I am Ritesh Chawla, Co-founder of RiarPro Learning, a career guidance organisation helping schools build structured career guidance for high school students.
A few years ago, while interacting with Class XII students in my role at an entrance-exam coaching institute, I noticed something that stayed with me. Most students were choosing careers by influence, peer pressure, the few options they had heard of, or simply what their parents did. Out of nearly 100 students, barely one had chosen a path based on his own aptitude, personality, and interest.
Most of us end up in our careers by chance, not by choice. That single realisation is why RiarPro exists. Today, we run RiarPro's Career Guidance Unit in more than 35 schools and work with over 100 schools on career education.
The challenge was never awareness alone — the internet already floods students with free information. The real gap was experience: helping students learn beyond the textbook and above the pressure of scoring marks.
So we did two things. We evaluated students through psychometric assessments that map aptitude, personality, and interest. Then we placed them in real internships across law, entrepreneurship, AI & ML, journalism, design, and more.
One moment taught me more than any assessment could. During a law internship, on the sixth day, we took the interns to a real courtroom at the Delhi District Court to feel the essence of litigation. The next day, attendance dropped by 40%. The team was stunned. When we reached out to the students who left, the reason was almost the same for all of them: they had imagined law as the glamorous world they had seen in Suits on Netflix. The reality looked nothing like it.
And that is exactly the point. It is far better for a student to discover this on day seven of an internship than after five years and lakhs of rupees in a law degree.
Career guidance cannot be a conversation with students alone. I made parents part of the entire journey through our platform, because the world has moved — from degrees and marksheets to skills and problem-solving, especially across the many careers that don't require a licence. Parents need to see that shift as clearly as their children do.
With AI and automation reshaping jobs faster than ever, the ability to constantly evolve is no longer optional. For Gen Z to thrive, adaptability is the real skill.
That is why I believe career guidance is not just a bridge from school to college. It is preparation for a lifetime of change.
If I could leave students and parents with one line, it would be this: don't choose a career by chance — choose it by choice, with eyes open.