Programme Report 2nd annual Medha Education to Employment Workshop
2nd Medha Education to Employment: A Consultative Workshop with Academia and Industry INTRODUCTION The annual Education to Employment event is Medha’s flagship workshop that brings together leaders from industry and academia to work on one of the biggest challenges facing the country today – unemployability. This was Medha’s second annual event that was held on 23rd of May, 2015 in Hotel Gomti, Lucknow. The theme of the event was “Bridging the Gap: blurring the line between Education and Employment.”
OBJECTIVE The objective of the workshop was twofold – 1. To provide a platform for the educationists and the corporates to discuss the major challenges facing the students and employers, with regards to unemployability and unemployment. 2. To come up with possible solutions through collaborative models implemented at the micro level.
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS Employers S. No.
Name
Designation
Organization
1
Mr. Alok Srivastava
Manager
Bajaj Electricals
2
Ms. Alpana Dubey
Cluster Head-AMC
HDFC Bank AMC
3
Mr. Amit Rangappa
Director
Solutions Advertising & Marketing
4
Mr. Yuvraj
Trainee-HR
Vivanta by Taj
5
Mr. Anurag Suri
Executive-HR
Vivanta by Taj
6
Mr. Ayush Jain
Team Leader
Tata Technologies
7
Mr. Vikas Sharma
Project Manager
Tata Technologies
8
Mr. Harshit Malviya
Regional HR Head
Mahindra Finance
9
Mr. Jaswinder Pal Singh
Circle Head
HDFC Bank
10
Ms. Pragya Tandon
Branch Head
HDFC Bank
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11
Mr. Madhukar Sinha
General Manager
Motorfab Sales Pvt. Ltd.
12
Mr. Mudit Dalela
Circle HR Head
Axis Bank
13
Ms. Neha Gupta
Unit HR Head
Shopper’s Stop
14
Ms. Poornima Tewari
HR Consultant
Deal 4u Pvt. Ltd.
15
Mr. Vishal Singh
Manager
Deal 4u Pvt. Ltd.
16
Mr. Rajat Goyal
Director
Pratyaksh Web Services Pvt. Ltd.
17
Mr. Rajeev Kakker
Head, Education Division
Think Computers
18
Mr. Ramkrishna
Director
Techsofy Technologies & Services Ltd.
19
Mr. Sandeep
Assistant VP
Yes Bank
20
Mr. Sanjay Agarwal
Director
Property Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
21
Mr. Vijay Goel
DME
Diesel Shed, Indian Railways
22
Mr. Vinod Verma
Assistant GM
APN News
23
Mr. A.K. Chatterjee
Manager, HR & Admin
Scooters India Pvt. Ltd.
24
Mr. Gautam Chakraborty
Chief & HR Manager
Scooters India Pvt. Ltd.
Academia S. No.
Name
Designation
College
1
Dr. Rukhsana Lari
Principal
Karamat Husain Muslim Girls Degree College, Faizabad road, Lucknow
2
Dr. A. A. Farooqui
Principal
Mumtaz PG College, Daliganj, Lucknow
3
Ms. Rachna Mishra
Principal
Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan Girls Degree College, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow
4
Dr. Muktawali
Principal
Veer Bahadur Singh Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Sanjay Gandhi Puram, Lucknow
5
Dr. Upma Chaturvedi
Principal
Avadh Girls Degree College, Lucknow
6
Dr. Chandra Prakash
Principal
Mahamaya Rajkiya Mahavidyalaya, Mahona, Lucknow
7
Dr. Manorama Singh
Director
IGNOU Regional Center, Lucknow
8
Mr. Anshuman
Assistant Director
IGNOU, Regional Center, Lucknow
Director Development
Lucknow University
Upadhyaya 9
Prof. Nishi Pandey
and Planning Board
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10
Prof. Rakesh Chandra
Head of Department
Lucknow University
Philosophy 11
Mr. Santosh Bhatnagar
Faculty Member
Feroz Ghandi Polytechnic, Raebareli
12
Mr. Shailendra Kumar
Faculty Member
Sanjay Gandhi Polytechnic, Jagdishpur,
Srivastava
Sultanpur
13
Dr. Archana Sinha
Professor
Navyug Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Lucknow
14
Dr. Shashi Shekhar
Head of Department
Nagar Nigam Degree College, Lucknow
Mishra 15
Dr. Vijay Raj Srivastava
Assistant Professor
Sri Jai Narayan PG College, Lucknow
16
Dr. C.P Tripathi
Principal
Jawahar Lal Nehru Polytechnic, Lucknow
17
Dr. Anil Kumar Mishra
Principal
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad Rajkiya PG College, Lucknow
18
Dr. Rakesh Chandra
Associate Professor
BSNV, Lucknow
19
Dr. Vineet M. David
Assistant Professor
Lucknow University
EVENT SUMMARY The event started off with the welcoming of the guests and introduction from Mr. Christopher Turillo and Mr. Byomkesh Mishra, Co-Founders of Medha. Chris gave a brief about the foundation of Medha, the vision and the mission of the organisation and how to cater to the expectation and needs of our country’s youth, which will further help them in elevating their life and career path. Byomkesh discussed how Medha works at the grassroots level to understand the professional needs of the students by working in collaboration with the corporates and educationists. The number of graduates is increasing every year and so is the problem of unemployment that can be addressed by facilitating communication between the students and the employers. The association between academia and industry is very important to understand the professional requirements of the students and their necessary skill development. Our initiative is small, yet each one of us can contribute towards finding effective and collaborative solutions for the students to better prepare them for life after school. The event was anchored by one of our Medha alumnus and intern, Ms. Prachi Pandey. The invitees were divided into eight groups and had members from both industry and academia in each group. An ice breaker activity was initiated wherein the groups interacted and introduced each other.
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GROUP ACTIVITY – CASE STUDY Each group was given a question or an issue to brainstorm their thoughts, discuss the challenges faced and steps taken to resolve the issue. The groups were given 20 minutes to discuss and jot down their ideas on a chart paper. Subsequently, a representative from each group presented their thoughts to the audience. The participants actively participated in the activity and addressed the issue quite animatedly by engaging their audience.
Group A Participants 1. Prof. Rakesh Chandra - Head of Department Philosophy, University of Lucknow 2. Dr. Chandra Prakash - Principal, Mahamaya Rajkiya Mahavidyalaya 3. Mr. Harshit Malviya - Regional HR Head, Mahindra Finance 4. Dr. Upma Chaturvedi - Principal, Avadh Girls Degree College 5. Mr. Shailendra Kumar Srivastava - Faculty, Sanjay Gandhi Polytechnic 6. Ms. Poornima Tewari, Naukri Clinic - Deal4U Pvt. Ltd. Question In terms of knowledge, skills, and attitude that is required to succeed in the job market and longer-term in your career, what do you think is the responsibility of the education system to develop in a young person and what do you think is the responsibility of an employer. For example, you may think it is the education system’s responsibility to build the basic skill of problem solving in a student, while it is the employer’s responsibility to develop time management. Make a list of this knowledge, skills, and attitudes and group them accordingly into education system or employer or both. Discussion Highlights 1. Employers stated that students should enter the industry with domain knowledge, technical skills, basic grooming etiquettes and ethics. However, the responsibility of imparting these basics is impelled upon the educational institutes. 2. A significant number of students remain clueless and uncertain about the existing job opportunities in the market. 3. It is important that students have realistic expectations from the industry and their professional life. Employers stated that academia should prepare the students for the rigors of professional work environment. 4. During the process of recruitment, employers look for certain qualities and skills in students like, integrity, honesty, perseverance, team players, effective communicator etc. that should be developed and inculcated by the colleges.
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5. An internship tie up was agreed upon by both the Academia and the Industry which will assist the students to understand the requirement of the industry as well as provide them with practical knowledge. 6. Employers suggested participation in training the students on campus, which will serve two purposes; selected candidates will be absorbed by the company and the remaining students will receive completion certificates.
GROUP B Participants 1. Mr. Santosh Bhatnagar, Head- Aeronautical Engineering, Feroz Ghandi Polytechnic, Raebareli 2. Mr. Gautam - Manager HR and Admin, Scooter India Pvt. Limited 3. Mr. A.K. Chatterjee - General Manager, Scooter India Pvt. Limited 4. Mr. R.S Gupta -Rtd. Finance Controller, Higher Education U.P. 5. Dr. RukhsanaLari - Principal, Karamat Girls Degree College, Lucknow. 6. Dr. S.S Mishra - Asst. Professor, Nagar Nigam Degree College, Lucknow 7. Ms. Shiva - C.A. Ashok Mona and Company Question What are some of the biggest challenges employers face when it comes to hiring fresh graduates? From an employer’s perspective, what would make this job easier for you and from the educator’s perspective; do you think preparing students for placements is part of your responsibility? Have you ever tried to place your students? If yes, what challenges have you faced? Discussion Highlights 1. The employers pointed out that the students lack vision and have limited awareness regarding the professional field. Since their basics are not very clear they are unable to express themselves properly and therefore find it hard to adapt to a work environment and cope with challenges at the workplace. 2. The students lack basic communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal and are unable to conduct themselves in a professional setting. 3. Students lack the right attitude and zeal to learn new things that are not in their course curriculum and have a rigid approach towards selecting their respective career path. They are not open to new opportunities and get disheartened very quickly. 4. Industry expects the students to be effective from the first day itself, which is not fair for the students, as specific knowledge and skills are not provided in a classroom environment.
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5. The selection criteria of the educational institutions are faulty as the percentage plays a major role in short listing of the students. 6. Personality Development Modules should be introduced in the course curriculum from the first year onwards to improve skills like public speaking, group discussion, brainstorming, Resume writing, letter drafting, human values, critical thinking, etc. Passing these modules should be made compulsory even if their marks are not added to their final percentage. 7. Parental guidance and nurturing should be given to students from childhood to inculcate basic values and make them more focused. 8. Field trips, industry visits, workshop should be organised to give practical insight in addition to theoretical learning. All these activities will also reduce stress levels in the students and make them more adaptable in different situations. 9. Students should be counselled not only for their career, but also for the overall personality development 10. Students should be encouraged to read more as this will enhance their communication skills, build their vocabulary and enhance their expression. 11. Many students come from the Hindi medium background and find it hard to crack the interviews. Therefore, it is suggested that English should be made mandatory and students in Hindi medium should also be given remedial classes in English.
GROUP C Participants 1. Dr. Rakesh Chandra - Associate Professor, BSNV College, Lucknow 2. Dr. Vijay Raj - Associate Professor- JNPG Lucknow 3. Mr. J.P Singh - Circle Head, HDFC Bank 4. Ms. Pragya Tandon- Branch Manager, HDFC Bank 5. Ms. Alpana Dubey - Cluster Head-AMC-HDFC Mutual 6. Ms. Neha - Unit HR Head-Shopper’s Stop Question In your professional lives, where have you seen examples of good collaboration between the education system and industry? What are these examples and what made them work? Please list out three examples and the reasons for their success. How can we use these examples to improve the work we all do?
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Discussion Highlights 1. The group concluded that there should be an open and ongoing communication between the academia and the industry. Dr. Vijay Raj, an associate professor at JNPG colleges stated that they have tie-ups with corporate like Citibank, IBM Daksh, Vodafone etc. who conduct pre placement talks and recruitments every year. 2. On the job training for a specific period should be made mandatory for all final year students. This would be a valuable experience for the students and would give them an idea about the industry and also the essential exposure. JNPG College runs a BBA-IB course where summer internships are mandatory for all students. 3. Professional courses should be made available to the students, right after their intermediate examinations. Students need to be guided after their intermediate to select the course of their interest and overall skill development. 4. Life skills like personality development, behavioural science and moral education should be incorporated into the education system. This will facilitate the students to be well prepared for their professional careers with the right skills set and values. 5. Industry visits and guest lecturers should be conducted more often in colleges to create an understanding between the students and the industry. This will provide an overview of the industry and also insights on entry level jobs available and skills needed. 6. Sports and extra- curricular activities should be mandatory and should be a significant part of the education system as these inculcate core skills in students like, teamwork, leadership, stress management and resilience among the students. Foreign language should also be offered in colleges as part of the curriculum as the industry prefers such students. 7. Entrepreneurship should be encouraged in students to instil the qualities of leadership in the students. Ms. Alpana Dubey from HDFC AMC quoted her own example of pursuing an internship while doing her postgraduation and later building her own business in the Mutual Fund Industry.
GROUP D Participants 1. Mr. Rajeev Kakkar - Head, Education Division Think Computer Pvt. Ltd. 2. Mr.Rajat Goel– Proprietor, Pratyaksh Pvt. Ltd. 3. Mr. Sanjay Kumar Aggarwal - Proprietor, Property Solution Pvt. Ltd. 4. Mr. Madukar Sinha - GM, MGM Ford 5. Mr. Vinod Verma - Branch, AVP, APN NEWS, Lucknow
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Questions One of the biggest problems facing the industry is high attrition rates (people leaving the job after a short period of time). Is this a problem on the student’s side or the employer’s side or both? What is at the root cause of this problem? When discussing this problem, ask the question ‘why?’ at least four times to get to the root cause of this problem. What are some potential solutions to this problem and who should take the lead on it? Education system or Industry? Discussion Highlights 1. Both the Industry and Academia representatives agreed that communication skill is a major problem; written as well as oral. As a result of which students are not able to express themselves or adjust in a professional setting. Students also have a limited vision and awareness regarding the industry. 2. Expectation of the industry does not match with the expectation of the students. Selection of the candidate is largely based on a percentage and rank. 3. Students have limited vocabulary and expression and lack flexibility in the selection of their vocation. 4. Personality development classes should be inculcated in the curriculum to develop the soft skills of the students. 5. Workshops and seminars by the industry should be organised regularly to encourage communication with the students and provide them with practical knowledge.
GROUP E Participants 1. Mr. Vikas Sharma - Project Manager Tata Technologies 2. Mr. Ayush Jain - Team Leader Tata Technologies 3. Mr. Sandeep Gupta - Yes Bank 4. Prof. Nishi Pandey - Director in Development and Planning Board 5. Dr. Archana Sinha - Lecturer Statistics Navyug Kanya Mahavidyalaya 6. Dr. Vineet M. David - English Department, Lucknow University Question As per the recommendation of the National Knowledge Commission UGC will be introducing Choice based Credit System (CBS) focusing on integrating concepts, theories, techniques, and perspective from two or more disciplines for more fundamental and in depth understanding of concepts, in Under Graduate and Post Graduate programs. Will this reduce the skill deficient in Indian Youth?
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Discussion Highlights 1. Interdisciplinary nature of CBCS will promote curiosity in students along with personal development, newness, varied career options and lessened pressure of choice while selecting their respective course programmes in colleges. This will also promote training and skills development required for a profession. 2. Technical education should include short term value added courses like software development and computer proficiency to increase employability, Computer competency across discipline should be made mandatory. 3. CBCS will help in the overall development of students, recuperating their skill sets and encouraging them to multitask and participate in various programmes. A multitasking matrix is prepared by the corporate to check the progress and development of its employees. The industry is always ready to absorb people who are skilful and trained in various disciplines. 4. Industry should work in collaboration with the educational institutes to state their requirement and skill sets needed or expected from the students, which should in turn lead to the curriculum development in the education system. An industry and academic interface should be facilitated by the government as a nodal agency. 5. Corporates can support the effective implementation of skilling initiatives within educational institutes as a part of their corporate social responsibility.
GROUP F Participants 1. Dr. A.A. Farooqui - Principal, Mumtaz PG College 2. Mr.Alok Srivastava - Manager, Bajaj Electricals. 3. Ms. Rachna Mishra - Principal, Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan Girls Degree College 4. Mr. Ramkrishna – Regional Director, Techsofy Technologies Ltd. 5. Dr.Manorama Singh – Regional Director, IGNOU Question The quality of education and job placement results is generally believed to be better in private institutions vs. government and government-aided institutions. This despite the fact that the faculty are equally qualified and the curriculums are generally the same. Do you believe there is a quality gap between government and private educational institutions and if so why do you think it exists? What do you think we can do to close that gap?
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Discussion Highlights 1. There
is
a
slight
variation
in
the
overall
teaching
methodology
between
private
and
government/government-aided institutions. The employer’s mentioned that students coming from colleges with enhanced infrastructure and facilities are able to present themselves better. 2. Value added courses should be provided, which could be of3-6 months duration and can be pursued along with their respective course curriculum. Government should provide scholarships for students who are unable to pay for these value added programmes. 3. Career counselling and screening of students should be done right from the intermediate level. Counselling should be conducted in collaboration with the corporate sector. This can help the students focus on their professional degree which can be pursued along with the value added courses. 4. PowerPoint presentations, seminars, workshops and industry exposure should be organised from time to time to sensitize the students about the accessibility of different sectors and industries. 5. Placement cell should be set up in each institute and that must work in collaboration with the industry.
GROUP G Participants 1. Mr. Vishal Singh - Manager-Deal4u Pvt .Ltd. 2. Mr. Mudit Dalela - Circle HR Head, Axis Bank 3. Mr. Anshuman Upadhyay - Assistant Regional Director, IGNOU 4. Mr. Anurag Suri-Executive - HR-Vivanta by Taj. 5. Mr. Yuvraj - Trainee - Vivanta by Taj. 6. Mr. Vijay Goel - Divisional Mechanical Engineer, Diesel Shed-Indian Railways.
7. Mr. Anil Kumar Mishra - Principal, FAA Government PG College, Mehmoodabad. Question In the construction and automotive industries alone, close to 100 million new jobs are expected to be created by 2022. However, a large percentage of students (especially in general stream degree colleges) are not interested in entering these sectors. Instead, they have expressed an interest in working in the service sectors like banking, healthcare, retail, and hospitality. While growth is strong in these sectors, there is a limit to the number of jobs being created (especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns). Do you see this as an eventual issue facing young people entering the workforce? If so what do you think are some potential solutions to this problem?
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Discussion Highlights 1. Responsibility to motivate the students should be shared by the parents, colleges, corporate and media all over the country without any monetary expectations. 2. The industry needs to share responsibility by contributing in development of specialized curriculum and pedagogy. Curriculum based changes have to be incorporated into the educational institutions right from K12until post-graduation. 3. Value added courses should be added in the curriculum and should be industry specific. Career counselling should be compulsory for all the students. 4. The NSS and NCC classes should be conducted in more and more colleges and the platform should be used to sensitize the students. Field trips and outreach workshops should be conducted to give real and first- hand experience to the students. 5. Societal Appraisal is one of the major factors creating a divide between the student’s expectation and preference and the industries requirements and prospects. There is a social and institutional stigma wherein some jobs are considered more respectable than the others. Therefore, all the stakeholders should make an attempt to sensitize the students about different sectors and job profiles, to provide more variety to the students.
ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT The event concluded with former students of Medha sharing their experiences with the guests. The interaction was facilitated by the Alumni coordinator and an alumnus of Medha; Ms. Pooja Rautela. Five alumni members attended the event belonging to three different colleges where Medha has been conducting its program. These students come from different backgrounds and are currently working in different sectors. 1. Aisha who is a student from Avadh Girls Degree College, successfully completed her Career Advancement Boot-camp (CAB) training. She shared how she had lost her confidence and was scared to speak in front of a large crowd and how Medha helped her with their innovative course structure and personality development modules to recoup her confidence. 2. Indu who is a student of MBPG, completed her Employability Development Program and internship training successfully. She found the Technology Advancement Bootcamp (TAB) classes very knowledgeable and helpful. 3. Reeta an ex-student of MBPG, completed her Employability Development Program and internship training successfully. She has completed her one year of full-time job at Eureka Forbes. She shared her journey with Medha and how it helped her to face challenges and cope up with work pressure. Workshop Report
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4. Shalini Verma and Jyoti Verma, student of Government ITI have completed their Career Advancement Bootcamp (CAB) training and are currently undergoing a six month internship with Pratyaksh Web Services Pvt. Ltd. They shared about their internship experience and how Medha helped them build computer and other skills. 5. Sandeep who is a student of IGNOU completed his Career Advancement Bootcamp (CAB) training and interned with a government agency. He talked about how Medha helped him to recognize and develop his leadership skills. The alumni interaction was conducted to present the views of some the alumni of Medha. These students were from different colleges of Lucknow. They shared their life changing experience after having been associated with Medha and how it added value to their life.
VOTE OF THANKS The event ended with a vote of thanks from Mr. Christopher Turillo and Mr. Byomkesh Mishra, Co-Founders of Medha. Medha would continue its effort to bring the industry and academia together through events like ‘Education to Employment,’ by involving leaders from Education and Industry.
CONCLUSION AND WAY FORWARD Teaching is a comprehensive and intricate activity which constantly entails us as mentors and teachers to manage numerous tasks and objectives concurrently and amenably. The leaders of Academia approved that skills development and value added programmes is an imperative component of student learning and therefore should be inculcated in the college curriculum. The percentage should not be the only criteria for the selection of students and counselling should be offered when opting for a particular course so that more options are available for the students. Executing these policies and principles require a commitment in time and effort from the Government, the Industry as well as the Educational institutions to work together to support and encourage the youth of our country. The corporates concluded that a gap has emerged between the students’ expectations and the veracity of the industry. This gap is created partially due to the poor choice of the students while selecting a particular course, which is most often cultivated by the parents and the society. The employers expect the students to have the basic technical and soft skills like communication, analysis and collaboration. The industry argues that college/university is the place where such skills are developed, and therefore the students should bewell equipped to perform from their first day at work.
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Medha intends to work closely with the Academia and the Industry who have shown keen interest to assist each other, under its innovative “Education to Employment” program of skill development on campuses. Medha would also reach out to more colleges and corporations in order to expand its mission of “making our graduates employable.”
ACTION PLAN FOR MEDHA Owing to the above discussion between academia and corporate, Medha came up with an action plan to set targets for ourselves and do our best to achieve them. 1. Medha will reach out to different colleges in order to set up the placement and career counselling cell on their campuses. 2. Medha will work in collaboration with colleges to design and deliver programs on employability and life skills training. 3. Medha will partner with NCC and NSS to facilitate communication between the industry and educational institutes, providing a larger platform to address the students. Field trips and workshops will be organised to provide practical & authentic experience to the students. 4. Compulsory on the job training will be provided to the students within Medha’s training program in order to build their skills and expertise and also to give them practical and authentic experience of the industry.
ABOUT MEDHA Medha is a social enterprise with a mission to better prepare youth for life after school. This entails training and guiding students so that they are equipped with the requisite tools and skills required to gain employment. Medha seeks to build relationships with not only students and their institutes, but also with employers and their organizations. We aim to create channels of communication that allows youth to better understand what is expected of them once they enter the job market. We intend to achieve our goals by changing the employability training paradigm by integrating our approach into the existing public sector education system.
OUR WORK We work in collaboration with three stakeholders - employer, students and academic institutions –to close the skill gap between the industry and education.
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Student Relations We believe that the most effective and efficient way to improve employment outcome is through on job training. Accordingly, we facilitate internship prospects, provide individual career counselling, and conduct skill-specific training with students in the educational institutions. Employer Relations We work with leading employers to understand their current and future skill requirement and matching the right candidates by creating project-based assignments for applicants, pre-screening, and increasing employers' access to a different applicant segment. College Relations We partner with public sector colleges to deliver our programme on campus to enhance employability within the gates of the campus. We provide the students with a structured curriculum based programme to help them in skills development and selecting their career path.
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