Career counselling begins with a familiar question for most of the students of Pakistan: “Which degree should I choose?”
It’s a valid question, but the answer goes beyond it now.
For a student entering college today, the degree is the beginning of the three to four decades of their career in an economy driven by AI, automation, new industries, remote work, and changing job expectations. The jobs they eventually land up with may seem different from the ones we recognize today.
Choosing a degree is just not part of career counselling anymore. It needs to help students see how education connects to real skills, jobs, changing industries, ongoing learning, and the actual costs and payoffs of different paths.
Pakistan is already heading towards this shift. The Higher Education Commission was informed by the Ministry of Planning to review university programmes based on employability, industry relevance, tech disruption, and future demand. It also called for critical thinking, digital skills, AI literacy, entrepreneurship, and problem-solving to be part of higher education across all subjects in June 2026.
Start with the Student, Not the Degree List
Even before the journey for comparing university programmes begins, a good career counselling should start.
The interests of the students need to be understood by what they’re interested in, what they’re good at, how they like to work, and what matters to them in the long term. Different students with varying interests need distinct paths.
Finding a “perfect career” at 17 or 18 is not just the point. Almost nobody knows exactly where they’ll be in the next decade..
Counseling is a way to help out students in figuring out a direction, and show them the pathways to get there.
A counsellor should be asking: What problems do you enjoy solving? What kind of work interests you? What skills do you want to build? What options exist in Pakistan and abroad? What will this path cost, and what else should you compare it to?
That conversation is far more useful than just asking which degree sounds appealing.
Connect Degrees with Skills
The distinction between a degree title and a career must be understood by the students.
A student working in analytics, marketing, entrepreneurship or operations must be in business. A computer science graduate has interests in cybersecurity, product management or areas that barely existed in the beginning of the university.
Therefore looking beyond the name of a qualification by the students and examining what they will actually learn is needed.
The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan is already enhancing this connection. Internships and industry relevant professional certifications is now a part of undergraduate education, with the aim of connecting academic learning more closely with workplace capabilities.
Career counselors should reinforce this approach by encouraging students to ask practical questions before enrolling.
What skills does the programme develop? Does it include projects, internships or practical experience? What industries employ graduates with this background? Which additional skills might a student need to develop independently?
These questions help turn education from a credential decision into a capability-building decision.
Present More than One Pathway
Career counselling should also stop treating university as the only respectable route to a successful future.
Higher education remains essential for many professions and can provide enormous intellectual and professional value. But Pakistan’s economy also needs technicians, skilled tradespeople, entrepreneurs, digital professionals and workers with specialised vocational qualifications.
Students should see these options clearly.
The National Vocational and Technical Training Commission of Pakistan is moving forward with growing skills programmes across more than 100 in-demand trades. At the same time, recognition-of-prior-learning pathways let people with real work experience earn recognised certificates.
So a good counselling system should look at university, technical and vocational training, professional certificates, starting a business, and work-based paths, without treating any one as automatically the best choice.
Studying abroad can be part of that conversation too, but it should be one option among several, not the goal itself.
For some students, a programme overseas might offer a specific specialisation or experience they can’t get at home.For others, a strong local programme, technical qualification or combination of work and further study may be more appropriate.
The counsellor’s job is to help students understand the trade-offs.
Make Cost Part of Career Planning
Career choices cannot be separated from financial reality.
Students and families often compare tuition fees, but the real cost of education can include accommodation, transport, learning materials, technology and the opportunity cost of several years of study.
If international study is being considered, exchange rates, travel, insurance and living costs also become significant.
Career counselling should therefore include basic financial planning.
Students should be encouraged to compare the cost of a pathway with its likely duration, the type of opportunities it opens and whether there are more affordable routes to similar goals.
This does not mean reducing education to return on investment. Learning has value beyond salary.
But asking students and families to make major financial commitments without discussing affordability is not responsible guidance.
Feature Pakistan has already highlighted the pressure that education costs place on Pakistani Gen Z and the need to think more carefully about value, skills and career pathways.
Career counselling is one place where that conversation should happen early.
Career guidance should continue after admission
Another limitation of traditional career guidance is timing.
Students often receive the most counseling while deciding what to study, then receive very little until graduation approaches.
That is too late.
Career guidance should continue throughout higher education.
A first-year student may need help understanding possible career directions. A second-year student may need advice about internships and skill development. A third-year student may benefit from industry exposure or mentoring. A final-year student may need support with employment, entrepreneurship or postgraduate options.
HEC’s Youth Development Centres already point toward this broader model by combining academic and career counselling with internships, employment support, entrepreneurship, practical learning and scholarship information.
That integrated approach should become the norm rather than the exception.
Teach Students To Expect Change
Perhaps the most important lesson career counselling can offer is that choosing a career does not mean choosing one fixed occupation for life.
The young workforce of Pakistan will have a future of the labour market being reshaped by digitalisation, artificial intelligence and new economic models. The emphasis on the need to connect skills development more closely with changing labour-market demand was the recent part of the discussions by the International Labour Organization.
Students therefore need more than just job ready skills, the ability to keep learning, adapting, and building new skills. This makes continuous learning a career skill in itself.
A good career plan should include questions such as: Which skills will remain useful across different jobs? How will I know when my field is changing? Where can I return for further learning? How can I combine formal education with professional development throughout my career?
Communication, critical thinking, digital capability, adaptability and problem-solving are valuable partly because they travel across occupations.
Career guidance should help students build those foundations alongside specialised knowledge.
From Choosing A Degree To Building A Direction
Pakistan does not need to abandon the traditional role of career counselling. Choosing subjects, universities and qualifications will always need guidance.
But that should be the starting point for choosing a direction.
Career counselling should aim to assist young people understand themselves, evaluate multiple pathways, connect education with skills, assess costs, gain practical experience and prepare for careers that will continue evolving.
The question students need help answering is no longer simply, “Which degree should I choose?”
A better question is:
“What capabilities, experiences and learning pathway will help me build the future I want?”
Helping young Pakistanis answer that question could make career counselling one of the most valuable parts of their education.
