Mystory@Susan George: How I made my career- the challenges and successes

I was just an average student in school, with an ambition to become a teacher. My mother, who is a teacher actually played an important role for my career goal, but as destiny would have it, things worked very differently. My love for History took me places and I ended up doing an M.Phil. in History from the University of Hyderabad (HCU).

All through my college life, I had let my ambition of becoming a teacher take a back step. Finally, it completely died out. As I was close to submitting my thesis for my M.Phil., I started giving a serious thought as to what I wanted to do in life. People expect that a person who completes their M.Phil. or PhD will obviously go into the teaching field, but I felt I needed to do something totally different. This need to do something different actually opened doors in the most unexpected way. I always wanted to work in an office, but never knew what type of work I wanted to do. During my school days, going to my dad’s office was such a pleasure. He worked for companies like Rallisfans and Nelco. I thought that his job was very cool but the reality was totally different.

As I began thinking on my career, my first opportunity came as a Sub – Editor for ICFAI University press. This was my stepping stone into the world of books and writing. I have from 2006 worked in four different companies in various capacities ranging from a Sub – Editor, Content Writer to a Technical Writer. Though each job is different, I have enjoyed working in all these fields.

Career decisions cannot be made within the spur of the moment. There is no right time to decide on one, since as humans we all tend to behave like a pendulum of a clock swinging from one to the other without being sure which the correct one is. To make the right decision, we need to first decide on which field of education we need to go into. Each field has various opportunities, explore before making the right decision. Take the help of teachers, elders or even alumni, like in my case. The opportunity at ICFAI was brought to me by alumni of HCU. Follow your heart and make the best use of opportunities.

About the Author

Susan George did her MPhil History from University of Hyderabad. Currently she is working as a Technical Writer for NGA Human Resources, Cochin. Her hobbies include reading books and writing.