In the era, when the career was merely related to Earning daily bread and family traditions, the freedom of choice for an individual in deciding his own fate was very less. Just a few generations back, the career options were either inherited through hierarchy or were mostly restricted to government jobs.
Then, the quotient of liking a job was rather duty-bound than a criterion in career selection. This portrays the binding circumstances in earlier centuries when people were compelled to get into a career just for earning one or two meals a day. Remember our grandparents telling us tales about their lives now and then, which made us think about the so-called ‘reputed careers’ which were a taboo for them but a trendy option for us.
A starving man is the most dangerous animal and can go beyond any norms and rules to achieve one morsel of food. They don’t have an option of ‘what they want to do in life’ rather, it is more about ‘what they have to do to survive’. Nobody aims to enter into a puddle by choice; situations and circumstances force them to do so. Today we aspire to transform our hobbies into careers, but the earlier generations had to use their talents to earn their daily bread.
A Chinese educationalist quoted, “with every set of new eyes, the view towards the world changes and so emerges new career options”. In the last few generations, the perception towards many career options has taken a complete 360-degree turn. From something which was unacceptable, to something desired. To see this interesting change lets discuss a few such careers.
The quickest insight of the changing trends of career options can be gained simply by looking at the careers followed by Ranbir Kapoor in most of his movies. From a photographer in ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’ and ‘Wake up Sid’, a filmmaker in ‘Roy’, a musician in ‘Rockstar’ to a game designer in ‘Bachna Ai Haseeno’, Ranbir has chosen some popular unconventional career options in his movies.
Although the career decisions made by the characters played by Ranbir Kapoor cannot be a career guide, as he has also played a car thief in ‘Besharam’ and a stylish jalebi maker in ‘Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani’. However, this gives us a good idea about the emerging acceptance for unconventional career options.
Change is the only constant of nature! What was unconventional yesterday is today a commonplace thing and tomorrow will be obsolete. The same stands relevant for career options too. There was a time not many decades ago when engineering was unconventional and very few students enrolled in this course. In that era, teaching was the most conventional career option and students willing to pursue courses like engineering and medicine had a hard time convincing their parents and relatives.
The scenario has completely changed today; Engineering and Medicine are the two most conventional career options and 4 out of 5 students want to pursue these courses. The scenario is changing again and students are looking for alternative career options.
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Thinking Out of the Box
Conventional career options are not meant for everyone. Some people crave careers that suit their interests and ambitions. On the other hand, conventional careers have huge competition and low success rates. The competition is so high that many graduates of the conventional courses have to look for jobs that don’t comply with their education. It is sad but true that thousands of engineering graduates, unable to secure a job, are applying for Group C and Group D jobs in government exams.
Many times conventional career options also fail to give you the creative space and many people end up feeling like inconsequential cogs in a machine. In other words, they fail to find a reason to get out of bed every morning. All these factors are prompting students to think out of the box and look for some career options that are tailor-made for them.
Although unconventional career options have proved beneficial for many people, it is not all bed of roses; there are many challenges in unconventional career options too. Some common challenges for the people opting for unconventional career options include lack of guidance, very less exposure, struggling against the established norms of the society, lack of proper platform to showcase your worth, etc. However, with hard work and diligence, one can ensure sky-high success in unconventional career options and the biggest benefit is the amount of work satisfaction that one can earn here.
Let’s look at some leading unconventional career options:
Accessory Designing
‘Making The World Beautiful, One Accessory at A time’
Accessory designing is a branch of Fashion designing which has emerged as a popular career choice in India. Initially, it was considered a career option only for girls but today many male students are applying for this course. The credit behind this overwhelming acceptance of this career can be credited to famous designers like Sonali Dalwani, Eina Ahluwalia, Suhani Pittie, etc.
Accessory designing is a great course for the creative ones, who can visualize their imagination and express it in their creations. With the advent of globalization and the rise of the middle class, Indian society has gradually become fashion conscious. Accessories are an important part of fashion and include anything from headgears to watches and bags to shoes. If you know the difference between a fedora and a cloche or can easily distinguish between a frame and a tote, then you might find this course interesting. Although a fresh graduate has to work hard to earn a reputation in the industry, once you become famous, there is no limit to your fame and remuneration.
Fitness Trainer
‘Making a Fit Country, One push-up at a time’
Remember the time when the tailor used to say with a smirk on his face “Baba thode healthy hai”? Well, the concept of fitness is changing fast in India. The same mom who used to fight huge battles to soak your chapattis with ghee, today asks you to wake up early and go for a jog. Even the sugar-filled morning tea has been replaced with the tasteless green tea. But why? Having the best accessories is not enough, you have to be fit to look your best. In a nutshell, India is becoming Fitness conscious and there is a huge rise in the demand for good fitness trainers.
Gone are the days when you could see Bollywood stars like Govinda and Rani Mukherjee, who used to dance with confidence with their family pack abs, today’s stars have 6 pack abs or zero figures. There are some famous fitness trainers behind this transformation like Manish Advilkar, Prashant Sawant, Abbas Ali and Satyajit Chaurasia. Although there is no fixed path to become a fitness trainer, one can pursue Physical education followed by some important certification like ACES, Reebok, ACSM, and Progressive Fitness. Your personal fitness is your biggest certificate. If you are looking for a desk job, this field is not for you.
Stand-up Comedian
‘Spreading Laughter, Pun, Joke at a Time’
Those who have a bad taste for accessories or the ones whose notion of fitness is having a low-fat yogurt after a full 5-course Indian meal can become a great inspiration for stand-up comedians. Recently India has seen a huge rise in stand-up comedy. It has risen from the television domain and has entered the online domain through Youtube.
Even the content of the comedy has changed over time; comedy is no more the rib-tickling slapstick humor, the content of today’s comedy is a well-educated satire on the political and social surroundings. The last decade has seen the rise of some great stalwarts of stand-up comedy in India. We have comedians like Veer Das, Raju Shrivastav, Aditi Mittal, Vipul Goyal, Tanmay Bhatt, Arunabh Kumar, Biswapati Sarkar, etc.
How can you become a stand-up comedian? Well, there are no fixed routes to become a stand-up comedian. You can be an IIT graduate, an employee of an MNC or a roadside chaiwala. If you know how to make people laugh, this career is open for you. However, the recent trends in stand-up comedy require a deep understanding of social trends and the ability to think creatively to present people what they know in a humorous way. If you were the kid who used to always stand out of the class due to your constant funny remarks, then this can be the best career for you.
Also, read: How to Become a standup comedian
Beautified from Barber to Beauty Salons
From necessity to luxury, haircut to hairstyling, grass-cut to a range of hairstyles, barbershops to full-fledged beauty enhancement industry; the barbers and beauticians have come a long way. A common ‘Naai’ to hairstylist and beautician, nothing is the same as before. Grooming yourself according to varied occasions and inventing and re-inventing the artistic visions by trying new styles and twists is the new trend amongst people.
As quoted in Barber College info blog, “The term barber and beautician were confused or misinterpreted until the late 1990’s and early 2000’s when large beauty corporations, who started haircut franchises and others in the beauty industry took a solid marketing approach at alluring men to their salons in the hope of generating higher revenue”.
They further explained about a transforming wave in this industry during the early 2000s, when not only females but also males were equally involved in grooming themselves and the craze of hair coloring, weaves, braiding and so on were prevalent among both the genders. These transformations eventually lead to a rise in the barbering community and a sense of respect and prestige was inculcated in them. A mere barbershop owner could now aim of running a chain of the salon as the renowned Javed Habib.
Ms. Swati Khera, owner of Eye Catcher Salon in Dehradun says, “I am delighted to achieve a warm response from customers within few months and my entrepreneurial effort could materialize because of my family support and media coverage, just at a tender age of 20″. This signifies the widened horizon of society, where the parents understand and support their teenagers in pursuing their dream professions.
Garnished from Cooking to being Celebrity Chefs
The industry which can never be at loss or out of trend is the food industry. Cooking has, is and will always be associated with the basic need and emotions of mortals. Since early ages, like the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, males were appointed to cook for the army and this further developed into the hierarchical structure in professional kitchens.
In the society where gender-differentiating careers were prevalent, cooking was a big deal for men and that too due to rising urgency. The movie ‘Bawarchi’, where Mr. Rajesh Khanna played the lead role of a cook gave a certain level of relief to the real cooks in daily life. Michael Ruhlman expressed in his book ‘Food and Society’ that, “Television is arguably the most powerful force shaping the culinary landscape today. More people are reached through television – entertained, educated, changed in some little or large food-related way”.
In the 1980s and 1990s, a surge of successful women chefs began making their name in restaurant kitchens. Women have also increasingly been entering and graduating from culinary schools. In the 70s and 80s, women represented about five to ten percent of those enrolled in culinary schools. So the rising interest in the food industry through television and also the exposure provided by the market led to cooking as a trendy profession among youth.
The idea of being a part of this industry is so fascinating in today’s youth that Mr. Johann Raymond Barnes, currently pursuing hotel management degree course and working at The Oberoi Wildflower Hall, says, “Though the industry offers less in the beginning, in return of long hours of service and hard work, yet I am contented and blissed with the exposure. What else does one need apart from the best food and wine?”
Glamorized from Theatres to Star Celebrities
In the early eras, the drama theatres were considered wicked and against the valuable treasure of the immortal soul. Today, there has been a complete transformation, yesterday’s theatre has become the billion dollars acting industry. Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski, a Russian actor and theatre director of the 18th century, kept his performances hidden from his family because being a professional actor was a taboo in society and he was accused of embarrassing his reputed family.
Imagine, if even males had to face embarrassment for acting in plays, how difficult it must have been for females to step into this career option? This was the time when helpless and needy actors became part of theatres and earned their living even by playing female characters. The act of cross-dressings was not only common in the West but was also eminent in Parsi, Gujrati and Marathi theatres. “The apparent anomaly of Indian males passing as females at the Parsi stage established a paradigm for female performance even before Indian women themselves had become visible on the screen” wrote Kathryn Hansen in her journal.
Recently in 2013, we witnessed a grand celebration commemorating 100 years of Indian cinema, by acknowledging the resplendent efforts of Dada Saheb Phalke, whose pioneering contribution led to the creation of the Hindi film industry. There was a time when Anna Salunke played both the characters of Ram and Sita in Raja Harishchandra, and today multitudes of actors stand in a queue for achieving one single break in this industry. This change is possible only because of the endless efforts of various living legends, who have altered and broken the barriers of our society.
Conclusion
The secret to success in life is finding the career option that suits your interests and personality, regardless of whether it is a conventional or unconventional career options. Good careers don’t only pay the rent but also make you jump out of your bed every morning. If you think you are not made to be in a conventional career, do not be afraid to think out of the box!
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The iDC Editorial Team brings in a collective work experience of more than 25 years in diverse fields spanning from career counselling, management consulting, engineering, and technology to science, finance, and humanities. The team’s key competencies are in research and analysis of careers, jobs, and industries. The team boasts a few best-in-class writers on careers and education.
