and people, and would perform well in real-life business settings. Pranav also divulged that back in school, he founded and set up a startup of his own, which even earned substantial profits. We considered this a demonstration of Pranav's acumen and interest, and, thus, deemed Management to be a suitable choice for him.

Since his primary career options were all fields he could pursue through a Management degree, we proposed the idea of pursuing a generic Management course (BBA) at the undergraduate level. This would allow him the flexibility to pursue a suitable specialization (such as marketing, advertising, sales, etc.) for his Master's degree. A management degree would also help him develop the required skill-set to pursue Entrepreneurship later on.

Finalizing Choices: Selecting the Right Career, Course & College

To help him explore the field of management and consolidate his choice, we shared a comprehensive list of colleges he could target for a Bachelor's in Business Administration (BBA) and asked him to read up on their programs.

After reading up and researching further about these programs, Pranav became enthused with the idea of pursuing Management. He confided in us that he saw himself running a successful and socially impactful company in the longer run. Pranav's parents, who were also a part of the entire process, also agreed that a management degree seemed a good fit for him.

After further exploring and shortlisting target colleges for a BBA degree, we took the final decision of pulling Pranav out from his engineering program.

Our counsellors simultaneously helped Pranav finalise his list of colleges, and the corresponding entrance exams he needed to write to qualify. We helped him understand the pattern of these examinations, elements they tested, and also suggested resources (books, mock papers, website links, test series, etc.) that he could make use of during his preparation.

We also suggested him to focus on his overall profile too, in addition to his continued exam preparation. To this end, we recommended him to continue pursuing his knack for writing through his blog, overtake internships and engage in extra-curricular activities.

Outcome

Pranav finally went on to study BBA at Manipal University, Jaipur. The result of the shift from Engineering to Management, were drastic and immediate. Pranav began taking interest in his academics and started engaging in career-boosting efforts beyond the classroom, including 2 successful internships, 2 projects and an inter-university management fest.

He currently holds a top rank at his university.

Pranav had enrolled in the Mindler Explore program for Career Selection & Planning.

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