A tragic human situation of which I see too much in my professional life is the vocationally misplaced student or employee. For example, the clerk who should be a salesperson, the engineer who should be a lawyer, the schoolteacher who should be a technician. The mis-match in each case is usually tragic because of wasted educational costs, dashed aspirations, lowered potential work contributions, and the unhappiness, or even misery, of doing work that one doesn’t enjoy.

In each of the above examples, and millions of others world-wide, there has been a mis-match of one or more of seven basic career-choice criteria set out by vocational guidance innovator, psychologist Professor Alec Rodger 80 years ago, and not much improved upon since. I list them here for the reader’s guidance to one of the most important decision making areas of our lives. In each case I have added some explanatory notes.

Rodger’s Seven Points for Vocational Guidance

1.Interests 
Are the youngsters interests intellectual? practical? persuasive? artistic? …….. there are hundreds of interests questionnaires that can help, many available for free on the internet.

2.Circumstances 
In all developing countries, financial circumstances, educational resources, obligations to family etc. often restrict educational and career choices. Much determination, and perhaps some luck, are necessary to overcome such obstacles. 

3.General Intelligence 
I regard general intelligence as being fluid, rather than fixed. In short – it increase or decreases (as measured) as an outcome of the amount of mental stimulation of the individual. Measured IQ is a ‘snapshot’ showing the current level of development. The ‘picture’ is important because it can tell us something about the individual’s current suitability for various types of study and work.

4.Special Aptitudes 
Certain aptitudes eg. spatial, mechanical, verbal can also be improved upon, but they tend to change less fluidly than does general intelligence. Low mechanical aptitude is an undesirable characteristic for a mechanical apprentice, for example.

Low short-term memory span is disadvantageous for a telephone receptionist, weak verbal reasoning for a lawyer, and so on.

5.Physical Makeup 
Persons with deficiencies in speech, hearing, physical strength, stamina should not seek careers which depend on high levels of such factors.  

6.Attainments 
Educational background is of obvious importance, and the degree of success achieved, compared with predictions from ability tests, can often indicate the level of determination that has been involved.

7.Disposition 
Rodger used this general and inoffensive term to refer to such factors as interpersonal attractiveness, emotional stability, extraversion, persistence and dependability. In our era, he would probably have included Emotional Intelligence.

Choice of Career Path
Many students cannot afford professional Vocational Guidance from a registered Psychologist. They can nevertheless improve their chances of making the right career choice by considering themselves against Rodger’s above requirements. 

Students should avoid being excessively swayed by ambitious schools (a few which ‘push’ for achievements in the school’s interests, rather than for the anticipated benefits to students) snobbish parents (who sometimes want students to choose ‘prestigious’ careers) and peer groups (anti-academic classmates often turn a talented student away from high potential in an academic education).

The student should begin studying careers as soon as able to read. Career choice should be the outcome of many years of career research and self-analysis.