Abstract

Finding a meaningful career path is a turning point in a student's development as a person and a member of society. A Mixed-methods Explanatory Sequential design was used to collect and analyse the data. The population of the study was all of the professors of universities in Lahore, Pakistan sample size was 456 professors. Surveys were used to get quantitative data, which was then analysed with SPSS. The goal of this study was to find out how making well-informed choices about a young person's future can affect their chances of getting a job. As a result, researchers came up with new ways to help college students with career counselling that have worked well. There were both theoretical and practical implications of the study's findings, as well as possible directions for further research.

Key Words

Perception of Teachers, Students' Career Choices, Career Knowledge

Introduction

Teachers' thoughts Taylor (2001) says that students' worries about their future careers are one of many things that push them to find and use information better. This is because parents and children are more likely to make well-informed decisions when they talk openly and honestly about their future careers. As students move from college to the workforce, they often look to their parents for advice. Parents have a big impact on the careers their children choose. But it's still not clear if parents are involved in or have any say over their children's educational and career goals before they go to college or university. There is no information about whether or not parents talk to their kids about their career goals or involve them in any way. So, the goal of this research is to find out if a student's parents had any say in what major they chose in high school, which is a big part of whether or not they will do well in college. Norma (2008) says that choosing a career is a big step that can improve a person's happiness and well-being in many ways. This includes being more financially independent, having more pride in oneself, feeling like one has accomplished something, and being proud of being able to make a positive difference in society. Having a meaningful job makes it easier to live on your own, be fully involved in society, and have a fair chance of getting ahead. 5 Norma thinks that a student's career growth shows what their future life will be like and how good it will be. All of the above is true in the context of the current investigation, except that a common pattern has been seen while students don't get enough help figuring out which careers are viable right now. This is because people made hasty choices before they knew everything the field had to offer after graduation. Muyoi (2009) said that if a child sees that their parent's job brings them a lot of happiness or helps them live well, the child may want to follow in their footsteps. In fact, new research shows that students are more likely to look for jobs that are more satisfying or pay more if their parents are unhappy with their jobs and are having trouble taking care of the family on their income. When parents push their kids to do things like music, dance, or sports outside of school, the kids may feel like they have to spend all of their time doing these things. Students don't have to blindly follow in the footsteps of their family members; they can make their own plans for their careers. So, the younger a child is when they are exposed to something, the more time they have to learn about it and get good at it. So, some students choose the field because they have been in it for so long that by the time they are teenagers, it feels natural to them. But says that the choices parents make about extracurricular activities for their kids also affect the jobs those kids choose in the future. When a child tries different things, he or she learns more about his or her own strengths and weaknesses. Parents have a big effect on their children's lives, and it's not uncommon for their ideas about gender, race, socioeconomic status, and other things to affect their children's career choices. If a parent says that their child's background isn't impressive enough for them to go into politics, the child is more likely to go into a less prestigious field. Also, parents might encourage their kids to take part in activities outside of school that they think will get them praise. Some parents may be hard on their kids if they don't do well in school or if they choose a creative career path instead of one with a clearer path to money, like law or medicine. In these kinds of homes, kids may feel like they have to follow in their parents' footsteps and get a high-status or high-paying job. But when parents make it clear that they don't have strong opinions about their child's future job, students usually feel more open to exploring a wider range of careers and making decisions based on their own tastes rather than their 

parents'. Morsel (2009). Most research on career development and parental involvement has been done on students with visual impairments. For example, see Mathatha (2013) on the career development of students with visual impairments, Ndlovu (2005) on the involvement of parents in the education of learners with visual impairments, and Chulumanda (2010) on the factors that limit career choices among university dropouts. But none of these studies looked at how parental advice might affect a child's future career. This meant that before this study, no one knew how much parental influence affects a student's choice of where to go to school and what to do for a career after that. The idea behind this study was that parents have a big impact on their children's career choices because they are the first adults their children meet and have a better idea of their strengths and weaknesses. So that she can get a feel for how much parents in higher education really matter when a child's future career is being decided.

Wattles (2009) says that most college students don't know enough about possible careers to make smart decisions. He also saw how much a child's home environment affects how well they learn the most important things in life. So, it's important for every parent to think ahead and help their child build a career. But after high school, most university data show that parents are less involved in their children's education. The researcher wanted to know how much parents affect their children's career choices before they go to college. This is because many students end up in fields they don't know much about and have only heard about from friends or the media. With the idea that parents are the first people, a student meets and interacts with before any kind of tertiary education, the goal of this study is to find out what effect parents have on the careers their children choose.

Kerka (2000) says that a student's interests, self-concept, cultural identity, globalisation, socialisation, role model, social support, and available resources (like information and money) all play a part in a person's career path (2000). Bandura also talked about how the process affects people differently depending on their background, personality, social network, and level of education. He seemed to imply that both internal and external factors, or both, play a role in the choice to go into a certain line of work. But most students choose careers based on what their parents want them to do. Some choose careers that their education has given them access to. Others choose to do what they love, no matter how much money it would bring them. And some choose careers that pay well. But the main focus of the current study was on the least understood factor in students' job choices. So, this study is mostly about how parents affect their children. As they get older and make friends in the workplace, college graduates take on a wide range of careers and jobs. So, it's not clear whether or not parental guidance affects a post-secondary student's choice of major and, later, career path. Everyone knows that a student's parents and extended family have a big effect on how they feel about school and whether or not they choose to go into a certain field. Without a doubt, parents are the ones who are ultimately in charge of their children's education, but the University and the larger community also play a big part. Students benefit most when their parents are involved, but universities rarely take instructors' opinions into account when planning a student's curriculum or giving them advice about where to work in the future. Parents have a lot of power because they know the most about their kids' interests, skills, and academic strengths. Even though parents play a unique and important role, it is not clear what influences students' decisions about what careers to pursue. So, people who give career advice don't talk about it.

Hayes (2003) says that a person's career is very important because it affects their education and how they see the world. To sum up, a student's career is the set of activities and outcomes that they choose to do over the course of their lives. Career planning should be the most important thing for a student to do because it covers all of his or her future professional goals. Every student's story is still 

new because they will keep telling it for the rest of their lives. Career counselling, on the other hand, is a group of services that help students take charge of their professional growth. It is a long-term plan that builds skills and knowledge to help people make better decisions about their education and careers. A career guidance programme helps people get better at being self-aware, being interested in school and work, and planning their careers strategically (MESVTEE, 2013).

According to Clutter and Macmillan (2008), the main goal of career guidance is to help students make well-informed career decisions, learn the skills they need to get into those careers and do well in them and see how those careers fit with their own skills, interests, and abilities. One of its jobs is to help students choose the right career path, which helps fill important skill gaps. Career coaching gives students more motivation and a sense of purpose in school by helping them see how their classes, extracurricular activities, and study-abroad experiences will all pay off in the long run. Learners get an idea of the different types of jobs that are available in today's competitive job market. Learners are asked to think about their interests, values, skills, and goals to figure out what kind of life they want to live. On the other hand, students who get career counselling learn more about themselves and how they fit into their future workplaces and communities. Another benefit is that you can learn how decisions are made and what might happen as a result.

The goal of this study was to find out how professors feel about what their students do after high school.




Objectives of the Study

1. One goal is to find out more about the different careers that high school students can choose from.

2. We need to figure out what makes high school students choose a career path and then do something about it.

3. To look at the differences between male and female high school students in how certain things affect their career choices.

Research Questions

In order to reach the goals of this study, the following research questions were made:

What is the link between the career education young people get and where they end up working?

The link between how self-aware young people are and what careers they choose.

3. What is the link between what young people know about themselves and what they know about careers?




Significance of the Study

This kind of study is important because recent college graduates often have trouble deciding what they want to do with their lives. It is hoped that this research will add to what is known about how parents influence the career choices of college students. The Ministry of Education could use the results of this study to change its policies about career counselling and how teachers help students decide what they want to do with their lives. Researchers hope that university administrators and guidance teachers will be able to use the information they learn from this study to get parents more involved in helping their students choose a career path. Students and their parents may both learn something from the study's conclusions about how important it is for parents to help guide their children toward fulfilling careers. It could also help them get ready for the real world of work by teaching them how important job choice is.

Literature Review

Schulenberg, J. E., Vondracek, F. W., & Crouter, A. C. (1984) said that when career counselling first started, there were not many counsellors and career counselling programmes were still in their early stages. Because of this, most people found jobs through their personal networks, such as families, friends, and religious organisations. Schulenberg says that career guidance can be traced back to the vocation-guiding movement, which began in 1907. In 1907, the "founding father" of vocation guidance, Frank Parsons, came up with the first career guidance methods. In 1908, Frank started the Vocational Guidance Bureau of Boston to help people figure out what they wanted to do with their lives. One of Parson's main ideas was that companies should put the needs of their employees ahead of the needs of the company. His approach was based on helping people better understand their unique skills and interests, which helped them find satisfying careers. After the end of World War I, more educated women and war veterans went to work (Turner, S., & Lapan, R. T. 2002). As technology got better, new career paths and skill sets came into being. Because of this, most countries started to put more value on education and career guidance. Some of the fundamentals of career guidance have remained the same, however, despite the dramatic shifts in the types of jobs available over the past century. These include the importance of self-awareness in terms of one's own abilities and interests, as well as research into the specifics of various fields. Age is less of a factor in today's career coaching because it is viewed as an ongoing process. Most people agree that investing in people's education is the best way to fix the world's economic and social problems. Nations and people alike look to education as a cure-all for a wide range of problems, such as a lack of resources, lack of knowledge, lack of money, too much rain, mental illness, unemployment, a government that doesn't work, bad communication, hunger, and bad living conditions. Every country in the world wants to make life better for its people and improve its economy. Students will have to make many decisions that will change their lives. Choosing a career is just one of them. This choice will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Who a student really is is shown by what they want to do with their lives. University students have had a hard time figuring out what they want to do with their lives. No matter how old you are, you have to decide what you want to do with your life. Many college students think that their lives will be exciting and full of success after they graduate. Many of them think that when they finish college, they will be able to find good jobs in the public or private sectors. Some of them want to become lawyers, engineers, doctors, accountants, and other kinds of professionals. Many young adults, including college students, worry a lot about their future careers and how they will grow as people. Most people see a young adult's choice of career as a turning point in their lives. Depending on how this choice turns out, you could either succeed or fail. Many people think that a person's career path is all up to them, but studies show that a wide range of outside factors, such as a person's family, education, community, and social and economic status, play a role. Students say that their parents have the most impact on what they want to do with their lives (Splete, H., & Freeman-George, A. 1985). Even though they have a clear impact, many parents still think they don't have much say over their children's educational and career paths (Taylor, Harris, & Taylor, 2004). In a study, almost half of first-year parents said they thought they should stay out of their child's professional life. Still, other studies show that parents have a bigger effect on their children's decisions about jobs and even what they want to study in college than teachers do. Parents think, wrongly, that they don't have much of an effect on what jobs their children choose. Students, on the other hand, often say that their parents have been the most important people in their lives. They may think that telling their kids what to do on the job is important, but parents can also have a big impact on what jobs their kids choose by being good workers themselves. In fact, research shows that kids as young as five develop strong feelings about their parents' jobs (WILSON, P. M., & WILSON, J. R. 1992). Parents have an effect on their children's career choices as soon as the child can say what the parent does for a living. Parents often have very different ideas about how their kids should grow up and very different goals for them. Over time, many things change how parents see things. A parent's view is affected by both their demographic characteristics, like age and gender, and their psychographic characteristics, like their views, values, personality traits, and interests. Most parents think that their kids should go to school so that they and their kids will be financially and socially stable in the future. Parents who are having trouble making ends meet often hope that their kids will do well in school and be able to support themselves one day. Only a small number of parents want their kids to go to school so they can learn, which is a sad fact. Most parents look at their children's education through the lens of "the more you know, the more you earn," while only a few see it as a way to make social change and boost the morale of the population as a whole. Parents' expectations and knowledge have a big impact on how their kids decide what to do for a living in the future. Parents from different places and with different personalities have different hopes for their children's future jobs.

Research Methodology

One of the main goals of this research was to find out how the faculty felt about the majors and career choices that college students made based on their majors. In this section, we talk about methods and steps. The process of gathering data should follow a detailed plan that describes the population, sample, and equipment.




Research Design 

The answer depends on what's going on. The survey method was used for this study. In order to find out more about it, quantitative studies were done. Questionnaires were used to find out how faculty at colleges and universities felt about majors, majors, and career choices.




Population

A well-defined group is a group of people or things that have many things in common that can be seen. Most of the time, there is one thing that all members of a group or class of substances have in common (Castillo, 2009). The sample for this study was the academic staff in Lahore, Punjab.




Sample of the Study

The people who are asked to fill out surveys are only a small part of the people who could be reached. This is a small group of people taken from a larger group to learn more about the group as a whole. 456 college professors were chosen at random from their departments to take part in this study. The way the sample was chosen was really easy and quick. Convenience sampling is a non-probabilistic way to choose participants based on how easy they are to reach and how timely they are for the researcher (Castillo, 2009).




Instrumentation

It is the study and use of methods for figuring 

out and keeping track of variables. The instrumentation strategy is made up of many options for pre-study. After reading all of the relevant research, the questionnaire was changed. It used a 5-point Likert scale to find out what people thought. The surveys had 35 questions. The survey was made professionally, with closed-ended questions that had been well thought out. Before filling out the questionnaire, it was checked with experts to make sure it was correct.

Data Analysis and Results

Table 1. Mean, Standard Deviation, and Number of Students

Variable	Mean	Std. Deviation	N
Career Knowledge	107.07	6.71	456
Self Knowledge	85.21	5.38	456
Career Choices	85.65	5.38	456

 




Table 1 shows the means, standard deviations, and Ns (number of students) for career knowledge, self-knowledge, and the number of students. With a standard deviation of 6.71, the average professional knowledge of the 456 people who took the test is 107.07. Average self-awareness is 85.21, and average career-related knowledge is 85.65. The standard deviation for both is 5.38.




 

Table 2. Correlations of Career Knowledge, Self-Knowledge and Career Choices

Career Knowledge			Self Knowledge	Career Choices
Career Knowledge	Pearson Correlation	1	.97	.98
	Covariance	45.10	35.40	35.74
	N	456	456	456
Self Knowledge	Pearson Correlation	.97	1	.97
	Covariance	35.40	28.98	28.23
	N	456	456	456
Career Choices	Pearson Correlation	.98	.974	1
	Covariance	35.74	28.23	29.00
	N	456	456	456

 




Table 2 shows that there is a direct link between the three ideas of career knowledge, self-knowledge, and the final job choice. There was a strong link (r=.98, n=456) between knowing about a career and knowing about oneself and between knowing about a career and making career choices. There is too much correlation, and it is easy to see that there is multicollinearity. Multicollinearity is when the correlation between two independent variables is high (r=.9 or higher) (Pallant, 2005).




Table 3. Variance Explained by Independent Variables (career choices, career knowledge, self-knowledge)

Mode l	R	R Square	Adjusted R Square	Std. Error of the Estimate
1	.98	.97	.97	1.20

 




Table 3 shows the R-squared value, which shows how much the dependent variable varies (career decision-making). This is taken into account in the model by making self-knowledge, professional knowledge, and career options into independent variables. In this case, R squared equals.97. In a model that explains 97% of the differences in how people choose careers, the independent variables are career knowledge, self-knowledge, and job choices.




 

Table 4. Analysis of Variance

Model		Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
1	Regression	21211.27	3	7070.42	4910.01	.00
	Residual	654.28	452	1.44
	Total	21865.55	455

 




In Table 4, you can find information about the levels of variability in a regression model, such as the F value (the ratio of the regression mean square to the residual mean square) and the value at the.05 significance level.

Having a significance level of.00 for a value of F is a very small amount. It shows that the independent factors (career knowledge, self-knowledge, and career choices) are statistically linked to the dependent variable (career decision-making)

Discussion

A person's career also called their "objective career," is all of the jobs they've had during their working life (Singh, K., Bickley, P. G., Keith, T. Z., Keith, P. B., Trivette, P., & Anderson, E. 1995). Choosing a major in high school is the first step on a long, winding road to a career. There are a number of things that affect a person's ability to choose a career. The first of these is access to information about those careers and, relatedly, about choosing a major based on what you know about your career and what you know about yourself. This study shows that knowing about a career and being interested in it are closely linked. For the purposes of this analysis, we'll call "occupational knowledge" "career knowledge." This refers to how well a person understands details about different jobs (Schmitt- Wilson & Welsh, 2012). It was also found that career knowledge was the most important factor in deciding on a career. Miller and Hayward (2006) found that women's self-assessed levels of knowledge were strongly linked to their career choices, while men's self-assessed levels of knowledge were not. Self-knowledge is the state of knowing yourself. In the long run, a person's professional success depends on how well he knows himself and what he can do. Knowing yourself is a key part of reaching your goals because it gives you confidence and the drive to act. Similar to what Pisarik, Rowell, and Thompson (2017) found, which is that graduates worry about whether or not their career choice is the right one when they don't know enough about themselves, this study found a strong positive link between self-knowledge and making career decisions. Sab and Jeffrey, T., Marcia, B. H., & Susan, T. (2004) came to the same conclusion, which is that how a student sees himself or herself is the most important factor in deciding which classes to take in high school.

Conclusion

The results of the study show that parents in Nairobi County have an effect on their children's choice of what to study. According to the study's results, kids whose parents have advanced degrees are more likely to do the same. Researchers found that a student's future job choice was much more affected by their mother's education level than by their father's. Here, we talk about the results and what they mean. The quantitative data gave a broad description of the problem, while the qualitative data helped explain what the quantitative data meant. The researcher drew the following conclusions from the study's goals, research questions, and key findings. So, it could be said that the socioeconomic status of the students' families did not affect their choice of career. It was also shown that how children were raised had a big effect on their future careers. It's safe to say that this shows how important it is to be raised well and to follow your parents' rules.

When students are trying to decide what they want to do for a living. Last but not least, it's possible that Parents and kids who get along well and spend a lot of time together Students' opinions about different career paths have a big effect on what they choose to do for a living.

Recommendations

It is well known that parents can affect their children's career choices. So, it is recommended that teachers and guidance counsellors take this into account when giving advice to students about their future careers.




In Light of what was Found, the Following Suggestions are Made

One is that there is a strong link between the two. Based on the results, a strategic plan (Annexure-I) was made that could help teach students about careers and guide them toward a career path that will allow them to make a positive difference at work and live happy lives.

Several things, like personal values, interests, and education, affect the choice of a career. By mapping a well-designed school curriculum to the generated career plan, it may be possible to better coordinate how job choices, career knowledge, and self-knowledge are made across the whole school programme.

Third, there was a link between being good at your job and thinking about yourself. A possible addition to the curriculum is a general tool that helps students learn more about themselves and their career options. One way to do this is to include the bigger picture and applications of each topic in curriculum-based textbooks.

References