Don't Limit Yourselves To Mainstream Careers, Cautions Payal Gaba

Payal Gaba, CEO and Co-founder of BeyondSkool gave some valuable advice to the students during the second edition of BMC school awards conducted by the FPJ. 

She advised the students to not just stay limited to mainstream career options such as Engineering, medicine, MBA or CA but also explore other offbeat careers that are quickly gaining popularity in today’s age. 

She also highlighted the role of career counsellors and aptitude tests while deciding on a career for oneself. “Aptitude tests are a great way of knowing your skills, likes and dislikes. Many of you have already chosen a career of your liking, however, keep in mind that maybe what you are thinking right now may not be the career for you. Maybe your strength lies elsewhere and aptitude tests and counsellors will help you identify that,” she added. 

An MBA, Gaba shared that there’s a vast difference between what a professional requires and what is taught in schools, which is also the reason behind her founding BeyondSkool. “There is a vast difference between knowledge and skills. In my mind, knowledge means to know and skills mean to do,” she further added. 

Sharing her thoughts on the MBA being an overcrowded profession, Gaba said, “It is overcrowded but India has a huge population and our economy is growing so personally, I think that MBA is a good generalist sort of degree. It helps you in building 21st-century skills which are communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking.”