Navigating Your Career with Smart Courses

Many students choose commerce because they find it difficult to study or they don’t get into pre-university/plus two courses. Barring a few interested in accounting or a finance-related career, most enter commerce with little knowledge or awareness. Most students don’t study commerce subjects till class 10 and don’t realize what they are getting into. B.Com seems to be the only option and no one knows what to do after that.

However, commerce has now expanded beyond the traditional accounting, banking and financial management fields to include many fast-growing, well-paying fields that have the potential for rapid growth.

Accounting and Business Studies are usually compulsory at Plus Two level. You can choose from a wide range of other subjects, depending on the school/college you want to get into. Those who are good at Maths can opt for Commercial Maths to build a stronger foundation. Unlike Science, you can choose to study any Commerce board i.e. PUC, CBSE, ISC, IGCSE or NIOS to get equally good education and opportunities.

Chartered Accountant (CA – icai.org), Company Secretary (CS – icsi.edu), Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CMA – cima.com). Association of Chartered Certified Accountants UK (ACCA) – all these roles are related to accounting, while CS also includes legal work.

These professions require proficiency in calculations and analysis. People with good interpersonal skills can opt for management positions with an MBA specializing in finance, business analytics, banking, family business, systems, entrepreneurship, etc.

In addition to the MBA, many specialist management courses at postgraduate level, both undergraduate and graduate, focus on financial management and related areas.

Actuarial science is a lesser-known field that involves evaluating assets for insurance purposes. There are many courses available that specialize in it.

Sunrise’s industries include digital finance, AI-based financial management, merchant banking, health insurance and risk management, stock and mutual fund management, commodity trading – including cryptocurrencies – e-commerce, and many other areas of financial technology, the latter of which combines technology and finance.

While banking has been in high demand for decades, interestingly, many competent professionals are now resigning from stable banking positions and joining private companies in the above areas. Many banks have diversified into commercial activities.

Many commerce students use their studies as a foundation for jobs in human resources, marketing, business analytics, e-commerce, materials management, etc. Similarly, successful finance professionals move toward teaching as part-time faculty at business schools or mentoring startups.

A person with a commerce degree can explore unrelated but complementary fields such as law, mass communication, design, business administration, computer applications, economics, and business analytics, to name a few. He or she can even pursue a career in humanities and social sciences, which are constantly evolving and offer good careers if the student has the aptitude for them and qualifies from a reputed college.

If you are in class 10 and are not interested in the big rush of JEE, NEET etc., you can opt for commerce after doing your homework to narrow down the area of ​​commerce or non-commerce that you will eventually go for. This will help you opt for commerce and choose the other two optional subjects, from Maths or Computer Applications to Economics, Statistics, History/Sociology, Psychology or Physical Education and other new subjects added every year.

At the beginning of 11/1st PUC, write down all the possible majors you can choose from. Match them to your aptitudes, interests, and personality traits, then start narrowing them down by researching different majors and colleges.

You can visit the school or college where you are likely to seek admission, meet with older students, and ask them about their long-term career goals. Doing an internship during the summer, preferably at a small company, will help you make the right decisions about your higher education.

(The author is an academic and career advisor)

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