I have heard this question a gazillion times ‘Is there scope in biotechnology?’. The last word in the sentence can be replaced by photography, film editing, hotel management, literature studies, or anything other graduate degree option. So many students tell me ‘I love comics and would have loved to create a career in it, but I’ve heard that there is no SCOPE, hence I’m doing BBA!'

What???

That’s the craziest thing I’ve heard in 4.7 billion years since the planet earth was born out of a leftover unignited cloud of dust somewhere a very ‘ordinary’ pale yellow star in the outer sections of the milky way!

First, I want to say this, I believe we are living in times and in a country which abounds with untapped potential. Almost every industry and sector of human life and work in India is still in infancy. E.g. do you know that only 55% of Indian population uses toothpaste, and only 15% of them brush twice a day! In a country of 1.2 billion people, that an untapped market of 700 million people! Whether we take software, banking, insurance, tourism, food processing, e-commerce, theatre, design, engineering, art & culture, archaeology, musicology, training… you get the point, there is potential. There is SCOPE!

Well, truly speaking, there is ‘scope’ for those who are good. Even in the so called ‘high scope’ careers, there is no ‘scope’ for those who are average!

When I become good at something, several things happen. Lets say my niece Sameera has been learning to play the piano since the last 10 years. She is now at level three Trinity College of Music. Sameera has developed three types of skills

Now, the point to note here is that of these three types, competencies and character qualities are TRANSFERABLE. This means that once she has these qualities in learning to play the piano, tomorrow its just one more simple step for her to apply these to learning mathematics, or french, or to being successful at her job!

Specific skills can be learn’t at any stage in life (with the exception of a few very high intensity careers like surgeons, architects, etc). But competencies and character skills need to be build over time. Most companies today are looking for candidates who have the right ATTITUDE, and they train for specific skills.

Hence, my dear friends, lets stop worrying about ‘scope’. Rather, lets think about

The answer to these four questions will lead me to the career that will make me successful, joyful and most importantly, will make me a contributor to this planet.

With Loads of Love and Gratitude,

adi.